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I’ve been invited to the White House only once. Jimmy Carter was the only President to ever invite me. For … Read more

Energy Intensity

Meanwhile, incumbents (utilities), long used to dominating the debate and government policies have been caught on the receiving end of the anti-renewables propaganda they spewed in the past, and which have been weaponized wittingly or unwittingly by the political opponents of the greens, usually the rightwing populists, who are ascendant right now. So the current debate on energy is highly polarized, mostly tribal, and renewables are on the losing side in the public debate. It does not matter much because the march of solar and batteries is relentless and irreversible, but it makes policy making harder, and investment decisions scarier.

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The time has come to voice our fears and be honest with wider society. Current net zero policies will not keep warming to within 1.5°C because they were never intended to. They were and still are driven by a need to protect business as usual, not the climate. If we want to keep people safe then large and sustained cuts to carbon emissions need to happen now. That is the very simple acid test that must be applied to all climate policies. The time for wishful thinking is over.

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A refinery by night: an oriental city with illuminated minarets, a party ship on motionless waves, a hive of phosphorescent bees … thus can you imagine it from a certain distance away. From afar, everything suggests a party, a grand reception in some city of the future, and images still more enchanting (if you squint a little): a checkerboard of flaming figures, a fortress of stars, an extra-terrestrial vessel descended from the heavens.

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Critics of carbon capture respond that it is a giant boondoggle that has never worked and never will work. Just a few weeks ago, our own Michael Barnard posted an article in which he said carbon capture is “an overly hyped, overly hoped for solution that isn’t and won’t scale remotely economically.” He suggests when you are digging a hole for yourself, at some point it is best to stop digging and start facing reality.

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With the closure of the last coal-fired power station in the UK, it raises questions about how old fossil fuel infrastructure can be repurposed. One option is to use them to store energy from renewables.

It’s an unassuming place for a major era of British history to come to an end. Surrounded by farmland drenched by recent rains and trees with leaves starting to turn ahead of the autumn – all within earshot of the thundering traffic from the M1 motorway – the UK’s last coal-fired power station is shutting down for good. As of 30 September 2024 the turbines at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant in Nottinghamshire will fall silent while smoke and steam will cease to belch from the chimney and cooling towers that dominate this part of the landscape.

The power station, which has been operating since 1967, is to undergo a two-year decommissioning and demolition process.

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My hope for increased and wiser US climate action rests on the shoulders of Harris and Walz, both of whom have excellent records on file and excellent platforms before this one. They aren’t hobbled by this relatively weak sauce, backward looking, Biden-centric document, and so they have room to do much better.

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You might be surprised to know that the oil, gas, and coal industries make claims that aren’t completely aligned with reality, and indeed often make claims that have no discernible relationship to it. I know, I know, it’s a shocking revelation. That’s why Canadian firms in the sector are leading the charge against new Canadian regulation, or battening down the hatches, or perhaps circling the wagons, or maybe advancing to the rear. It’s all rather confused right now.

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Amost nine years ago I wrote a series of articles explaining why we chose to drive electric. These essays were … Read more

Ccs Barnard 2024

Carbon capture and sequestration in all of its various ineffective, inefficient and expensive forms is having another run up the hype cycle. Nothing has really changed. The problems still exist. The alternatives are still better. The potential for use is still minuscule. And so, the CCS Redux series, republishing old CCS articles with minor edits.