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Germany Converts Coal Mine Into Giant Battery Storage for Surplus Solar and Wind Power
Germany is embarking on an innovative project to turn a hard coal mine into a giant battery that can store surplus solar and wind energy and release it when supplies are lean. The Prosper-Haniel coal mine in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia will be converted into a 200 megawatt pumped-storage hydroelectric reservoir that acts […]
U.S. Cities Shop for $10 Billion Worth of Electric Vehicles
Dozens of U.S. cities are willing to buy $10 billion of electric cars and trucks to show skeptical automakers there’s demand for low-emission vehicles. Thirty cities including New York and Chicago jointly asked automakers for the cost and feasibility of providing 114,000 electric vehicles, including police cruisers, street sweepers and trash haulers, said Los Angeles Mayor […]
14 American Cities Tackling Climate Change Today
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg boarded a trans-Atlantic flight to meet with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and French President Francois Hollande. Perhaps in an effort to ease minds across the pond, the group discussed the progress cities are making on climate change, including in the United States. Bloomberg insisted that American cities and businesses have […]
March 22 is World Water Day
This post, written by Planetary Ethicist and This Spaceship Earth co-founder Tim Rumage, can be read in its entirety on Tim’s blog: http://planetaryethicist.com/ I grew up in a family that said grace at dinner. We were thankful for the bounty of food. We never said anything about water. We would go to the water, be it […]
The New Economics of Energy Storage
Energy storage is a favorite technology of the future – for good reasons. Many people see affordable storage as the missing link between intermittent renewable power, such as solar and wind, and 24/7 reliability. Utilities are intrigued by the potential for storage to meet other needs such as relieving congestion and smoothing out the variations in […]
China’s Coal Consumption Drops Again – Boosting Its Leadership on Climate Change
Reforms to the coal industry are central to Beijing’s climate campaign. The US and China had become critical partners on climate, crucially joining last year to endorse the Paris climate accord. In the face of US retrenchment on climate change, China can play a key role in implementing Paris. China’s aggressive push has put it on […]
Defense Secretary Mattis Cites Climate Change as National Security Challenge
“I agree that the effects of a changing climate — such as increased maritime access to the Arctic, rising sea levels, desertification, among others — impact our security situation. I will ensure that the department continues to be prepared to conduct operations today and in the future, and that we are prepared to address the […]
New Popemobile is an Electric Nissan Leaf
Pope Francis, long known for his commitment to environmental stewardship, has taken his call for climate action one step further. He now owns an electric car, a Nissan LEAF. The LEAF was given to the Pope in late February by German asset manager and mathematician Jochen Wermuth. The Pope’s Nissan LEAF can travel up […]
Six Countries Lead the Way in the Renewable Energy Boom
Clean energy continues to overtake fossil fuels as the main source of new energy investments around the world. About 70 gigawatts of new solar generation and 59 gigawatts of new wind power came online in 2016. This amounts to $287 billion in new clean energy investments in 2016, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. We can see […]
Before ‘Silent Spring’ Rachel Carson Wrote ‘Undersea’
Pioneering biologist and writer Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907–April 14, 1964) catalyzed the modern environmental movement with the groundbreaking publication of Silent Spring in 1962, but the spark for this slow-burning revolution was kindled a quarter century earlier, while 28-year-old Carson was working for what would later become the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When […]
