A city is more that just a place where people live and work. And as more of the world’s population gravitates toward city living, these urban centers must cater to their population’s myriad needs with sustainable solutions like never before. Recently, ARCADIS came out with a highly informative report entitled “Sustainable Cities Index 2015 –… Keep reading →
The World Resources Institute, a highly respected environmental think tank issued a new report this week arguing against the widespread use of biofuels. While acknowledging that waste biomass, such as food waste or urban tree trimmings can be efficiently harvested for fuel, the overall quantities would be relatively limited. Biomass crops on the other… Keep reading →
The EPA has long promoted cellulosic ethanol as the future of biofuels, but technical challenges have kept production far below targets. A recent rule change allows RNG, renewable natural gas, to qualify as cellulosic biofuel even though RNG is not cellulosic, but this helps EPA appear to be meeting their goals. RNG growth has been… Keep reading →
Many of China’s coal-fired power plants are equipped with air pollution scrubbers, but in some parts of the country they are seldom used. Scrubbers take energy to run which reduces total output and makes operating the equipment more expensive. The government often sends plant operators mixed messages that prioritize economic growth (which requires maximum power… Keep reading →
The 10 largest power plants in the world – in terms of total installed capacity – are all massive hydro or nuclear installations, with the top 5 located in China and South America. The fact that these are all zero-carbon power sources highlights the challenge of meeting climate-change goals without nuclear power. It’s been said… Keep reading →
A new report released by the Canadian Pembina Institute and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions looks at British Columbia’s (B.C.) liquefied natural gas (LNG) strategy to serve the lucrative Asian gas market through the prism of global climate change in a carbon-constrained world. “Natural gas is often described as a bridge fuel. The question… Keep reading →
The main reason carbon emissions are unlikely to decrease in the short term? Coal. Leave it to Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Robert Bryce to rain on the renewable energy parade. It’s not that he is anti-renewable energy, or even pro coal, but his analysis starkly demonstrates current energy fundamentals and projected trends, which are heavily… Keep reading →
Tom Steyer the billionaire hedge fund manager turned enviro-political activist is spending big bucks to sway voters toward pro-climate-action democrats in the midterm elections this fall, but some are questioning the factual integrity of ads sponsored by Steyer’s super PAC NextGen. While several respected fact-checking groups have poked holes in some of NextGen’s assertions –… Keep reading →
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) states on its homepage that it “provides the only global system for companies and cities to measure, disclose, manage and share vital environmental information – holding the largest collection globally of primary climate change, water and forest risk commodities information.” In an age of climate change this is crucial information… Keep reading →
I had the pleasure a few weeks ago to lend a small helping hand to the good folks at Student Energy. They organized a series of regional summits and I helped provide some guidance to students who were engaged in an exercise to sharpen their blogging skills. Jared Anderson, the Managing Editor of Breaking Energy (and an alum of… Keep reading →
