Archive for February, 2010
Wind Farm Cost Reductions Since the Mid-1990s
You know that one of my favorite sports is bagging on forecasts of all types, so when I come across one that’s pretty decent, I think it’s worth highlighting. Here, we see that the Department of Energy’s 1996 forecast (drawn from here) does pretty well. They overprojected the price declines up until 2000, but as [...]
The 5 Cent Savior and the Al Davis Approach to Technology Development
Back in 1993, it wasn’t the Bloom Box that was going to make clean energy “competitive with fossil fuels” but a new wind turbine from Kenetech.
The 33M-VS, which the company promoted as the “5 Cent Turbine,” was going to be the technological savior that would make wind energy as cheap as fossil fuel generation. In [...]
On Bloom Energy: Marketing Matters
One of the consistently strange things about the green tech world is that people continue to believe that science and technology are all that matter.
It’s just not true. Innovation in business models and in the political realm are at least as important as coming up with a slightly more efficient solar cell — or delivering [...]
Loan Guarantees and Energy Politics
The DOE handed out $10 billion in conditional loan guarantees for solar and nuclear plants. What do the moves say about the current energy political landscape?
Steve Chu Posts His Nuclear Rationale on Facebook
Following the Department of Energy’s announcement of a loan guarantee for a new nuclear plant, the Nobel Prize-winning head of the agency, Steven Chu, laid out his rationale for nuclear in clear and plain language.
It’s a pretty conventional argument: 1) “no single technology will provide all of the answers,” which is obviously true, and 2) [...]
Wind and Data
The latest assessment by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory more than tripled the wind energy potential of the United States. Why?
As I reported at Wired Science, wind speed generally increases with height, and most wind turbines are taller than they used to be, standing at about 250 feet (80 meters) instead of 165 [...]
Wordpress Theme Changed
If the site looks different, that’s because I switched from my old Wordpress theme to the much fancier looking The Morning After. I’m having themer’s remorse, but I’m sticking it out for the time being. Caution, though, items could shift during this flight.
Finding Better Ways of Thinking About the Future
Forecasts about the nation’s energy future have not been reliable. This post explores what went wrong and how can we find better ways to imagine what might be.
Coal Country Anxiety?
Republicans seem to think that Democrats’ half-hearted push for a climate bill will be a hot issue in coal country.
Politico reports that Rs are trying to “leverage the tremendous economic anxieties surrounding the future of an industry that is a vital part of their states’ economies.” A would-be Representative, Spike Maynard, kicked off his campaign [...]
Awesome Twitter Exchange on the Politics of Clean Energy
I happened to see Dave Roberts of Grist (@drgrist), Brad Plumer of The New Republic (@bradplumer), Bryan Walsh of Time (@bryanrwalsh) and Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey of The Breakthrough Institute (@jessejenkins, @devonswezey) mixing it up on Twitter and wanted to preserve the exchange for perpetuity here.
I personally think all these guys are smart [...]
Inventing Green by Alexis Madrigal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
