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Clean Energy

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

July 27, 2019 Phil McKenna, Insideclimatenews.org , , , ,
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...

Energy Commons: From Energy Transition To Climate Justice

July 18, 2019 Cécile Blanchet, Roarmag.org ,
Viewing energy as a common-held resource, rather than a privately-owned commodity, directly links production to consumption and re-engages our liability as energy users. In 2019, only oil lobbyists and shabby orange politicians persist in denying the influence of human activities on the Earth’s climate. Scientific evidence is piling up and we know that we must change our ways. The concept of energy transition has become mainstream. However, governments have remained remarkably motionless.

Yes, We Can Resolve The Climate Crisis

July 8, 2019 David Suzuki, Davidsuzuki.org , ,
Clean-energy technologies, including energy-storage methods, are improving as costs are dropping. Exciting new inventions like artificial photosynthesis, machines that remove atmospheric carbon to create fuels and windows that convert light to electricity show what people are capable of when we put our minds to resolving challenges. It’s critical that we continue to develop, deploy and scale up solutions, so why are we still mired in outdated ways and business as usual? For decades, experts have been warning about the consequences of rapidly burning fossil fuels, yet greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise as the planet heats up faster.

New Study: We Have To Stop Building CO2-emitting Infrastructure Now

July 6, 2019 Lloyd Alter, Treehugger. , ,
A new study was just released, titled Committed emissions from existing energy infrastructure jeopardize 1.5 °C climate target, that concludes: ...our emission estimates suggest that little or no additional CO2-emitting infrastructure can be commissioned, and that infrastructure retirements that are earlier than historical ones (or retrofits with carbon capture and storage technology) may be necessary, in order to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals. In summary, this means that just maintaining the status quo, the stuff that is running now, the fossil fuel extraction going on right now, is more than enough to put CO2 levels high enough to end any chances of limiting warming to 1.5 C. And any planned infrastructure investments (like the big new pipeline in Canada) have to be shelved immediately.

As Reactors Shut In Massachusetts And Pennsylvania, Nuke War Rages In Ohio And New York

May 20, 2019 Harvey Wasserman, Intrepidreport.com ,
As the nuke power industry slumps toward oblivion, two huge reactors are shutting in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The shutdowns are a body blow to atomic energy. The soaring costs of the decayed US reactor fleet have forced them to beg gerrymandered state legislatures for huge bailouts. Just two US reactors are still being built. Stuffed with $12 billion in interest-free federal loans, Georgia’s Vogtle is nearing a staggering $30 billion in cost. Years behind schedule, the lowest possible costs of whatever electricity the two reactors there might produce already far exceed wind and solar.

Washington Commits To 100% Clean Energy And Other States May Follow Suit

May 9, 2019 Phil McKenna, Insideclimatenews.org , , ,
In the absence of federal action on climate change, more states are setting ambitious targets to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Washington became the latest on Tuesday when Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law requiring that 100 percent of the state's electricity come from clean energy sources by 2045. Washington is now the fifth state or territory—following Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Puerto Rico—to commit to 100 percent clean electricity, and at least six other states are considering similar legislation.

Uncertain Futures Are A Warning For World To Act As One

March 17, 2019 Tim Radford, Climate News Network. , ,
London − US scientists have peered ahead in more than five million ways, and they do not like the uncertain futures they see there. Unless the world collectively and in concert takes drastic steps to slow or halt global warming, generations to come face an intolerable prospect. And even if humans do switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, economise on resources and restore the world’s forests and grasslands, there is still no guarantee that disaster will not happen. That is because the outcome depends not just on the steps humans take now, but on one of the great, unresolved scientific questions: just how sensitive is climate to shifts in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

The Financial Secret Behind Germany’s Green Energy Revolution

January 26, 2019 Ellen Brown, Truthdig.com , ,
The “Green New Deal” endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D.-N.Y., and more than 40 other House members has been criticized as imposing a too-heavy burden on the rich and upper-middle-class taxpayers who will have to pay for it. However, taxing the rich is not what the Green New Deal resolution proposes. It says funding would come primarily from certain public agencies, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and “a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks.” Funding through the Federal Reserve may be controversial, but establishing a national public infrastructure and development bank should be a no-brainer.

More Than 600 Groups Tell Congress To Build Green Economy

January 11, 2019 Friends of the Earth. , , ,
Washington, D.C. – More than 600 environmental groups today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to pursue ambitious climate legislation that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. The groups’ letter calls for a thoughtful phaseout of fossil fuel production, a transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, complete decarbonization of the transportation system, use of the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, a just transition to a new green economy and the adherence to treaties upholding Indigenous rights when pursuing these actions.

Portland Now Generates Electricity From Turbines Installed In City Water Pipes

January 4, 2019 By Rafi Schwartz, Money.good.is , ,
You’d be forgiven if the phrase “Portland goes green with innovative water pipes” doesn’t immediately call to mind thoughts of civil engineering and hydro-electric power. And yet, that’s exactly what Oregon’s largest city has done by partnering with a company called Lucid Energy to generate clean electricity from the water already flowing under its streets and through its pipes. Portland has replaced a section of its existing water supply network with Lucid Energy pipes containing four forty-two inch turbines. As water flows through the pipes, the turbines spin and power attached generators, which then feed energy back into the city’s electrical grid. Known as the “Conduit 3 Hydroelectric Project,” Portland’s new clean energy source is scheduled to be up and running at full capacity in March.

Fossil Fuel Money Crushed Clean Energy Ballot Initiatives Across The Country

November 8, 2018 By David Roberts, Vox.com , , ,
Most eyes Tuesday night were on the key House, Senate, and governor races — and Democrats had a mixed night, taking the House but watching as newfound heroes Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum went down to defeat. But there were several climate change- and energy-related ballot initiatives up for a vote across the country as well. For the most part, they did not go well for fans of clean energy. The ones that utilities and oil and gas companies mobilized and spent big against lost. After being boxed out of climate and energy policy at the federal level, the left has turned to states, but at least last night, the states did not deliver much good news.

That $3 Trillion-A-Year Clean Energy Transformation? It’s Already Underway.

October 15, 2018 By Phil McKenna, Insideclimatenews.org ,
To keep global warming in check, the world will have to invest an average of around $3 trillion a year over the next three decades in transforming its energy supply systems, a new United Nations climate science report says. It won't be cheap, but it's also a change that's already underway. Much of that investment is money that would be spent on energy systems anyway. Instead of continuing to invest it in fossil fuel-based energy that worsens global warming and can harm human health, the report provides a pathway for shifting those investments to clean energy. The landmark report, released Oct. 8 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sums up years of research into the risks to people and ecosystems if global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, and it looks at how to stop that from happening.

What Will it Take to Avert Collapse?

September 28, 2018 By Richard Heinberg and David Fridley, Resilience.org , ,
A lot of people are asking the question these days—including serious folks who work full-time on climate and energy policy. How can the world’s nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to forestall climate catastrophe, without undermining either the global economy (which is still 85 percent dependent on fossil fuels) or the hopes of billions of people in poorer countries to raise their economic prospects through “development”—which historically has depended on increasing per capita energy usage? The United Nations has passed this vexing question along to the global climate science community as a formal request to write a Special Report providing “feasible” pathways to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius while supporting economic growth and meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Energy Efficiency Can Address Climate Change, Drive Prosperity, And Strengthen National Security

September 21, 2018 Staff, Rmi.org , , ,
Rocky Mountain Institute, Basalt, Colorado, 18 September 2018—Distinguished American energy expert Amory Lovins today published what may be the most important findings for climate change since Lord Nicholas Stern published “The Economics of Climate Change” in 2007. Current climate change thinking argues that the world has to use energy at least 3% more productively each year in order to stay below 2 degrees. Amory Lovins argues that the world’s ability to sustain such rapid savings (slightly above the 2015 peak of 2.8%/y) is far greater—and can prove even more profitable—than had been thought. In the paper, titled “How Big Is the Energy Efficiency Resource?”, Lovins shows that the potential for energy efficiency has been massively understated and its cost overstated...

The Global Fossil Fuel Divestment And Clean Energy Investment Movement

September 19, 2018 Staff, Arabellaadvisors.com , ,
Since its launch by students as a moral call to climate action in 2011, the fossil fuel divestment campaign has become a mainstream financial movement mobilizing trillions of dollars in support of the clean energy transition. Commitments to divest continue to grow rapidly: Today, nearly 1,000 institutional investors with $6.24 trillion in assets have committed to divest from fossil fuels, up from $52 billion four years ago—an increase of 11,900 percent. The primary drivers of this recent growth are insurers, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds. The insurance sector continues to divest more than any other sector, having committed to divest over $3 trillion in assets.
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