Free Republic

Heavy reliance on wind power, coupled with a shortage of natural gas, has led to a spike in energy prices Natural gas and electricity markets were already surging in Europe when a fresh catalyst emerged: The wind in the stormy North Sea stopped blowing. The sudden slowdown in wind-driven electricity production off the coast of the U.K. in recent weeks whipsawed through regional energy markets. Gas and coal-fired electricity plants were called in to make up the shortfall from wind. Natural-gas prices, already boosted by the pandemic recovery and a lack of fuel in storage caverns and tanks, hit all-time...

Solar panels are an increasingly important source of renewable power that will play an essential role in fighting climate change. They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that. But we’ll need to develop one soon, because the solar e-waste glut is coming. By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will...

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recently called for solar panels to be used to help power "heavy battle tanks or fighter jets and naval ships," at an online seminar titled New Ideas for NATO 2030 — whose transcript is published on the NATO website. During the seminar, Stoltenberg addressed the fact that the militaries of the world need to take action to curb their considerable CO2 emissions — which are so sizeable they exceed entire countries. "NATO should do its part to look into how we can reduce emissions from military operations," Stoltenberg explained. "We know that heavy battle tanks or...

Proven technologies for a net-zero energy system already largely exist today, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The report predicts that renewable power, green hydrogen and modern bioenergy will shape the way we power the world in 2050. Adopting such solutions would set world leaders on track to meet their target of keeping the planet from heating by more than 1.5 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels this century, according to the World Energy Transitions Outlook report. The UN had warned in November that pledges to meet this goal were so far “woefully inadequate.”...

President-elect Joe Biden named Ron Klain, a lawyer and former President Barack Obama’s “Ebola czar,” to serve as his White House chief of staff. “Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014,” Biden said in a Wednesday statement distributed by his transition team. ... Klain has additionally been extremely critical of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. In March, he gave the federal...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Up to 3.3 million homes in California may lose power Monday as part of rolling blackouts to ease pressure on the state's electric grid as a dayslong heat wave engulfing the West Coast creates an energy shortage, according to the operator of the grid. The California Independent System Operator says it will likely order utility companies to turn off power starting around 4 p.m. as demand for electricity to cool homes soars during the hottest part of the day beyond the power available in the grid. California ISO CEO and President Steve Berberich said the state is...

Tesla Inc. is as big as peak Ford Motor Co., with the Silicon Valley electric-car maker stock poised to hit another record on Tuesday. Tesla TSLA, +2.73% shares traded as high as $462.06, up more than 1% from Monday’s record close, the latest in a series of ever-climbing notches that stretch back to mid-December.

-snip- my love of farms and farming never went away, and in 1999, I purchased my paternal grandfather’s 130-hectare (320-acre) property, Pinehurst Farm, which had been out of the family for 55 years. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d do with the place, but by the time I retired in 2007, there was more and more talk about climate change due to human-caused carbon emissions. I knew that agriculture has a large carbon footprint, and I wondered if there was a way to make farming more sustainable. -snip- I recalled a conversation I’d had with my dad and his friend,...

From grasslands to seashores to forests and backyards, birds are disappearing at an alarming rate in the United States and Canada, with a 29% population drop since 1970 and a net loss of about 2.9 billion birds, scientists said on Thursday.

The last few years have seen growing concern over what happens to solar panels at the end of their life. Consider the following statements: The problem of solar panel disposal “will explode with full force in two or three decades and wreck the environment” because it “is a huge amount of waste and they are not easy to recycle.” “The reality is that there is a problem now, and it’s only going to get larger, expanding as rapidly as the PV industry expanded 10 years ago.” “Contrary to previous assumptions, pollutants such as lead or carcinogenic cadmium can be almost...

Last November, Japan’s Environment Ministry issued a stark warning: the amount of solar panel waste Japan produces every year will rise from 10,000 to 800,000 tons by 2040, and the nation has no plan for safely disposing of it.Neither does California, a world leader in deploying solar panels. Only Europe requires solar panel makers to collect and dispose of solar waste at the end of their lives.All of which raises the question: just how big of a problem is solar waste?Environmental Progress investigated the problem to see how the problem compared to the much more high-profile issue of nuclear waste. We found: Solar...

Last November, Japan’s Environment Ministry issued a stark warning: the amount of solar panel waste Japan produces every year will rise from 10,000 to 800,000 tons by 2040, and the nation has no plan for safely disposing of it. Neither does California, a world leader in deploying solar panels. Only Europe requires solar panel makers to collect and dispose of solar waste at the end of their lives. All of which begs the question: just how big of a problem is solar waste? Environmental Progress investigated the problem to see how the problem compared to the much more high-profile issue...

Fury over the fading benefits of solar power as thousands complain to finance watchdog that glass panels DON'T provide the rewards they were promised Financial Ombudsman has received 2,000 complaints from home-owners Barclays put aside millions to compensate those who bought mis-sold panels Brian Thompson, from Gateshead, took out £10,000 loan to pay for panels Was told by firm PV Solar UK that the panels would boost his pension Payments from power panels sent to National Grid not enough to pay loan coast SNIP

The same New York Times campaigning to take away everyone’s air conditioning has a 6250 ton cooling system in its own building, reports FrontpageMag. Oh, and a cool million dollars of it was taxpayer subsidized. What this means is that this lengthy Times’ piece, that seeks to shame those of us who dare to escape the oppressive heat via cooled air, was proposed, composed, and copy-edited all within the extraordinary comfort of a 6250 ton chilled water system while heating is provided via high-pressure steam purchased from the utility. Air distribution is achieved via variable air volume boxes for interior...

What's not to like about this concept: high-efficiency solar cells gifting electric cars with mileage. Bertel Schmitt, The Drive, said, "The solar roof could morph from mostly a marketing-device to a helpful feature." He noted that, referring to plug-ins, "On a fair-weather day, the juice would be provided by the sun, a big improvement especially for people who don't have their own garage."Toyota has ambitions over the concept and is to start testing an onboard solar recharging system where the hood, the roof, and back are covered with cells. The solar roof can charge while the car is on the...

An “avian incident” sparked a fire at one of California’s biggest solar farms, affecting 1,200 acres and knocking out 84% of the California Valley Solar Ranch’s generating capacity. The June 5 incident didn’t damage solar panels at the 250-megawatt power plant, but distribution poles and cables need to be replaced, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday from owner Clearway Energy Inc. The company didn’t say exactly how the blaze was ignited. “We are pleased that in the aftermath of the fire at California Valley Solar Ranch, our team and first responders were able to ensure the safety of the surrounding...

Even $1.5 billion in subsidies and loan guarantees can’t save a “clean” energy company from bankruptcy. That’s the takeaway from the looming failure of SunEdison, a company that touts itself as the “largest global renewable energy development company.” Once a darling of Wall Street and the green Left because of SunEdison’s portfolio of wind and solar projects, the company’s stock is now in free fall. Furthermore, two related companies that were spun off from SunEdison — TerraForm Global and TerraForm Power — also appear to be in financial distress. On March 30, Brian Wuebbels, the CEO of both TerraForm companies,...

U.S. solar energy company SunEdison Inc, whose aggressive acquisition strategy has saddled it with almost $12 billion of debt, is at "substantial risk" of bankruptcy, one of its two publicly listed units warned on Tuesday. A bankruptcy would rank among the largest involving a non-financial company in the past 10 years, according to bankruptcydata.com. SunEdison declined to comment. SunEdison's shares - already reeling from a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that the company was being investigated for overstating its cash position - fell as much as 60 percent to a record low of 50 cents.

The late January brownout in central Minnesota, during a time of Arctic cold, showed that reliance on “green” energy can be life-threatening. Xcel Energy instructed customers to turn thermostats down to 60 degrees and refrain from using hot water. Xcel went so far as to put some customers up in hotels. Investigation of the brownout has been informative. The principal problem, given that Minnesota has invested massively in wind energy, was that the wind wasn’t blowing. But there was another problem, too, which came out in testimony before the state’s Public Utilities Commission by an Xcel official. My colleague Isaac...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show. SunEdison told regulators last week that it is eyeing bankruptcy under the weight of $11.7 million in debt. But in late 2014, investors were bullish on the company, which manufactures and operates solar and wind power facilities. Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps...