Lester R. Brown
The heat in the upper six miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world’s oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.
Partly because of the dominance of the oil, gas, and coal industries, which have been providing cheap fuel by omitting the costs of climate change and air pollution from fuel prices, relatively little has been invested in developing the earth’s geothermal heat resources. Over the last decade, geothermal energy has been growing at scarcely 3 percent a year.
Roughly half the world’s existing generating capacity is in [...]
Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth
A Global Shift to Renewable Energy
Lester R. Brown
As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. Despite the global economic crisis, this energy transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even two years ago. And it is a worldwide phenomenon.
Consider Texas. Long the leading U.S. oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California in 2006. [...]
Solar Day – celebrate the opportunities of renewable energy
After thirty years, the importance of Earth Day is recognized globally. But another environmentally-related celebration is fast on its heels.
June 19th is the second annual celebration of Solar Day, an event honoring solar as an alternative way of providing electricity and light to an estimated more than 1.6 billion people with no direct access to it.
Solar Day will focus on aspects of green living and climate change, with events throughout the U.S. to educate consumers about renewable energy programs, rebates and incentives that are available at city, state and federal levels.
Last year was a sort of virtual event, said Addison Huegel, Executive Director of Solar Day 2010, with one physical [...]
Apples to Apples: Solar and Wind less costly than Coal and Oil
The following is a guest blog by Tom Rooney of SPGsolar.
Everyone knows solar and wind power are more expensive than oil and coal.
Everyone except the National Academy of Sciences.
So they put it to the test: They found coal and oil and natural gas are artificially cheap because they impose health and financial and environmental costs that all of us pay for — above and beyond the price. Whether we know it or not.
Whether we like it or not.
Sounds kind of like a subsidy, doesn’t it? It’s exactly like a subsidy.
Apples to apples? Solar and wind are often less expensive than coal and oil.
The Academy estimates that coal and oil drain [...]
Offshore Wind, Not Offshore Oil
By Janet Larsen
The enormously devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is just one reminder that stretching out an addiction to a polluting and planet-warming fossil fuel poses risks to our health, our environment, and our economy.
U.S. oil production peaked in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels per day. Since then production has dropped by almost half and now supplies less than 30 percent of domestic consumption. In 2009, the United States spent nearly $200 billion on oil imports to make up the difference.
With oil wells on land getting tapped out, U.S. oil production would have fallen off even more precipitously than it did if not for offshore oil. Offshore [...]
Can burning tires be a “green” industry?
An Illinois factory is seeking to become designated “green”. Thing is, they burn shredded old tires to generate electricity.
Geneva Energy LLC had been hoping the Illinois legislature would approve a proposed bill that would allow it to be added to the state’s list of renewable energy sources. Tires were, they reasoned, what they termed “reusable resources” – resources that were out there and although not really renewable, were plentiful enough.
Illinois senators, however, didn’t agree, defeating the measure last night in a 26-17 vote.
The bill’s sponsor in the Illinois House, Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood), said passing this measure would help keep jobs in the town of Ford Heights and allow Geneva Energy LLC to apply for tax credits and grants afforded to wind [...]
UK company promotes sustainability through “green oil”
As the current environmental disaster of unchecked oil spewing from a wrecked oil rig unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, the importance of non-fossil fuel is growing exponentially.
UK-based Carbon Credited Farming PLC (CCF PLC), a green energy company, has been making headway with their worldwide focus on developing “green oil” from jatropha (juh tro’ fa) plants.
“Our goal and vision is to provide alternative renewable energy sources through a sustainable commercial framework that benefits everyone – from farmers to governments to end users – and benefits our environment with conservation and sustainable practices,” said Gregg Fryett, CEO of Carbon Credited Farming PLC.
To achieve this, CCF has been operating jatropha plantations in Thailand, Cambodia and Africa. [...]
Link Sunday
A download of our favorite stories and links from the past week. Enjoy!
1. From Scraps to Seedlings explores how to use eggshells, cardboard, and other household waste to grow vegetables. Hooray for reuse! And cool photos.
2. The Double-Edged Sword of Incentives for renewables, an excellent look at what is needed to really help the renewables industry grow (and what would be well-intentioned but could lead to collapse.)
3. Ok, it’s not hard news, but this video of a golden retriever in a small boat watching orcas swim mere feet away is a GreenPress editor’s favorite. Give it a shot! Some cute on a Sunday never hurt anyone.
4. Climate Change in the [...]
Data Highlights on Solar Energy
Concerns about global warming, rising fossil fuel prices, and oil insecurity have prompted calls for a new energy economy, one that replaces fossil fuels with renewables. The sun is an enormous reservoir of energy; in fact, the sunlight reaching Earth in just one hour is enough to power the global economy for a whole year. Harnessing some of this energy is an essential component of Earth Policy Institute’s carbon cutting plan, as presented in Chapter 5 of Plan B 4.0. Here are some highlights from the accompanying data on three types of solar energy: solar photovoltaics (PVs), concentrated solar thermal power (CSP), and solar water and space heating.
Annual production of [...]
On Rooftops Worldwide, a Solar Water Heating Revolution
By Lester R. Brown
The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space.
China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that do not yet have electricity. For as [...]