Only one industrial country in the world has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, and that country is France. France, the sixth largest economy in the world, ranks 15th in
carbon dioxide emissions, behind pre-industrial economies like Iran and Indonesia. France has simultaneously, reduced its dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil. While we dither with small-scale experimental intermittent technologies like
solar and
wind in the United States, France has gone nuclear and clean. In 2008
wind and solar accounted for 1.1% of US energy needs and even if we meet President Obama's objective of doubling the amount by 2012, its contribution will still be inconsequential. In the best-case scenario for wind and solar, they might together generate 20%-25% of our clean…
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Heat from the Earth, or
geothermal - Geo (Earth) + thermal (heat) - energy can be readily accessed by drilling water or steam wells in a process similar to drilling for oil. Domestic geothermal energy is an enormous, and underused heat and power resource that emits little or no greenhouse gases. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface for use in a variety of applications. In the U.S most geothermal reservoirs are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. About 8,000 megawatts of electricity are currently produced globally including about 3,000 megawatts of capacity in the United States. The
US Department of Energy believes that an additional 15,000 megawatts of geothermal electricity…
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Coal, which is by far the dirtiest fossil fuel, generates half of the electricity in the United States and 82% of the carbon dioxide emissions created by power production. Since it is abundant and cheap, it is likely to continue to play a major role in electricity generation for the foreseeable future. In the rhetoric of its champions, The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Despite the introduction of
wind,
solar and other clean technologies, the
Department of Energy in its Annual Energy Outlook 2008 projects a small, 0.03% annual increase, in coal utilization through 2015. Surprisingly, maybe shockingly, they expect that growth rate to accelerate to 1% from 2015 to 2030 unless there are restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions or new clean technology…
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Hydroelectricity is the most widely used form of
clean renewable energy in the world, generating over 19% of the world's electricity. It requires no fuel and produces no direct emissions or by-products. The United Nations estimates that the technically exploitable potential for
hydropower is 15 trillion kilowatt-hours per year, amounting to half of the total projected global electricity needed in 2030. In the United States, hydropower has fallen to 10% of the electricity supply mix down from14%, 20 years ago. In terms of electricity production, hydropower accounts for only 7% of America's current power needs.
Source US Department of Energy
In theory, the mechanics of a
hydropower plant
There are two basic types of
solar electricity plants:
Solar thermal, also called Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), and
Photovoltaic. CSP generates high-temperature heat through the use of various mirror configurations, which is then used to make electricity utilizing traditional heat-conversion technology. Photovoltaic solar power in contrast, converts sunlight directly into electricity.
Concentrating Solar Power
Solar thermal electricity is an attractive renewable energy option in the southwestern United States and other Sunbelt regions.
Concentrating Solar Power (CPS) systems can be sized at a capacity for village power (10 kilowatts), or a number of smaller systems can be connected to a larger grid. According to the
Solar Energy Industries Association, solar thermal electric systems operating in the U.S. today using parabolic trough design meet the needs of over 350,000…
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Coal-fired plants produce approximately 50% of the electricity in the United States and 82% of power-generated
carbon dioxide emissions. If electric vehicles are charged exclusively by coal-fired electricity they produce more
greenhouse gases than a traditional gasoline-powered combustion engine car. In the future, electricity must be generated cleanly if we expect automotive electric-drive technologies to reduce our carbon dioxide burden. Clean energy alternatives like
Wind and
solar power will probably make a significant contribution to clean energy generation, but realistically, we cannot count on these two sources for more than 20-30% of our electricity needs in the next 20 years. Even reaching these modest goals will require a major investment in energy infrastructure and fundamental advances in technology. In light of these realities, it…
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In the popular press one often reads the mantra - We have reached "
peak oil" - implying that we have reached the limits of our geological reserves. That is probably not the case, what we have reached however, is geopolitical "peak oil" because inefficient national companies have pushed out private companies with the know-how to exploit existing reserves. In the 70's
Western Oil companies controlled well over 50% of world oil production. Today, "BIG OIL", the combination of Exxon, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total and Italy's Eni produce just 13% and that will probably decline over the next two decades. Today's ten largest holders of petroleum reserves are state-owned companies, like Russia's Gaspron, Iran's national oil company, Saudi Aramco and Petroleos de Venezuela. (With the possible
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Transportation, specifically the automobile, will be the pivotal sector driving increased demand for oil and its substitutes over the next two decades. The developing world notably China and India, aspire to the freedom the automobile brings. Things we take for granted, such as the ability to escape the crowded city whenever we wish, to live in a green suburb and commute to work or just live a greater distance from our employment will now be come increasingly available to people in the developing world. Per capita car ownership in China will increase to 40 cars per 1,000 citizens by 2010 from its current 24 and that is only the beginning of a steep secular trend. By contrast the United States has 765 vehicles per 1,000 and most Western European countries
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Wind is actually a form of solar energy. The uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun combined with the irregularities of the earth's surface and the rotation of the planet creates wind. The terrain, bodies of water and vegetation modify wind flow patterns, making a small percentage of the earth surface suitable for wind power development. In spite of the fact that only 6% of the contiguous United States land mass can be considered "good wind areas" the Department of Energy estimates that this area could conceivably produce 150% of our current electricity needs. Wind is also the only low-priced renewable energy technology; the projected cost is between $.04 and $.06 per kilowatt-hour making it competitive with natural gas and coal-fired power plants.
Physicists tell us that energy can neither
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Today, we can only sustain a small proportion of earth's population at a sophisticated economic level without dramatically increasing carbon dioxide production. Energy use is the direct correlate of a vibrant economy - in the United States for example, we consume 24% of the world's oil and are responsible for approximately 28% of global GDP. This is no accident. The power that propelled hundreds of millions of people in Europe, Japan and North America to economic prosperity must be shared with the billions in the emerging world. Understandably, these large emerging nations are unwilling to wait for the ultimate clean energy innovation to power the world of the future. They want a seat at the prosperity table and they want it now. It would be the height of arrogance for
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