World Energy Consumption Per Capita Americans really do use a lot of energy. I’m not condemning. Our economy and lifestyle are based upon cheap energy. The point of this entire exercise is to determine whether its technologically and economically possible for us...
Today, electricity from solar farms is approximately four times as expensive as the market rate. Solar costs are not predicted to reach parity until after 2020. Economics aside, what is the potential for solar energy? The Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, produced...
The 300 GW Scenario The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that U.S. electricity demand will grow by 39% from 2005 to 2030, reaching 5.8 billion MWh by 2030. The U.S. DOE has recently examined the issues, costs, and potential outcomes associated with...
In order to have a frame of reference for later articles in this series, I thought I’d give you the summary of what Professor David J C MacKay thinks future U.K. could look like if it were to make an attempt at a carbon-free society. This is just his take on...
Clean Coal and Carbon Sequestration Clean coal, or coal burning combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) captures carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power plants and stores it in the ground rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. CCS is commercially available...
Taking a short break from examining a potential British response to climate change, I thought I’d provide a couple of charts detailing current generation capacity in the United States broken down by source. As you can see, as of 2007, 10.7 percent of the United...
