Wind farms cause global warming

When it comes to energy production, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, unfortunately. As the world begins its large-scale transition toward low-carbon energy sources, it is vital that the pros and cons of each type are well understood and the environmental impacts of renewable energy, small as they may be in comparison to […]

Forget Peak Oil. Peak energy demand is more likely

It can be hard to get your head around just how much energy the world uses. Expressed in terms of oil, it was equivalent to almost 14 billion metric tons of the stuff in 2017. That’s like burning through all of Russia’s proved reserves in the space of 12 months, which is, in technical terms, a lot. But […]

How The Sahara Could Power The Entire World

Solar and wind farms, stretched across North Africa’s Saharan desert and relying solely on existing technologies, could produce enough electricity to power the entire world. (That amount of electricity approximates over 21 terawatt hours.) As an added benefit these combined wind and solar arrays would also increase rain fail in the arid Sahel region thereby […]

Fusion Energy in the 21st Century

Although its potential to generate electricity at a commercial scale is several decades away, nuclear fusion can become a promising option to replace fossil fuels as the world’s primary energy source and could have an important role to play in addressing climate change, participants agreed at an IAEA General Conference side event focused on the […]

Inaccessible” North Carolina Nuclear Plant Declares “Unusual Event” During Storm-Driven “Hot Shutdown”

Duke Energy’s Brunswick nuclear plant, about 30 miles south of Wilmington, has declared a state of emergency as the 1,200-acre complex remains cut off by flood waters and and is inaccessible to outside personnel. Just as we warned a week ago, The News & Observer reports, at this time, no one can come in and […]

Sustainability: The Circular Vision

The rise of the circular economy and sustainability brings change to everything around us. From the way we source, make, and distribute product to the things we consume. AI, Robotics, IoT, and other advanced Technology will revolutionize the way we live. Imagine a world where we renew resources vs. deplete them, where we breath clean […]

The Road Away from Fossil Fuels

President Andrzej Duda’s authoritarian government can expect a rough political ride in December, when politicians, diplomats and campaigners stream into Katowice, Poland, for the next UN summit on climate change. Poland’s so-called climate policy – to aim for “carbon neutrality” by discounting emissions from the coal industry with carbon sucked up by its forests – […]

The AI that could help make limitless fusion power

An AI is set to try and work out how a potentially limitless supply of energy can be used on Earth. It could finally solve the mysteries of fusion power, letting researchers capture and control the process that powers the sun and stars. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and […]

Energy: Missing from the Nuclear Story

One of my first memories of watching TV during the early 1950s was ads promoting leaded gasoline for reducing engine knock. Little did I suspect the strange history of that gas. By the beginning of World War I, it became clear that the internal combustion automobile was edging out its rival steam cars and electric cars. Shortly afterwards, Thomas Midgley […]

Sun 24×7: Calculation of EROEI

Over the past 10 years, solar energy has rapidly moved from “toys” to the most serious projects, and the continuation of the curve of this takeoff promises in the future total domination of this type of generation. Or not? In the attempts to predict here, a lot of copies and major claims have been broken: […]

Energy Department teams up with Bill Gates to move mini-nuclear plants to market

The Energy Department is participating in major push with electric utility Southern and a company founded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to develop small nuclear power reactors that are less expensive and more efficient than their much larger cousins. “Molten salt reactors are getting a reboot,” the Energy Department tweeted late Wednesday, offering a schematic […]

Steady as she goes: Scientists tame damaging plasma instabilities

Before scientists can capture and recreate the fusion process that powers the sun and stars to produce virtually limitless energy on Earth, they must first learn to control the hot plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions. In a set of recent experiments, scientists have tamed a plasma instability in a way that could lead to […]

China builds an ‘Ecological Civilization’ while the world burns

Record heat waves and massive forest fires are sounding the alarm – nature and humanity face an existential crisis. To avert the rapidly growing ecological crisis and adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change, civilization is being urgently called on to act. In one hopeful sign, an entire nation of 1.3 billion people, China, […]

The Black Plague And Nuclear Energy

wanted to share an article with you today because it explains so darn well how investment markets work… and yet it has nothing ostensibly to do with investment markets. The original can be found here. The black plague, also known as the black death, is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It enters […]

Using Microbes to Convert CO2 to Natural Gas

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with Southern California Gas Co. and Stanford University, are using microbes to convert carbon dioxide directly to renewable natural gas. The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded the power-to-gas project $800,000. SoCalGas will provide co-funding of $400,000 in addition to $125,000 of seed funding it provided in 2017. Using microbes to convert carbon […]

Fusion start-ups hope to revolutionize energy in the coming decades

Martin Greenwald stands in a windowless control room at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding a heavy, thick cable in his left hand. Pinched between his right index finger and thumb is a thin strip of dull-brown metal tape. That strip can carry as much electrical current as the hefty cable, he explains, and could enable […]

Nuclear Watchdog Warns of Radioactive Leak at South Carolina Fuel Factory

Radioactive uranium has leaked through a three-inch hole in the floor at a nuclear fuel factory in South Carolina, contaminating the soil below the plant, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission says. According to the commission, the hole goes six feet down into the soil below the Westinghouse factory’s concrete floor. While the commission cannot yet say […]

Wind Energy Is Getting Cheaper And Cheaper

Who would have thought wind’s transformation from subsidy-supported to self-financing power source would happen so quickly – not this publication, that’s for sure. Apart from diehard environmentalists, most consumers have been opposed to renewables on the basis they cost significantly more, and turbines are an eyesore on the landscape. But in the span of less […]

Retiring Worn-Out Wind Turbines Could Cost Billions That Nobody Has

This is a story about death and resurrection, and as with all such stories, faith plays its part. Texas is by far the leading wind energy producer in the United States, generating more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity each year. That is about one-fourth of the nation’s wind-energy production. We can expect the Texas winds […]

Is Oil Really Dead?

How big of a threat are renewable energies and electric cars to the oil industry and oil prices? It’s a question more than a few investors have an interest in answering, given that the Energy sector is about 6% of the S&P 500 market capitalization (which is down from around 16% in 2008). Technological advances […]

Nuclear Fusion Reactor in France 55 Percent Complete

There may be lingering disagreements among China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States, but there is one complex project these seven entities have in common that is on track for success – the world’s largest nuclear fusion facility. This first global collaboration on building a nuclear fusion reactor is […]

EVs Alone Could Peak Oil Demand In The Late 2020s

Equipment and machinery are seen on the production line at the second phase of the Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Co. plant in Changshu, China, on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. Jaguar Land Rover is planning to build an electric vehicle in China as the iconic British manufacturer steps up its game in a fast-growing market […]

Site C: A Shakespearean Tragedy of BC Politics

Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro Sarah Cox UBC Press (2018) If Shakespeare had been a Canadian, he would have written plays about the tragedy of dams and their power-crazed political proponents. King Lear, for example, would have championed the nasty works of his engineering offspring while […]

Nuclear Fusion Power Could Be Here by 2030

A private nuclear-fusion company has heated a plasma of hydrogen to 27 million degrees Fahrenheit  (15 million degrees Celsius)  in a new reactor for the first time — hotter than the core of the sun. UK-based Tokamak Energy says the plasma test is a milestone on its quest to be the first in the world […]

Fusion machines: The second-hand market

Whatever their size, fusion devices are fine pieces of technology that are complex to design and expensive to build. As research progresses and experimental programs unfold, however, scientific institutions routinely feel the need for machines with additional capacities, up-to-date equipment or exotic features. When an upgrade is not possible the “old” device appears on an unofficial […]

China delivers first batch of crucial parts to int’l fusion power project

China has completed the first batch of magnet supports, a key component for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, or ITER. On Saturday, these devices made their debut in the city of Zunyi in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. “Magnets are necessary for the project. We need strong support working in a severe environment with a very strong […]

Exponential Growth Towards a Sustainable Future: the Limits of Solar Panel and Wind Turbine Production

Solarplant near Rüdersdorf, Germany 2014, © Molgreen, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Reblogged from blog.wozukunft.de) Many people, including myself, fear that the great acceleration (1, 2) of our consumption and destruction of resources such as land, biodiversity, soil, minerals, and fossil energy sources, could lead us into a catastrophe. Other people point out the positive side of […]

A New Energy Storage Solution Debuts In The Railway Sector

Battery technologies are all the craze these days as everyone is racing to find the perfect solution to energy storage for the growing share of solar and wind power in the grid. But energy storage solutions are also making forays into the railways industry where batteries can help stabilize the railway electricity grid. One new […]

Puerto Rico: Deciding Its Energy Future

The immediate energy nightmare in Puerto Rico is gradually winding down, with electrical power now available to about 90 percent of households (some rural areas are still without power). But it’s clear to nearly everyone that a reversion to the island’s previous energy status quo is not a viable option: Puerto Rico has no developed local energy […]

Asian Economies, Not Concern Over Climate Change, End Fossil Fuel Dominance

The expansion of Asian populations and economies is expected to have unprecedented and unpredictable impacts on world resources. The task of meeting future energy needs is daunting. The Chinese have made the use of renewables their preferred option to increase energy production and availability. What may not be obvious is that their installation rate for […]

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