But even that raises a question: what is average?  Over the last 100 years, there have been an average of 11 named storms per season, and each of 2010, 2011, and 2012 brought us 19 – almost twice the average amount.  So is 19 the new average?

The most interesting point to me, though, was that this guy was extremely cautious on the subject of global climate changes as a driver of increased number and intensity of hurricanes. He did allow, however, because I asked this specific question, that hurricane Sandy would not have caused its damage had it not been for the extreme high-pressure system over Greenland that clearly resulted from the warming of the arctic.

But he referred to this as a “technicality,” I presume to draw the distinction between that and the build-up of heat energy and moisture content that we normally associate with global warming and its relationship to these horrific storms. For some reason, he was totally non-committal on this – almost as if this subject has taken on some political import that he needed to avoid.  You don’t think???

When you think about it, the world is an unimaginably different place than it was just a few decades ago.  In terms of the things I follow most closely, e.g., climate change, I note that in 2003 there was essentially no public recognition for the phenomenon itself,  and certainly no swelling of mainstream consciousness that we had a duty to change our ways of energy generation and consumption accordingly.  Yet only 10 years later, we have enormous numbers of people blocking the construction of tar sands pipelines, and taking all manner of other actions all over the globe.  True, not all are risking arrest as they assert their convictions, but that’s really not what it takes anyway, as a few of the most active and visible people have enormous amounts of leverage.

Solnit writes: “Things change. And people sometimes have the power to make that happen, if and when they come together and act (and occasionally act alone, as did writers Rachel Carson and Harriet Beecher Stowe — or Mohammed Bouazizi, the young man whose suicide triggered the Arab Spring).”

And it’s not all about “activism;”  we have many credible business people talking about Copenhagen’s becoming a carbon-neutral city by 2025, and we see the world’s biggest financial institutions: Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, etc., investing literally trillions of dollars into energy efficiency and clean energy solutions.  That was completely unthinkable 10 years ago.

We tend to think of the future as an extension of the past, yet this is very rarely the case, and it’s especially unlikely in the 21^st Century. Or, as George Will (hardly a progressive visionary) told me at last year’s reunion of our alma mater, “the future always looks like the past – until it looks like something completely different.”

In fact, the most striking aspect of Solnit’s work of art here is a kind of intellectual humility that defines good thinking today.  Our position needs to be: we really don’t know how all this is going to turnout.  Optimists think everything will be fine; pessimists don’t see a way out.  Solnit concludes:  “Will we get (there)? I don’t know. Neither do you.”

Clean, renewable energy is becoming more popular everyday.

As oil and gas prices are on the rise, the need to refocus our attention on creating sustainable new options is essential.

With that in mind, here are a few ways to get your kids excited about clean, green energy—so that ultimately they will recruit their kids to go green in the future as well.

Start Teaching About Clean Energy at Home

The best way to teach your kids about clean energy is to show them your values.

This means that you should be implementing various clean and green technologies at home. The goal is to teach your children that this is the new way of life, and that this is how they should be raising their family as well.

Here are a few affordable, options to go green at home:

• Solar Water Heaters- Water easily absorbs heat from the sun, and a passive solar water heating system can supply 50% or more of your household’s hot water needs.

• Solar lighting outside along the walkway – These are affordable, and can be purchased at your local hardware store. Make sure you place them in areas that are exposed to good sunlight during the day.

• Air drying clothes on a laundry line – Nothing like natural freeze! Dryers guzzle down energy, so on a nice breezy day bring the clothes outside instead!

Solar Power is Intuitive For Kids

For kids, it’s easy to understand that the sun is very powerful, and when focused, can heat things up so much that they generate power. Tell your kids that the sun is a constant energy producer—both to heat our bodies, but also provide power for our daily lives.

Explaining how sunlight is transformed into electricity is more difficult, but the older they get, the more they will be able to comprehend. Get them solar powered toys so they can start connecting solar with fun early on.

Make Games Out of Getting More Green

Have your children turn into the teachers and monitors. Have them be on the lookout for new ways to keep your home as green as possible.

For example, if you give your children an allowance, why not offer them the difference in savings from using solar energy instead of gas and electric? These types of ‘policing’ jobs are fun for kids, and in this case, can teach valuable lessons.

In the end, you want to instill the idea that green energy is the future, and that your family is on the forefront of the technologies.

If you or your spouse works in clean energy, you’re amplifying your message even more. Surround your children with the things, people and ideas that you believe and the rest will follow.

Clean, green, renewable energy is important—it’s the link to man’s continued prosperity and break from natural gasses.

Use this time of learning and growth to mold your children into clean energy advocates from an early age, and they’ll be hooked for life.

About the Author: Peter Walters is a freelance writer that covers topics such as green energy, social enterprise and how to remove article from Google. Peter is the Director of Biz Dev for Two Degrees Food and lives in San Francisco.

At one stage, wind power in Denmark was a genuinely popular movement. Around 3,000 community organizations with 150,000 shareholders operated wind turbines there. Then the government changed the law. They got rid of feed-in tariffs and replaced them with renewable portfolio standards (mandates requiring utilities to purchase renewable energy) and top-ups when renewable electricity was sold on the market.

The result: the market stalled, people started decommissioning their wind turbines in large numbers. People like feed-in tariffs and they will invest in renewables if they are there. Here’s an infographic on the Leonardo Energy site that illustrates the story.

One of the most promising forms of renewable energy is hydrogen. A ready source of hydrogen is green algae. Green algae produce hydrogen as a by-product of photosynthesis. Until recently, conventional wisdom stated that green algae production of hydrogen was an inefficient process, meaning that producing energy from green algae would be by necessity an expensive operation.

However, recent discoveries by researchers at Uppsala University, led by Senior Lecturer Fikret Mamedov and Professor Stenbj’rn Styring indicate that hydrogen production from green algae is much more efficient than earlier believed. If this is the case, green algae may indeed become an economically viable source for hydrogen energy. Organizations such as Environmental Data Resources are instrumental in recording experimental and development data in the continuing quest for sustainable energy.

Green Algae and Photosystem II

During the process of photosynthesis, water molecules are split into hydrogen ions and electrons. These ions and electrons can be combined with hydrogen gas by using special enzymes known as hydrogenases, which occur in cyanbacteria and in green algae, both of which produce hydrogen through their metabolism. Researchers have known for about fifteen years that green algae can produce hydrogen through photosynthesis, but were stumped by the fact that the amount of hydrogen produced in relationship to the process of photosynthesis was too low to be economically viable. In fact, green algae were actually no more efficient at producing hydrogen than ordinary house plants or garden plats, according to the conclusions drawn by previous researchers.

However, the findings by Mamedov and Styring found that previous researchers had actually miscalculated the efficiency of hydrogen production from green algae and Photosystem II. Instead, Mamedov and Styring found that up to 80 percent of the electrons needed for hydrogen producing hydrogenases came from Photosystem II. This figure is much higher than previous findings, and suggests that green algae are in fact a very promising source of renewable hydrogen energy.

Promise for the Future

The scientists intend to continue their experiments, encouraged by the promising possibility that they will be able to unlock a process that allows for control of the Photosystem II process. Once such control has been gained, production of hydrogen could occur on a regular schedule and in quantities designed to meet particular needs. The cost of hydrogen energy would also decrease dramatically, making it a viable source of energy to heat and cool buildings, light rooms and street corners and power motor driven vehicles. These uses alone power a significant proportion of present fossil fuel production, so gaining the ability to fill these needs sustainably would go a long way toward decreasing the total carbon footprint by human habitation.

Tom Grant is an environmental sustainability researcher. His articles mainly appear on environmental blogs.

Harnessing the sun’s energy has been around in one form or the other since the mid 1800’s when it was first referred to as solar photovoltaic technology.

Now, almost two centuries later, solar energy is the most predominant alternative power source in the world next to its breezy brother, wind energy.

So, which countries are making the most of their sunny days by converting sunlight into electricity?

 Über Solar in Germany

When it comes to leading the world in solar power usage and efficiency, Deutschland takes the German chocolate cake. The country of Germany can produce upwards of 35 gigawatts (GW) of solar electricity annually.

To put that number into perspective, one gigawatt of electricity is enough to power a town of 50,000 residents for up to a year. That means 35 GW is roughly 4% of Germany’s total power production for the entire country. In fact, there are entire German cities that run solely on solar like Sonnenschiff, which produces more solar energy than it can actually use.

Sunny Italy

In terms of solar power markets, Italy is growing by leaps, bounds, and sunrays. Italy has the capacity to produce around 22 GW of solar power annually. And, thanks to government incentives, Italy is steadily continuing its alternative energy growth.

Solar power energy usage has become so widespread and efficient that the Italian government run solar power sector employs roughly 120,000 people from photovoltaic designers to solar panel installers and system operators.

Japanese Power

Considering Japan is one of the leading manufacturers of solar panels in the world, it’s no wonder it’s one of the fastest growing countries in terms of solar power usage. Japan’s capacity for solar power is roughly 18 GW annually with a projected goal of 28 GW by the year 2020.

As far as solar innovation goes, Japan is the world leader. Many Japanese solar technology companies are making conscious efforts to implement solar energy into everyday life by producing solar panels that resemble anything from plants to rooftop billboards to flexible solar panel shingles and siding.

The State of Solar Energy in the U.S.

Not far behind in the solar power forefront is the United States.

The U.S. has the capacity to produce roughly 7 GW of solar energy annually. The Midwest and Western states of Arizona, California, Texas, Nevada, and New Mexico are doing the brunt of solar electricity production making up nearly 75% of all the solar power in the U.S.

The reason behind lower solar usage in the U.S. can be attributed to less than attractive government incentives and America’s unwavering dependence on oil and nuclear power, but times are changing and sunnier perspectives are being taken. In fact, the United States solar energy growth is on the upswing with plants already in production that will produce an additional 4 GW of electricity within the next year.

In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, solar power has been expanding rapidly in the States by about 40% a year. Staying on this path will surely put America back in the solar power race while ensuring future energy independence.

So, from the gigawatt goliath of Germany to the innovative solar styles of Japan, there are definitely sunny days ahead for solar energy.

And, one day soon, maybe your town will be run by the sun.

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and sun-seeking creator of content. He writes on various topics including home improvement, hosted voip, and the benefits of alternative energy for the planet as well as the wallet.

Manufacturers claim the proposed new mandate of 15 per cent, known as E-15, corrodes engine and fuel system components. Toyota and Lexus are even apparently fixing warning labels on gas caps and including cautions not to use E-15 in owner’s manuals.

The American Automobile Association says 95 per cent of cars on US roads aren’t suitable for E-15, based on data from US car makers.

The EPA, green groups and the ethanol lobby say automakers and refiners are over-reacting. Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, says the reaction is, “hysteria that’s being driven by the oil companies”.

Green groups say ethanol, which is a high-octane fuel generally derived from corn (and which can also be made from sugar cane and wheat) is an effective means of diluting the USA’s dependence on foreign oil. (It’s also, coincidentally, the same psycho-active alcohol used in beer, wine and spirits. What we’re actually talking about here is a shift from roughly double the alcohol proportion in a robust, full-strength beer, to about 25 per cent more than you get in a cheeky Chianti.)

The EPA says E-15 is safe for cars made after 2001, but admits it’s not appropriate for marine engines and small engines such as those in lawn mowers, chainsaws, etc.

What many people overlook are the consumer- the high school chemistry-type implications of burning ethanol in your car.

Although it’s a high-octane fuel, ethanol actually contains less energy, gallon-for-gallon, than straight gasoline. As in, 30 per cent less energy. Therefore, a 10 per cent blend of ethanol in gasoline (E-10) contains three per cent less energy than a tank of 100 per cent gasoline. This means, if you can get 1000 miles out of 30 gallons of gasoline, you’ll get only 970 miles out of 30 gallons of E-10.

So, as a purely economic proposition, in order to be an attractive consumer purchase, E-10 needs to be priced about three per cent cheaper than 100 per cent gasoline. If not, it’s a rip-off … despite being good for national energy security.

Because it is a higher proportion ethanol blend, E-15 intrinsically contains about 4.5 per cent less energy than 100 per cent gasoline – so the break-even point economically for consumers is 4.5 per cent less than unadulterated gasoline. It also needs to be 1.5 per cent cheaper than E-10.

The obvious way to make E-15 succeed, commercially, is to offer it at a lower price-point than E-10. This is because the majority of fuel buyers purchase on price alone.

The other big problem with ethanol in gasoline is that ethanol is hydroscopic – which means it sucks moisture out of the air. This is an especially important consideration in humid climates, where moisture in the air is prolific.

As consumers purchase gas at their local gas station, outside air replaces the gas that’s decanted into customer’s cars. Because it’s cooler in the tank than outside, the humidity in the air condenses into water and falls into the fuel. If the fuel is 100 per cent gasoline, the water won’t mix with it so it just sinks to the bottom of the tank. But if the fuel is an ethanol blend, it will absorb the water.

Later on, when a customer buys E-10 or the proposed E-15 that’s saturated with moisture, it can cause running problems like hesitation from a standing start, poor idle quality or stalling in traffic – even in a modern car with a fuel system designed to resist the potentially corrosive effects of ethanol.

In any case, we all need to be respectful of Germany, as, with their new-found anti-nuke sentiment, they really are grabbing the clean energy bull by the horns.  It’s a very interesting commitment for a country whose cultural norms are so deeply rooted in minimizing risk.  “Sicher ist sicher” (sure is sure) an old friend used to tell me, describing the typical German mentality.

Of course, the Germans would respond here, “You want sure?  OK, we’re surely destroying our planet with the consumption of fossil fuels.  The question is what are we going to do about it.”

No one likes to waste money, especially not tens of billions of Euros.  But this is tricky business for several reasons, like the opportunity cost of waiting while various forces argue the merits of different alternatives.  This, btw, is exactly what the Nature Conservancy wants to do here in the U.S., i.e., take as long as required to find the perfect spot for solar panels – one that has exactly zero impact on natural systems.

In case it’s not obvious, I believe that there is a real cost to this behavior, and that making a few compromises in the name of expediting the build-up of renewables is acceptable.

I suppose I’m hoping that he’ll push aggressively for the only thing the clean energy industry really needs: a level playing field where fossil fuels are not:

• provided with lucrative subsidies

• offered favorable and exclusive means of capital formation (master limited partnerships), and

• given a free pass on the health problems and long-term environmental damage they create.

Not to sound cynical, but the mere concept of a unanimous confirmation in Washington means that we would be foolish to be holding our collective breath for progressive action here.