Hydroelectric

By Joshua Frank

Top 3 Pieces of Good Green Energy News this Year

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The climate crisis is the most serious challenge facing our globe, and it is natural to do some doom-scrolling about how we are failing to make the necessary changes fast enough to avoid catastrophe. But as climate scientist Michael E. Mann argues, concentrating on the negative actually promotes apathy and […]

Climate Crisis

In First, Britain Likely Generated more Electricity from Wind/Water/Hydro than Fossil Fuels in 2023

The Conversation

By Grant Wilson, University of Birmingham; Joseph Day, University of Birmingham; and Katarina Pegg | – There are many milestones to pass in the transition from a high to low-carbon sustainable energy system. There is the first hour without coal, or oil, or gas generation (or all of them together) and the point when the […]

Batteries

With Biden’s IRA Incentives, Companies plan 145 Gigawatts of New Clean Energy in US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new report by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) says that in the second quarter the industry rebounded from the slight dip in new green energy in the first quarter, attributed to supply chain problems and tariff difficulties. Impressive strides were made in the most recent quarter, with over […]

Climate Crisis

Renewable Energy poised to overtake Coal, Providing 1/3 of Global Electricity: IEA

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The International Energy Agency’s report on electricity markets is out and it has some good news. Depending on how cold the winters are, the IEA expects renewable sources of energy to outstrip coal in 2024, and forever thereafter. It calls this change “structural.” That is, it isn’t a blip or […]

Climate Crisis

Humanity put out more C02 than Ever Before last Year, but Green Energy Kept the Annual Increase Small

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This is a bad news, good news story. Cathy Bussewitz at the Associated Press reports that carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2022, of 36.8 gigatons. That is more CO2 spewed into the atmosphere by humanity in just one year than ever before. CO2 emissions were up nearly […]

Climate Crisis

Shrinking Glaciers threaten Chinese and Indian Energy Transitions

The Third Pole

By Alok Gupta ( Third Pole ) – As glaciers shrink and monsoon rainfall becomes more unpredictable due to climate change, uncertainty around the viability of hydropower projects in the Hindu Kush Himalayas is increasing. A recent study on the state of a glacier on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau raises questions about the region’s long-term water supply and […]

Batteries

Rapid Move to Wind and Solar Power would Save the world $12 Trillion: Oxford Study

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of power by 2050 will save the world $12 trillion, according to a new study published in Joule by Oxford researchers Rupert Way, Matthew C. Ives, Penny Mealy, and J. Doyne Farmer. Oxford’s press release points out that the paper foresees […]

China

Death Knell for Big Carbon? Globally, All New Electricity Demand was Met by Renewables in first 1/2 of ’22, with Fossil Fuels Flat

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the first half of 2022, there was no increase in the world’s use of fossil fuels, and all new electricity demand was met by renewables. The world is nearing a tipping point, estimated by the International Energy Agency to come in 2025, after which all new electricity demand will […]