'Alternative' energy and less energy

A realistic ‘energy transition’ is to get better at using less of it

22/02/23

Author:

Richard Heinberg

Link:

A parabolic solar cooker with segmented construction

Sane, logical article about a green transition. It mentions "systemic roadblocks" at one point, but fails to consider what is surely the largest--our dominant, global, for-profit, eternal-growth economic system.Which is not to argue that a post-capitalist system will make the green transition a piece of cake. Even with genuine democratic social and economic planning, we'll still need to "get better at using less."

-- Gene McGuckin

Feb. 17, 2023

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Risk of ‘death spiral’ for Enbridge increases: rate hike application

22/02/23

Author:

John Woodside

Link:

National Observer

Death Spiral - Illustration by Ata Ojani

Feb. 22, 2023

Fossil fuel giant Enbridge faces the risk of a “death spiral” as the energy transition to renewables unfolds, according to evidence the company filed with the Ontario regulator. A death spiral could occur when customers, fed up with the increasing costs of gas, switch to cleaner and cheaper sources of energy.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

‘Monster profits’ for energy giants reveal a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence

11/02/23

Author:

Oliver Milman

Link:

The Guardian

Offshore oil and gas production in the Cook Inlet oilfield of Alaska. Photograph: PA Lawrence, LLC./Alamy

Feb. 9. 2023

Last year’s combined $200bn profit for the ‘big five’ oil and gas companies brings little hope of driving down emissions

While 2022 inflicted hardship upon many people around the world due to soaring inflation, climate-driven disasters and war, the year was lucrative on an unprecedented scale for the fossil fuel industry, with the five largest western oil and gas companies alone making a combined $200bn in profits.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Mining companies eye critical minerals in Quebec boreal forest, raising carbon release concerns

09/02/23

Author:

Stephane Blais

Link:

National Observer

An unidentified watercourse is seen in Nemaska, James Bay region in Northern Quebec on October 25, 2022. File photo by The Canadian Press/Stephane Blais

Feb. 8, 2023

About one million square kilometres of Quebec is covered by boreal forest, roughly 70 per cent of the entire province. In the north, where ecosystems are less likely to have been altered by human activity, those forests have been accumulating and sequestering immense quantities of carbon for centuries.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Weighing the harm of gasoline against lithium

08/02/23

Author:

Barry Saxifrage

Link:

National Observer

Feb. 8, 2023

More than a billion tonnes of climate pollution pours out American tailpipes every year. For scale, that's more than the combined emissions from the 100 least-polluting nations.

Ending this gargantuan climate pollution disaster will require a sharp increase in new lithium extraction to build the zero-emission alternatives — battery electric vehicles. A new report by the University of California, Davis and the Climate and Community Project (CCP) reveals just how much more lithium will be needed.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

US renewable energy farms outstrip 99% of coal plants economically – study

05/02/23

Author:

Oliver Milman

Link:

The Guardian

The plummeting cost of energy has been supercharged by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA

Jan. 30, 2023

It is cheaper to build solar panels or cluster of wind turbines and connect them to the grid than to keep operating coal plants

Coal in the US is now being economically outmatched by renewables to such an extent that it’s more expensive for 99% of the country’s coal-fired power plants to keep running than it is to build an entirely new solar or wind energy operation nearby, a new analysis has found.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Building a Movement for Climate Justice

04/02/23

Author:

Phil Gasper

Link:

New Politics

Website editor: An interesting interview

Winter 2023 (New Politics Vol. XIX No. 2, Whole Number 74)

An Interview with Alyssa Battistoni

Alyssa Battistoni teaches political theory at Barnard College. She is the co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso 2019) and is currently writing a book titled Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. Phil Gasper spoke with Alyssa on behalf of the New Politics editorial board on November 4, 2022.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

The Energy Transition Confronts Reality

30/01/23

Author:

Daniel Yergin

Link:

Project Syndicate

Jan. 23, 2023

Given the scale and complexity of the transition away from hydrocarbons, some worry that economic analysis has been given short shrift in the policy planning process. A clear-eyed assessment of the transition's prospects requires a deeper understanding of at least four major challenges.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Zero-emission steel won’t happen without trade-offs, scientists say

30/01/23

Author:

Erin Blakemore

Link:

Washington Post

At least 73 green steel projects are in progress, researchers say. But zero-emission steel production is not a done deal yet. (iStock)

Jan. 28, 2023

Cars. Toasters. Paper clips. The buildings we live in and the machines we use rely on one of the most polluting industries on Earth: steel. Production of the iron-based alloy is responsible for some 7 to 9 percentof human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. But according to a new analysis, committing to zero-emission steel will also require committing to less steel overall.

Read the full article.

Category:

'Alternative' energy and less energy

Climate Change

Social