How to Start Your Own Power Company, Stop Coal and Nukes, and Transform Your City

2011 Goldman Prize winner Ursula Sladek discusses how she became an unwitting energy mogul -- and a global environmental hero

By Sven Eberlein | AlterNet |March 28, 2012

Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

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Growing Food Demand Strains Energy, Water Supplies

The northern region of Gujarat State in western India (map) is semi-arid and prone to droughts, receiving almost all of its rain during the monsoon season between June and September. But for the past three decades, many crop and dairy farms have remained green—even during the dry season

Jeff Smith | National Geographic News | April 6, 2012

A man irrigates his field with an electric water pump east of Gauhati, in northern India. Excessive water pumping has strained both water and energy supplies in India, China and other hot spots around the world. Photograph by Anupam Nath, Associated Press

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A Tour of the New Geopolitics of Global Warming

Climate change is already shaping conflicts around the world--and not for the better

By Joshua Zaffos and Daily Climate | Scientific American | April 2, 2012

ARCTIC ICE: Earth's northern hemisphere with sea ice and cloudsImage: Wikimedia Commons/Tryphon

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Indonesia opposition parties block fuel price hike

Leading Indonesian political parties said on Friday they will oppose a government plan to raise fuel prices unless oil prices climb further, dealing a blow to the ruling party's efforts to control a swelling budget deficit in Southeast Asia's largest economy

Reuters | Mar 30, 2012

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Global oil risks in the early 21st century

The Deepwater Horizon incident demonstrated that most of the oil left is deep offshore or in other locations difficult to reach. Moreover, to obtain the oil remaining in currently producing reservoirs requires additional equipment and technology that comes at a higher price in both capital and energy. In this regard, the physical limitations on producing ever-increasing quantities of oil are highlighted, as well as the possibility of the peak of production occurring this decade

by Dean Fantazzini, Mikael Höök, and André Angelantoni | Mar 27 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 27 2012

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Japan left with one nuclear reactor after shutdown

Japan has shut down another nuclear power station, bringing it a step closer to suspending atomic energy, following the Fukushima disaster

BBC News Asia | 26 March 2012

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station is not currently in operation

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Report: Water likely to cause conflicts

Water problems in the next decade will contribute to instability in countries important to U.S. national security interests, an intelligence report says

United-Press International | March. 23, 2012

Children sit with water jugs at a refugee camp near Mardan, in northwest Pakistan on May 9, 2009. (UPI Photo/Aajjad Ali Qureshi)

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Access to energy - necessary but not sufficient to cut poverty

The UN estimates that 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity, hurting their ability to earn a living or educate their children. But connecting to an electric grid may not be the only solution

By Rachel Cernansky | Dowser.org in Christian Science Monitor | March 20, 2012

A worker speaks on a cell phone as he sits under the solar panels of a new solar farm in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The solar farm is Asia's largest, according to its developer Moser Baer Clean Energy: 305 acres and expected to generate 52 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. A new report suggests that access to energy is a key to economic development in impoverished areas. Amit Dave/Reuters/File

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The oil price is the new eurozone crisis

No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price

By Tom Stevenson | The Telegraph | 17 Mar 2012

An oil price spike is never welcome but it would be particularly damaging with the global economy in such a weak state Photo: AP

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Drought spreads to Brazil, crop yields hit

Drought has spread from Argentina and Paraguay to Brazil and is hitting soy yields at a time of growing concerns that regional growth may suffer as pressures mount on commodity prices

United Press International | March. 20, 2012

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World energy consumption since 1820 in charts

With energy consumption rising as rapidly it is hard to see what is happening when viewed at the level of the individual

by Gail Tverberg | Mar 16 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 16 2012

Figure 1. World Energy Consumption by Source, Based on Vaclav Smil estimates from Energy Transitions: History, Requirements and Prospects together with BP Statistical Data for 1965 and subsequent

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Coal-reliant Poland increasingly out of step with Europe on climate change

Frustrations with Poland are growing in the European Union after the coal-powered nation for a second time blocked the EU’s long-term plans for cutting carbon emissions

By Associated Press | The Washington Post | March 14, 2012

Coal is transported at the Zeran Heating Plant in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Frustrations with Poland are growing in the EU after the coal-powered nation blocked for a second time last week. (Alik Keplicz/Associated Press)

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Energy in East Africa

Poverty refers not only to one’s economic situation, but also to other factors that influence life. Especially in the past years the term “energy poverty” has become more common

by Kristin Kretszchmar | Mar 10 2012 by Glopolis in Energy Bulletin | Mar 20 2012

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Nuclear Industry Upbeat Despite Fukushima

One year after Fukushima, industry leaders remain optimistic on the future of nuclear power in coming decades, partly because of the high priority that has been placed on identifying and addressing potential weaknesses such as were revealed last year at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan

By Richard Johnson | IDN-InDepth NewsReport | March 10, 2012

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Knowledge, technology, and the politics of rice

The current financial crisis in Europe brings out politics as we know it. The political leaders of nation states deliberate lessons from the past and negotiate solutions for a new future

by Harro Matt | Mar 9 2012 by Common Voices in Energy Bulletin | Mar 9 2012

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Iran in the crosshairs again

Sabre rattling against Iran is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean the threat of war isn’t real. Phyllis Bennis analyses the situation in the wider Middle East

Phyllis Bennis | RedPepper | March 2012

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Water, Energy, Food Security Nexus Conference Publishes Policy Recommendations

The results of the “Bonn2011 Conference: The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus – Solutions for a Green Economy” have been published in the form of a conference synopsis and set of policy recommendations

Climate Change Policy & Practices | 29 February 2012

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Imperial leftovers

You probably don’t know it, but Réunion Island has been racked by riots about the price of gas last week. For those of you who happen not to be specialists of African geography, Réunion Island is a French département, roughly half the size of Rhode Island, located in the Ocean Indian, not far from Madagascar. It is officially a part of France, even if, of course, Frenchmen care about it only when it affects the mainland, such as when a chikungunya epidemic threatened to spill over Southern France

by Damien Perrotin | Feb 29 2012 by The View from Brittany in Energy Bulletin | Feb 29 2012

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Farming and energy: lessons from collapsed civilisations

Renewable energy technologies and agro-ecological farming represent opportunities to avoid the mistakes of the past

Andrew Simms | guardian.co.uk | 1 March 2012

We are more aware now of the likely consequences of our choices than any society in history. Photograph: Martin Bernett/ AFP

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China Tightens Energy Targets

China is calling for energy-intensive industries such as steel and textile manufacturing to reduce their energy consumption more sharply compared with targets set last year, in a move intended to help cull obsolete capacity to contribute to efforts to reduce its carbon footprint

By Chun-Wei Yap | The Wall Street Journal | February 28, 2012

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