Energy

Revenge is a Dish best Served Green: Biden could get around Manchin with GOP Senators Supporting Wind, Solar, Battery

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Senator Joe Manchin has attempted completely to shoot down the Build Back Better bill, underlining the thin legislative margin with which President Biden has to work. With a 50/50 Senate, Biden’s legislative agenda going forward will need to be bipartisan. The successes this approach can garner are apparent in the […]

Drought

New German Chancellor Scholz Pledges Success in Ambitious Doubling of Renewables by 2030

Julian Wettengel

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The new German government’s plan to more than double power production from renewable sources by 2030 presents a “gigantic task” for the country, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his first government declaration in the Bundestag (national parliament). “However, I am firmly convinced that we […]

Climate Crisis

Why spending $2 trillion on child care, health care and fighting climate change won’t make inflation any worse than it already is

The Conversation

By Michael Klein | – One of the main concerns raised by critics of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is that it will drive up inflation, which is already running at the fastest pace in four decades. The Senate is currently considering a roughly US$2 trillion bill passed by the House that would […]

Climate Crisis

As last Coal Chimney Falls, Will Green Energy Issue in Scotland Break up the United Kingdom?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party, pushed the button last week that brought down the country’s tallest structure, the chimney of the massive coal plant at Fife. The plant was decommissioned in 2016, as Scotland replaced coal with renewables for electricity generation, but the demolition was […]

Climate Crisis

Half of global Coal Companies continue to develop new Assets

China Dialogue

By Nora Sausmikat and Katrin Ganswindt | – ( China Dialogue —- Bonus Video added by Informed Comment: Al Jazeera English: “Bosnia’s most polluting power plant linked with cancer”

Climate Crisis

“Given me a Lever and I will Move the Earth:” Biden orders greening of Federal Gov’t, buying of EVs and Solar Panels

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (d. 212 BC), speaking of the power of the lever, said, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth” (δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω). In the US economy there are few more powerful levers than […]

Iran

It was Israel, not Iran, that Derailed the 2015 Nuclear Agreement, and Bennett is still working against it

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | – World leaders have been trying desperately to salvage the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+ countries: the US, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany. The seventh round of talks in Vienna ended on Friday with very little to suggest that the main […]

Natural Gas

A century of Criminality: How the car and gas industry knew about the health risks of leaded fuel but sold it for 100 years anyway

The Conversation

By Bill Kovarik | – On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a General Motors lab poured a new fuel blend into one of their test engines. Immediately, the engine began running more quietly and putting out more power. The new fuel was tetraethyl lead. With vast profits in […]

China

For first time, China now gets a Trillion Watts of Electricity from Wind-Water-Hydro

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – China reached a milestone this fall, of producing a terawatt of electricity from renewables — wind, water, hydro and a bit of biomass. A trillion watts is equivalent to 10 billion 100-watt light bulbs. This milestone is worth celebrating, though it is worth noting that wind and solar currently account […]