This section archives articles on topics that don't quite fit into the other categories. They include articles on high-mileage vehicles, chain-reaction accidents, our neighbors, Tule fog, and . . . well . . . other subjects.
Paul Gipe
Some thoughts about the role of the church in Germany’s switch to renewables and lower consumption driven by citizens, energy cooperatives, and communities. While energy policy is a divisive issue in...
Alone among the major economies, Germany is moving purposefully to phase out fossil fuels while also shuttering nuclear power. Germany’s energy makeover, or “energiewende,” appears to be thriving, as...
Last week, the EU adopted new rules on “public support for environmental protection and energy.” The outcome is a clear compromise; though still containing misleading labels such as “market-based,”...
The Stiftung Umweltenergierecht has published an 89 page analysis (in German language) explaining how the recent move by the European Commission to violate Germany’s legislation competences is...
Charles Keating died recently. His death marked a milestone in American political history. His crimes and those of my nephew illustrates one of the truisms in America often attributed to Al Capone....[more]
The UK has successfully lobbied to have a clause removed from the new EU state aid guidelines that would have hampered support for fossil fuels.
On Tuesday, Germany announced some new policy reforms to its high-profile 'energy revolution'. Some reports have suggested the country is slamming on the brakes to prevent renewable energy further...
I began writing as a way to explore the world, learn something new, and make a difference. It has been that--and more. I've been more or less freelancing since the mid 1970s when I published an...[more]
On Friday, German power provider Eon confirmed that it will shut down a nuclear plant ahead of schedule. The premature discontinuation of lignite excavation also announced that day, however, is a...
Natural gas in storage in the US continued its decline in the most recent update from the US Energy Information Agency. (Why doesn’t Canada publish this type of data?) The ongoing cold winter reduced...
Japan added 7,044 megawatts of clean energy capacity since it began an incentive program in July 2012 through the end of last year.
In any normal situation, such hard facts would simply be reported – it's not like there's no way to say "carbon emissions are slightly down year-over-year" in German.
Some have forecast that the fracking boom may be close to running it’s course. The depletion rates for fracked gas are very high – that is, the well stops producing very quickly. We may not have the...
Bernard Chabot is back today with an update of his overview of power data from California for 2013 as a whole. The statistics are taken from CAISO, but you may find slightly different data elsewhere....
We should get on with building the pipeline of wind and solar projects now.
Why can’t the U.S. propose and take the lead in a new Marshall Plan — this one targeting Eastern Europe — that would: weatherize millions of homes; install combined heat-and-power systems in tens of...
The transition to a sustainable energy economy and its deliberate and unconscious sabotage . . .
Three years after the Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear disaster, the Global100RE Ambassadors are highlighting the need to refrain from using hazardous nuclear and fossil energy sources and instead shift...
Over at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), Michael Liebreich now claims responsibility for the cost breakthroughs of renewables. Adding insult to injury, he then argues that the policy that...
Angela Merkel’s visit to London yesterday is being widely reported in the context of David Cameron’s efforts to secure EU reform.However, the presence of Europe’s electorally most successful leader...
The United States, where powerful industries are skilled at downplaying environmental risks, appears to have embraced the skeptic movement first, in the run-up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Back then,...
At the same time, the open cut coal mine that provides fuel to the power station is burning; a slow, intense fire that sits at the coal seam face. The fires, suspected to have been deliberately lit,...
Beckman writes that "analysts" speak of "gross inefficiencies" in national schemes: "wind and solar power get built where subsidies are highest rather than where there is most wind or sun in Europe."...
The push against renewables is also a desperate attempt to protect incumbent firms on a market that might trend away from big business and towards small producers if market forces and democracy...
California’s over reliance on fossil fuels for generating electricity, notably natural gas, led the state’s electricity system operator to call an emergency on Thursday, 6 February. The move called...[more]
A shortage of natural gas triggered by extreme cold weather in much of the United States and Canada is impacting fuel supplies to Southern CA power plants and reducing electricity generation. The...
Most Americans now believe that there is enough recoverable natural gas lurking under our feet to heat and power this country well into the next century. A fairy tale to be sure, but as long as it is...
Local governments across Japan are seeking to supply their regions with 100% renewable energy, three years after the major earthquake which resulted in a nuclear disaster. At the Community Power...
In his State of the Union, President Obama added to the conventional wisdom that supplanting coal with natural gas will act as a bridge toward a climate solution. Unfortunately, gas is more of a...
The German Environmental Agency announced official figures today, unfortunately for 2012, not 2013. They confirm that Germany exceeded its Kyoto target by a wide margin. Nonetheless, it remains...
Note: January 14, 2014; Miracle of Miracles. We’re in. Our payment has cleared. They’ve taken our money. We received our "cards" 20 January and the first invoice. I went on line to pay for the next...[more]
Between 1 and 2 PM, December 31 2013, the last coal fired generating station in Ontario stopped producing power. No more coal will be burned in Ontario to produce power. The coal shutdown is the...
Richard Miller was particularly critical of the UK government's policies, including abandoning large-scale wind farm projects, the reduction of feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, and support for...
The fact that Robert Habeck is the first Energiewende minister in Germany – in its northern-most state, Schleswig Holstein – is only one of the attributes that distinguishes the 43-year-old,...
In a remarkable display of how renewable energy has come of age in Germany, renewables--primarily wind and biomass--generated one billion kWh in two days.
Before the election, the CDU was the party advocating a faster transition, and the FDP coalition partner was always hitting the brakes full force. . . Now the CDU is the slower partner, and the SPD...
Speeches, press releases, and announcements by DECC and its ministers.
One marvels at how different the situation is in Germany, where both historic power production and forecasts are available from the Transparency EEX website (in English and German), and you can also...
This document sets out decisions on the Contract for Difference (CfD) strike prices for renewable technologies for the period 2014/15-2018/19, and provides an update on the key CfD contract terms
Early visions of what a competitive market would look like included the separation of generation and supply, liquid and transparent energy wholesale markets as well as real consumer choice between...
Sometimes, Der Spiegel misconstrues issues so well that even experts have trouble understanding what is meant.
"I wanted to step back and celebrate what has been achieved so far by reminding everyone that Germany is not only switching to renewables and lower consumption, but also to energy democracy -- normal...
Major English-language media have been propagating a false narrative about the stunning success of Germany’s transition to renewable energy: the Energiewende. To hear them tell it, the transition has...
Over the past year, we have heard a lot of charges that Germany is switching to coal. Many of us have noted that this effect is quite temporary. Now, Germany’s most prominent coal field, Garzweiler,...
Japan's electricity customers are seeing this electricity folded into their rates, and prices ARE rising. Of course, as the saying goes, necessity can be a real mother..... and no electricity, no...
Based on our best estimate, Germany managed to get 34 percent of its electricity from wind and solar over a 24-hour period on Sunday – measured in gigawatt-hours, not gigawatts. Prices on the...
The logic of asking for plans to achieve 100% renewable generation is the certainty that, as imported fuels get scarcer and more expensive, sooner or later these imported fuels will stop flowing to...
I am here today because this past spring we held a small conference in San Francisco. At the conference, Pathways To 100% Renewable Energy, we heard from Europeans, such as Bertram Fleck from the...[more]
Sustainable renewable energy (RE) policies must be based on a wise mix between technologies and applications. In the case of variable but predictable RE technologies such as wind power and solar PV,...
With the FDP out, that leaves exactly zero parties in the Bundestag supporting the proposal of replacing the successful feed-in tariff with a renewable portfolio standard, recently floated again by...
But the cat is out of the bag: once renewable energy reaches a critical mass, its impact on power systems is pretty much irreversible and no amount of lobbying by utilities is going to get them their...
One of the topics in this election season is the price of electricity. There is a lot of confusion around. Many people don’t understand that the renewable revolution caused by the German feed-in...
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has published on August 1, 2013 the 2012 data for the whole California power system [1]. This analysis completes the preliminary analysis from the California...
In a previous article for The Conversation I reported on the initial results of computer simulations by a research team at the University of New South Wales that busted the myth that renewable energy...
Moreover, comparative evidence from Europe on non-technology specific quota mechanisms and technology specific feed-in tariffs for wind energy suggests that the former have higher costs, are less...
The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is inevitable. It will happen whether we take action or not. Fossil fuels are—by definition--finite. They are a one-time gift to humanity. Long...[more]
Anyway, it’s progress that the enemies of solar like the Breakthrough Institute are now reduced to hoping that other countries will be unable to match Germany’s cost reductions. A couple of years...
Just as power demand is peaking in the area, California is losing its nuclear plants. At the beginning of June, a decision was made not to reopen the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant, and just this...
Between 1990 and 2000, the UK’s grid carbon factor fell by almost 30%, but in the decade 2000 to 2010, it fell only 3%. By contrast, while Germany’s decarbonisation trend has been slower, is has been...
Recent translation of the position statement by LandFrauen on the phase out of nuclear power in Germany and the role of rural women in the energy transition and increasing energy efficiency in...
While many countries still discuss whether or not a 100% renewable energy system – or “just” a 100% renewable electricity supply – is even theoretically possible, Germans seem no longer bothered by...
Overall, the Left generally speaks out for the poor in Germany. . . Yet, their study entitled "Poverty risks from the Energiewende" is subtitled "myths, lies, and arguments." It addresses 20 claims –...
Solar and wind generation do not contribute to climate change, respiratory illness, brain damage or cancer.
Since the introduction of the Feed-in-Tariff in 2011 in Japan, the demand for Solar PV has risen for industrial and business purposes. . . Countries like India can follow this model to beat the...
“It’s clear that we’ve made real progress. But the energy sector is constantly evolving, especially as energy consumption habits and economic conditions change. So our Long-Term Energy Plan must also...
"There are no technical barriers for a future without oil, gas or coal", Martin Faulstich, Chair of the German Advisory Council on the Environment, said in his speech for the WRF Energy Conference,...
Inter-annual Wind Variability Less than that of Hydro--Steady Growth of Non-Hydro Renewable Penetration in European Markets--US Renewable Energy Penetration: Little Progress Since 1983 . . .[more]
Over the past two years, Renewables International has repeatedly argued that there will be no shift to coal power as a result of the nuclear phaseout. So it's nice to see that other independent...
The study finds that the peak fossil fuel risk will start to be critical by 2020. If however the future growth rate of wind and solar energy production follows that already achieved for the world...
The Energy Transition is becoming a fashion item! Painted fingernails are a popular adornment for women of all ages. Kirsten Hasberg announced the launch of her crowd-sourced venture...
Germany has doubled the renewable share of its total electricity consumption in the past six years to 23% in 2012. It forecasts nearly a redoubling by 2025, well ahead of the 50% target for 2030, and...
At 2030 technology costs and with excess electricity displacing natural gas, we find that the electric system can be powered 90%e99.9% of hours entirely on renewable electricity, at costs comparable...
Every new solar panel installed on European rooftops chips away at power utilities' centralized production model. Unless they reinvent themselves soon, these giants risk becoming the dinosaurs of the...
For the Amount Spent on the Iraq War the US Could be Generating 40% to 60% of its Electricity with Renewable Energy[more]
Increasingly countries and regions are leapfrogging timid renewable targets and moving toward full 100% integration of renewables into electricity supply. Some thought leaders, politicians, and...[more]
Yet, in absolute terms, the top three subsidizers across the world are the United States (US$ 502 billion), China (US $279 billion) and Russia (US$ 116 billion). . .
You can see some arguments in favour of a 'Fixed' Feed-in Tariff on the FOE website, http://www.foe.co.uk/blog/energy_bill_will_give_more_38654.html, and a report I wrote for Friends of the Earth on...
The city’s Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal-owned utility, will phase out the electricity it imports from the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and Intermountain Power...
Apparently my article last October documenting the growth of renewables in Germany while nuclear generation continues to decline got under the skin of pro-nuclear bloggers. So at the request of a...[more]
Dismissing this as one of the "flakier arguments" in the renewables debate, Smith points to a recent analysis National Grid undertook for the Scottish Parliament. It concluded that over an 18 month...
Just Because a Better Mousetrap is Known Doesn’t Mean it will be Used When There’s a Vested Financial Interest in the Status Quo . . .[more]
Presentations at the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation's International Conference
Whether it is Climate Change or Feed-in Tariffs for Renewable Energy . . .[more]
Overall, the total amount of lignite power production capacity in Germany fell from 19,100 megawatts in 2012 to around 17,800 megawatts at present. The IWR therefore expects power production from...
A decade ago, cities, regions, and businesses aiming for 20% renewable energy were on the cutting edge. Few believed that a higher target in a few decades was an achievable goal. Anyone even...
An unpublished briefing paper drawn up by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) takes a look at charges of a "coal renaissance" in the EU and confirms our recently published findings for Germany,...
As solar and wind energy grow in market share, electricity markets will need to change.
Since the long-term targets are in place – the big question remaining to be answered is how to accomplish these goals. Namely, how to manage the transition from a fossil nuclear system to a mainly...
Yes, you read that right. At the current rate the US will meet 100% of its electricity demand within 170 years--give or take a few decades. . .
Germany is currently in the forefront of this transition - their Energiewende - but this was not always the case. Only a few short decades ago, it was the United States who was leading the world away...
An 80% reduction in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions is achievable by 2050, according to the Trottier Energy Futures Project (TEFP)’s review of low-carbon scenario research from eight industrialized...
More on the changes brought by the closure of our local grocery story. . .[more]
All the provinces coal-burning power plants will be shuttered by 2014, making the Canadian province the first coal-free jurisdiction in North America . . .
“In announcing the closure of Lambton and Nanticoke, by the end of this year Ontario will become the first jurisdiction in all of North America to shut down its coal fleet. . .
For the first time ever, power production from PV and CSP were separately reported in December for California. French energy expert Bernard Chabot took a look at the figures, especially to determine...
As French energy expert Bernard Chabot explains, December was a strong month for wind power in Germany, and in the last week of the month, when power demand was low because of the holidays and...
Comments on the closing of our local grocery store. . .[more]
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) issued a long-delayed report this past summer on Geothermal FIT Design. . .[more]
When we think of geothermal energy we immediately have visions of Old Faithful Geyser or the modernistic geothermal power plants of Iceland. But our view doesn't have to be so limited. . . [more]
Over the past decade, Germany has successfully boosted renewable energy resources which today power 25% of all electricity demand. . . “The Energiewende is a bottom up switch that is driven by...
We were returning to San Francisco from the World Wind Energy Association conference in Bonn this past July. As we boarded the plane we met Hans-Josef Fell. Fell was the reason we had to get back to...[more]
I touch on the fact that Germany, which in 2011 had 7,090 digesters, is the leading country for both the quantity of plants and the amount of installed capacity of 2,394 MW of electricity. Most of it...
Since 2000, Germany has converted 25 percent of its power grid to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. The architects of the clean energy movement Energiewende, which translates...
According to preliminary figures not yet published by the BDEW, an association representing power and water providers, Germany exported 12.3 terawatt-hours of electricity in the first 9 months of...
The Japanese government believes that the country has more than 20 gigawatts of energy potential in terms of geothermal energy. The country already boasts of 17 geothermal power plants, which...
On Aprill 11 and 12, 2008 teams from highschools, colleges, and universities from across the continent were scrambling in the garages at the Fontana raceway preparing their cars for the Shell's...[more]
The following op-ed was originally posted on July 4, 2005 and then appeared at Renewable Energy Access.com on July 11, 2005. This version has been updated with current figures for the cost of...[more]
George W. Bush has violated his oath of office to faithfully enforce the country's laws. He has admitted to illegal domestic spying on Americans, itself a felony. His administration has condoned...[more]
An unprovoked attack on Iraq would be un-American, and a disgrace to fallen American soldiers who gave their lives fighting the Axis powers after an unprovoked attack December 7th, 1941.[more]
Lupe knocked at the door yesterday. Lupe's our postman. If anyone knows what's going on in our neighborhood, it's Lupe. Lupe was concerned that a reclusive neighbor hadn't picked up her mail, nor...[more]
You've read about those massive chain-reaction accidents. Miles of mangled vehicles on Germany's autobahn, Italy's autostrada, New Jersey's Turnpike, or California's I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley....[more]
New Zealand could become the world's first nation with a sustainable energy system based on renewable resources.[more]
(From Systèmes Solaires ~1999-2000) L'industrie éolienne aux Etats-Unis est aujourd'hui en pleine ébullition. En termes de puissance installée, le développement est comparable a celui que l'on a...[more]
Having been disparaged as a "Cassandra," I was reluctant to read a book on the topic, especially one with a subtile about optimism. "Oh no," I thought, "another enviro bashing book catering to...[more]
The World Renewable Energy Congress hailed long-time wind energy advocate Paul Gipe as a "pioneer in renewable energy" at its recent international conference in Florence, Italy. The designation, one...[more]
A Review of Land of the Living by Paul Gipe A Dutch colleague, Rinie van Est, referred me to a fascinating book by American anthropologist Steven Borish. The book, Land of the Living, is based on...[more]
Jules Verne's long lost novel "Paris in the 20th Century" contains an interesting passage on windmills by the father of science fiction. Set in the 1960s, a mere 100 years into the future when Verne...[more]
