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The “energy reserves” contained in wind and bioenergy projects in the U.S. and Brazil are “significant” compared to oil and gas in the countries, according to a study commissioned by BP Plc (BP/) that estimates the barrels of oil equivalent for the renewable resources. The study, based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis, found that wind and bioenergy projects in Brazil have more than two-fifths of the energy content of the country’s proven oil and gas reserves, the London-based group said in an e-mailed statement. Similar projects in the U.S. have about one-seventh the energy content of the country’s fossil fuel reserves. Via Dr Nobody Delete the scoop?
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The cold fusion dream lives on: NASA is developing cheap, clean, low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) technology that could eventually see cars, planes, and homes powered by small, safe nuclear reactors. Via Szabolcs Kósa 
Krozen's curator insight,
February 22, 12:25 PM
Ubiquitous reactors just like most sci-fi cities. Reactors powering starships to toasters. well, we're a step closer! Delete the scoop?
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Located on a dense site next to ‘Sustainability Street’ at the University of British Columbia, the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability [CIRS] houses 200 researchers from private, public, and NGO sectors, who work together with the common mission of accelerating sustainability.
The 5,675m2 ‘living lab’ is organized around two four-story wings linked by a central atrium. The atrium serves as a building lobby and entry to a daylit auditorium, and as a social and educational space from which all of the project’s sustainable strategies are visible. The CIRS building has embraced the ambitious sustainability goals of the Living Building Challenge, including those of net zero water consumption; waste water treatment on site; net zero energy consumption, and construction and operational carbon neutrality... Via Lauren Moss, Digital Sustainability Delete the scoop?
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A generation of Germans picked up the renewable torch that President Reagan tossed aside. The renewable energy revolution didn't end; it moved overseas.
"Can the American renewable energy revolution be restarted? William Reilly, the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the George H.W. Bush administration, thinks so. "We're going to get there, one way or another," he told me during a 2009 interview about his solar-powered home. Indeed, optimists look at recent energy figures and see evidence that a seismic shift has already begun. Since Reilly and I talked, 3,700 megawatts of solar power have been installed in the United States—nearly twice the amount that existed in 2009. More wind power (4,728 megawatts) was added to the U.S. electrical grid in the first three quarters of 2012 than the total generating capacity from wind just a decade ago (4687 megawatts). All told, over the last four years the percentage of our electricity generated by renewables (not including hydroelectric) has doubled. Still, energy expert John Farrell warns that it's too early to celebrate an America renewable energy renaissance along the lines of Germany's Energiewende."The U.S. electric grid is poised for a transformation," Farrell, a senior researcher with the Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told me, "but we're not there yet."
Via Arno Neumann Delete the scoop?
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Renewables: Australia's a land of plenty...
" “There has never been a scientific question as to whether renewable energy could provide 100 per cent of Australia's energy needs,” said Mr Want, who is also chief executive of energy developer Vast Solar.
“The question is whether we as a society and as a nation see value in harnessing that resource — for domestic use and for export — and whether we are prepared to demand of our leaders that they design policies to achieve those ends.” "
Via Arno Neumann Delete the scoop?
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"In a sense, while the dreams of the boosters of these new forms of energy may thrill journalists and pundits, their reality could be expressed this way: extreme energy = extreme methods = extreme disasters = extreme opposition."
Michael Klare in the Energy Bulletin on the real facts behind the oil industry's hyping of extreme oil and gas myth. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Will cheap natural gas give us an opportunity to reduce emissions while inventing new technologies? Or will we simply become addicted to another fossil fuel?
This MIT Technology Review article on the American natural gas revolution might be a bit too optimistic about the future of gas and a bit too negative on the future of renewables, but it has some very valid arguments. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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"Expensive oil ... does appear to be suffocating the debt-ridden, global economy, just as it is trying to recover ...
Unfortunately, mainstream economists, including those in government, seem oblivious to the close relationship between energy, debt, and economy, and this means they are unable to see that expensive oil is one of the primary underlying causes of today’s economic problems. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Animated time-lapse video of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in map form, spanning the 18th century until this current first decade of the 21st centur...
This is not a complete data set, but the video still shows the striking connection between CO2 emissions and the historical geography of industrialization. Via Seth Dixon, Lauren Moss, Digital Sustainability 
's comment, August 2, 2012 12:54 PM
What data did you use? Historical, proxy or climate station? From 1800-1920's, was CO2 derived from historical observations, ice cores? Pre- to post-war had the maximum extent of climate stations, which captured CO2 (broadens extent). Throughout the mid-50's to present, due to lack of funding, climate stations plummeted from over 400 stations worldwide to approximately 80. When we reconstitute all these different types of data, we often get what geographer's call the modifiable areal unit problem... Furthermore, this is compounded not only by extent but also by timeline/data availability.
Seth Dixon's comment,
August 2, 2012 2:21 PM
I'd love to take credit for this, but I didn't create this video, but am simply sharing a resource that I found online with the broader community. Follow the YouTube link to see info about the creator there (Cuagau1).
's comment, September 4, 2012 11:41 AM
Frightening and guilt inducing. The US and Europe the biggest historical violators, plus living in the northeastern part of the country which shows the highest concentrations.
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"Only the oil industry would now have the audacity once again to peddle a story that it has gotten wrong for more than a decade as if it were brand new. Enlisting the media and its army of paid consultants, the industry is once again telling the public that oil abundance is at hand. And, what is doubly audacious is that it is promoting this tale as oil prices hover at levels more than eight times the 1999 low. Clearly, the industry is counting on collective amnesia to shield it from ridicule."
Good analysis by Kurt Cobb on how the pusher (the oil industry) is keeping the junkie (the economy) hooked on its stuff by offering dreams and fantasies. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Scotland's renewable energy output increased by 45% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year.
UK government figures showed Scotland generated 4,590 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy in the first three months of 2012.
This was an increase of 1,435 GWh on the first quarter of 2011.
Scotland is aiming to generate the equivalent of 100% of its electricity needs from renewables by 2020.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change also issued revised statistics for 2011 which showed that renewable electricity generation in Scotland was 13,735 GWh in 2011, an increase of 44.3% from 2010 and up 97.3% from 2006. The Scottish government said that, assuming gross consumption in 2011 was similar to 2010, about 35% of Scotland's electricity needs came from renewables in 2011, beating its interim target of 31%.
'World leader'Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the figures showed the country was making good progress towards the 2020 target. He added: "The increase of 45.5% in renewable output in quarter one 2012 compared to quarter one 2011 is particularly encouraging when you consider that 2011 saw the highest output from renewable energy to date. Via Athena Drakou, Digital Sustainability Delete the scoop?
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More efficient, less complex and cheaper, 3D solar cells can also capture more sunlight than conventional PV models Via Szabolcs Kósa Delete the scoop?
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During a lecture as part of the UN University’s (UNU) Ambassador Lecture Series, Stefan Stefansson, Ambassador of Iceland to Japan, said Japan could replace 25 nuclear reactors by developing its geothermal resources, and recommended Japan harnesses geothermal energy resources to minimize carbon dioxide emissions, lower heating bills and create jobs. Via Jón Sallé 
Jón Sallé's curator insight,
December 20, 2012 7:12 AM
In Iceland, geothermal energy is mainly used to heat houses and not to produce electricity. Delete the scoop?
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"With high oil prices and the hottest new technique unable to move the needle on worldwide production of crude oil, we should look at Glen Sweetnam's chart with considerable concern. We should ask ourselves whether it is wise to base energy policy on the fantasies of industry and government forecasters. Perhaps we should focus instead on the trends and data we can verify and prepare ourselves and our economies for a world that may not have the copious amounts of oil that the industry is promising."
Kurt Cobb's evidence-based reply to the energy eldorado dreamers. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Expensive oil will hamper the chances of exiting the economic crisis according to a new report by the New Economics Foundation. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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According to the United Nations Environment Programme, buildings account for approximately 40 percent of worldwide energy use and are responsible for 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. They also play an important role in the health and wellbeing of those who inhabit them each day. The mass of information about what makes a building green tends to concentrate on new and innovative designs that create beautiful photo spreads. While such examples are inspiring, they make up a very small percentage of all buildings in operation. Green Buildings Alive is an environmental initiative aimed at collecting and sharing data on existing buildings between 10 and 60 years old. The data is collected from office towers in Australian Central Business Districts (CBDs) and shared on a public website.
Via Lauren Moss, Stephane Bilodeau, Hans De Keulenaer Delete the scoop?
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This talk draws on the latest global modeling research to construct a sweeping thought experiment on what our world will be like in 2050. The World in 2050 combines the lessons of geography and history with state-of-the-art model projections and analytical data-everything from climate dynamics and resource stocks to age distributions and economic growth projections. Via Szabolcs Kósa Delete the scoop?
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Every industrial revolution is spurred by a shift in both energy and communication technology. Author and economist Jeremy Rifkin says we are on the precipice of a Third Industrial Revolution combining renewable energy and the internet. He joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss the possibility of hundreds of millions of people producing their own green energy in their homes and sharing it with each other in an "energy internet." Via Szabolcs Kósa Delete the scoop?
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A new report by Ceres shows that oil and gas companies are not doing enough to manage offshore drilling risks and disclose their efforts to investors.
Forbes is one of the few media paying attention to this interesting new report on offshore and Arctic drilling for oil and gas. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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"Fracking is not good or bad: it is a process to increase the production of fossil fuels, primarily natural gas, from certain geological formations. But good or bad things can happen as a result of fracking, depending on how it is implemented, where it is pursued, the technologies used, and the actions taken to increase its benefits and reduce its impacts. And whether or not you support or oppose fracking depends on how those benefits and impacts are perceived, distributed, addressed, and valued -- and whether it is in your backyard.."
Good article in the Huffington Post on the US fracking debate. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Brilliant response by Rob Hopkins of Transition Culture to George Monbiot's recent claim that were were wrong on peak oil.
"The “we were wrong about peak oil” argument only really works as something to get excited about if you are a cornucopian who also believes that free market economics and deregulation is the key to economic growth and prosperity. It also helps if you believe that climate change is a scam..." Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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Photovoltaic (PV) cells, onshore wind turbines, internet technologies, and storage technologies have the potential to fundamentally change electricity markets in the years ahead. Photovoltaic cells are the most disruptive energy technology as they allow consumers of all sizes to produce power by themselves—new actors in the power market can begin operating with a new bottom-up control logic. Unsubsidised PV markets may start to take off in 2013, fuelling substantial growth where PV power is getting cheaper than grid or diesel backup electricity for commercial consumers.
Good overview of the potential of renewables in the science magazine Energy. Via Willy De Backer Delete the scoop?
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