Chris Mooney reports: A large team of researchers have reviewed individual country climate pledges made at the Paris talks to conclude that they fall short, forecasting that the full carbon “budget” that we’ve left to emit if we want to stay below 2 degrees Celsius of warming could be emitted by as early as 2030….
Read More about Study: Paris climate goals fall way short of what’s necessaryThe Centre’s recent directive to state-owned power generation firms to stop coal imports and instead buy domestic coal, saw skeptical voices warning against seeing it as a sign of new commitment to reduce coal consumption. However, there’s good reason to the hope that India may be moving away from coal, irrespective of the government’s intent….
Read More about No thanks to the govt, but coal may be on its way out in India anyway
The way we get electricity is about to change dramatically, as demand for fossil fuels comes to an end— in less than a decade. According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast, massive shifts are coming soon to power markets because electric cars and affordable battery storage for renewable power are arriving faster than expected….
Read More about Forecast: The world nears peak fossil fuels for electricity
David Blittersdorf writes: Our industrial society can handle about a 10% voluntary energy reduction across the board, doing things like walking more and carpooling. To get to the necessary level (which, by some estimations, will be about a 60-80% decrease in energy usage), will be impossible unless we change the way we think about things….
Read More about The Peak Oil dilemma
Representational pic
Prabir Purkayastha writes: The US, after a brief flirtation with nuclear energy, has pretty much decided not to invest any further in this technology. India is helping to revive a patient – the US nuclear industry – which has one foot already in the grave, at a cost of a whopping Rs. 2.8 lakh crore!…
Read More about The cost of Modi’s US Visit: Rs. 2.8 lakh cr for a “dying” technology and “obsolete” reactors
Bloomberg reports that cheaper coal and gas will not derail the decarbonisation of world energy. By 2040, ‘zero-emission’ energy sources will form 60% of installed capacity. Wind and solar will account for 64% of the 8.6TW of new power-generating capacity added over the next 25 years, and for almost 60% of the $11.4 trillion invested….
Read More about Report: Coal and gas to stay cheap, but renewables still win race on costs
Post the Paris climate agreement, the world looks to solar energy more than ever to reduce carbon emissions and counter climate change, with multi-billion dollar solar programmes announced by just about every major country. But just how efficient, and environmentally sustainable is the celebrated solar photovoltaic technology? Here’s what some leading voices have to say….
Read More about How viable (and sustainable) are solar PV systems? A debateThe 2016 edition of BP’s authoritative Statistical Review of World Energy offers some startling revelations. According to the report, India’s share in global coal consumption exceeded 10% in 2015, for the first time ever, while its oil consumption too set an all-time record. India also registered the largest increase in carbon emissions from energy use….
Read More about The largest increase in global CO2 emissions from energy use in 2015 came from India
Thermal Power Station at Raichur, Karnataka
Shripad Dharmadhikary reports: As the summer has progressed, stories of the impacts of drought and water scarcity have been coming up, mostly highlighting the conditions of farmers, cattle and problems of domestic water supplies in villages, towns and cities. However, what’s not reported is the situation with industries, particularly the coal based thermal power plants….
Read More about Thermal power plants: Giant water-guzzlers in drought-ridden IndiaThere’s No Tomorrow is a half-hour animated documentary about resource depletion, energy and the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet, a theme that rarely finds its way to the mainstream media. Inspired by the pro-capitalist cartoons of the 1940s, the film is an introduction to the critical energy dilemmas facing the world today….
Read More about Video: There Is No Tomorrow: A short film on resource depletion
Gail Tverberg writes: Growth in energy consumption is dependent on the growth of debt. Both energy and debt have characteristics that are close to “magic” when it comes to economic growth, which can only take place when debt (or a close substitute, such as company stock) is available to enable the use of energy products….
Read More about Debt: The key factor connecting energy and the economyAkhil Kumar reports: Citing an investigation conducted by the finance ministry’s Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Ashish Khetan, AAP member and vice-chairman of the Delhi Dialogue Commission, has written to PM Narendra Modi demanding swift action in what he says is a massive scam in which major Indian power companies have been siphoning off public money offshore….
Read More about Video: AAP Leader Ashish Khetan alleges “massive power scam” involving Adani, Ambani and Essar
Shankar Sharma writes: It’s evident that an economic policy focusing on high GDP growth rate has not only not resulted in the elimination of poverty, but is certainly leading to accelerated depletion of our natural resources and to the unacceptable level of pollution of land, water and air, while contributing to the global warming phenomenon….
Read More about The true cost of the obsession with GDP growth
Ugo Bardi writes: I am reporting the results of a small survey that I carried out last week among members of a discussion forum; mainly experts in renewable energy. The question was about the possibility of obtaining a society 100% based on renewable energy sources, before it is too late to avoid the climate disaster….
Read More about Is a 100% renewable world possible? An informal poll among experts
The Indian Express reports: Last week, a Solar Pump Irrigators’ Cooperative Enterprise (SPICE) was up and running in Dhundi, a village in Gujarat’s Anand district. Members of this cooperative —the first of its kind in the world— are using solar power not only to run pumps, but also sell their surplus energy to the grid….
Read More about SPICE: The world’s first solar farming cooperative
The common assumption has been that the world will eventually “run out” of oil and other non-renewable resources. Instead, we seem to be running into energy surpluses and low prices. The real situation is that as prices rise, supply tends to rise as well, because new sources of production become available at the higher price….
Read More about Gail Tverberg: Energy limits – what most researchers have missed
It is a peculiar combination of technological, economic and geopolitical factors that has led to the present crash in oil prices, lulling many observers into dismissing peak oil. Through it all, the fact remains that the production of ‘conventional oil’, drawn mostly from established oil wells, has not gone up since its peak in 2008….
Read More about Peak Oil returns to haunt the global economyIndia in its INDC pledged to achieve 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030. The carbon cess will help provide a clear and direct indication to the market of rising regulatory risks that hover over the fossil fuel industry and build business confidence in the non-fossil fuel industry….
Read More about Will doubling India’s coal tax boost the clean energy sector?
With the production of ‘conventional oil’ having reached a plateau and fossil fuels in general under attack for their impact on the climate and the environment, the global oil industry is undergoing an unprecedented upheaval. Oil being the very lifeblood of all industrial societies, the geopolitical and economic consequences of these changes are already being felt….
Read More about The political and economic fallout of the energy upheaval
Jeremy Leggett writes: A Saudi Prince talks of his nation’s “dangerous addiction” to oil. A Bloomberg guru talks of renewables “crushing” fossil fuels. Arguably the most successful entrepreneur ever turns the unveiling of an electric car into the most successful product launch in history. Plus much more that would have been unimaginable a year ago….
Read More about Like an epic novel: How the global energy transition unfolded this April
