How Land under Solar Panels can Contribute to Food Security
Beneath some solar arrays, pollinator-friendly plants, fruits, vegetables and forage are cropping up in place of turfgrass or gravel.
Energy featured
Is the decline of coal a national security problem?
American coal country has seen hard days as utilities abandon coal for cheaper, less carbon-intensive natural gas and renewables. The Trump administration, trying to make good on a campaign promise to rejuvenate the coal industry, is attempting yet again to revive demand for coal by labeling coal-fired power plants as essential to national security.
Site C: A Shakespearean Tragedy of BC Politics
If Shakespeare had been a Canadian, he would have written plays about the tragedy of dams and their power-crazed political proponents. King Lear, for example, would have championed the nasty works of his engineering offspring while ignoring the true love of his river-keeping daughter.
A Win for the Oil Companies: No Actionable Tort(ure) was Found
Judge Alsup has spoken. Chevron, ExxonMobil and other of the world’s oil companies, large and small, are breathing easier as a result of his dismissal of the City of Oakland and the People of the State of California v BP P.L.C. et al.
Derailed Oil Train Spills 230,000 Gallons of Tar Sands in Flooded Iowa River
On June 22, a train carrying Canadian crude oil derailed in northwestern Iowa, releasing an estimated 230,000 gallons of oil into a flooded river. As a result of the derailment, over 30 rail tank cars ended up in the water, with 14 cars confirmed to have leaked oil.
Energy: A Human History – a Slim Slice of History and Science
Rhodes tells an engaging tale of energy transitions over some 500 years. Yet the limitations in his field of view become critical in the book’s concluding chapter, when he reveals which particular axe he is especially eager to grind.
Carbon Taxes: Worth the Price of Emissions?
The gathering coalition of interests willing to support imposition of a national carbon tax is impressive. Most impressive—perhaps—is the willingness of so many Republicans to stand up and be counted as and with climate defenders.
Scotland Promotes Local, Shared Ownership of Renewable Energy Infrastructure
In 2011, the Scottish government established the policy goal to dramatically reduce its reliance on nonrenewable energy sources. In 2015, the 500 MW target of local renewable energy capacity was achieved. This target may not have been ambitious, but the support base is there to greatly exceed it.
In-Depth: BP’s Global Data for 2017 Shows Record Highs for Coal and Renewables
Carbon Brief runs through the 2018 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, which, for the first time, covers all sources of electricity and the key materials needed for electric vehicles.
How $6 Trillion of Fossil Fuel Investments Got Dumped Thanks to Green Campaigners
It has become one of the fastest growing political campaigns in human history, surpassing similar battles against the tobacco industry and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Its logic is simple: the only way to avoid climate change and dangerous levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is for most fossil fuel reserves to stay in the ground.
Why It Matters If Fracking Companies Are Overestimating Their ‘Proved’ Oil and Gas Reserves
Under the updated SEC rules, which went into effect in 2009, drillers can count oil and gas from wells that won’t be drilled or fracked for up to five years as part of their proved reserves. Those as-yet-untapped wells can be put on a company’s books as a subset of their “proved” reserves, listed under the label “proved undeveloped” reserves.
Our Energy Challenge in 6 Eye-Popping Charts
And the big picture? Despite 25 years of global climate policy-making, decarbonisation rates are not even close to what is required.
