January 12th, 2020 | by Cynthia Shahan
Pleasantly called natural gas and sold to many as a better solution, a good transition fuel, natural gas has been dominating new US electricity capacity alongside renewable energy. Yet, hydraulic fracking absolutely takes the "natural" out of it. Originally, natural gas was successfully sold as a cleaner transition fuel. Who knew there were not even laws on the books to address the hidden pollutants, and that there would be much information lacking about the truth of the acid stimulation, hydraulic fracturing, and other new extraction technologies
January 9th, 2020 | by Zachary Shahan
"Small-scale solar photovoltaics (e.g., rooftop solar systems) alone grew by 19.22% YTD. Compared to all other energy sources, solar-generated electricity has enjoyed the fastest growth rate thus far in 2019." Natural gas generation grew by 6.71%, nuclear energy generation grew by 0.8%, and coal-generated electricity generation declined by 14.46%
January 7th, 2020 | by World Resources Institute
It seems like a lifetime ago when at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, I watched more than 100 heads of state and government queue to sign the original documents of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Biodiversity Convention and Agenda 21.
Negotiations had been tough, and some leaders were more enthusiastic than others
December 31st, 2019 | by Guest Contributor
Why did this year bring us climate hope? Advances in solutions and the truly unprecedented momentum the climate movement gained in just one year
December 31st, 2019 | by Guest Contributor
It is hard to build a net-zero building — one that produces more energy than it consumes — in the middle of a city. For one thing, nearby skyscrapers might block sunlight from reaching rooftop solar panels. For another, urban office buildings are cramped for space, and it generally isn’t possible to set up wind turbines on site
December 29th, 2019 | by Guest Contributor
As 2019 comes to an end, we’re taking a step back to look at the videos about the climate crisis that caught the attention, and even inspired, Climate Reality followers
December 29th, 2019 | by Mark Z. Jacobson
The Earth is rapidly approaching 1.5°C global warming, air pollution kills over 7 million people worldwide each year, and diminishing fossil fuel resources portend social instability. Yet, recently, world leaders at the United Nations Madrid climate talks failed to agree on a path forward. The core of the problem is the belief by some leaders that solving global warming will be expensive and drain the economy of their country. However, new research indicates that this belief is incorrect
December 17th, 2019 | by Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai
On the 9th of this month, for the first time ever, Eskom, South Africa’s national power utility company, implemented Stage 6 Load shedding in which Eskom had to shed a load of 6000 MW to stabilise the grid. South Africa’s current installed capacity is 49.4 GW, according to the Draft Integrated Recourse Plan (2018) from South Africa’s Department of Energy
December 16th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
Sprint has indicated that it intends to source 100% renewable electricity and divert 50% of operational waste from landfills by 2025. This is what we need to hear on a day to day basis, from more and more corporations. While 2020 would be better, 2025 is not that far off, especially when you consider development timelines and corporate planning and budgeting challenges
December 13th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
One of CleanTechnica's first rate, well written, most fascinating articles this year was one by Maarten Vinkhuyzen, who wrote, "A perfect storm is brewing above the automotive industry. Three hardly grasped phenomena are working together. Just like a real storm, when the conditions align in the best/worst way, we get a devastating superstorm. These phenomena (or events) are the Osborne effect of delayed demand, the technology (cost) curve of battery prices and other technology, and the S-curve that describes market acceptance of new technologies."
December 13th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
Borrego Solar Systems and sPower worked with the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom this year to manifest the first theme park on the West Coast powered by solar energy. In this case, the solar will account for 80% of the park’s energy usage. One difference in this theme park's solar installation from other similar installations is that it will be powered by one of the most substantial solar carport installations in the country
December 6th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
A recent Solar Simplified survey dove into the topic of climate change and what we think we can do about it.
Solar Simplified surveyed 5,000 people across the United States in order to understand their nuanced approaches, or lack of any approach, in daily life
October 26th, 2019 | by Johnna Crider
Creative ways to prevent food waste, which is all too common and in a country where hunger is an issue, are being pursued by Google Kitchens. That's right, Google has kitchens. It has employees to feed and since Google is on a sustainability mission, its kitchens offer an innovative way to help with the issue of food waste
October 12th, 2019 | by Guest Contributor
Californians love to be outside. But even on a clear, sunny day, we know that the air we are breathing isn’t as clean and clear as it looks, especially in our increasingly congested and crowded cities. Air quality is a complex topic that is affected by the weather, the time of day, and events like wildfires. But one aspect of air quality is very clear: tailpipe emissions make air quality worse. When those emissions happen in cities, millions of people are exposed to harmful pollution
October 11th, 2019 | by David Zarembka
CleanTechnica has been running a number of articles on little noted negative aspects of gas/diesel vehicles. These include hundreds of US deaths annually from carbon monoxide poisoning, oil refinery explosions, 137 US oil spills last year, what to do with old oil tankers, and the 150 gas/diesel car fires daily in the US. A common concept in Africa that is not noticed in the United States or other parts of the world is what in Africa is called “Africa’s Oil Curse.”
October 11th, 2019 | by David Zarembka
While the battle against coal-generated electricity is progressing nicely in the United States, Europe, South Korea, and even to a certain extent Japan, China, and India, the coal companies in some of those countries continue to have their sights on building more coal plants in Africa. Therefore, it is good news to learn that two Japanese banks, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), have withdrawn their support to finance two new 150 MW coal plants in Botswana, MorupuleB V and VI. The two coal plants were to be built by the Japanese company, Marubeni, in a joint venture with the South Korean firm, Posco Energy
October 5th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
Water goes everywhere. It reaches places and distances that other things can't with such flexibility and ingenuity. To attach pollutants to that ingenious reach is counter to intelligence and consciousness
September 12th, 2019 | by Johnna Crider
Marriott is on a mission to reduce plastic waste at an epic scale. That is only possible because Marriott uses plastic at an epic scale, and it's not a goal of becoming 0% plastic, but it's an effort to be lauded nonetheless
August 10th, 2019 | by Matt Pressman
There's an important caveat with electric cars. Although electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions, they draw their power from a wide variety of energy sources. Bloomberg reports, "Trading in your gasoline-guzzling car for an electric vehicle is a lot like shifting the emissions ... [as] EVs run off electricity, and that electricity" can come from both clean and dirty energy sources
July 29th, 2019 | by Daryl Elliott
If you read these 24 questions (and the answers), it should be 100% clear that nuclear power is not a smart energy solution for humans
