Climate advocates James Hansen and Bill McKibben are still committed to effective policies that will address global warming. One is pessimistic while one is cautiously optimistic.
The Trump Administration talks a good game for fossil fuels but continues to fund solar energy research leading to the death of fossil fuels. What’s up with that?
ExxonMobil has much to answer for when the topic is climate change, but its renewable energy investments could help accelerate the death of coal.
Solar power prices have been dropping faster than people expected, even faster than experts expected, and even faster than bullish experts expected.
I wrote about this general point a couple of years ago for an article for The Economist Group. The question I was supposed to explore was whether we needed solar technology breakthroughs in order for solar to take over the electricity generation market.
The US Energy Department is looking to accelerate offshore wind, promote cutting edge onshore wind technology and pour more dollars into foundational R&D.
Seven concepts — fungibility, ubiquity, loose coupling, electronics outperforming the physical, human nature, economics and the future already being here — make it clear that the future is electric.
Like the US Energy Information Administration, the IEA uses various methodologies and assumptions that just consistently bias their forecasts against renewables. It’s easy to assume there are some nefarious ulterior motives underneath these consistent errors — crony capitalism and controlling hand of the pollution industry kind of stuff. That’s certainly possible, but I haven’t seen strong evidence of it and won’t jump to conclusions.
Elon Musk managed to get off a lot of really pithy comments in his recent appearance at the National Governors Association meeting — he spoke of a future in which gas-burning cars will be like horses, and explained how China has taken environmental leadership away from the US. He also discussed the personal sacrifices required of a superhero, and his failed efforts to exert a positive influence on America’s Climate-Change-Denier-in-Chief.
Elon Musk advocated for more solar power at the NGA summer conference last week, calling for more solar farms, rooftop systems, and battery manufacturing facilities.
Coal continues to fall hard as renewables surge worldwide (including in China), all despite the Trump administration wanting to go back to the “good old days.”
