Energy

Resistance to pipelines have taken a devastating toll on the fossil fuel industry in North America. Most recently protectors have succeeded in halting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The the Keystone XL, the Northern Gateway, the Sandpiper Pipeline and the Kinder Morgan gas pipeline from upstate New York to Dracut have all been cancelled thanks to activism and now DAPL has been stopped. Efforts to defend the land have been led by a large coalition of indigenous groups. As reported by Democracy Now,  Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are financing DAPL. Another...

Efforts to stop the buildings of pipelines has succeeded in killing four pipelines and Indigenous people are leading the charge to protect the land from America's newest mega-pipeline. No one seemed to have noticed as the the Dakota Access Pipeline Project (DAPL, aka the Bakken Pipeline) quietly received regulatory permission to begin construction. The last state permit was handed out in March and the final hurdle was cleared in July when the The US Army Corps of Engineers gave its blessing. However, it should be pointed out that the Corp. did not do an environmental impact statement, because as a...

This is an exciting time in the world of solar energy with technological innovations becoming routine. Less expensive polymer solar cells are on the cusp of being commercially available. This summer Japan installed a floating solar system with microinverters that make the panels 10 percent more efficient.  As revealed at the end of this article, the next big frontier is space. Ohio University has recently won an award for "beaming" solar power. These are the types of innovations that are revolutionizing the world of energy. This article was originally published in Global Warming is Real under the title, "The Golden...

Canada's largest pipeline company is getting bigger through mergers and acquisitions. Enbridge has gone on buying spree after facing opposition to its pipeline expansion plans. It has been difficult for Enbridge to move ahead with its pipeline projects so the company has decided that if it cannot build pipelines it will buy them. Enbridge has prospered because of petroleum they have also contributed to the climate crisis. Things have not been going so well for Enbridge. They have had to endure low oil prices and they have been deluged with a number of protests. Recently Enbridge's security forces attacked protestors...

Nature offers us some promising design solutions that could revolutionize solar energy. One of the most interesting is the biomicry of the ubiquitous process in nature that converts sunlight to energy. The specific process is called photosynthesis, which uses sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. In plants this commonly involves the green pigment chlorophyll where oxygen is a beneficial byproduct. This process has been around for almost 3 billion years. Now scientists have succeeded in creating an artificial leaf, long considered to be one of the Holy Grails of science. The first solar cell capable of photosynthesis...

The prospects for new Canadian fossil fuel pipelines are looking increasingly bleak. The election of the federal Liberals under Justin Trudeau marked a new day, and a new more rigorous and open approval process for Canadian pipelines. This is in stark contrast to the approach of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His dream of ferrying tar sands oil through pipelines may be dying along with his political career. The fossil fuel industry is in a death spiral which has only been hastened by the Paris Climate Agreement. In Quebec the Energy East pipeline has been slowed by protests and concerns...

Mere hours after President Obama signed the PIPES safety bill into law, a pipeline spilled thousands of gallons of oil. Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 became law on June 22nd. Within hours of the signing an oil pipeline erupted in Ventura County, California. It was first noticed by a local rancher early Thursday morning. The spill emanated from a ten inch underground pipeline owned by Colorado-based Crimson Pipeline LLC. It sent an estimated 29,400 gallons of crude oil down into an arroyo that flows through the city of Ventura and reaches the ocean near...

On May 19, 2016, National Energy Board (NEB) approved Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan's Transmountain pipeline expansion. The news prompted some climate activists to call the approval "outrageous". First Nations, municipalities, academics, scientists and the majority of British Columbians have come out against this pipeline. If it proceeds the expanded Transmountain project will triple the capacity of heavy tar sands oil being transported by pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby. The volume of oil transported will increase from 300,000 to just under 900,000 barrels a day, there will also be a corresponding increase in oil tanker traffic in and out of...

The little brother of the canceled Keystone XL has sprung a leak giving fuel to those who are opposed to fossil fuel pipelines including the Dakota Access and the Energy East. Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. is the owner of the 30-inch Keystone l pipeline. As of yet, the company has offered no explanation as to the cause or the source of the leak. The spill is estimated to have leaked 187 gallons of crude oil. The pipeline was shut down after the leak was detected in South Dakota near its Freeman pump station in Hutchinson County on the afternoon of Saturday,...

Despite the public's mistrust, nuclear power may be our only hope to meet our demand for emissions-free energy. Tragic accidents and well-warranted fears about nuclear proliferation undermined the public's confidence. Just last week President Obama hosted a summit where he met with world leaders to discuss nuclear security. The concerns expressed at this summit bleed into more general concerns about nuclear power. In addition to concerns about meltdowns and proliferation, there are issues associated with mining the uranium used to power nuclear plants, spent fuel storage, and high cost. In 2011 President Obama created a clean energy standard that included...