John Oliver exposed a mainstream audience to the ways that failed utility regulation often result in higher monthly bills, political corruption and environmental damage on Last Week Tonight, his weekly late-night show on HBO. By David Pomerantz Energy and Policy Institute John Oliver takes on monopoly utilities After explaining how monopoly utilities make money from capital expenditures and influence […]
Publicly and cooperatively owned utilities offer a better transition path to a fossil-free power grid than their corporate-owned counterparts—as long as they are properly reformed and regulated—the authors of a report published Monday argue. By Brett Wilkins Common Dreams The report—by Thomas Hanna, Johanna Bozuwa, and Raj Rao of the Democracy Collaborative and Climate and Community Project—found […]
Scientists at a laboratory in England have shattered the record for the amount of energy produced during a controlled, sustained fusion reaction. The production of 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds at the Joint European Torus – or JET – experiment in England has been called “a breakthrough” by some news outlets and caused […]
Most people now recognize the energy savings benefits of green buildings. These buildings use less water, energy and other natural resources. In some cases, they can increase biodiversity, produce their own energy and reduce the urban heat island effect. Recent research shows that green buildings can also improve the health and productivity of those who […]
Given the current climate emergency and the broader ecological breakdown that looms, there are few issues more pressing than that expressed by the single word: enough. Yet, it is possible to satisfy humanity’s universal needs fairly—and keep the world livable. By Stan Cox Yes! magazine What is enough? Put that question to any economist or politician, […]
Lately, you may have heard someone say that we have reached a “tipping point.” This year alone, with the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sustained civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, we have witnessed dramatic shifts in our social and economic states of […]
Huge concrete data centres, permanently plugged into power plants and telephone exchanges, maintain much of online life. But the infrastructure behind internet-based cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, dogecoin and ethereum is more like a rusty travelling circus. And right now, that circus is on the road. By Peter Howson, Northumbria University, Newcastle The Conversation Bitcoin relies […]
Are there more environmentally friendly solutions that we could use instead of cash? Could cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, and payment cards be a sustainable solution, considering crypto has a considerable environmental impact? By Rossella Gangi Impakter Is Cash Environmentally Sustainable? Note-making and ATMs’ electricity consumption contributes significantly to global warming. European countries had agreed to increase […]
The nation’s transition from dirty to renewable energy is “nearing exponential growth”—a shift set to usher in “transformative” impacts within a handful of years. So declares the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in its “U.S. Power Sector Outlook 2021” report released Wednesday. By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams Among the key findings (pdf) are that […]
Way way back, in the long long ago of 2015, when masks were mainly for Halloween and Trump was still allowed on social media, public relations giant Edelman decided that it was not good public relations to work for coal producers or climate deniers. By Climate Denier Roundup “Greenwashing, fake front groups, anything like that […]
As has become clear thanks to great reporting, the dirty energy industry is fighting dirty to stop climate action and weaken it where it can’t stop it, all while claiming that it’s Very Concerned about climate change. For example, Wednesday (after the bulk of this roundup was already drafted), ExxonMobil graciously embraced federal carbon sequestration — essentially asking for […]
Last week, a blast of bitter cold knocked out power across the country, hitting Texas especially hard. It left millions without heat in the coldest temperatures seen in those regions in decades. Grocery store shelves were bare, and water treatment plants went offline. In Texas alone, more than 30 people froze to death, suffered carbon […]
The price of bitcoin has reached US$50,000 (£36,095) – another all-time high. It’s hard to believe that 10,000 bitcoin would only buy a couple of pizzas ten years ago. It’s even stranger to think that bitcoins are completely virtual. You can’t hold one, except on a hard drive, and there’s no underlying asset to them. […]
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick announced Thursday that he plans to ensure the commission does a better job of including environmental justice and equity matters in the commission’s decision-making process by creating a new senior position focused on that task. By Meteor Blades “I believe that the commission should more aggressively fulfill its responsibilities to […]
A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliances shows that America’s monopoly problem is bigger than you might think. While last year’s Big Tech hearings and House antitrust report spotlighted monopoly abuses at Amazon, Google, and other tech giants, the report from ILSR makes clear that America’s monopoly problem has spread into many other sectors […]