The bizarre dance of wind power
Local wind opponents and right-wing think tanks.
Electricity
Is alt-energy a distraction from real solutions?
Both wind-power supporters and opponents replied to my column last week.
Atomic balm – a nuclear renaissance? (excerpts)
The NY Times gives a critical and comprehensive report on a possible renaissance in nuclear energy. Peak oil, global warming and `stabilization wedges’ are discussed. Gertner writes: “…to spend a few months listening to those who study the earth’s energy resources is to get the feeling that we are in for a very difficult century — and one that depends on an immediate future of difficult and unpleasant choices.”
Biofuels and wind – July 15
Indonesia to spend a massive US$ 22 billion by 2010 to promote biofuels / Lester Brown: supermarkets and service stations now competing for grain / Challenges emerge for wind power (costs up 70%)
Technical solutions – July 15
Why pellets are packing the power / A hundred thousand points of light: Thinking out of the grid / Energy surety for mission readiness (microgrids and the military) / Movie casts the electric car as hero, GM as bad guy
Nuclear – July 11
Splitting the Atom /
G8: Nuclear = prosperity and climate change solution /
Oxford Research: Nuclear no energy security solution /
UK: Go-ahead for £12bn atomic revival /
UK: Sweetening nuclear pill with green power /
Minister: Renewables alone cannot fill energy gap /
Advisers: Neither can nuclear /
Monbiot: Nuclear safer, but still bad /
U.S. to Negotiate Russian Storage of Atomic Waste /
Nuclear Waste Looms As Challenge in Asia
Energy policy – July 10
Revealed: G8 plan for global nuclear expansion /
Nuclear to power ahead of renewables in UK plan / Germany’s new power (renewables) / A dated carbon approach / EU may introduce carbon tax on airplanes / So we drive on
Transport – July 9
Arianna Huffington: Who killed the electric car? / Costly tar hurts paving / Blowing in the wind (sail revival)
Other energy – July 4
Cautionary tales amid the latest coal revival / Gas companies on ‘treadmill’ of demand / Kuwaiti experts predict steady rise in oil prices / Washington Post:
the false hope of biofuels / Malaysia suspends biodiesel effort / Helping Air Force blue turn green
Rescuing a Planet Under Stress
The president of the Earth Policy Institute
explains his ideas on how to put the world economy back on a stable ecological footing.
Other energy – June 30
Sierra Club sues Pentagon over wind-farm delays / CERA: another decade of rising upstream costs? /
Saudis not cutting oil output further – ambassador / Republican politician: A 100-mpg car? Let’s start the race / Conference on ocean energy in Bremerhaven, Oct. 23-24 / World could face choice between food and fuel / Mexico’s oil bonanza starts to dry up
Other energy – June 28
E3 Biofuels: Responsible Ethanol /
UK’s Blair Signals Support for Nuclear Power /
MPs warned of UK’s fragile energy supply /
U.S. Grants 1st License for Major Nuclear Plant in 30 Years /
Asia Shows Solar Power is Not Just for the Rich