Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Hastings Mesa, a rural US town in the San Juan Mountains is fighting to stay off the electricity grid. This low energy testbed community is under threat just as long term energy crises begin to loom on the horizon.
Soaring oil prices have convinced governments of the need for a change in energy technology – the race to build wave and tidal stream machines is on.
Renewable energy works almost solely on the basis of using local resources, and can’t contribute efficiently to a grid in the quantities desired. What Amory Lovins knows, deep down, is that the peak of oil extraction globally will not allow for a transition to a less-intensive energy diet. His plan would have made sense three decades ago, perhaps, when global warming seemed just a theory.
The presidential candidates are touting their plans to reduce the USA’s reliance on foreign energy sources. Are the campaign promises simply running on empty?
While politicians in Washington appear to be making little headway in breaking the nation’s addiction to imported oil, California has made some real progress with innovative policies.
THE wild Atlantic sound that divides the Hebridean islands of Harris and North Uist may be bridged for the first time by a £30m structure that harnesses the power of the waves to produce electricity.
TDP turns just about anything into oil and fertilizer. And when I say “anything,” I mean that: animal waste, medical waste, human waste. Used diapers, used computers, used tires. Anything that’s not radioactive can be tossed into the hopper.
The renewable energy expert Harald Rostvik has warned of an imminent collapse in the oil and gas industries as supplies run dry.
The shingles that help to protect you from the elements could soon help to keep your lights on. Solar companies have developed light-absorbing roof tiles as a more aesthetically pleasing alternative to solar panels.
Short of radically altering America’s driving habits, the United States cannot achieve energy independence without spending billions of dollars on new initiatives. And no political consensus exists to spend those sums despite decades of promises to cut oil imports. But new plans are emerging that might sway lawmakers.
With oil reaching a record-high $54 a barrel and natural gas doubling in price in the last two years, renewable energy is looking a lot better – not just on environmental merits but on price.
China, plagued by a persistent energy shortage, is drafting a law requiring power companies to buy electricity generated by green energy sources, the China Daily said on Thursday.
