After the G7 fiasco, it’s clear that a trade war is in the making. US justifications of “national security concerns” for its tariffs suggest a legitimate target for EU countermeasures: coal.
Households that are most likely to go solar are those that can afford solar panels, but aren’t so rich that they don’t have to worry about their electricity bill at all, says a survey of 8,000 homes.
New Zealand has set itself a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and a recent report by the Productivity Commission lays out how it could hit that target.
They may not say ‘climate change,’ but many Republican US mayors support clean energy, jobs in renewable industries, and other climate-friendly policies. And so do majorities of their constituents.
Joachim Seel, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Andrew Mills, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Large-scale solar and wind tend to push energy prices down, which sounds great as a consumer. But that makes keeping the grid in constant balance harder.
Environmentalists and climate hawks are cheering, but many experts aren’t excited about the state making rooftop solar panels mandatory on most new homes beginning in 2020.
Producing ammonia, which is a key ingredient in fertilizers, is one of the world’s most energy-intensive chemical manufacturing processes. Now there’s a new low energy option in development.
Several states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have developed ambitious renewable energy targets that hinge in large part on getting their power from turbines stationed in the water.
Deriving fuel from trees costs more than wind and solar power and it emits more carbon than coal. There are many heated debates about this kind of energy, known as forest or woody biomass.
Andrew Blakers, Australian National University; Bin Lu, Australian National University, and Matthew Stocks, Australian National University
Annual water requirements of a PHES-supported 100% renewable electricity grid would be much less than the current fossil fuel system, because wind and PV do not require cooling water.
Masaō Ashtine, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
The 2017 hurricane season showed that Caribbean nations urgently need more resilient power grids. But the effects of climate change – including more severe storms – complicate the shift to renewables.
A recent survey of electric utility leaders finds that Trump administration efforts to promote coal energy and roll back air pollution regulations have had little impact on their long-range plans.