The Carbon XPrize is a five-year, $20 million competition to identify ways to convert carbon emissions into successful, profitable and useful products. Forty-seven organizations from seven countries are competing for the prizes and include large companies, startups and university researchers.
coal
The Trouble With Burning Forests
President Obama has set 2030 as the target for reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to comply with the Paris Climate accord. Unfortunately, the Senate’s new Energy Bill would allow states to count wood as a “carbon neutral” fuel when drawing up plans to comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Germany has continued to be the most aggressive adopter of renewable energy among large industrial nations. The country has the goal of shifting to 100% renewables by 2050. Its continuing embracing of solar and wind generation resources over the past decade has resulted in renewables supplying a third of the country’s power on average.
Scottish Coal
The Scottish government has an ambitious plan to meet 100 percent of its demand for electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Like much of the world, Scotland has produced significant amounts of its electricity by burning coal for more than 100 years. But no longer.
Coal And Water
We recently highlighted how safe drinking water is in short supply. According to research published in the journal Science Advances, at least two thirds of the global population – more than four billion people – live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year. And 500 million people around the world face water scarcity all year.
Norway And Electric Cars
One of the standard criticisms aimed at electric cars is whether they actually are good for the environment when everything is taken into account. For example, people worry about the amount of energy expended and the environmental impact of actually building the car. Recent studies have shown that this balances out over a relatively short amount of the car’s lifetime.
China And Renewable Energy
When it comes to carbon dioxide, three countries are responsible for half of the world’s emissions into the atmosphere: China, the US, and India. On a per capita basis, we are far worse than China, but its population is so huge that that it produces twice as much CO2 as the United States and nearly one-third of the world’s emissions.
Is Natural Gas Cleaner Than Coal?
The widespread use of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) as well as improved drilling techniques have created a major boom in natural gas production. This unquestionably has positive economic impacts for many. One of the important consequences of this is that natural gas is increasingly taking the place of coal for powering electrical generating plants.
Storing Heat From The Sun
We are all familiar with the solar panels that cover an ever-growing number of rooftops as well as large arrays in so-called solar farms. These photovoltaic systems turn sunlight directly into electricity. But they are not the only way to make electricity using the sun.
Carbon Capture Update
The global community is increasingly making commitments to reduce the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. More and more carbon-free renewable energy sources are being used all the time. But despite the tremendous growth in solar and wind power, fossil fuels still provide about 80% of the world’s energy. Coal still provides about 40% of worldwide electricity. Realistically, these numbers can only go down at a relatively gradual pace.
Responding To Climate Change
This week, representatives of 195 nations and the 28 member states of the European Union are meeting in Paris to try to put together the first global agreement to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Among those nations, some are already doing much better than others.
A Tax On Carbon
A while back we talked about the carbon tax in British Columbia and how it resulted in a dramatic reduction in carbon fuel use without any harm to the local economy. Many economists believe that carbon taxes are one of the best ways to promote lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Cities Abandoning Fossil Fuels
Around the world, cities are trying to combat climate change by shifting their energy needs away from coal, oil and natural gas. Some, like Reykjavik and Zurich, use no fossil fuels to produce power at all; others are still planning cutbacks.
Coal Subsidies
