Latest Articles
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A brief primer on variable vs. fixed costs
For those of us in the power industry, media discussions of the economics of power generation reveal an almost complete misunderstanding of how power is priced. Depending on our vested interests, we may find this either frustrating or beneficial -- but in all cases, it's false.
Herewith I attempt to explain from whence the confusion arises -- and why it is so critical for the clean energy community to understand this math and its consequences ... and to more accurately articulate the economics of those options we prefer.
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Report from EPA and U.S. Climate Change Science Program highlights risks of warming world
Scientists from the U.S. EPA and U.S. Climate Change Science Program issued a new report today documenting the effects of global climate change on human health and human systems. It follows close on the heels of another report released earlier this week by EPA scientists on global warming and human health. “Climate change will affect […]
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In eastern North Carolina, citizens and students rise up for environmental justice
Few places in the world have been pooped on more than Eastern North Carolina in the past 20 years. As jobs in textiles and tobacco moved out over the past few decades, the hog industry moved in, bringing with it the source of the poop: 10 million hogs on 2,300 farms, producing about 19 million tons of waste per year. This waste is stored in huge, open pits called lagoons and then sprayed on surrounding fields, which causes the stench to waft for miles around.
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Minnesota utility plans wind farm over coal reserves
Story at Wind Watch:
A Minnesota utility said it's planning its own mega wind farm in Oliver County, meaning Oliver and Morton counties could some day be home to as many as 1,000 new wind turbines across the hilltops.
At the same time the turbines are capturing mile after mile of wind, they could cover up substantial coal reserves along that southern stretch of Coal Country ... -
Can the West match the Northeast?
Next week, the Western Climate Initiative will release a proposal outlining the program's cap-and-trade design.* In the proposal, we should expect to learn what share of carbon permits will be auctioned (and will therefore generate public revenue) and what share will be given away for free to emitters.
Auctioning is important -- extremely important -- because, among other virtues, it is the best way to promote fairness for people with moderate incomes. We've had lots to say about auctioning in the past, and we'll have lots to say about it in the future. In the meantime, for comparison purposes, I thought it might be helpful to share the auctioning percentages [PDF] from the cap-and-trade program in the Northeast, called RGGI:
- Connecticut.................91 percent
- Maine........................100 percent
- Maryland.....................90 percent
- Massachusetts.............99 percent
- New Hampshire.........100 percent**
- New Jersey................100 percent**
- New York..................100 percent
- Rhode Island..............100 percent
- Vermont.....................100 percent
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Nashville mayor stumps for public transit
Here’s Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville, Tenn., on MayorTV talking in almost jarringly common sense terms about the challenges facing cities and the solutions — public transit, diversity, economic development — that can overcome them: Good stuff.
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RoofKrete makes thin flexible ferrocement that is also vapor barrier
I recently stumbled across a green builders' discussion of a product called RoofKrete, which claims to be a form of semi-flexible ferrocement that can be sturdy and self-supporting in shells as thin as a quarter inch. An additive to the cement makes it a vapor barrier as well, rated to last over 100 years and expected to last much longer than that.
The obvious use for RoofKrete, and the major market at which it is currently aimed, is repairing failed flat roofs and constructing long-lasting, low maintenance new ones. But the reason it caught my eye was the potential for green buildings.
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Low-carbon energy solutions in India may depend on Tata
Amid analysis of the G8's latest climate pronouncement, the announcement of India's first national climate action plan received less attention than it otherwise might have. Even in the Indian media, the plan was also overshadowed by the release of a McKinsey & Co. report that projects massive power demand growth in the country -- 100 gigawatts more demand in the next 10 years than previously estimated. Yet the very same day, the government's Investment Commission called the "Ultra-Mega" coal plants that are central to India's strategy to meet that demand a "main reason for persistent capacity shortfalls."
As reported by India's Financial Express, the climate change "National Action Plan" consists of a laundry list of programs to be initiated -- or more likely, repackaged -- on solar power, energy efficiency, agriculture, and a few others. Based on previous performance in the power sector, agriculture seems to be the most promising of those programs (especially considering the Indian government's success in raising productivity during the Green Revolution). One can hope India will have the same success, and be able to utilize the same distribution mechanisms, in efforts to create seed varieties adaptable to drier climatic conditions.
If McKinsey is right, India's demand will soar to 315-335 GW by 2017, from 120 GW installed capacity today. To supply that demand reliably would require over 415 GW of installed capacity -- that's triple what the creaky Indian power sector produces now. And about 10 times what even the dozen planned Ultra-Mega plants could hope to supply.
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Snippets from the news
• Cost of Yucca Mountain soars. • ExxonMobil doesn’t want to pay interest on punitive damages from Valdez oil spill. • Groceries set guidelines for sustainable seafood. • Fidel Castro not impressed by G8. • Europe warned that natural-gas price could double.
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Harrison Ford on living green
Can we live green and live well? Harrison Ford says living well is living green:
