Climate Climate & Energy

Maine rejects coal, embraces wind power

Three cheers for the people of Maine (Mainites? Mainians? Mainists?): The community of Wiscasset rejected a zoning ordinance change that would have allowed a new coal gasification plant, while the state’s Land Use Regulation Commission approved a 57 MW wind farm in Washington County. Give ’em all a lobster!

How high a price on carbon is needed to make renewables competitive?

I’ve argued before that electricity cost comparisons are, in Walt Patterson’s memorable phrase, "an artifact of prior decisions otherwise concealed" — i.e., based on unstated moral, social, and economic assumptions. Most of those assumptions, for reasons of habit, custom, and occasionally pecuniary interest, are weighted toward the traditional way of doing things: a hub-and-spoke electricity […]

Politicians here and abroad are refusing to listen to arguments against biofuels

Gristmill reader KO has directed me to George Monbiot's latest article in the Guardian. You folks out there with "biodiesel / no war for oil" stickers are accused of perpetuating a crime against humanity. The article is a (concise and articulate) compilation of my most recent rants against biofuels. Some money quotes:

Energy demand, greenhouse-gas emissions expected to soar, says report

The International Energy Agency has released its annual World Energy Outlook, and it’s fair to say that the outlook is, um, not good. World energy demand is projected to surge by 55 percent by 2030, with China and India accounting for nearly half of that increase and China overtaking the U.S. as the globe’s primary […]

Why we’re not conserving like it’s 1980

On Tuesday, the price of oil set yet another all-time nominal high, leaping above $97/barrel. More importantly, it has just about reached its all-time inflation-adjusted high, reached amid the turmoil of the Iran hostage situation way back in 1980, the Associated Press reports: Crude prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early […]

You can’t begin an argument about coal’s future by assuming coal’s future

I swear, I don’t mean to just rant about stupid coal articles every day. But people keep writing stupid coal articles. I’m like Pavlov’s dog at this point — they say stupid things, I bash them. Good boy! The latest is this interview in Wired’s Planet Earth blog with Jeremy Carl, who researches how to […]

Disturbing news is more likely to be ignored

An interesting post on the phenomenon encountered by peak oil "doomers" in trying to explain their dour views to those that are unaware:

But if the purpose of the peak oil movement is to spread awareness and ultimately spur action, then telling uninformed people news which radically challenges their worldview may cause them simply to tune us out. In this regard, the worse the news is, the less likely people are to want to hear what we have to say or to believe it if they do listen.

Notable quotable

“If the internet goes down, global warming will triumph for sure.” — Bill McKibben

Big Coal slimes Kansas governor Sebelius

The fossil fuel lobby is panicking. Kansas was recently the site of a bold repudiation of coal — Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, established a new precedent by denying a coal plant permit on the basis of CO2, with the full backing of Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius. Look […]

‘Clean coal’ proposals are getting canceled right and left

Remember clean coal, vaunted savior of, um, coal? Turns out cost, unproven technology, and rising opposition to carbon emissions are conspiring to nip a lot of clean coal projects in the bud. This, of course, is just the latest piece of evidence that coal can’t hack it in a carbon-constrained market needs more subsidies.