Norway's 937 hydroelectric-generating plants provide the country with 96 percent of its electricity—making it the world’s sixth-largest hydropower producer. Now, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are figuring out how to spread the water power wealth to other nations by turning Norway into the “green battery pack” of Europe. The idea is to … [Read more...]
India making waves in offshore wind energy
In the last few months there is a movement afoot in India to speed up the development of wind energy projects and open up the offshore wind sector. This shows from the government’s decision to continue with policies such as Accelerated Depreciation (AD) and Generation-Based Incentive (GBI) – along with its plans to launch the Wind Energy Mission. In what can be seen as a … [Read more...]
US companies pledge $140 billion to slash carbon emissions
The Obama Administration has rallied some of the largest companies in the nation to commit billions of dollars to slash their environmental footprints to help combat climate change, in an effort to gain momentum before the Paris climate talks in December. Today, the White House launched the “American Business Act on Climate Pledge,” with 13 U.S. businesses—Alcoa, Apple, Bank … [Read more...]
Japan transforms abandoned golf courses into solar power plants
We’ve all fallen for fads and wanted the nicest product on the market. I’m unashamed to say that when Heelys were introduced in my susceptible pint-size years, I was the first kid sliding down my elementary school hallway. Or how in the ’70s, it was social suicide to not have a lava lamp adorning your dresser. Well in Japan in the 1980s, the fad was to join incredibly … [Read more...]
Al Gore criticizes Obama for allowing ‘insane’ Arctic drilling
The former US vice-president and climate champion Al Gore has made a rare criticism of Barack Obama as Royal Dutch Shell prepares to drill an exploratory well in the Arctic Ocean, denouncing the venture as “insane” and calling for a ban on all oil and gas activity in the polar region. With Shell planning to begin drilling in the oil-rich Chukchi Sea within days, Gore said in … [Read more...]
Electrifying Africa: the hunt for the off-grid solution
Worldwide 1.1 billion people continue to live without access to electricity. More than 95% of those without access to electricity live in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia. While progress is being made, rapid population growth continues to challenge that progress. Perhaps needless to say but the most significant depravation is amongst rural communities. The … [Read more...]
Parkhurst’s offgrid power plan an SA revelation
The Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst is nothing if not a technology trend setter. Last year, the local residents’ association took the decision not to wait for Telkom to come and lay fibre in the area, and put together its own tender for a private company to come in and cable homes up. In a striking example of grassroots democracy in action, residents voted with their … [Read more...]
Will you join Pope Francis in the call for climate action?
Reacting to the Pope's Encyclical on the environment, Michael O’Brien Onyeka, Executive Director at Greenpeace Africa, said: "Greenpeace welcomes the valuable intervention of Pope Francis in humanity's common struggle to prevent catastrophic climate change. This first encyclical on the environment brings the world a step closer to that tipping point where we abandon fossil … [Read more...]
HOW TO SERIES PART 2: Going off the grid with solar
In Part 2 we get to grips with the different types of currents and how to install your batteries to store your solar energy. Alternating current (AC) is what you find in the power mains from a power utility. AC has a positive and neutral. Direct current (DC) has a positive and negative and is the power we find in a battery. In AC, the positive and neutral alternates 50 times … [Read more...]
SA top of world clean energy investment!
For once SA is tops in the world with the rapid rise in our country's clean energy investment. “Since 2012, South Africa has emerged as one of the most important centres for clean energy investment, as it seeks to expand power capacity and take advantage of its sunshine and wind resources,” said Luke Mills, a clean energy economics analyst at BNEF. “The first quarter saw … [Read more...]
Giant news organisation to divest from fossil fuels
The Guardian Media Group - the owners of one of the world’s most respected and influential news organisations - has begun the process of divesting itself from fossil fuels. The move follows the launch of The Guardian's own climate change campaign - in partnership with 350.org - to press two of the world’s largest charitable foundations to stop investing in oil, coal and gas … [Read more...]
Solving the Eskom problem and poverty simultaneously
The South African government’s plan to spend almost R1 trillion on nuclear power, and the nuclear agreements between SA and China, Russia, France, Korea have got me thinking. Imagine this scenario. The Russian state-run bank lends SA R1 trillion. SA pays this 1 trillion straight back to the Russian State-run Nuclear company Rosatom who spends a portion of this on building … [Read more...]
CO2 emissions stalled in 2014 despite economic growth
In what has been described as a real surprise by the International Energy Agency (IEA), annual global emissions of carbon dioxide experienced zero growth in 2014, even as the globe’s economy continued to grow. According to IEA data CO2 emissions for 2014 were 32.3 billion tonnes, the same as 2013, meanwhile the global economy grew by 3 per cent. While this is not the … [Read more...]
