renewable

Support for greening the economy

by Bryan Walker September 26, 2011

It’s been interesting to see some NZ Herald articles bearing on the Green Party’s “100,000 green jobs” policy which I discussed a few days ago. John Armstrong shared my view that the Green’s jobs policy deserved more than the “ritualistic slagging” offered by John Key and Steven Joyce. National might still claim the Greens do [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Climate Change and Global Energy Security

by Bryan Walker September 18, 2011

Academics Marilyn Brown and Benjamin Sovacool, who have impressive credentials in the field of energy policy, are co-authors of the recently published Climate Change and Global Energy Security: Technology and Policy Options, a substantial and detailed study of a very wide range of technologies covering both the promise of those options and the obstacles to [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Energy Strategy in Denial of Climate Change Reality

by Bryan Walker September 1, 2011

From a climate change perspective the New Zealand Energy Strategy 2011-2016 is hopelessly compromised by its determination to exploit all the oil and gas that can be found, including deep sea methane hydrates. Take a look at this extract, the second paragraph in the strategy document: “Globally, there are two energy challenges: energy security and [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Revolution and realism required: UN report

by Bryan Walker July 14, 2011

I’ve been looking at the The World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation which Gareth drew attention to in his recent post.  It’s a long document prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), not intended for casual consumption, and I haven’t read all 250 pages.  But the [...]

10 comments Read the full article →

Merkel’s rush to renewables

by Bryan Walker May 12, 2011

I’ve become wary of politicians’ commitments to clean energy, having been disappointed by the rapidity with which the rhetoric of leaders like Obama or Rudd loses substance when the political going gets tough. But it was hard not to pay attention to a striking article in Yale Environment 360 this week in which Der Spiegel [...]

29 comments Read the full article →

Climate Capitalism

by Bryan Walker May 3, 2011

Climate protection is good business.  Entrepreneurs and companies who engage in it are prospering. That’s the message of L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen in their recently published book Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change . They energetically urge entrepreneurs and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities opened by the need [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Alley’s documentary: upbeat and optimistic

by Bryan Walker April 18, 2011

Richard Alley’s book Earth: The Operators’ Manual, which I reviewed recently, was written as a companion to a PBS documentary of the same name. The documentary has recently screened in the US and is now available for viewing here. The broad themes are the same as those of the book. They’re not complicated: taking our [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

The Great Disruption

by Bryan Walker March 29, 2011

Australian Paul Gilding straddles the NGO and corporate worlds. A former international head of Greenpeace, he subsequently moved into consultancy with global corporations and others on the transition to sustainability. Transition can sound a comfortingly gradual process, but that’s far from the case with the transition foreseen in his striking new book The Great Disruption: [...]

33 comments Read the full article →

The Climate Show #7: Box and Boxsters – the cryosphere special

by Gareth February 17, 2011

Highlight of this week’s show is a fascinating — and sobering — interview with Greenland expert Professor Jason Box. His perspective on current events in the Arctic — from the dangers of permafrost methane, through rapid warming over Greenland and the potential impacts on sea level is essential listening and viewing. And he can surf, [...]

26 comments Read the full article →

Just as the tide was flowing

by Bryan Walker February 9, 2011

Two disparate news items in New Zealand newspapers highlight some of the problems facing any switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The first is the Environment Court’s welcome approval of Crest Energy’s application to sink 200 turbines to the sea bed of the Kaipara Harbour where the strong tidal flow will be used [...]

30 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →