Despite all the naysayers’ affirmations that switching to clean energy will damage the economy, reality is the complete opposite. The clean energy economy is already booming despite the hard economic times. From Change.org The Clean Energy Economy Is Already Booming Without much attention from policymakers, or funding from the public trough, a low-carbon economy has already taken off in the United States. The jobs being created nationwide in clean energy are helping to bolster the...
An excellent article by Dan Gardnerколи под наем. The jist of his message? Even if you don’t “believe” in anthropogenic climate change, there are many good reasons to get off our addiction to fossil fuels, and do it fast.
The things that Bush can say and do while maintaing a straight face are just amazing. His pandering to his oil industry buddies knows no bounds. He is perfectly OK with authorizing drilling for oil off the pristine coast of Alaska, but he has just put a freeze on solar farms in the desert because he is worried about their potential impact on the desert’s environment. This is the same guy who said America...
Last month Scientific American published an interesting article on a grand plan to replace most of America’s energy sources through the use of large scale solar energy. After reading it, I would say that it is quite realistic and feasible. The biggest obstacle is the cost: 420 billion dollars over 40 years. But then again it is not that much when you consider that the war in Iraq has already cost more than that...
Here’s a very interesting talk by Amory B. Lovins on weening ourselves off of oil while saving and creating jobs and fostering economic growth. He lists a bunch of simple ideas and shows their effect on oil consumption. This talk is based on his freely downloadable book which details all of his calculations so you can verify them for yourselves.
I’ve long been speaking out against the tragedy that is the push for biofuels. Today George Monbiot comes out strongly against this new fad in “green” energy. I have already seen the effects of these food crops being used for fuels, and the increase in food prices in places like Panama. Read Monbiot’s editorial here.
No matter what you think, oil is not an infinite resource and sooner or later it will run out. Peak oil refers to a point at which the world’s oil production peaks, at which point supply declines and since consumption is still increasing rapidly, you end up with rapidly increasing prices, and the potential for geo-political mayhem. I have seen experts say that peak oil happened as early as 2004, and others who say...
Here’s a good article at Green Options on the “Cape Wind” fiasco. Basically the right wing fights the project because, well, its bad for the fossil fuel industry, and the Kennedy’s, who like to pass themselves as pro-environment and pro-renewable energy, are fighting it because it will spoil their view. This is a rather hypocritical stance, and a very unfortunate one. Global warming may very well destroy the island they are on, which will...
Looks like Canada’s provincial Premiers are a lot smarter than the Prime Minister! Stephen Harper is a Bush puppet and has adopted energy and environmental policies that are carbon copies of the USA’s, meaning they are disastrous, irresponsible and misleading. Good thing the Provinces are not following his lead. Now I’d like to see California-style incentives for renewable energy installations and grid-tie interconnectivity. CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The premiers of Canada’s provinces and territories agreed on Thursday...
Here’s an excellent article from Rolling Stone Magazine on the ethanol boondoggle. This is nothing new, there are piles of information out there showing that ethanol from corn is a very bad idea. But ethanol makes Americans feel like they are doing something good without changing their comsumption habits, and nothing will stop farmers and energy companies for participating in this cash grab either.