hydropower
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Renewable hydropower could supply all of Africa’s electricity
In Africa, 587 million people go without electricity — only about two-fifths of the continent’s population has access to a regular supply. But according to a new United Nations report, hydropower — a form of renewable energy — could supply all of Africa’s electricity needs. Right now, only about 32 percent of the continent’s energy […]
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The Royal Family goes hydroelectric
It's not easy greening the Queen. Several attempts to set up alternative energy sources for Windsor Castle have failed due to lack of funding. But today a British company is completing the installation of a $2.7 million hydroelectric installation that will power the royal residence plus 300 homes. The Telegraph reports that "the Queen was […]
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Learning from history: Why natural gas prices will rise
Here’s the standard story about the U.S. power grid: It gets baseload supply from hydro, nuclear, and coal (in that order), using natural gas (and the occasional oil plant) as a swing producer to meet peak demands. Renewables play on the margin, but are neither big nor reliable enough to matter from a grid planning […]
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Three energy developments that are changing your life — and not in a good way
This essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. Here’s the good news about energy: Thanks to rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global oil demand will not grow this year as much as once assumed, which may provide some […]
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How America could easily add 6 nuclear reactors’ worth of hydro power
A new analysis by Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) says that America could generate 12.6 gigawatts of always-on peak baseload power just by adding electrical generation capacity to existing dams that don't already have it. That's 12 6 (big) nuclear reactors' worth — the average reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant produced only 0.78 GW. [Update: Jesse Jenkins […]
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Lesson from Japan: We don’t need nuclear power to solve the climate crisis
Anyone watching the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan can see: The human and ecological costs of nuclear power far outweigh those of any renewable energy.Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0. On March 14, an editorial in The New York Times stated, “This page has endorsed nuclear power as one tool to head off global warming. We […]
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As Nuclear Falters: A Practical and Affordable Clean Electricity Plan
The President of the United States has chosen to make the goal of 80% clean electricity generation by 2035 the first priority in his move to make America more competitive. In his recent State of the Union Address, Barack Obama compared this project to the 1960’s moon shot program, noting we are at another “Sputnik moment” […]
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Pacific Northwest sends coal a Dear John letter
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial; color: #1f0199} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #1f0199} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline} span.s3 {color: #000000} Dear Coal, We’ve been together a long, long time, but I’m sorry, I’m leaving you for another. Don’t try to argue: like it or […]
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The U.S. power sector: where the power plants are, when they were built, what they pollute
A broad look at the power industry -- where the power plants are, what they burn, and which ones pollute.