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
Ok, it wasn’t quite mail order. Most of the transaction was done over the phone and via email, but we bought a car, an Electric Vehicle (EV), in a very untraditional manner.[more]
We’ve been driving our 2015 Nissan Leaf for two months now and it was time to take it on a road trip—a short one, mind you, but one long enough to test our range anxiety. We set out Monday morning to...[more]
The utility says 2016 forecasts show it will require $71 per MWh to earn an 11% return from the 581 MW plant in upstate New York, and $56 to $64 per MWh to break even.
While the government says it will approve restarting idled nuclear reactors after the NRA's clearance, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka says he is not saying it is safe and would not commit to endorsing...
But critics say the move by an agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry does little to solve the basic electricity transmission issues, and hint that the real purpose of the changes...
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are different from the cars we’re accustomed to. They use electricity stored in the traction batteries to power the vehicle. They don’t use gasoline or diesel fuel. As a...[more]
Bob’s a techy and a serious car guy. He knows cars and likes to drive them fast--very fast.[more]
“Today, thanks to investments in renewable energy such as solar, Vermont’s energy future is on a different, more sustainable path that is creating jobs, reducing energy costs for Vermonters and...
The members of the PlugShare community are an amazing group of people. Since the future charging infrastructure is not coming soon enough, (especially in oil-junkie, fossil-fuel hooked Utah),...
What next? The financial woes of French developers Areva and EDF may mean that their £24 billion 3.4 GW Hinkley nuclear project, despite being heavily subsidised by British taxpayers and consumers,...
We’d been planning to buy a plug-in hybrid for some time. Just seemed to make so much sense on so many levels. They emit less air pollutants by being so much more efficient than conventional...[more]
It was fairly simple really. Tesla was out. Too much money. At more than 100,000 the Tesla is well out of reach for most middle-class families--certainly for us. That narrowed the choices down...[more]
Our 2015 Nissan Leaf S (the base model) with the Quick Charge option was delivered to Bakersfield by tractor trailer on October 20, 2014. The Leaf is an all electric, four-door hatchback. It's an...
We installed two types of "charge station" or more correctly two types of EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) at our home. The first is ClipperCreek's 40-amp EVSE with J1772 EV charge connector...
Internal emails show that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. may have worked together to counteract widespread news coverage. Numerous outlets reported that the...
It was recently revealed that the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and Bruce Power have been in secret negotiations since December 2013 regarding a long-term supply contract to finance the re-building...
Denmark's steady fall in emissions and adoption of policies to expand renewable energy gave it a score of 77.76, putting it in the highest spot in fourth place for the third year running, followed by...
Japan's electric utilities are spending significantly more than what they calculated about two years ago on enhancing the safety of their nuclear power stations under tighter security regulations.
The Government has refused to confirm that it it will sign a contract with EDF allowing Hinkley C to be built before April 2015, which is only a few weeks before the General Election.
It worked. Ollie Danner’s Electric Car Pledge and his organizational skills are the reason we’re now driving an EV or Electric Vehicle. It wasn’t a direct route of course. And just signing his...[more]
With £37bn of financial promises and loan guarantees still pledged to Hinkley Point C, the Coalition is still betting heavily on Milk Rounds. And with unlimited endorsements of 'Fracking' and further...
Hot on the heels of news of further escalations of delays (and thus) costs for EPRs being built in Finland and France there is news that the Treasury is conducting a 'secret' review of the EPR...
The future of the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset is under a cloud amid a financial crisis at Areva, a shareholder in the project and the designer of the proposed reactors. Shares in the...
The Los Angeles Air Force Base in California (LAAFB) has acquired 42 plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs), the most the military has ever assembled in one place. The cars, trucks, vans and a bus will be...
Nearly half of all heads of prefectures and municipalities near nuclear power plants say plant operators should be required to obtain their consent before restarting reactors, according to an Asahi...
Chris Goodall, one of those pro-nuclear greens who saw the radioactive light a few years ago but who didn't notice the sheer uneconomic nature of nuclear power has now realised that the Hinkley C...
A comparison of the payments schedule for Hinkley C and government projections of renewable energy spending plans suggests that from 2023 spending on first Hinkley C, and later other nuclear power...
Naturally, the technologies themselves will also have to become cheaper, but all signs indicate that the future looks bright for wind and solar power. The International Renewable Energy Agency...
The big waste comes with the nuclear investment. The problem with the ability of the electricity system to absorb more variable wind power supplies lies with the inability, and unwillingness, of...
Observers might be forgiven for imagining that the 35 year contract for Hinkley C, underpinned by £10 billion of state loan guarantees paying higher premium prices (£92.50) than privately built...
Not only do Electric Vehicles provide many environmental, health, energy, and cost saving advantages... EVs also have the potential to provide many economic, technological, and labour market gains in...
The group says that the average battery-powered E.V. sold over the past year used 0.33 kilowatt-hours per mile, a 5 percent improvement over the 2011 data that was basis for the original report. Some...
No matter where you live in the U.S., an EV has lower global warming emissions than the average new compact car, which gets approximately 28 miles per gallon. Emission from EVs are poised for even...
Green groups in the UK are now being subjected to a withering assault on their anti-nuclear position, which is amounting at worst to a campaign of disinformation or at best wishful thinking by the...
I watched the used car ads for about a year and followed the Canadian Leaf Facebook group and eventually this past spring found a slightly used Leaf for just over $20k. The car was in almost new...[more]
My wife and I recently rented a standard (manual) shift car to drive around Ireland for a week. For decades I drove and was a fan of standard shift cars. I was saddened to leave these when nearly 11...[more]
All we can do is work to improve the quality of living for people, not only here but everywhere, and be willing to help future generations. We're not going to change the world, but if everybody just...
The Fukushima District Court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pay 49 million yen ($471,600) in compensation to the family of a woman who committed suicide by setting herself ablaze after being...
The Owens Valley is a desert. A beautiful desert at the base of the rugged Sierra Nevada, but a desert nonetheless. There are few towns, few people, and even fewer services. So it was more than a...[more]
A document released by the panel on Thursday showed it voted in favor of indicting Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at the time of the crisis, along with vice presidents...
There’s an enduring myth related to wind energy and nuclear energy that needs to be put to bed. That myth is that only nuclear can be scaled to sufficient capacity to reduce the impacts of global...
In Britain nuclear's recent record for availability is not outstanding - 65 per cent according to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics for the year 2008-2012. Remember this is for a technology that is...
The EV Show and Meet-Up was organized so Bakersfield residents were able to see and touch electric cars which are available right now. Electric cars sold per capita in the US are lowest within the...
Former lawmaker Taizo Mikazuki who supports phasing out nuclear power won a three-way race to succeed Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada on Sunday, beating a candidate backed by the ruling parties by a narrow...
An anti-nuclear citizens’ network has translated a Japanese court’s ruling blocking the restarts of two reactors into English, Korean and Chinese to spread the “universal values” of the judgment.
Japan is indeed poor in fossil fuels—but among all major industrial countries, it’s the richest in renewable energy like sun, wind, and geothermal. For example, Japan has nine times Germany’s...
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi again blasted the Abe administration’s pro-nuclear energy strategy, saying the plan to restart reactors across the nation is “too optimistic” and goes against...
A heavily edited assessment of the project to overhaul the Darlington nuclear station has identified up to $300 million in cost increases, two years before physical work is scheduled to start.
I argue that nuclear energy ceased to be a viable option in the world's energy mix as the result of the disappearance of the subsidies it received in the form of plutonium purchases by the military....
There is broad consensus for the Swiss nuclear phaseout, even across party lines. In the latest representative survey of 1,264 households in Switzerland, a large majority of the Swiss expressed their...
An in-depth look reveals that coal is not making a comeback in Germany. The current addition of new coal projects in Germany is a one-off phenomenon. Recent projects started in 2005-2007 as part of...
But first we need to get data for the nuclear decline, so as to find a suitable time frame for measuring the renewable growth.
It took the Fukushima disaster to put the future of nuclear power in doubt – but could renewable energy mean the end for nuclear power?
Wednesday’s court ruling blocking restarts of the No. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi plant may embolden opponents of nuclear power nationwide.
he Fukui District Court ruled Wednesday that it will not allow the restart of two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear plant, now under safety examination by Japan's top nuclear...
A Canadian has discovered that radioactive trees aren’t decomposing, suggesting that fallout may be even more dangerous than we realize.
Environmentalists are applauding a landmark Federal Court ruling that puts the brakes on building expensive and risky new nuclear reactors in Ontario.
Compared to the IPCC, the US military is both more forthright in its assessments of climate change risk and realistic in its appraisal of the cost-cutting merits of renewable energy and efficiency....
Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, co-founder of the Japan Assembly for Nuclear Free Renewable Energy, which was officially inaugurated on May 7, said he fully agrees with Saigo, and stressed...
Former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Morihiro Hosokawa on Wednesday established a new entity to promote renewable energy as part of a joint antinuclear campaign that previously led Hosokawa...
And OPG has paid $793 million to prepare to do the Darlington refurbishment, which we haven’t even contracted to do yet. This included the construction of a mock reactor, so workers could practice...
If nuclear power is to provide a carbon-free future for all of our energy, how many plants would need to be built? One per day for the next 22 years. In reality, the world faces a reduction in...
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]
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]
Japan’s energy policy regime appears dangerously adrift in the context of accelerating climate change. The core problem is agency. On the one hand, Japanese PM Abe Shinzo and the nuclear village...
But as his Figure 1 and, in particular, Figure 3 show, the boom in nuclear mainly took place in the 1970s. Growth continued in the 80s, but began stagnating at the end of the 90s, and has taken a...
Areas with periodic droughts, like California, Australia, and even the US and Canadian west (remember the dust bowl) need to preserve their rivers and aquifers, or face severe economic consequences....
The Hinkley C nuclear power plant deal that gives the nuclear developers a £92.50 per MWh premium price for 35 years will give nuclear power a clear competitive advantage over solar pv in what will...
A majority of respondents continue to oppose bringing idle nuclear reactors back online, despite moves by the Abe administration to allow restarts as soon as this summer, according to an Asahi...
Andrew DeWit of Rikkyo University talked about Koizumi’s vision and laid out how Japan’s energy path could change. Its power market is being deregulated, the number of independent power producers is...
Two class-action lawsuits have been filed in New York City against General Electric Co. over the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, court documents show.
So no, Germany has not imported more nuclear power from abroad during its nuclear phaseout. We do, however, continue to run the risks. From my home in Freiburg, Germany, it is 25 kilometers as the...
Take the Electric Car Pledge with these electric cars being made today. Electric cars include PHEV - Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles and EV - Electric Vehicles.
The Bakersfield founder of electriccarpledge.com wants you to take the pledge if you support electric vehicles, plan to buy one in your lifetime or own one now.
As construction delays for the French and Finnish EPR nuclear power schemes lengthen, the odds that the British taxpayer will end up bailing out the EPR planned for Hinkley C in Somerset are rising...
Areva also took a new 425 million euro ($587 million) provision on Olkiluoto, taking total provisions on the project to 3.85 billion euros and knocking Areva into a 494 million euro loss for 2013.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), perhaps incorporating lessons-learned from the oversight misfortunes of San Bruno and the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant, has called for...
But today, 5 out of 16 of the nuclear plants are off line (source: Sygration ). That is 27% of our nuclear capacity, or 3400 MW. The nuclear units that are off line are 50% more than the total...
Japan will scrap its grand nuclear energy plans centering on the accident-prone Monju fast breeder reactor, a decision that will likely force a reassessment of a fuel cycle program that was supposed...
These potential costs should nevertheless be minimized, which is done when moral hazard or free-riding is the lowest, which seems to minimally require unlimited liability on the operator side.
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]
Anyway, here was a man who held Japan's highest political office for five and a half years, lamenting now--and openly admitting--that he'd been lied to [about nuclear power].
Ontario’s bill for refurbishing 10 nuclear reactors is coming due, and it’s massive.
A group of lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party seeking to phase out nuclear power generation has compiled a proposal that the government drastically revise the nation's basic energy...
Japan’s energy policy is at a watershed; the country must now decide which form of energy to adopt as its foundation of the society. Japan Renewable Energy Foundation is urging the government to take...
The figures in Ontario’s just-released energy plan show a dramatic drop in the province’s dependence on nuclear power.
So the Government's price for its nuclear programme will be hefty price rises for an increasing size of the UK electricity market being owned by the Chinese Government.
As Komaneff points out in detail, the cost of nuclear projects are hard to understand exactly. That’s because it takes a long time to build a nuclear power plant. Lots of things can and do go wrong...
Sweden, reviving its nuclear power, will not follow Britain's example of offering state guarantees to fund the construction of new plants, its energy minister said on Wednesday.
I dutifully opened up Porter’s column and was quickly appalled. . . The column fails the single most critical precept in nuclear economics: don’t confuse promise with performance. I made this point...
Work to decommission the nation's first commercial nuclear reactor cannot start for the simple reason there is still no disposal site for radioactive waste.
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Nov. 12 used his first public session with reporters since retiring from politics to continue pressing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to abandon nuclear energy.
Since then, we have received an analysis from Deutsche Bank, which makes some other observations about the cost of nuclear, the comparisons with gas, the price of abatement, and the cost of upkeep...
Ed Davey's excuse for limiting wind power contracts to 15 years whilst Hinkley C gets a whopping 35 year contract is blown away by some elementary history checking. Lots of wind turbines in Altamont...
The UK government’s announcement of a preliminary deal with EDF and its financial partners on the Hinkley Point C European Pressurised-water Reactor (EPR) project, was met with a mixed response. ...
The Government has talked about extending the size of the schemes which qualify under the small feed-in tariff from 5MW to 10 MW. However this makes little difference as the rates payable under the...
Judging from the chatter in social media, the German renewables community is quite pleased at the announcement of a new nuclear plant in the UK. The prices are now, finally, so transparent -- and so...
The Government's hoo-hah over the Hinkley C nuclear deal hides what should be regarded as a decision by the British state - after denying it for years - to give a blank cheque for the power plant. In...
Fire at Windscale (one of the reactors on the Sellafield site, England) ranked 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale . . . Harold Macmillan, told the cabinet that he...
There are many interesting points about the much trailed nuclear announcement today but the ones I find particularly interesting is that regarding the 10% return on investment and the various issues...
The cost of nuclear energy has tripled in just five years, while the cost of renewable energy is falling fast, making the UK government's deal a truly terrible one
Costs can’t be ignored, not only is the playing field for the cost of nuclear uneven, in respect to learning rates, despite widespread deployment they are not falling – recent estimates suggest that...
Ontario’s Liberal government has decided it will not spend billions of dollars to build two new nuclear plants, but will refurbish existing reactors at two nuclear generating stations.
Ontario’s government will shelve plans for a major new investment in nuclear power, according to industry and government sources.
The operator of Japan’s wrecked nuclear plant said Monday that a pump used to cool one of the damaged reactors had stopped, possibly because of human error, in the latest mishap at the...
How could the world have misjudged the dangers associated with nuclear power, especially those from the light water reactors that so dominate the nuclear industry today? The simple answer is lack of...
Ministers are considering bearing some of the construction risk for the £14bn project . . . An agreement will see the energy company a guaranteed “strike price”, reported to be between £90 and £93,...
Squeezing another five years of life out of the Pickering nuclear station could turn into a $1.3 billion benefit -- or a $760 million loss . . .
In a speech to business executives in Nagoya, the former populist maverick surprised many in the solidly pronuclear crowd by proclaiming that Japan should rid itself of atomic plants and switch to...
France will introduce a levy on nuclear energy as well as a tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuels to raise billions needed to boost renewable power and improve energy efficiency.
Japan is shutting down its last functioning nuclear reactor, with no timetable for a restart.
A government white paper in 2002 estimated the cost of decommissioning Britain’s current fleet of plants would be £43bn, many times greater than EDF’s investment at Hinkley Point. This estimate has...
Japan's government is to spend almost $500m (£320m) in an attempt to contain leaks and decontaminate highly toxic water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Mohl called the 41-year-old plant no longer financially viable, and said the closure announcement gives employees and customers more certainty. He pledged that the company will ensure the plant will...
Again, we are only dealing with proposals here, but clearly the EU is seriously considering allowing capacity payments for nuclear towards ensuring the reliability of de-carbonized power supply; the...
In mid-August, former Liberal Democratic Party leader and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, 71, visited Germany -- which has decided to give up nuclear power -- and Finland -- which continues to...
Over its history as a significant California energy source, the nuclear power industry has received four times more subsidies than the California distributed solar industry and has had six times...
Before we all become pro-nuclear greens, however, you’ve got to ask three questions: Is nuclear power safe and clean? Is it economical? And are there better alternatives?
The operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant was careless in monitoring tanks storing dangerously radioactive water, the nuclear regulator said on Friday, the latest development in a...
The operator of Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant sounded the alarm on the gravity of the deepening crisis of containment at the coastal site on Friday, saying that there are more than 200,000...
About 800 people are engaged in decommissioning work, outnumbering those who had operated the nuclear power plant. Because the initial phase of the decommissioning operation takes more than 30 years,...
Two months since The Japan Times’ June 11 editorial “Cease promoting nuclear power,” things seem to have gotten alarmingly worse. The Japanese and the world community should come to terms with the...
Amec claims to have delivered “good value” in managing nuclear waste clean-up operations at Sellafield and is “optimistic” of retaining the £22bn contract, despite admitting failings that could see...
As the scope of the latest crisis became clearer on Wednesday, Japan’s popular prime minister, Shinzo Abe, ordered his government to intervene in the cleanup of the plant — taking a more direct role...
While researching the new car market, I learned that the Nissan Leaf was the first fully-electric car available that didn't cost a fortune. It was still pretty pricey, but with the government rebate,...
Duke Energy said Thursday that it had dropped plans for a $24.7 billion nuclear reactor complex in Levy County, Fla., on which the company has already spent $1 billion, most of it collected from...
French utility EDF, the world's biggest operator of nuclear plants, is pulling out of nuclear energy in the United States, bowing to the realities of a market that has been transformed by cheap shale...
Below are some excerpts from are recent public opinion survey on attitudes toward energy policy. Renewable Energy Among the British public we find a strong preference for a shift to renewable...[more]
A comprehensive survey published by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) of attitudes of the British public has found low support for nuclear power as a solution to the UK's problems compared to...
Solar and wind are by far the most popular, and wind gained the most support from the previous year, jumping from 59 per cent to 67 per cent. Coal and nuclear were the least popular, with nuclear...
The cost of refurbishing New Brunswick's Point Lepreau nuclear power plant could be as high as $3.3 billion, nearly $1 billion more than previously estimated, a memo for the Prime Minister's Office...
You would think that no other country in the world could get by without building more nuclear power stations! Why do some British people think we need them so bad? Maybe it is a feeling for the old...
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), one of California’s major electric utilities, shut down its 1,122 MW Unit #1 at its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant last week just as the state prepared for a serious heat...[more]
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority declines to predict final lifetime clean-up cost amid fears total bill could exceed £100bn
A key issue in the election was the fate of Chubu Electric Power Co.’s Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, which was idled after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Kawakatsu said a referendum should be held on...
The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station operated at 43 per cent power in May new figures show, losing millions of dollars for the month and dragging its overall performance numbers to a new low,...
The last thing we should do right now is lock into expensive and inflexible nuclear mega projects. Instead, we need to focus on transitioning to a dynamic and responsive electricity system that can...
In the present article, I suggest that Japan cannot restart its nuclear capacity in the time-frame suggested by Professor Schaede. And drawing on recent research by Japanese and American experts, I...
“This is very good news for the people of Southern California,” said Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth. “We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate and now Edison...
Thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators have rallied in Tokyo as conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe considers restarting reactors. Read more:...
In a hard-hitting letter to all members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) has called for legislative sanctions against SNC-Lavalin and their CANDU...[more]
In a report riddled with pro-nuclear fantasy hopes and statements, the Select Committee of MPs which scrutnises the Department of Energy and Climate Change has called upon the Government to give much...
The Ontario government is thinking about delaying construction of new nuclear units, says energy minister Bob Chiarelli. . .
U.S. power company Dominion Resources Inc shut the 566-megawatt (MW) Kewaunee nuclear power plant in Wisconsin on Tuesday, as planned.
When the Kewaunee Power Station stops generating electricity next month, a new chapter in its life will open - one that could last until the 2070s and cost nearly $1 billion. . .
The Ontario Power Authority has completed a contract amendment to the Bruce Power Refurbishment Implementation Agreement (BPRIA). The amendment secures a cost-effective source of electricity to the...
'The size of the nuclear programme will depend on the effectiveness of developers initially being able to build to time and budget, and subsequently being able progressively to reduce costs through...
Proponents of nuclear often argue that we cannot do without the technology if we are going to lower our carbon emissions from the energy sector. As a new study by French energy expert Bernard Chabot...
French energy expert Bernard Chabot provides the hard math behind the calculations of feed-in tariffs for nuclear in the UK and compares them to current FITs for wind (offshore and on) and PV under...
In the next few weeks, the future of nuclear in the UK could be decided. French electricity provider EDF is essentially asking for guaranteed prices – feed-in tariffs – for the electricity generated...
Maximum liability is £140m in the UK, but Fukushima clean-up and compensation costs are running to tens of billions – and the state is footing the bill . . .
In 1976 nuclear power, specifically the advanced gas cooled reactors, was labelled by the Central Electricity Generating Board as one of the major blunders of British industrial policy. . .
In an especially brazen piece of pro-nuclear pleading the DECC Select Committee has effectively said that nuclear power should be given cost priority over all green energy options. . .
Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said...
On 27 February 2013 the Bulgarian Parliament voted by 114 to 40 to permanently abandon the Belene nuclear power plant. The vote was prompted by a referendum on 27 January 2013. . .
The debacle over funding nuclear power is increasingly likely to delay the renewable energy programme. . .
More than a decade after the last rolling blackout, Californians could get $1.6 billion in electricity refunds because of market manipulation during the first few months of the energy crisis,...
The Guardian has learned that ministers, intent on keeping the guaranteed wholesale cost of each unit of energy below the politically crucial figure of £100 per megawatt hour [$0.158/kWh USD], are...
This 40 year contract length means that consumers will be paying the premium under the 'contract for differences' (CfD) arrangements for more than twice as long compared to what the Government wants...
Commercial production at Finnish nuclear reactor Olkiluoto 3 is likely to be delayed to 2016, utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said, sparking a new round of accusations between TVO and the builder,...
The report’s concluding remarks should send chills down the spines of politicians, industry, and policymakers on both sides of France’s political divide. Those in positions of authority, say the...[more]
Want to know where to find charging stations, how to build one at home, where to apply for electric car rebates? I will be blogging about our car adventures at...
France is at an energy crossroads. To meet future electricity needs, the country could extend the operating lives of nuclear power plants beyond 40 years, accepting the safety challenges and costs of...
Germany likes to sell itself as a leader in environmental protection, but not everyone is convinced. In particular, the Anglo world remains devoted to nuclear power and criticizes Germany for not...
More on the changes brought by the closure of our local grocery story. . .[more]
Since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in March 2011, there has been an active debate on the future of Japan’s nuclear energy program. The feed-in tariff (FIT) law took effect in July 2012. [1]...
The latest energy statistics suggests that Germany is doing much better in restraining coal used to generate electricity compared to the UK. Yet, to read the British press you would automatically...
German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said on Friday his country would never return to nuclear energy, hitting back at a top EU official who doubted Berlin's commitment to phase out nuclear...
Toshiba Corp. (6502), the Japanese builder of nuclear reactors, is in talks to sell as much as 36 percent of its Westinghouse Electric atomic-power unit as industry growth slows after last year’s...
Comments on the closing of our local grocery store. . .[more]
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the now infamous Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan admitted Thursday that it does not have enough funds make payments related to the disaster...
BDEW says that renewable energy has now a share of 23%, which would mean around 136 TWh generated over the year, assuming with BDEW a 594 TWh electricity consumption. Solar is up the most, to 28.5...
Liberation reports that for the second time in a little more than a year the cost of a new reactor under construction at Flamanville, France has risen dramatically. . .[more]
he Windsor Star reported that all of Canada's nuclear reactors are supplying the grid. I find it interesting that it is considered newsworthy that the reactors are actually operating, reportedly for...
The LEAF is a car one "fills up" at home rather than at a gas station. A few days ago I took my LEAF (to Miller Nissan in the San Fernando Valley part of Los Angeles) for a standard 1.5 year...[more]
The cost of the Fukishima nuclear accident could double. . .
Four of the six members on a government panel drafting new nuclear safety regulations each received between ¥3 million and over ¥27 million in payments, donations and grants from entities in the...
Outages at U.S. nuclear power plants so far in 2012 are generally higher than in recent years because of extended forced outages at four nuclear power plants. U.S. nuclear reactor operators typically...
Prolific Canadian author and award-winning investigative reporter, McKay takes on why Ontario's political class so fervently believes in the fairy tales about nuclear power . . .
The German decision to pursue a nuclear-free future was, however, anything but precipitous or unmindful of climate change. Because of a combination of historical and political factors, Germany has in...
I'm in Hawaii now but two weeks from now I'll be taking the car in for its 1.5 year service check up. The first two check-ups cost me zero $$. I love the feeling of driving knowing that there is...[more]
Nuclear reactors are barely mentioned when disaster preparedness agencies begin issuing storm warnings. This is a mistake. In the past, floods, storms, lightening strikes and earthquakes have...
Britain's energy policy is in trouble. Plans to have five more nuclear plants running by 2025 look like missing their targets without significant foreign investment, part of which, until recently, it...
French electricity spot prices rose on Wednesday, decoupling from lower German prompt prices, boosted by a sharp decline in French nuclear power capacity caused by a series of unplanned outages,...
La compagnie d'électricité japonaise Tepco, qui gère la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima, a admis pour la première fois vendredi qu’elle avait minimisé le risque de tsunami de peur d’une fermeture...
The utility behind Japan's nuclear disaster acknowledged for the first time Friday that it could have avoided the crisis. . .
She said some activists cycled into the fenced-off outer perimeter of one of the plants, and that recent European Union stress tests on nuclear facilities should have paid more attention to whether...
Quebec's only nuclear power plant will shut down on Dec. 28, Hydro-Québec announced Wednesday, but the process of dismantling it will take 50 years and cost $1.8 billion. . .
La fermeture de Gentilly-2 coûtera 1,8 milliard de $, étalés sur plus de 50 ans. Hydro-Québec rend public son rapport sur le projet de réfection de Gentilly-2. Au terme d'une analyse détaillée, elle...
The drop-out of bidders for nuclear operator Horizon, opposition from the one British community that might host buried nuclear waste, and a damning European report on existing plant safety, all...
Areva SA (AREVA) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. decided against bidding for the Horizon venture in the U.K. being sold by German utilities EON AG and RWE AG. (RWE) . . .
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced the results of the first two full months of the nation's feed-in tariff program (FiT), reporting that 1.03 GW of applications for...
The move to close all 50 of the country's functioning reactors by around 2040 marks a dramatic change of course by a country that had previously championed atomic energy, putting Japan alongside...
Solar and renewable energy market participants and observers have been expecting a boom in investment and demand in Japan in the wake of the Japanese government’s July introduction of a renewable...
Mr Phichai agreed with the government's plans to secure an adequate electricity supply by developing power plants in neighbouring countries, citing increasingly strong protests by local communities...
Renewable energy sources are commonly believed to be incapable of offering a stable power supply, but biomass, made from wood and animal-based materials such as livestock waste, is a source that has...
In a rare move by a former Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama joined a boisterous anti-nuclear demonstration outside his old office on July 20, a fresh sign that the ruling party he once led is...
EDF and government officials will negotiate the so-called strike price for new nuclear power plants by the end of the year. To ensure the Paris-based utility makes a final decision on a new reactor...
My solar panels have long since paid for themselves by the savings in electricity costs. I have my electric car running on electricity from the sun, which costs me nothing and there is plenty of it...
For the third consecutive Friday evening, thousands of Japanese took to the streets of their capital to vent frustration with the government's move to restart idled nuclear power plants. Earlier this...
Perhaps more seriously, the San Onofre nuclear plant (SONGS), owned and operated jointly by Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, has been shut down since January due to unexpected...
Tens of thousands of demonstrators held antinuclear energy rallies in Tokyo, Osaka and U.S. cities Friday over the government's decision to restart the first idled reactors since the Fukushima No. 1...
German utility RWE (RWE.XE) has today permanently withdrawn from building nuclear power plants and has also put on hold any plans for new fossil-fuelled projects. . .
Our LEAF EV is now one year old. The standard one-year service visit cost us zero dollars; no oil change, no anything. Nissan suggests changing out a passenger cabin air filter after a year, but...[more]
Germany's long support for wind and solar energy is delivering zero-cost electricity at times. In contrast, the UK's new energy policy seeks to underwrite the rising cost of nuclear. . .
The economic performance of Ontario Power Generation’s Pickering nuclear stations is among the worst in the world, says a report prepared for the Ontario Energy Board. Not only is it the most...
The fact that Germany, in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, redoubled its efforts to phase out nuclear energy has nothing to do with hysteria or postwar angst. On the contrary, a majority...
A report from the Times newspaper on Monday said French nuclear developer EDF had raised the cost of building a nuclear power plant to 7 billion pounds from 4.5 billion pounds last year. "If the...
The coalition wants us to depend more and more on nuclear power, but quite simply, it is too expensive to be able to deliver . . .
Nuclear advocates have blamed renewable energy for driving up Ontario's electricity rates. A new report by the Ontario Energy Board tells a different story: Nuclear has been responsible for 45% of...
None of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be in operation as of May 6, as the country's last reactor operating is to go offline for maintenance, Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano said. . .
None of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be in operation as of May 6, as the country's last reactor operating is to go offline for maintenance, Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano said. . .
"I would like to break away from the reliance on nuclear plants and reduce dependence to zero as promptly as possible," Edano told a House of Representative committee, describing that his remark...
As Japan shuts down the last of its nuclear reactors, Germany shows the way to an energy-efficient future with its rapid timetable for conversion to renewables. . .
Japan should aspire to phase out nuclear power completely, its Energy Minister said on Friday, even as the government struggles to persuade a wary public that it is safe to restart reactors after the...
Electricite de France SA, the biggest operator of nuclear reactors, said two fires were put out in their early stages at its Penly plant in Normandy. . .
Electricite de France SA, the biggest operator of nuclear reactors, said two fires were put out in their early stages at its Penly plant in Normandy. . .
In Chapter 2 we show that, on the basis of the Government’s own evidence, electricity generated by nuclear power is the not the least expensive of all low-carbon technologies. In everyday terms, the...
EV range: about 55kms under the present weather conditions and the earliest Canadian users are reporting about an 8-15km drop in EV range due to cooler weather now Fuel consumption on continuous...[more]
Tuesday I drove a Chevy Volt through the wind farms of the Tehachapi Pass. This was part of an interview and photo shoot by Automobile Magazine about the Chevy Volt and the potential role renewable...[more]
In my first EV posting back in May, I guesstimated that when driven carefully a Nissan LEAF should be able to travel about 4 miles per kWh. We have now had our LEAF for a bit over two months and,...[more]
Should your LEAF have a flat tire, then getting somewhere to have the problem fixed may not be as easy as with your previous cars. To save weight and space, some new cars, including the LEAF, no...[more]
We have now had our Nissan LEAF EV for a month and things are going smoothly. Everyone we have taken for a test drive has nice things to say about the car. The LEAF does not have a tailpipe. So, it...[more]
Note: This is the first of a series of guest posts on electric vehicles--EVs. I've written about the potential of EVs in my books since 1995. As part of my work with renewable energy I've...[more]
According to Thomas Wellock, historian for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "PG&E envisioned many multi-plant sites all situated on the California coast about thirty to fifty miles apart....
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]
The following is a report to family and friends form a lecture tour to Lyon in southern France. In celebration of surviving another conference venue from hell I treated myself to a fancy...[more]
The following is a report to family and friends form a lecture tour to Lyon in southern France. Ok, I am oriented now. Couldn't get my bearings yesterday, but I've got my see legs back. One...[more]
The following is a report to friends from a lecture tour to Ireland, to Carrick-on-Shannon to be specific. To a black crow it's offspring are bright Or so it goes in Irish, a form of...[more]
The following is a report to friends from a lecture tour to Ireland, to Carrick-on-Shannon to be specific. Carrick-on-Shannon may be a regional center, but it's still a village. We took...[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]
Well it was hot during much of the day but it cooled off in late afternoon when I was touring the city on the top deck of a "bus touristic". Nancy would be proud. Though I missed the walking tour...[more]
The current power crisis offers an unparalleled, if not unfortunate, opportunity to rethink how we produce, consume, and value electricity in the Golden State. Electricity is a means to an end--a...[more]
The following are note to my friends from a lecture tour to Wellington, New Zealand in the summer of 2002. No, no, no, I am not working for the CIA. But if they paid enough it might make...[more]
The following are note to my friends from a lecture tour to Wellington, New Zealand in the summer of 2002. A few weeks ago Nancy and I dined atop the Reichstag with a grand view of Berlin and...[more]
The following is a report for friends from a lecture tour to Australia in the summer of 2002. While sitting in the Adelaide airport I thought I'd try keying in some more notes from my visit...[more]
The following is a report to friends from a lecture tour to Australia and New Zealand in the summer of 2002. Travel broadens the mind, so they say. It can narrow the seat as well. Let's just...[more]
Report from the end of the earth--or just about as close as you really want to go.[more]
2003 Note: This was written at the height of California's Power Crisis. Some who read this piece criticized it for not capturing the "true causes" of the crisis. I feel vindicated by later events,...[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]
California's power crisis occurred in 2000 and 2001. By 2002 the threat of rolling blackouts had effectively passed. However, the consequences for state electricity policy were profound. Much has...[more]
October, 2001 presentation to the League of Women Voters Energy Forum, Bakersfield, California It's quite a privilege to be on the same program as Richard Bilas. Dick is the kind of public...[more]
New Zealand could become the world's first nation with a sustainable energy system based on renewable resources.[more]
"California's Electricity Options and Challenges, Report to Governor Gray Davis," joint report of the Electricity Oversight Board and the Public Utilities Commission, undated. by Michael Kahn, and...[more]
"Cost Curve Analysis of the California Power Markets," JBS Energy, Sacramento, Calif. William Marcus and Greg Ruszovan, September 29, 2000. This is a technical report by two economists on...[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]
The following is one of several reports we filed with friends while we lived in northwest Denmark. Roskilde is on the same island as Copenhagen. 97/11/22 Cold, gray, windy. That's the...[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]
