If you like self-styled people who don’t ask permission to do what they think is right, you have to live in awe of the state of Vermont. The presence of Bernie Sanders in the U.S. senate (pictured) is proof enough, …
Category: Fossil Fuels
Oil and Terrorism
In our discussions of the oil industry and its legitimacy, we occasionally run across people who deny that oil and terrorism have any real link, e.g., this comment to my recent piece on electric transportation: …. nor has “terrorism” got …
Plunging Oil Prices and Renewable Energy
Alejandro Manrique is a colleague from Argentina, who, last year, demonstrated his great generosity: he donated a ton of time to translate a great deal of our content here into Spanish. He wrote me just now to wish me a Happy …
Lopsided Reporting on the Coal Ash Eco-Disaster
A friend sent me this piece on the environmentally disastrous coal ash accident that occurred earlier this year. I wrote in return: Yes. I saw that recent “60 Minutes” piece in which Leslie Stahl (and the editors) totally barbecued the CEO …
The Oil-by-Rail Problem
Here’s a piece on railway disasters involving oil tankers. I could be wrong, but it seems that the ecological damage of these incidents is an externality of the oil business that is seldom counted—even by the people who are counting.
World Energy in 2075: Planetary Chaos?
My friend and frequent 2GreenEnergy commenter Cameron Atwood just sent me this quote from Lawrence Wilkerson, former aide to Colin Powell, in which he (Wilkerson) talks about Royal Dutch Shell’s two main scenarios for the world in 2075: What I’m …
No One Should Be Afraid to State the Truth: Big Energy Really Is No Friend To Humankind
A reader who’s been around here for a great while responded to my newsletter this morning: Craig. Sorry to see you’ve declared Big Energy your worst friend forever. Whenever waging warfare, it’s good to carry a Big Gun. I respond:
When and How Will China Stop Burning Coal?
Below is a graph that illustrates the pickle the world is in vis-a-vis a sustainable course to energy. Apparently, China has promised to max out its consumption of coal by 2030, and the author of this article seems quite exuberant …
Ban on Fracking in Santa Barbara County
I have to say that I’m on the fence about our Proposition P here, which, if passed, would ban fracking in Santa Barbara County. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, those in favor of the ban don’t have their facts straight; the …
How Much Control Does Big Oil Really Have?
I had a discussion the other day with a fellow who studies energy closely, during which he told me, “Clean energy will happen when Big Oil decides it’s time.” I was quite surprised to hear this. Yes, the bad guys …
