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May 24, 2012
Limits We are Reaching – Oil, Debt, and Others
Image via This in MONEY.co.uk.
The world is clearly reaching many limits. From peak oil to debt crises, limits seem to be dominating the headlines. What other limits are the human and natural systems reaching now? [read more]
May 23, 2012
Audio Archive: Avoiding the Clean Tech Crash
Avoiding the Clean Tech Crash:Can Renewable Energy Achieve Subsidy Independence? Federal clean tech funding is poised to decline 75 percent by 2014 compared to 2009, according to a recent report from a diverse group of think tanks titled "Beyond... [read more]
May 23, 2012
Bioenergy From Cleared Forests A Climate Killer
What are the climate-change ramifications of clearing away forests? In a finding that could influence how climatologists forecast the pace of global warming – and that strike a blow against some forms of bioenergy – UC Davis researchers say it all depends on what’s done with the wood taken out of... [read more]
Climate Negotiators Open a New Round
A new round of climate talks opened this week in Bonn, Germany, with the ambitious goal of reaching a comprehensive legal agreement “applicable to all Parties” by 2015.Countries agreed to launch the new round last December in Durban, South... [read more]
Are Canada's oil sands to blame for rising atmospheric CO2?
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, NASA climate scientist James Hansen again puts forward his very compelling argument for strong action on limiting global CO2 emissions. He argues that Canadian oil sands is illustrative of an ongoing global trend to extract or mine increasingly challenging reserves of oil, gas and coal and bring them to market, a behaviour that could mean "game over for the climate". [read more]
If a Butterfly Flaps Its Wings in California, Will the Smart Grid Deploy Faster?
The Butterfly Effect is a part of popular culture. It essentially states that if, when, and where a butterfly flaps its wings activates a chain of reactions that culminate in a big weather event like a hurricane or tornado in some distant part... [read more]
Study: E15 Could Put Some Engines at Risk
More on the potential risk to America’s car and truck fleet posed by E15 – gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol that has EPA approval: Just-released research indicates that more than 5 million existing cars and light trucks, which EPA says are OK... [read more]
326 consecutive months of above average global temperatures
Paul Volcker may have $3 billion of “I told you so” J.P. Morgan Chase losses to point to. Al Gore has 326 months, and counting. Somehow I doubt either feels gleeful, although I wouldn’t blame them:April was the 326th month in a row the global temperature was above average when compared with the 20th century:The last time the globe had a... [read more]
Brazil's first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant
Cellulosic biomass technology developer GraalBio is planning to help build Brazil's biorefinery industry with a R$300m ($146m) investment of a new 22m gallons/year cellulosic ethanol plant to be constructed in Alagoas using sugarcane bagasse and straw for initial feedstock.GraalBio is also developing a new type of cost-competitive... [read more]
Can the US Military Afford More Biofuels?
Last week the US House of Representatives passed the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act by a wide, bi-partisan margin. It included two controversial provisions relating to energy that will presumably be debated when the Senate Armed Services Committee takes up the bill this week. Sections 313 and 314 would exempt the... [read more]
Captured CO2 + Geothermal = Ultra-Clean Power
image via Shutterstock
In a novel combination of carbon sequestration used in conjunction with geothermal power production, a South Dakota geothermal firm will use sequestered carbon dioxide instead of geothermal fluids to produce geothermal power.Rapid City-based Heat Mining Company can use the carbon dioxide captured in carbon capture and... [read more]
Gregory Jaczko’s Parting Message: Fukushima Was “A Wake-Up Call”
Image via Nuclearstreet.com
Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, announced his resignation this week, but he is still making pointed comments about the need to strengthen regulations to ensure nuclear power plants are safer.“I think the Fukushima event was a wake-up call, hopefully for everyone,” Jaczko said in a news conference today... [read more]
Startup Act 2.0 Even Better Than 1.0
Yesterday, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mark Warner (D-VA) unveiled the Startup Act 2.0, bipartisan legislation that builds on the Startup Act introduced by Senators Moran and Warner last December. The new variant – which the Senators describe at length in a Politico piece – includes key... [read more]
New Nuclear Technology and Nuclear Proliferation.
During World War II the United States spent a large amount of money on developing nuclear technology. Much of that investment went into industrial systems designed to separate U-235 from U-238, or to transform U-238 into Pu-239. Here such systems were built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, My childhood hometown. The Uranium separation... [read more]
The new Energy Bill is everything the UK doesn't want
The draft Energy Bill, published today, will do nothing to help energy efficiency or make it easier for new renewable energy companies to enter the market place. It is too complicated, biased towards the Big Six, gas and nuclear, and still contains many uncertainties. Even the Institute of Directors thinks so. Corin Taylor, its Senior... [read more]
Stop-Gap Energy vs. Stable Energy
Scroll down a bit in this wrap-up of last weekend’s G8 Summit from The Hill newspaper, and you’ll see that the president and other G8 leaders hinted that they might ask for a draw on the world’s oil reserves to offset disruptions in supply from Iran. Their statement:“There have been increasing disruptions in the supply of oil to the... [read more]
Report Shows Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline Will Raise Gas Prices and Cut Midwest Oil Supplies
Despite all the industry hype over jobs and purported energy security benefits from building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline—benefits a Brooklyn bridge-builder could propose—a new report shows the mammoth Canadian tar sands pipeline will cut the amount of gasoline produced in the U.S. and... [read more]
EV Scooter Dials Down Power, Range For Value
High-performance electric vehicles (EV) generally grab the headlines, since the idea of an EV going fast is still enough of a surprise that the people tend to sit up and take notice when one comes along.Even so, while souped-up EVs stir up plenty of online chatter this doesn’t often translate to sales. Largely because making a high-... [read more]
Where the Shale Gas Revolution Came From
The ongoing shale gas boom has expanded domestic energy production, pushed wholesale electricity prices to record lows, and accelerated the closure of America's aging coal plant fleet, lowering national power-sector carbon emissions. This revolution in natural gas -- unleashed by a flood of recently accessible shale gas reserves, once... [read more]
E15's Problems Are Symptomatic of A Failing Biofuels Policy
Image via ethanolproducer.com
A new report on automobile engine durability casts further doubt on the compatibility of mid-level ethanol blends such as E15 (15% ethanol, 85% gasoline) with the existing US light-duty vehicle fleet. This raises serious questions about the federal government's current ethanol policy and who will ultimately bear its hidden costs. [read more]
Drawing the Right Conclusions from the Problems at A123
Last week A123 Systems disclosed in a Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it lost $125.0 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2012, acknowledging that these circumstances raise substantial doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern. What will this mean for the debate surrounding continued government financial support for the development of new energy technologies? [read more]
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Baby You Can Drive My (Electric) Car
Posted May 11, 2012 by Scott Edward Anderson
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Siemens develops ABS plastic alternative
Posted May 9, 2012 by Doris de Guzman
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Reduce CO2 and Slow Global Warming?
Posted April 30, 2012 by Willem Post
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WGC 2012 - 25th World Gas Conference
June 4, 2012, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Ecwatech 2012
June 4, 2012, Moscow, Russia
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Intersolar Europe
June 11, 2012, Munich, Germany
The moderated community for energy, policy, and environment professionals
What's New on
Scott Edward Anderson is a consultant, blogger, and media commentator who blogs at The Green Skeptic. More »
Marc Gunther is a writer, speaker and consultant, who focuses on business and the environment. More »
Christine Hertzog is a consultant, author, and a professional explainer focused on Smart Grid. More »
Jesse Jenkins is the director of energy and climate policy at the Breakthrough Institute. More »
Robert Rapier works in the energy industry and writes and speaks about energy and the environment. More »
Geoffrey Styles is Managing Director of GSW Strategy Group, LLC and an award-winning blogger. More »
Dan Yurman is a nuclear energy blogger and writes regularly for Fuel Cycle Week. More »
The Energy Collective
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Global JOJOBAWORLD 2012
When: Fri, 2012-05-25 09:00
Hidroenergia 2012
When: Fri, 2012-05-25 09:00
NESCO Town Hall: Security Risk Management Practices for Electric Utilities
When: Wed, 2012-05-30 13:00
Ecwatech 2012
When: Mon, 2012-06-04 09:00
WGC 2012 - 25th World Gas Conference
When: Mon, 2012-06-04 09:00
2nd CSP Optimisation Summit
When: Tue, 2012-06-05 08:00
“Cities will need to be retrofitted, as a whole. There's much work to be done. Vertical farming and other forms of energy/space/agriculture integration will be necessary to further sustain how humans live on this planet.”
“David,Reserves, potential resources and production are not interchangeable, and apocalyptic statements that depend on conflating them are thus fundamentally flawed. Your cogent analysis makes this crucial distinction well. It just needs a bigger audience.”