Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – James Murray at BusinessGreen reports that 17 new massive offshore wind projects have been authorized off Scotland that collectively would generate 25 gigawatts of power. Note that the total offshore wind capacity as of 2020 in the whole world was only 35 gigawatts, so this one set of “ScotWind” projects […]

Climate Crisis

Tonga’s Volcanic Tsunami floods Capital, foreshadowing effects of Glacier Melt from our CO2

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A massive eruption in an undersea volcano, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai, 40 miles north of the South Pacific island of Tongatapu on Saturday caused a low-level tsunami and flooding on the island, the most populous in the Tonga archipelago. The tsunami spread out from there, causing one- to three-foot waves […]

Germany

Renewables supplied 46% of net public power in Germany in 2021, 40.9% of Gross

Clean Energy Wire

NB: “In 2020, renewable energy sources (including wind, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy) generated . . . about 21% of all the electricity generated in the United States.” – EIA [half that of Germany]. – JRC By Kerstine Appunn | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The share of renewables in net public […]

Climate Crisis

Raven releases the Sun: First Native American Interior Secretary moves to put in 100 GW Solar on Federal Land

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As part of a Biden Administration push to put in 27 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy on federal land by 2025, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has just approved the third major solar farm in California, announcing that “the Bureau of Land Management has approved the Oberon Solar […]

Climate Crisis

In First, Biden announces Massive 480k Acre Lease for 7 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind Farms serving New York, New Jersey

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden-Harris White House announced Wednesday that The Department of the Interior is offering a lease sale for offshore wind in the New York Bight, off the coast of New York and New Jersey. The sale will allow companies to put in enough wind turbines to generate 7 gigawatts (GW) […]

Iran

Saving the Iran Nuclear Deal: Here’s how to ensure that a new agreement isn’t so easily cancelled

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Abolghasem Bayyenat | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – As talks for reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, resume in Vienna, it has become increasingly evident that restoring the JCPOA is extremely challenging without ensuring its durability. The developments of the past several years—mainly Trump’s […]

Africa

The North Atlantic Put up most Heat-Trapping Gases but Africa has to Deal with the Climate Emergency

The Conversation

By Margaret Kadiri | – The UN climate summit COP26, held in November 2021, focused the world’s attention on the urgent need to tackle climate change and concluded with 197 countries agreeing to the Glasgow climate pact. But opinions on the summit’s success are polarised. We owe a profound gratitude to the developing nations – […]

China

US Maximum Pressure Foiled as Iran’s new Best Friend, China, imports as much as 18 million barrels a month of its Oil

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – China continues to rescue Iran from Washington’s financial and trade blockade on Iran, which by May, 2019, had reportedly reduced its petroleum exports from 2.5 million barrels a day to only about a tenth of that. Petroleum is a major source of income for Iran, and benefits the government and […]

Climate Crisis

We are so F*cked unless we act Now: The 7 Hottest Years on Record were the last 7 Years

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that the seven hottest years on record “by a clear margin” were the past seven years. This finding underlines the way global heating is speeding up, as we put more and more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Global temperatures fluctuate with […]