Climate Change

05/02/23
Author: 
Oliver Milman
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.

04/02/23
Author: 
Phil Gasper
A Planet to Win

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.

04/02/23
Author: 
Phil McKenna
Electricity pylon and power cables. Credit: Tim Graham/Getty Images

Jan. 31, 2023

Electric utilities are likely responsible for the nation’s higher than expected emissions of sulfur hexafluoride, a greenhouse gas 25,000 times worse for the climate than carbon dioxide.

While emissions of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the world’s most potent greenhouse gas, have fallen sharply in the U.S. in recent decades, actual emissions are significantly higher than the official government estimates, a new study concludes.

03/02/23
Author: 
Cathy Bussewitz
A flare burns off methane and other hydrocarbons as oil pumpjacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. File photo by The Associated Press/David Goldman

 

“The minute we release a policy," - - - - - “they’re going to jump at it with 50 lawyers and look at any loopholes, gaps, mistakes, unclear sentences.”

Feb. 1, 2023

The doors of a metal box slide open, and a drone rises over a gas well in Pennsylvania. Its mission: To find leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, so that energy companies can plug the leaks and reduce the emissions that pollute the air.

01/02/23
Author: 
Damian Carrington
Livestock lost to the drought. Ethiopia is facing the worst El Niño-induced drought in 50 years. Photo by EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid /Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Feb. 1, 2023

This story was originally published by The Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

31/01/23
Author: 
Justin McElroy
TransLink is prioritizing an expanded bus service network in its 10-year investment plan, but the cost of the overall plan is currently projected at approximately $20 billion. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Jan. 26, 2023

More buses, rapid transit to the North Shore, a gondola to SFU — and a $20 billion price tag

Metro Vancouver mayors know their $20 billion wish list for the next decade of new transit investments is a lot — but they say it's worth it. 

"We've fallen behind. Our region has grown significantly. We've experienced a lot of population growth, and our transportation and transit systems have not kept pace," said Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West.

30/01/23
Author: 
urbanizta
 A core message of transportation equity, referenced in Litman (2023). Source: Ryan “Equity and Mobility” in Transportation Talk by Ryan Martinson

Jan. 28, 2023

Looking ahead a week to February 4, 2023, we’d like to draw attention to “Transit Equity Day.”

According to avid transit commentator and analyst Nathan Davidowicz, Transit Equity Day has never been celebrated in Vancouver or British Columbia.

30/01/23
Author: 
C. P. Rajendran
The International Space Station snapped this view of earth on March 2, 2015. | Photo Credit: NASA

Jan. 28, 2023

We need to replace consumerism with “quality of life, human solidarity, and ecological sensibility”.

Much has happened in the interval that separates us from James Watson, who, by inventing the steam engine in 1784 formally marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the world’s first fossil-fuel economy. If the Anthropocene epoch had begun by now, the revolution heightened its fervour, anticipating the emergence of modern human society.

30/01/23
Author: 
Daniel Yergin
Refinery - Katja Buchholz/Getty Images

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.

30/01/23
Author: 
Erin Blakemore
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.

 

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