Category Archives: climate economics

‘Keystone Pipeline Developers Seek $15 Billion From U.S. for Cancellation’

TC Energy Corporation is seeking to recover costs and damages from “regulatory roller coaster” and ultimate shutdown of the Keystone XL pipeline construction project. “We’re not doing this for symbolic or political purposes. This is a business decision,” Prior said … Continue reading

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“Aggregating the harms of fossil fuels”

From Dan Farber at Legal Planet, the post.

Posted in being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, climate disruption, climate economics, climate nightmares, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels | Leave a comment

Fecklessness

(A post inspired by Professor Christian Robert at his blog.) This is from The New Yorker‘s 7th November 2021 issue. It features an article by staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert titled “Running out of time at the U.N. climate conference” which … Continue reading

Posted in being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, Christian Robert, climate disruption, climate economics, climate emergency, climate finance, Katharine Hayhoe, Peter Sinclair | Leave a comment

We are living through the closing door of climate targets

Where we are now, and what we have to do to limit to +2C: And, as far as +1.5C goes, it’s gone. Or at least that target can no longer met without invoking the fantasyland of negative emissions. There isn’t … Continue reading

Posted in #climatestrike, #youthvgov, being carbon dioxide, climate disruption, climate economics | Leave a comment

Losing sight of the big picture

When chasing political solutions to mitigating climate disruption, it’s long been tempting to go after relatively easy quick wins in the short term rather than facing up to the real problem: Emissions of Carbon Dioxide. So, in a world where … Continue reading

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“I have given up. I am here to talk about the science.”

Corinne Le Quéré, Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

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“How should children learn about climate change?”

Posted in #climatestrike, Banned Books Week, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, climate economics, climate hawk, climate justice, climate nightmares, climate science, ClimateAdam, ecological disruption, global blinding, global warming, global weirding | Leave a comment

Future liability for fossil fuel energy producers and conveyors

While I don’t entirely have the optimism which Professor Pearce expresses for the ability of climate models to be as specific as he describes, I am very optimistic that real time remote sensing resources, namely satellites, will get good enough … Continue reading

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Comment on “Federal policy can drive the solar industry… but still may fall short”

Yuri Hurwitz posted an opinion piece at PV Magazine USA of the title in this post’s subject line. While I noted his concerns, I thought they were misplaced. And I thought he missed some other concerns which were more important. … Continue reading

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Climate Facts from James Hansen and Makiko Sato Ahead of COP26

From the newsletter of 14th October 2021: Left are greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, and right are cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, 1751-2018. Don’t think it’s China. Prior COPs have been characterized by self-delusion so blatant that one of us (JEH) … Continue reading

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We Are Here

This is written from the perspective of New England, particularly southern New England, but the argument made by these charts is a bounding one. Namely, as CleanTechnica the original source of the story noted, “Germany has solar resources comparable to … Continue reading

Posted in Bloomberg Green, climate disruption, climate economics, electric vehicles, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

CBAM, Carbon Tariffs, and Waste Reduction (Paul Krugman)

Professor Paul Krugman of The New York Times has what in my opinon is a great economics op-ed in today’s paper, one called “Wonking Out: Two Cheers for Carbon Tariffs.” He explains how Carbon Tariffs and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms … Continue reading

Posted in Carbon Tax, climate disruption, climate economics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

People opposing wind, solar, and battery placement deserve the climate disruption they will reap, without my sympathies

That was 2011. And note the opposition to putting PV on roofs, let alone putting panels on already cleared agricultural fields. Yeah, all well and good, but we’re on a clock. Whether or not the climate system will wait for … Continue reading

Posted in agrivoltaics, alternatives to the Green New Deal, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Bloomberg Green, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized electric power generation, economic disruption, global warming, solar domination, solar power, the energy of the people, the green century, wind energy, zero carbon | 1 Comment

Greta Thunberg, in July 2021

(The above was changed from the YouTube video on 3rd July 2021 because the YouTube video was cracked or altered to switch to an Austrian leader or politician speaking nonsense instead of the last part of Ms Thunberg’s address.) (And … Continue reading

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CFTC and Climate: “We have to slam on the brakes”

To that end, in 2019 the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) formed the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, and tasked it with producing a report to consider what climate-related risks might be; examine whether adequate information about climate risks … Continue reading

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‘Could batteries replace a proposed peaker plant in Massachusetts?’

by Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network June 2, 2021 Environmental activists and local residents in Massachusetts are urging the group behind a planned natural gas power plant to consider whether battery storage could do the job with fewer climate concerns.  … Continue reading

Posted in clean disruption, CleanTechnica, climate economics, Cult of Carbon, energy storage, explosive methane | Tagged , | 1 Comment

‘It begins with attitude’, and about an understated victory

Bill Nye’s Climate Meltdown, introducing Professor Mark Z Jacobson of Stanford University. And Climate Adam reviews a climate action breakthrough:

Posted in #youthvgov, Bill Nye, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, clean disruption, CleanTechnica, climate activism, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate emergency, climate mitigation, climate policy, ClimateAdam, ecomodernism, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global blinding, global warming, global weirding, Mark Jacobson | 1 Comment

Texas. Wonderment.

h/t ClimateAdam. See also: Cohen, Judah, Xiangdong Zhang, J. Francis, T. Jung, R. Kwok, J. Overland, T. J. Ballinger et al. “Divergent consensuses on Arctic amplification influence on midlatitude severe winter weather.” Nature Climate Change, 10(1), 2020: 20-29. Ayarzagüena, Blanca, … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, Amory Lovins, Bloomberg Green, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate denial, climate disruption, climate economics, ClimateAdam, decentralized electric power generation, distributed generation, electrical energy engineering, electricity markets, energy utilities, fossil fuels, global warming, photovoltaics, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | 1 Comment

Wind turbines in winter

Drone footage in first from Peter Sinclair of Climate Denial Crock of the Week. (Skip to time step 80 in the next if you just want to see wind turbines.) Five GE Halide 6MW turbines, near Block Island, RI.

Posted in Bloomberg Green, climate economics, ecopragmatism, engineering, Orsted, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“…. [T]here’s something wonderful about … shooting for 200% renewable generation [over what’s needed] rather than struggling to get to 90% or net zero”

Professor Saul Griffith, MIT I think our failure on fixing climate change is just a rhetorical failure of imagination. We haven’t been able to convince ourselves that it’s going to be great. It’s going to be great.

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Another reason air source heat pumps are a win

We have had air source heat pumps for house heating and cooling since 2014. For the most part, they’ve performed well, or, at least, there’s nothing inherent in the technology which has made the experience sound and enjoyable. If you … Continue reading

Posted in air source heat pump, bridge to somewhere, climate disruption, climate economics, heat pump, Mitsubishi, zero carbon | 1 Comment

The recipe for success of green energy in the Massachusetts suburbs

This is Dr Saul Griffith entrepreneur and inventor at Otherlab, addressing impediments to putting solar on rooftops in the United States. Eventually, it will be ridiculous to people not to put solar on their roofs. And any bylaws or other … Continue reading

Posted in bridge to somewhere, clean disruption, climate economics, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, ecocapitalism, ecopragmatist, electric vehicles, fossil fuel divestment, investment in wind and solar energy, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, photovoltaics, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

What is to be done? Personal ideological purity not only doesn’t help, it can be counterproductive

From “Warmer, Warmer” by John Lanchester in the London Review of Books, 2007: What is to be done? The first thing to do is to admit that Dick Cheney is right. ‘Conservation may be a personal virtue,’ he said in … Continue reading

Posted in climate disruption, climate economics, global warming, Jevons Paradox, liberal climate deniers, personal purity, wishful environmentalism, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Simple: Stop burning things

Bill McKibben, at The New Yorker. And, to go with that, stop burning things down.

Posted in Amory Lovins, Ørsted, being carbon dioxide, Bill McKibben, Bloomberg Green, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized energy, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, global warming, solar energy, solar power, Spaceship Earth, the green century, the value of financial assets, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“The U.S. should lead the world on climate change”

This excerpt is from Bloomberg Opinion, written by its Editorial Board. I recommend the entire op-ed. Climate change is a global threat requiring global action, so it’s essential that the U.S. join, and preferably guide, worldwide cooperative efforts. Among Biden’s … Continue reading

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Consumer, Employment, and Environmental Benefits of Electricity Transmission Expansion in the Eastern United States

If local towns and neighborhoods continue to oppose decentralized zero Carbon energy, whether solar ground mounts or utility scale solar farms or wind turbines, we’re going to need more transmission, much more transmission. Opponents to decentralized solar generation are either … Continue reading

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banks aren’t interested …

From The Hill: The Trump administration auctioned off oil and gas rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the first time ever Wednesday, selling off 1.6 million acres along the coast to primarily one major buyer: the state … Continue reading

Posted in American Petroleum Institute, Arctic, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Carbon Worshipers, climate change, climate denial, climate disruption, climate economics, finance, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, investments, keep fossil fuels in ground | Leave a comment

… [T]oo detached from my natural origins to see the problem …

The proprietor of the false progress blog which I mentioned in an earlier blog post made a comment about another one of my posts. Actually, that’s not quite right in three respects. I don’t really know if it’s really the … Continue reading

Posted in afforestation, Amory Lovins, being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, clean disruption, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate policy, Cult of Carbon, decentralized electric power generation, degrowth, development as anti-ecology, ecocapitalism, ecological disruption, ecological services, ecology, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, extended producer responsibility, extended supply chains, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, Green New Deal, greenhouse gases, Hermann Scheer, investment in wind and solar energy, Joseph Schumpeter, lichens, luckwarmers, luckwarmism, Mark Jacobson, Mary C Wood, mosses, Nature's Trust, nuclear power, NuScale, ocean warming, On being Carbon Dioxide, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, supply chains, technology, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | 1 Comment

On living with wind turbines

Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, Ørsted, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, Cape Wind, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electricity markets, energy utilities, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, Green Tech Media, Hermann Scheer, investment in wind and solar energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LBNL, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local generation, local self reliance, Mark Jacobson, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Osborne, microgrids, mitigating climate disruption, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, the energy of the people, the green century, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

On the Nuclear option

Where does a state government turn when they have a strong mandate to remove fossil fuels from electricity generation, heating, cooling, and transportation? Suppose they proposed a cross-border hydropower purchase from Quebec? Suppose they planned to roll out land-based wind, … Continue reading

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