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October 29, 2014
Flexible Pollution Rules can Boost the Economy: 5 Reasons Why
Flexible Pollution Rules
Nobody likes being told what to do. Gina McCarthy, head of Environmental Protection Agency, knows that. So she asked her agency to craft a plan that leaves it up to states to shape their energy future – as long as they cut carbon emissions from power plants.[read more]
October 29, 2014
Are Loan Guarantees the Right Answer for Catalyzing Development of CDR Solutions?
Loan Guarantees and Carbon Reduction
The USDA recently announced a $91M loan guarantee for Cool Planet’s biofuel and biochar facility in Louisiana. Loan guarantees from the US government are a critical way for early stage companies to reduce their cost of capital for capital-intensive projects.[read more]
October 29, 2014
Is Renewable Energy Less Effective Than Energy Efficiency at Reducing CO2 Emissions?
The policies to implement worldwide renewable energy build-outs are, as of yet, far from sufficient to reduce global CO2 emissions. At the same time, I believe these policies are yielding significant adverse results regarding economic competitiveness.[read more]
Want Green Power? Try Community Choice Aggregation
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) or municipal aggregation, is defined as an energy policy that can promote distributed and/or renewables generation through community-based contracts with electricity suppliers. The community acts as an aggregator, and residents within it are automatically part of that CCA.[read more]
How Would We Provide Enough Energy For 11 Billion People?
Due to a slowing of birth rates, predictions of a world of 12 billion by 2100 or sooner seemed to be wrong. Population estimates in the last decade, including from the United Nations, began to focus on an eventual plateau around 9 billion. But now it appears those lower forecasts might have been too optimistic.[read more]
Better Yellow Labels
Labels and Energy Use
Information provision is a key element of energy-efficiency policy. Just think of the ubiquitous yellow EnergyGuide labels. This information is supposed to help consumers make better decisions. But current labels report only very coarse information based on national average energy prices and usage of the appliance.[read more]
Tesla is the World's First Digital Car
Tesla's Digital Car
Elon Musk described the new Tesla Model D as a digital vehicle compared to conventional ICE autos which are analog machines. The Model D is an iterative upgrade of the Model S, but it presents two significant feature sets that demonstrate how the auto world is moving from the analog to the digital age.[read more]
Europe Takes First Step Towards Paris Agreement: Commits to Next Round of Emissions Cuts
European Emissions Commitments
The EU has agreed to an additional package of measures to address climate change as they become the first country to announce their post-2020 climate targets in advance of the Paris agreement next December. Europe agreed to cut their emissions domestically by more than forty percent by 2030.[read more]
Energy Storage Start-Up: Lessons Learned and a Focused Future
Globally, energy storage mandates are on the rise. Countries like Japan, China, India, Germany and the US have all issued storage targets and commenced development projects aiming to support the growth of their electric energy needs as well as balance the variability of load on their existing generation assets.[read more]
Energy Quote of the Day: 'I Didn’t Expect a 25-Year-Old Man to Get Beaten to Death'
Fracking Boom and Community Risk
For a stark on-the-ground report from the hub of Bakken Shale oil & gas development, read this story by Laura Gottesdiener. It provides a glimpse inside the boom that often gets lost in the maze of production figures, reserves estimates, and market analysis that dominates reporting on the issue.[read more]
How Groundbreaking Is the DOE's New $53M Solar Energy Investment?
Ernest Moniz is an all-of-the above kind of energy secretary. He's a supporter of advanced nuclear, natural gas, carbon sequestration and all kinds of renewables -- and has the diverse funding at the Department of Energy to show for it. But there's one tech that he's been giving a lot of special attention: solar.[read more]
Is Energy Efficiency a Good Thing Even with Rebound?
Efficiency and the Rebound Effect
Lighting is highly critical to our livelihoods. Humans have been using lighting technology since long before the advent of industrialization. For many centuries, this lighting was extremely inefficient, with over 95% of the energy consumed wasted as heat.[read more]
Seeking Consensus on the Internalized Costs of Offshore Wind
Costs of Offshore Wind Energy
This article will gather some data about TEC community views on the global average internalized cost of offshore wind energy. Please add your opinion so we can gather a statistically significant sample and get a meaningful indication of the consensus (or lack thereof).[read more]
Millions in New Investment Cap Record Year for Beyond the Grid Solar Markets
Off Grid Solar Development and Investment
It has been a record year for beyond the grid solar investment. Over $45 million in investments have closed in the past year, including: $1.8 million for plug and play solar provider BBOXX, $11 million for industry pioneer d.light, and $20 million for mobile money pioneer M-KOPA.[read more]
India's Latest Step Towards Becoming Solar Energy Leader
India is making progress in expanding its solar energy market. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is moving forward with financing another round of solar projects through India’s National Solar Mission (NSM), releasing a new iteration of draft guidelines for project selection last week.[read more]
'2030 Climate and Energy Package Vital to EU's Energy Security' Stresses European Commission [VIDEO]
EU Energy and Climate Planning
Marie Donnelly - Director for Energy Transition at the European Commission - speaks with energy journalist Hughes Belin about the EU climate and energy goals for 2030 and discusses the implications of the 2030 package for the European Union’s energy security.[read more]
A Case Study in how Junk Science is Used by Anti-Nuclear Environmentalists
Science, Nuclear Risk, and Public Perception
In opposing nuclear energy environmental groups draw on a wealth of imagery and deeply ingrained fears. Rigorous scientific analysis may show that the dangers from burning coal are vastly greater than those of nuclear energy; but can you can name a single coal power plant?[read more]
If You Could Build a Solar-Friendly Grid From Scratch, How Would You Do it?
The 20th-century electrical grid is a truly extraordinary feat of engineering and construction that has been a core driver of economic progress in many developed countries. But it's finally starting to show its limitations as we move into the 21st century.[read more]
In the Wake of Court Ruling, What’s the Future of Demand Response?
Demand Response Court Ruling Effects
On September 17th, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined en banc review of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 745, dealing a blow to FERC’s regulation on demand response. So we’re likely about to see an unnecessary rise in electricity prices and increase in new polluting power plants.[read more]
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Scott Edward Anderson is a consultant, blogger, and media commentator who blogs at The Green Skeptic. More »
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Kelly Klima is a Research Scientist at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy of Carnegie Mellon University. More »
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“Keith,"If you don't buy more gasoline with it, you buy more something with it, and that something takes energy to make and to use."This sentence could be elaborated to prove that the rebound effect is greater than zero. It doesn't imply that the rebound effect is 100%. To prove the second claim, you'd have to prove that the "something" that you spend your money on in lieu of burning ...”
“Read again please, and try to think at a different level about productivity say 1000 times that of 2000 years ago. Such is the difference in efficiency of light in Lumens/w of energy comparing LEDs to fire. It is not ad-hominem to challenge poor assumptions and inadequate theory, it is how science works. I claim Garrett's assumptions for energy thermodynamics are in error, the big ...”