Report: Can U.S. Carbon Emissions Keep Falling?
A Climate Central analysis of the American energy economy shows that the nearly 9 percent reduction in annual carbon emissions in the U.S. since 2005 is unlikely to continue in the years ahead without major departures from the ways energy is currently produced and used. Recent declines in carbon emissions are the result of a combination of factors… Read More
Studies: Offshore Wind Potential is Huge
The U.S. has lagged behind European countries in capturing offshore wind for electricity, but a spate of recent studies suggest that a bigger push might be in order. The latest, from Stanford civil & environmental engineer Mark Jacobson concludes that off the East Coast alone is enough moving air to meet a third of the entire nation’s energy needs.… Read More
The Rare Earth Riches Buried Beneath Greenland’s Vast Ice
Inside every wind turbine, inside computers, phones and other high-tech equipment from medical scanners to electric cars, are materials known as "rare earths". This small group of 17 elements are in extraordinary demand — but their supply is limited, and most of the existing sources have already been snapped up by China in its quest for ever more r… Read More
Reinventing Transportation by Day, Making Music By Night
Joan Ogden is pretty satisfied with her life these days, except that she doesn’t get out much to perform. Ogden is a musician with a wildly eclectic range: she has, during a decades-long career as a serious amateur, played guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and oud (a sort of Middle Eastern flute) in bands devoted to rock, blues, international folk music, … Read More
Thai Turbines Power a Country that Isn’t Windy
“I know that 70 percent of the area in the world has a low wind speed. I thought, if we want to promote the wind machine, 70 percent is a lot of the world, says Dr. Wirachai Roynarin (or Dr. Roy as he is more commonly known). Dr. Roy is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at RMUTT in Bangkok and owner of Prapai Technologies, a company … Read More
Wind and Tulips and Success in North Holland
“If I only grew potatoes and onions, then I wouldn’t speak with so many people, says Jaap van der Beek. “You speak so often to these people because we all have the same interest. That interest is to build a big wind turbine. Jaap van der Beek has been harvesting the wind for over 15 years, and his 850kw turbine powers hundreds of homes. He lives… Read More
Bright Future for Wind Energy in Nepal
“I have seen a bright future for wind energy in Nepal, because a lot of wind energy potential has been predicted, says Aruna Awale, manager of the wind energy department at the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. From the window of her office, she can see one of the few operating wind turbines in Nepal. It is a small Maglev … Read More
Rio+20’s Search for Green Solutions Laden by Divisions
Twenty years after trying and failing to halt humanity's destruction of our planet, the governments of the world will gather again in Rio this month for a "once-in-a-generation" Earth Summit that will open with great fanfare but low expectations of success. With a new United Nations study warning that the deterioration of the environment is accele… Read More
