Energy

We Need Public Control Of Our Energy Systems

September 4, 2021 Thomas M. Hanna, In These Times. Create! climate crisis, Community Control, Energy, Natural Disasters

When natural disasters like Hurricane Ida occur, policymakers often wave away the damage and devastation as an unavoidable “act of god” (to use common insurance language). However, these types of response ignore deep structural deficiencies and inequities in the way critical infrastructure systems are often designed and operated in the United States. Specifically, they obscure the role of private, for-profit ownership and control of these services.

Greenwashing, Subsidies And Carbon Pricing

August 31, 2021 Will Dubitsky, Green Transition. Educate! Carbon Capture, climate crisis, Energy, greenwashing

There is a growing chorus in favour of carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) by fossil fuel firms and governments. In brief, CCS technologies capture emissions from fossil fuel extraction and production. The captured emissions are buried in no longer economically viable oil or gas wells to render them productive once more over a longer period of time. For spent oil wells, this is known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). One of the reasons many of the oil and gas majors are on the bandwagon for a price on carbon is because they believe that a high carbon price would render CCS “economically viable,” provided CCS is accompanied by outrageous government subsidies. Considering CCS removal of carbon comes to about US$120/U.S. ton, a high carbon price would allow the industry to pursue business-as-usual, while concurrently appearing to be committed to a green economy.

How Central Banks Are Fueling The Climate Crisis

August 25, 2021 Oil Change International. Educate! Banks, Climate Change, Energy, Finance and the Economy

Central banks could play a critical role in catalyzing the rapid shift of financial flows away from oil, fossil gas, and coal. However, to date, central banks have instead tinkered at the edges. With a few isolated exceptions – such as decisions by the French and Swiss central banks to partially exclude coal from their asset portfolios – central bank activity on carbon pollution and the climate crisis has been limited primarily to measures to increase financial market transparency.

Biddeford, Maine Fights Urban Heating

August 21, 2021 Lori Valigra and Priyanka Runwal, Bangor Daily News. Create! climate crisis, Energy, Global Warming, Urban Design

Biddeford, Maine — Duane Dennison knows more than most about the effects of hotter summers and heat lingering into the night: He lives near the Saco River in a tent community of about 20 people experiencing homelessness. As temperatures soared into the mid-90s Aug. 12, the 61-year-old painter sought relief at the Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center, which offers air conditioning, snacks and a place to socialize for up to 30 people at a time. His options to cool off in the summer are the cooling shelter, swimming in the river or hanging out at the local supermarket’s meat department. “It’s harder in summer than the winter,” Dennison said of trying to stay comfortable outside. Like many other Maine cities, Biddeford is regularly experiencing temperatures far higher than surrounding suburban and rural areas.

Canadian Doctors Group Erects Anti-LNG Billboard

August 14, 2021 Stefan Labbé, Coast Reporter. Resist! climate crisis, Energy, health, Methane

A group of doctors and nurses have launched an aggressive billboard campaign targeting BC Ferries for burning liquefied natural gas — or LNG — a largely methane mixture they say is threatening human health and the world’s climate system. Dr. Melissa Lem, a Vancouver family physician and president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), says the campaign was partly in response to advertisements on some BC Ferries trumpeting the clean potential of natural gas. “They have these massive billboards that tout the clean natural gas,” says Lem. “What’s feeding their ferries is also hurting people's health up north.” Of BC Ferries’ 35 vessels, five burn LNG, and the gas is expected to play an important role as the fleet moves away from marine diesel and toward several LNG-electric hybrids.

Study: ‘Blue Hydrogen’ In Bipartisan Plan More Polluting Than Coal

August 13, 2021 Jenna McGuire, Common Dreams. Educate! climate crisis, Energy, Hydrogen, pollution

While celebrated as a climate victory by the Biden administration, the large infrastructure bill passed in the U.S. Senate this week includes billions of dollars of funding toward "blue hydrogen," which new research published Thursday finds is more polluting than coal. The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure package passed Tuesday includes $8 billion to develop "clean hydrogen" via the creation of four regional hubs. The White House claims that the bill is in step with President Joe Biden's climate goals and advocates of hydrogen energy champion it as a low-emissions alternative for various uses such as fuel shipping, trucking, aviation, and heating. But new research published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering finds that the carbon footprint to create blue hydrogen is more than 20% greater than using either natural gas or coal directly for heat, or about 60% greater than using diesel oil for heat.

Nature’s Own Fuel Could Save Us From Greenhouse Effect

July 31, 2021 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Climate Change, Energy, Environment

In an effort to fill that vacuum, a recent initiative in California is exploring different hemp varieties and growing techniques, in the first extensive growing trials for hemp fiber and grain in the state since the 1990s. The project is a joint effort among the World Cannabis Foundation, hemp wholesaler Hemp Traders, and Oklahoma-based processor Western Fiber. The Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute, a nonprofit that supports research into organic farming, has also partnered on a USDA-supported research project on the use of hemp in the development of biochar (charcoal produced by firing biomass in the absence of oxygen).

Climate Campaigners Hold ‘Tug-Of-War’ In Front Of Leinster House

July 31, 2021 Kayle Crosson and Sam Starkey, Green News. Resist! Climate Change, Energy, Protests

Protesters gathered before the Dail today and staged a “tug-of-war” to highlight fracked gas imports and the climate implications of data centres. Members of Extinction Rebellion Ireland dressed as representatives of tech companies as part of their campaign, holding the rope on one end during a tug-of-war while children pulled on the other.

Global Call On Banks To Stop Financing Fossil Fuels

July 26, 2021 Fossil Banks No Thanks!. Resist! climate crisis, Energy, Finance and the Economy, Fossil Fuel

To stop the world descending into full climate chaos, the continued burning of fossil fuels must be brought to an end as soon as possible. Even burning all coal, oil, and gas reserves already in production will push global temperature rise far beyond 1.5°C and likely beyond 2°C, the stated goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. This leaves no space for further exploration or extraction, yet many fossil fuel companies plan to vastly expand their operations, posing a true existential threat to people and planet.

Kayaktivists Are Working To Permanently Close Coal Power Plant

July 25, 2021 Michael Towfighi, Concord Monitor. Resist! climate crisis, Coal, Energy, New Hampshire

Julie Macuga paints two scenes when describing the Merrimack River – the first as a scenic site, where kayakers and canoers alike can float in nature. The second image is an ugly industrial site crowding the waterway with tall, brown smokestacks spewing clouds of carbon, polluting the water and air. “It’s this beautiful place and it’s juxtaposed with this horrible coal plant,” she said. Macuga was one of a group of protesters who paddled up and down the river on Wednesday in protest of the Merrimack Station power plant in Bow. Just after the sun came up, she and eleven other “kayakativists” from the campaign No Coal No Gas took to the river at 6 a.m. in their latest demonstration in hopes of shutting down the plant. The coal stack burned as the group sang and chanted, paddling up and floating back down in front of the plant.

The Power Plant Of The Future Is Right In Your Home

July 22, 2021 Daniel Oberhaus, Wired. Create! Energy, Environment, Science and technology

Basalt Vista is designed to be an all-electric community that produces as much power as it uses. Each home comes outfitted with an electric vehicle charger in the garage, a large battery pack in the basement, and a roof covered with solar panels. The homes are linked together as a microgrid, a self-contained electricity distribution network that can operate independently of the regional electric grid. Their energy systems work together to balance the energy load across the neighborhood—the solar panels harvest energy, plugged in EVs can store electricity as needed, and large battery packs can supply power when the sun isn’t shining.

Tribe Is Now An Owner Of The Power Grid

July 14, 2021 Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today. Create! Clean Energy, Energy, Indigenous Rights

A news release includes some almost hidden news. The lede: “Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, has completed its West of Devers transmission lines.” The company said the deal was important because it added more power, renewable and battery energy storage to serve Southern California. And, as Kevin Payne, the utility’s president put it, the new lines will make it easier to distribute “energy resources like rooftop solar and battery energy storage” and “will contribute to decarbonizing our electric infrastructure, large-scale generation and reliable delivery of renewable energy will be vital to achieving California’s ambitious climate goals.” OK so far. Reading further down it’s clear that a tribe is involved with the project.

Pennsylvania Town Battles To Shut Down Toxic Waste-To-Energy Plant

July 13, 2021 Melinda Tuhus, Between The Lines. Resist! Energy, Environment, Pennsylvania, pollution

So-called waste-to-energy plants are the waste management industry’s way of describing toxic incinerators that burn trash and leave extremely toxic ash containing dioxin, mercury, arsenic and more. The Covanta incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania, is the largest one of its kind in the U.S. Chester is a low-income community near Philadelphia, with a population of 33,000 people, 72 percent of whom are African American.

Hijacking The Recovery Through Hydrogen

July 9, 2021 Fossil Free Politics. Educate! COVID-19, Energy, European Union (EU), Finance and the Economy

EU Covid-19 recovery funds are supposed to drive the ‘green transition’ and move us beyond fossil fuels – but industry lobbying at both national and EU level has ensured oil and gas firms and utilities remain some of the biggest beneficiaries in Italy, the Spanish State, Portugal and France. The European Commission has said it wanted to avoid giving billions in bailouts to the fossil fuel industry. Despite sending mixed signals, to its credit, in these four cases it has tried to exclude direct financing for fossil fuel projects, including controversial carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the hugely outsized role for hydrogen and renewable gases in national recovery plans has thrown a lifeline to the fossil fuel firms involved, as well as their main product: fossil gas.

Is Alternative Energy The Best Solution To Climate Catastrophe?

July 7, 2021 Don Fitz, Popular Resistance. Create! Capitalism, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Energy

The world is threatened with environmental disaster and capitalists hope to make a killing off of it. Fossil fuel (FF) companies claim they are “environmentally friendly.” Other corporations promote nuclear energy, hydro-power (dams), and solar and wind power as the best energy alternatives. Yet environmentalists have known for decades that reduction of useless and harmful energy is the “greenest” form of energy available. Over 50 years ago, the first Earth Day recognized this with the slogan “Reduce; Reuse; Recycle.” Today, corporate “environmentalism” chants “Recycle; Occasionally Reuse; and, Never Utter ‘Reduce.’” Even mentioning the word “reduce” can be met with howls of derision that “Reduction means ‘austerity,’” as if any type of collective self-control would plunge the world into depths of suffering.

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