Energy

14/01/14
Author: 
Suzanne Goldenberg
Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, speaks during an interview in New York, U.S., on 13 January, 2014. Photograph: Scott Eells/Getty Images

The United Nations climate chief has urged global financial institutions to triple their investments in clean energy to reach the $1 trillion a year mark that would help avert a climate catastrophe. In an interview with the Guardian, the UN's Christiana Figueres urged institutions to begin building the foundations of a clean energy economy by scaling up their investments.

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07/01/14
Author: 
David Shukman
David Shukman watches one of China's giant wind farms take shape

China has embarked on the greatest push for renewable energy the world has ever seen. A key element involves more than doubling the number of wind turbines in the next six years. Already the world's largest producer of wind power, China plans further massive increases. From a current installed capacity of 75 gigawatts (GW), the aim is to achieve a staggering 200GW by 2020. By contrast, the European Union countries together have just over 90GW of installed wind capacity. The far western province of Xinjiang is one of seven areas designated for wind development.

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09/01/14
Author: 
Richard Smith
Jared Rodriguez Truthout

The results are in: No amount of "green capitalism" will be able to ensure the profound changes we must urgently make to prevent the collapse of civilization from the catastrophic impacts of global warming. The following is an updated version of an article that originally was published in the Real-World Economics Review. We consider Richard Smith's article foundational to understanding the world we live in.

08/04/13
Author: 
Steve Horn
twicepix

Every day, the news about climate change and the harms that are sure to accompany it gets worse and worse. To many environmentalists, the answer is simple: power shift. That is, shift from fossil fuels to clean, green, renewable, alternative energy. Well-meaning concerned citizens and activists have jumped on the bandwagon.

25/12/13
Author: 
Dr Jim Green

This year has been the nuclear power industry's annus horribilis and the nuclear renaissance can now be pronounced stone cold dead. Nuclear power suffered its biggest ever one-year fall in 2012 - nuclear generation fell 7% from the 2011 figure. Nuclear generation fell in no less than 17 countries, including all of the top five nuclear-generating countries.

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19/12/13
Author: 
Britney Shultz

With climate change concerns on the table, proponents push nuclear power as a "clean" energy. But the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown provides one of many reasons why nuclear energy should be examined more closely. It's been nearly three years since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, but its effects are still being felt in Japan and elsewhere in the world.

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22/11/10
Author: 
Tim Garrett

Nov. 22, 2009 - In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. "It looks unlikely that there will be any substantial near-term departure from recently observed acceleration in carbon dioxide emission rates," says the new paper by Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences.

16/11/13
Author: 
Daniel Tenser
Gas and Oil

Canada no longer knows how to sell anything to the world except oil and gas. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but if things keep going the way they are, it won't be for long. StatsCan’s latest numbers on Canada’s trade balance, released Thursday, look positive on the face of it: Exports and imports both grew, and Canada’s trade deficit with the world shrank by more than half, to $435 million. But dig a little deeper into the data, and what you see is a story of two different export sectors.

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14/11/13
Author: 
Simon Butler

The gulf between the science and the politics of climate change has never been wider. Consider the Arctic ice cap, which has lost half its volume in the five years from 2005. Experts say the Arctic ice cap is now in a “death spiral”. The region is warming two to four times faster than the global average. If the ice cap melts, it will trigger two even more serious climate disasters: the melting of Greenland’s huge ice sheet and the release of methane gas from thawing Arctic soils and seabeds.

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