In our interactive spreadsheet “How Much Electricity for all Commuters? ” you can calculate what it would take to replace our combustion-driven automotive fleet with electric vehicles.  The assumptions that the spreadsheet default to (which you can change to anything you wish) indicate that based on 4.0 kilowatt-hours per mile, and 40 miles per day [...]

Even if California “only” ends up with 25% renewable electricity within the next decade or two, there is going to be a staggering amount of investment pouring into wind and solar power, and with intermittant sources of energy, massive storage infrastructure is just as necessary as the generating infrastructure. In our analysis of Prop. 7, [...]

There is nothing wrong with encouraging clean, renewable, domestically produced energy.  But California’s proposition 7 “would, if approved, require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025″ (ref. Ballotpedia).  Currently California’s public utilities are mandated to generate 25% of their electricity by 2025, and this is an ambitious goal.  Just [...]

Only an extreme libertarian would claim there is no role for government.  In the face of population growth, aging infrastructure, and myriad new, cleaner and more sustainable ways to deliver energy, water and transportation resources, there is much to be done by the public sector.  Green public works will create wealth and resource abundance.  Green public works must include [...]

Back in April 2006 we posted “The Photovoltaic Boom ,” where we enthusiastically reported the bright future of photovoltaic power.  We thought then, and we believe now, that photovotalic production will increase faster than projections, at the same time as costs will fall faster than expected.  But if photovoltaic power is becoming a commodity, doesn’t that mean [...]

We’ve reported before on TREC, “The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation,” an initiative that campaigns for the transmission of clean power from deserts throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.”
The mission of this group, affiliated with the Club of Rome, is to promote the construction of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines throughout Europe, the [...]

After visiting the GM technical center last April, which resulted in the feature story “GM’s Volt EREV,” it was clear the next big step for the Volt would be to get the actual production design batteries into prototypes and onto the test track.  That step has been taken, with an official announcement by GM Vice Chairman [...]