Renewable Energy

Review: Plan C by Pat Murphy and Small is Possible by Lyle Estill

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Pat Murphy’s Plan C is a rich treasury of practical suggestions for reducing fossil fuel consumption and fostering community cooperation—while Lyle Estill’s Small is Possible is an engrossing portrait of a small Southern town that is already taking these steps

Good organic garbage

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While this misguided attempt to make money off of high gas prices is going on, America for the most part throws its organic garbage into plastic bags that are sent to landfills, where it decays and pollutes ground waters. But what if municipalities across the country passed ordinances requiring homeowners to keep their organic garbage—paper, leaves, yard waste, kitchen scraps, and so on—separate? What if all this garbage was not discarded, but was taken to centers where it was treated with simple enzymes that turn starches into sugars, and those sugars were fermented into ethanol?

10 Steps in 10 Years to 100 Percent Renewable Power

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On July 17th, 2008, Vice President Al Gore challenged the nation to produce 100% of its electricity from renewable sources within 10 years. Post Carbon Institute has responded to Gore’s challenge by putting forward a new plan: “10 Steps in 10 Years for 100 Percent Renewable Power.” The plan shows how we can make Gore’s vision a reality, with a keen understanding of the roles that energy depletion, the vulnerabilities of the supply chain, and the limits of technology all play.

Al Gore’s fantasy energy challenge

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Gore is like Moses, who has gone to the mountaintop to receive God’s 11th commandment that thou shalt not burn fossil fuels. Unfortunately, our civilization was founded on the abundant energy fossil fuels offer. We can not simply undo that dependency in a decade as we near the top of a growth curve that was made possible by burning coal, oil and natural gas.