Solar Energy

Can energy retrofit loans bring wonderful life to economy?

by

America is beginning to look a lot like the dark “Pottersville” vision in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey is shown a town where the middle class has been destroyed and lives in poverty under the thumb of evil Big Banker Henry Potter. Bailey’s heroic efforts to help the middle class saved Bedford Falls. America can help the middle class prepare for energy shortages with energy retrofit loans — or funnel billions to Potter-like promoters of Too Big to Fail energy projects. Where’s that angel Clarence when we need him most?

Vaclav Smil’s “Energy Myths and Realities” – A review

by

Smil is well-respected in the world of energy, so I think it is worthwhile looking at what he has to say about peak oil, because it may give us some insights as to where our thinking needs to be refined, or better explained, if it is to be understood by the “mainstream”.

Europe and China – Oct 4

by

– French towns swap rubbish trucks for horse-drawn carts
– Swiss Solar boat heads on around-the-world voyage
– Zero Emissions Race – 30 days around the world using renewables
– Does (European) Social-Democracy Have a Future?
– The Soot Road: Travelling along one of most polluted energy corridors on Earth

South-South technology transfer in Bolivia: A solution for local health, forests, and our global climate

by

These cooking devices rely only on power from the sun and are built entirely with materials indigenous to Bolivia. It is the kind of solution that embodies many of the elements necessary to really get to work solving climate change—local, small-scale, incorporating indigenous knowledge and materials, and with simple, easy-to-use technology.

Renewables & efficiency – Sept 20

by

– China resorts to blackouts in pursuit of energy efficiency
– Air Conditioning Innovation Uses 90% Less Power
– Solar on the Cheap: Thanks Purple Pokeberry!
– Ten Ways the Feds Are Leading the Green Charge
– Busting Myths About Photovoltaics
– Rising wheat prices raise fears over UK commitment to biofuels

A symbolic solar road trip to reignite a climate movement

by

As I write this piece, we’re in the midst of a (biodiesel) road trip to Washington, D.C., towing behind us an unwieldy piece of history: a solar panel off the roof of the Carter White House. It’s decades old, though it still makes hot water just fine. In a sense, we’re traveling backward—which in another sense is what I think we’re going to have to do for a while in the U.S. climate movement.

A Pearl River tale, power and pride in China

by

For a few days last week, global news agencies pursued the peculiar story of the world’s worst traffic jam, which was reported to have lasted for around nine days and stretched across about 100 kilometres of a major highway leading to Beijing. China’s latest instance of leading the world, now in the scale and size of traffic jams, is a direct consequence of the modern uses and abuses of energy.

The care and feeding of time machines

by

The backyard organic gardens central to the current series of posts on The Archdruid Report — and equally central to most strategies for relocation in the face of looming energy shortages — have a lot of work to do in the period between the last frosts of spring and the first frosts of fall. Stretching that interval, by way of “time machines” drawn from appropriate technology, can help make growing part of one’s own food a more viable proposition.

Peak oil, coal, lithium, phosphorus …. Aug 22

by

– Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks
– What if there’s much less coal than we think?
– Peak Everything – a libertarian view
– Go solar before it’s too late!
– Think OPEC exports won’t decline? You’re living in a dreamworld