Today I learned that the German Ruhr region needs to find a budget of around 220 million Euro a year to deal with the environmental consequences of 150 years of coal mining. Around two thirds of that sum is needed for pumping pit water.
Bitcoin mining is a nice fit for a desert solar project, since it needs no power line. The work comes to the site of electricity generation, not the other way round.
The problem with auctions is that contrary to what they are sold as (more market-based model) they are removing the decision on how much new solar is built from the market to the state. There is no way in an auction system to build even one MW more than is auctioned in the first place.
Why are some people trying to deny basic facts of climate science? And why is that problem so much worse in the United States than everywhere else?
SPIEGEL reports on plans for new executive legislation that would allow cities to declare gasoline car restricted zones.
Originally published on the Lenz Blog. David Roberts discusses the question if there are any economic limits for solar and wind grid penetration. In that article he discusses a “rule of thumb” recently developed by Jesse Jenkins and Alex Trembarth, authors working with the “Breakthrough Institute”. Their rule of thumb … [continued]
Originally published on the Lenz Blog I recall that adviser of the Mongolian President Tsagaan called for Mongolia to become “the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy” a couple of years ago. I also expected at the time that Saudi Arabia might be interested in getting there first. Now there is … [continued]
Originally published on the Lenz Blog An editorial at Mainichi Shinbun (in Japanese) published on Sunday discusses the plans of the Japanese government for the electricity energy mix in 2030. From that we learn that they want to achieve a whopping 22 to 24 percent from renewable energy (including hydro). That’s … [continued]
Originally published the Lenz Blog I think that the 2014 reform of the German renewable energy law was a large step in the wrong direction. I think the auction model favored by that legislation over the feed-in tariff will be a failure. I am also rather critical of the fact that … [continued]
Originally published on Lenz Blog. Craig Morris at Renewables International discusses some interesting numbers on the regional differences in the cost of wind and solar energy in Germany. The big picture is that wind is cheaper in the north, and solar is cheaper in the south. For solar, that makes … [continued]
