Will any of it work? Is California setting an example that the world can follow? The short answer: no. Renewables alone cannot power the global economy. The latest data on global energy consumption by source show how dependent the world remains on fossil fuels. In 2015, oil supplied 33 percent of all energy consumed globally, […]
The corn-based ethanol industry could become a surprising leader in a technology that the world needs to fight climate change, an economic analysis published Monday suggests — a development that could scramble the intense environmental politics of the ethanol issue. The technology in question is carbon capture and storage, or CCS — widely believed to […]
None of this argues against global warming. The 1950s was the last decade cooler than the previous decade, the next five decades were all warmer on average than the decade before. Two year cooling cycles, even if they set records, are statistical noise compared to the long-term trend. Moreover, the case for global warming does […]
The latest report from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that the emission of so-called greenhouse gases declined by 2% in 2016 from 2015 and 11% from 2005. No major industrial economy on Earth has made as much progress as the U.S.
As predictability has gone down, governments and firms need to find ways to be more nimble. They need organizational forms that are flexible and flat. They need policies and business practices that can be adjusted quickly in light of new information. While the watchword is uncertainty, a few things are coming into focus. One is […]
Fossil fuels have similar inertia, he argues. Today, coal, oil, and natural gas still supply 90% of the world’s primary energy (a measure that includes electricity and other types of energy used in industry, transportation, farming, and much else). Smil notes that the share was actually lower in 2000, when hydropower and nuclear energy made […]
Four-dollars-a-gallon gasoline, not seen in the Golden State since midsummer 2014, is starting to look likely due to developments that pushed at-the-pump prices into overdrive last week. February predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline in California by Memorial Day stalled a bit in March, but prices are climbing again, and not just in California. Nationwide, energy experts […]
Rocketing demand and prices for lithium, coupled with China’s stranglehold on supply, are reviving interest in mining Europe’s reserves of the coveted metal some call white petroleum. Prices for lithium used in the batteries that power anything from mobile phones to Teslas more than doubled to $21,000 a ton in the past two years. Analysts […]
As governments, including California’s, join the electric vehicle (EV) crusade, new public policies are advancing that ultimately would ban the sale and registration of light-duty vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. . . . The unintended consequences of banning internal combustion engine cars is that manufactured aviation, gasoline and diesel fuels from crude oil are […]
In an ad published Wednesday in The Sacramento Bee, the coalition directly addressed Brown again, saying he should “lead by announcing no new permits for oil and gas extraction, fossil fuel infrastructure or petrochemical projects in California,” and the state should “set a global precedent by becoming the first oil producing state to announce a […]
By the numbers, the home loan program PACE — or property assessed clean energy — is one of the most successful tools for helping property owners pay for otherwise expensive clean energy and environmental upgrades. PACE loans have shot up by more than one-third over the past year alone, to more than $4.6 billion. Despite […]
Americans are spending more at the pump than they have in years. Prices could rise even higher just as drivers hit the road for family vacations. “This summer, in terms of average gas prices, will likely be the highest since 2014,” said Patrick DeHaan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a fuel-tracking app. “There’s been very little […]
Gasoline is more expensive in the Golden State due to higher taxes and the state’s special blending requirements for fuel in order to reduce air pollution. But another factor came from a 12 cents per gallon increase in state gasoline taxes that went into effect last November. Money from the Road Repair and Accountability Act […]
The number of U.S. homeowners putting solar panels on their roofs declined last year after leading installers including Tesla Inc. abandoned aggressive sales practices that had helped drive breakneck growth. Residential solar had been on a tear, averaging 49% annual growth between 2010 and 2016, but the number of megawatts added last year dropped by […]
Total net energy imports to the United States fell to 7.3 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2017, a 35% decrease from 2016 and the lowest level since 1982, when both gross imports and gross exports were much lower. Gross energy imports have been generally decreasing from a high of 34.7 quads in 2007; however, […]