The global coal industry continues to expand with new coal-fired power plants planned or being built throughout the developing world, especially in Asia where coal remains the preferred low-cost fuel option for power generation. Building up coal mining operations, constructing new coal-fired power plants and developing infrastructure requires billions of dollars in initial investments. Where… Keep reading →
Lindsey Graham has had a bit of a confused relationship with climate change. In 2009, he joined with his then-Senate colleagues John Kerry and Joe Lieberman in crafting a climate bill, only to withdraw his support when it came time to make a big push for it. But it looks like Candidate Graham – he announced… Keep reading →
Natural gas can deliver substantial carbon emissions reductions when displacing coal, and the United States has taken good advantage of it in the past several years. But the U.S. experience might be “one moment in time and space,” says Stockholm Environment Institute senior scientist Michael Lazarus, lead author of a new paper [PDF] on gas and… Keep reading →
Fundamental scientific research lies at the heart of many energy-related breakthroughs that ultimately disrupt established social and economic systems. It can be overwhelming to look at the world’s looming energy and climate challenges, but Dr. Franklin (Lynn) Orr, Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the US Department of Energy remains optimistic despite the complexity… Keep reading →
What’s going on with coal in China? Already the world’s largest consumer of the stuff, China has been expected to continue on an upward trajectory in coal use. But last year the trend line turned down – and it appears to be continuing in that direction. The figures suggest the decline in China’s coal use… Keep reading →
Natural gas is a common power generation fuel, but it’s also used for heating. In Pumerend, a city of 80,000 residents in the Netherlands located about an hour from Amsterdam, a biomass heating facility was recently constructed to replace natural gas-fired heating. Breaking Energy toured the plant last spring before it officially went online to… Keep reading →
Biomethane is a drop in the ocean of fuel used in the U.S. shipping industry now, but its prospects improved a bit on Tuesday with the announcement of an agreement by UPS to buy “renewable natural gas” (RNG) from Clean Energy Fuels, the natural-gas-for-transport company co-founded by T. Boone Pickens. UPS said that beginning this month, tractors and delivery… Keep reading →
President Barack Obama’s assertion last month that climate change will bring more asthma and worse allergies drew a skeptical response in some quarters, but it turns out the president’s signature climate solution – the Clean Power Plan – could come with significant health “co-benefits.” That’s the conclusion of a new study in the journal Nature… Keep reading →
Republicans have been pummeling President Barack Obama for waging what they call a “war on coal,” but you’ve got to wonder how politically useful that tactic is when one of the nation’s biggest corporations is suggesting that it wants nothing to do with comparatively dirty fuel. General Motors this week put out a press release boasting… Keep reading →
While solar and wind energy often dominate the renewable energy headlines, their less well known bed fellow – biomass – recently garnered attention. New figures released by the U.S International Trade Commission have shown a 40 percent upsurge in demand for exports of American wood pellets, fueled by the increase in uptake of biomass technologies, particularly in… Keep reading →
