Energy

Corornavirus (COVID-19) has slowed Chinese emissions. China burns about half the coal used globally while at the same time it is the leading market for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles. This duality is evident in Shanxi, which is both China's coal mining region and the location of some of the country's largest solar and wind power projects. China is both a clean energy leader and a dirty energy behemoth. China is now the world's second largest economy and the largest carbon emitter. Their coal powered economic growth has unleashed a carbon bomb. Overall the country's carbon output tripled...

We are falling further behind on emissions reductions and every year that we fail to act compounds the challenges of keeping temperatures within manageable limits. Many nations are not living up to their Paris agreement targets and even if they did we would still be on track to see 3.2 degrees Celsius of warming (5.76 degrees Fahrenheit). Greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 1.5 percent each year in the last decade. A WMO report indicates that CO2 levels are now at the highest point in human history. Annual levels of atmospheric carbon have risen 100 times faster in the past...

Renewable energy is an emissions free source of power production that can both improve air quality and mitigate against climate change. For these and other reasons clean energy is vital to the future of life on the Earth. Interest in renewables continues to grow and this is driving a green jobs boom. Solar and wind investments have been steadily increasing, as have investments in other forms of emissions free power. While government policies are an obstacle, even the Trump administration cannot stop the market appeal associated with declining costs (including batteries).  With each passing year 100% renewable energy becomes more...

For the fifth year in a row global investments in clean energy exceeded $300 billion in 2018. According to BNEF, last year saw an 8 percent reduction in clean energy investment compared to 2017, the first time we have seen a year over year decline in a long time. Although last year set a record for new photovoltaic capacity surpassing 100GW for the first time, the sector also fell 24 percent to $130.8 billion in 2018 due at least in part to declining capital costs. The Chinese decision to restrict access to the feed in tariff contributed to a 53...

The Design Challenge Weekend will take place on April 12-14, 2019, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. The Solar Decathlon is a little known green building event that has been held every two years since 2002. After years in Irvine, California and Denver, Colorado the 2020 event is coming back to its original home in Washington, D.C. The DOE's Solar Decathlon® is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. This competition forces students to create homes with market potential that are...

Subsidies are at the heart of energy issues. Clean power receives a tiny fraction of this money while the fossil fuel industry continues to reap the lion's share.  Fossil fuel subsidies are four to ten times larger than those given to renewable energy. Governments around the world gave about $490 billion in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry in 2014 and only $112 billion in subsidies for renewable power generation.  Governments are planning on continuing their preferential allocation of resources to fossil fuels. According to the IEA, over the next 25 years, only 15 percent of the G20's investment in...

While some in the fossil fuel industry now appear to support climate science, the truth is they have been acting to obscure the facts for decades. ExxonMobil and the whole fossil fuel industry have known that they are the leading cause of global warming for more than half a century. A letter by Benjamin Franta titled "Early oil industry knowledge of CO2 and global warming" confirms that the fossil fuel industry knew about its impact. The letter published by Nature reads as follows, "archival documents show that even before Keeling published his measurements , oil industry leaders were aware that...

Climate change is a complex multi-dimensional problem, however, there is a solution.  If we understand what causes the problem the solution becomes obvious. Fossil fuels are responsible for deadly air pollution and climate change. As the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuels is at the core of the crisis. We know that we must radically reduce the amount of carbon we emit into the atmosphere but such reductions are impossible as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels. We will never be able to stave off climate change until we deal with the fact that fossil fuels...

The American Petroleum Institute (API) exists to serve the interests of the fossil fuel industry. They have been discrediting the facts and spinning the truth for decades. API is behind a raft of disinformation efforts designed to undermine science and manipulate public perceptions. Through front groups and politicians they fund climate denial and the denigration of science. Through studies, they have commissioned and conferences they have hosted API has become familiar with the science of climate change. However, they are in the business of countering science that challenges their core mission. To do this they craft false narratives and spit...

Women are a central part of projects that are making a difference in the developing world. Women have distinguished themselves as sustainability leaders on the world stage, but there are other unsung heroines who are quietly engaged on the front lines of the clean energy revolution. These women are not only earning a fair wage they are challenging restrictive and dysfunctional gender stereotypes. Women are part of the extraordinary growth of solar energy and they are riding a wave of innovative financing. Solar enterprises are spawning progressive business models. From home solar projects in rural Bangladesh to staffing power stations...