Renewables & efficiency – Feb 2

-Windfarm boost for north-east industry
-China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy
-Government to reward renewable energy homes with higher feed-in tariffs
-IMF plans $100bn injection into economy to fund energy efficiency
-Wind Power Grows 39% for the Year
-Powering a Green Planet: Sustainable Energy, Made Interactive

Open Letter to President Obama

Many of you watched President Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union speech…It is the position of Post Carbon Institute that the President, however well-intentioned, is overlooking critically important considerations.

In the open letter below, we call on President Obama to face reality and ask our fellow Americans to do the same. We are seeking the support and endorsement of our community…

 

What difference would Nord Stream mean to European energy supply?

The plans to build the politically and environmentally controversial Nord Stream pipeline have been in the air since 1997. With Finland and Sweden finally saying “yes” to the pipeline in their waters, the wheels of construction are now in full speed with the first line to be opened in the 2011. This will bring relief to Europe that is struggling with energy supply–yet not everyone is a winner.

The Peak Oil Crisis: A Meeting in California

Absent from the meeting was any representation from our political leadership who are currently busy: 1) denying there is a problem; 2) trying to spend our way out of the recession; or 3) simply overcome by the pace of events and do not want to rock the boat by speaking publically on such matters before the next election.

Richard Heinberg: Peak Coal and Blackout (book review)

Richard Heinberg is an important figure in the world of those interested in the energy crisis and its consequences, and one of the rare few, along with James Kunstler, to have had their work at least partially translated into French…His latest book, Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis, is dedicated to coal, and has aroused considerable interest, and this all the more so because it highlights a problem which had previously only been mentioned in relatively confidential reports: the imminent depletion of coal reserves.

Jeff Rubin at the The Business of Climate Change Conference 2009 (transcript added)

Jeff Rubin, the former Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets and the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller built his reputation as one of Canada’s top economists based on a number of successful predictions including the housing bust of the early 90s and the rise of oil prices. In his recent book, Mr. Rubin predicts $225 per barrel oil by 2012 and with it the end of globalization, a movement towards local sourcing and a need for massive scaling up of energy efficiency.