Renewable Energy

Renewables & efficiency – Aug 7

by

-India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations
-Asian giants put the West’s targets for solar energy in the shade
-Boom in hydropower pits fish against climate
-Are wind farms a health risk? US scientist identifies ‘wind turbine syndrome’

Temporary Recession or the End of Growth?

by

Everyone agrees: our economy is sick. The inescapable symptoms include declines in consumer spending and consumer confidence, together with a contraction of international trade and available credit. Add a collapse in real estate values and carnage in the automotive and airline industries and the picture looks grim indeed.

Review: Blackout by Richard Heinberg

by

Richard Heinberg’s new book Blackout tries to demolish current assumptions about the world’s remaining coal endowment: namely, that it is immense beyond belief, barely tapped and will last for centuries to come. Heinberg argues that these assumptions are off-base, misleading and not at all supported by recent studies that suggest global coal production could peak in less than two decades.

Commentary: Global Energy Drivers in a “Black Swan World”

by

Last year the global credit crunch and its knock-on effects precipitated the sharpest oil and gas price declines in over two decades. Despite the recent $100+/ Bbl price implosion and subsequent partial recovery, we have now entered an historic inflection point—call it “practical peak oil”—in the global balance of conventional energy supplies…