The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy.Â
The rapid take up of renewable energy has been boosted by Chinese government subsidies for electric cars, rapidly boosting their world ranking to the number one producer. Over half a million electric cars were produced worldwide last year, 200 thousand of them in China. The Chinese government believes the car is the key to a Continue Reading →
The John James newsletter this week collated a number of statistics about the Australian take up of solar energy Australians have invested $8 billion of their own money in rooftop solar over the last 8 years, and they now save around $1 billion in electricity bills each year [1] Rooftop solar systems will prevent over Continue Reading →
The second stage of a massive wind-generation project, larger than most nuclear power stations, was approved in the UK parliament this week. The world’s largest wind farm is in the North Sea at Hornsea and will power 2.5 million homes. This stage brings the capacity of the wind farm up to 3 gigawatts of electricity, Continue Reading →
Japanese car manufacturer Taisei, this week demonstrated an electric car without batteries running on an electrified road. The proof-of-concept car was developed with Toyohshi University and traveled only a hundred metres at 10 kilometres per hour on a specially prepared road. A spokesperson for Taisei Corp said that the production version will come with batteries Continue Reading →
An analysis of global energy prices and production released by Gail Tverberg of Our Finite World last week indicates that the Peak Oil crisis of 2007 has now translated into Peak Debt depriving governments of revenue and leading to high disatisfaction levels with governments. Her analysis shows that a number of factors have led to Continue Reading →
Scientists in Oregon have discovered a “cool” blue paint that is non-toxic and remarkably stable even at high temperatures. The University has partnered with Ohio-based pigment manufacturer, Shepherd Color to commercialise the product. It will be some years before the product is tested by Toxic substances regulators and is available as a commercial pigment to Continue Reading →