Skip to content

Clean Energy

Activist Investor Urges Exxon Shareholders To Vote Against Directors

The activist investor leading a proxy fight to reshape Exxon Mobil Corp on Monday named the four directors it wants shareholders to remove at the oil company’s upcoming annual general meeting. The investor, Engine No. 1, is a small fund that last year took on the top U.S. oil producer for what it said was poor financial returns and a lagging approach to cleaner fuels. Exxon since has vowed to cut its debt, invest more in low-carbon initiatives, and improve returns. The fund singled out for removal three former chief executives of prominent U.S. companies and the former head of Malaysia’s state-run oil firm who joined the board last month. Its nominees for the board include a former U.S. Energy Department official and an executive at a wind turbine developer-manufacturer.

New Deal Electric Cooperatives Struggle To Democratize

What began three years ago as a campaign to stop the spraying of weedkiller under power lines near homes in the Appalachian mountains of northeast Tennessee, has become an example of a more democratic process at electric cooperatives across the country. Member-owners of the Powell Valley Rural Electric Cooperative earned the right to opt-out of spraying, and persuaded their co-op board to let them attend board meetings in ways that were previously prohibited. Some members of Powell Valley have also begun to ask for a program to help members finance energy efficiency measures to save money. These were small steps toward a more transparent and responsive electricity provider, but small steps can lead to bigger ones, said Bill Kornrich, a retired arts administrator who, with friends and neighbors, is part of Powell Valley Electric Co-op Member Voices, a group that’s been behind the reforms.

Energix Faces Opposition In Syria And Virginia

In early December hundreds of Syrians gathered to protest the Israeli company Energix as it began construction of massive wind turbines in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Energix is also facing growing community opposition across Virginia as it lobbies to secure permits to build solar energy utilities on mostly agricultural parcels with cultural, forest and natural land designations. In Golan Heights, Energix freely wields the power of Israeli police and courts to transcend community opposition. In Virginia, Energix steamrolls community opponents empowered by massive federal and state subsidies and a curious state agency – the Virginia Israel Advisory Board – that exclusively promotes Israeli business ventures.

California Court Strikes Down Limits On Fighting Dirty Power Plants

A state appeals court affirmed Friday that communities concerned about air quality and climate pollution have the right to challenge natural gas-fired and thermal power plants in the lower courts, not just in the Supreme Court, which has historically refused to take up these challenges. The decision marks a win after about seven years of litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice and Communities for a Better Environment, who argued that jurisdictional laws effectively and unconstitutionally blocked Californians from challenging power plant permits issued by the California Energy Commission.

Reasons To Rethink The Future Of Dams

The tide has shifted on dams. Once a monument to our engineering prowess, there’s now widespread acknowledgment that dam-building comes with a long list of harms. Some of those can be reversed, as shown by the 1,200 dam removals in the past 20 years. But the future of our existing dams, including 2,500 hydroelectric facilities, is a complicated issue in the age of climate change. Dams have altered river flows, changed aquatic habitat, decimated fish populations, and curtailed cultural and treaty resources for tribes. But does the low-carbon power dams produce have a role in our energy transition?

NJ Transit Backs Off Plan To Build Gas-Fired Power Plant

Newark, NJ - New Jersey Transit has backed off a plan to build a gas-fired power plant in northern New Jersey that drew opposition from environmental groups and surrounding towns. The agency announced at its board meeting Wednesday night that it will repurpose the project to focus on renewable energy sources. NJ Transit’s board approved the hiring of a renewable energy consultant and up to $3 million in stipends to project bidders. NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett called the project “a critical resiliency project that ensures we can maintain limited, but vital, rail service for our customers in the event of local and regional power interruptions.”

Inside Clean Energy: A Case For Optimism

I spend just about every day talking to the researchers, entrepreneurs and advocates behind the transition to clean energy. Their enthusiasm, plus the evidence of their progress, makes me feel like I'm covering the story of our lifetimes. Don't get me wrong. I'm not hand-waving and talking about how markets and innovation will solve everything, although both of these things are crucial. And I'm not minimizing the reality that the U.S. and most countries are way behind in cutting emissions enough to stave off the worst effects of climate change, or the fact that there are many bad actors. The negative indicators, from melting arctic ice to the wide-ranging effects of extreme heat, are often terrifying. But I'm optimistic, largely because of the big changes happening in the ways we produce and consume energy.

Europe Fails To Keep Up On Solar Power

Once a world leader in the technology and manufacture of solar panels, Europe now lags far behind China and other Asian countries. It faces shortages of supplies and disruption to them, according to the annual PV status report of the European Commission’s Science Hub. The report says the installation rate of panels has to increase “drastically” − more than five times by 2025, and double that again if Europe is to convert to electric cars and fuels like hydrogen.

Every Country Can Have A Green New Deal

Ten years after the publication of their first plan for powering the world with wind, water, and solar, researchers offer an updated vision of the steps that 143 countries around the world can take to attain 100% clean, renewable energy by the year 2050. The new roadmaps, publishing December 20 in the journal One Earth, follow up on previous work that formed the basis for the energy portion of the U.S. Green New Deal and other state, city, and business commitments to 100% clean, renewable energy around the globe—and use the latest energy data available in each country to offer more precise guidance on how to reach those commitments.

FERC Props Up Coal And Gas In Clime Crime Decision Subsidizing Them Against Clean Energy

Federal energy regulators issued an order Thursday that likely will tilt the market to favor coal and natural gas power plants in the nation's largest power grid region, stretching from New Jersey to Illinois. Critics say that it effectively creates a new subsidy to prop up uneconomical fossil fuel plants and that it will hurt renewable energy growth and, ultimately, consumers. The new rules, approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are designed to counteract state subsidies that support the growth of renewable energy and use of nuclear power.

The Future Of Industrial Hemp And Biofuels

I first met Ellen H. Brown in 2014 when she came to San Miguel de Allende to work on a conference entitled “Moving Past Capitalism.”  The conference was the brainchild of Cliff DuRand, one of the founders of the Center for Global Justice, and others in the SMA political sphere.  Ellen Brown was well known for promoting Public Banking, and that’s what she talked about at the conference. A few days ago I read a recent article by her, “The Cheapest Way To Save The Planet Grows Like A Weed.”  She published her article in L.A. Progressive, which is where I publish, too.

Prospects For Gas Pipelines In The Era Of Clean Energy

Over the past 20 years, the United States has expanded natural gas use dramatically for electricity generation. With persistent low gas prices, the industry continues to plan new gas infrastructure, including both new power plants and new pipelines. But even as gas use has expanded, wind, solar, and energy storage technologies have improved and dropped precipitously in price. RMI research shows that “clean energy portfolios” (CEPs) comprised of these technologies are now cost-competitive with new natural gas power plants, while providing the same grid reliability services.

States March Toward 100% Clean Energy–Who’s Next?

One year ago this week, the California legislature passed landmark legislation committing the state’s power providers to supplying 60% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and setting a target of 100% clean, or carbon-free, power by mid century. It was a bold action that significantly raised the bar for other states considering policy action. And over the last 12 months, another six states (bringing the total to eight states) plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have answered the call with various obligations toward 100% clean energy over the next few decades.

Reforming Subsidies Could Pay For A Clean Energy Revolution

Reforming the USD 372 billion countries spend each year on fossil fuel subsidies and reallocating between 10 and 30 percent of the savings to renewable projects would pay for a transition to clean energy. This is the finding of a new study by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). The report authors highlight that the “subsidy swap” concept could not only make the clean energy revolution possible but also save taxpayers’ money for other priorities.

Following Berkeley’s Natural Gas Ban, More California Cities Look To All-Electric Future

Berkeley has become the first city in the United States to ban the use of natural gas in new low-rise buildings, and it isn't the only California community looking for ways to shift its buildings away from burning fossil fuels. Cities and towns across the state are considering measures to encourage developers to use only electric appliances in new buildings—and skip installing natural gas lines for stoves, furnaces and water heaters. Ken Davies, interim deputy director of Climate Smart San Jose, a unit within the city of San Jose's environmental services department, estimates about 60 cities and towns across the state—including San Jose...

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.