A Key Thought on Credibility in Science and Technology

In a controversial piece on nuclear power a few months ago, I pointed out that people’s views about nuclear power are embedded in their broader attitudes about science and equity and the trustworthiness of experts.
Turns out, much the same is true of climate science. How people feel about the trustworthiness of a technical analysis [...]

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?

The Cold War Was Very Weird

The Cold War was a political magnet that clearly distorted U.S. energy policy…
And that’s as good an excuse as any to post this incredible card of a very angry Santa Father Frost (see comments) unleashing a bag full of Soviet whoop-ass on some enemies.
Unfortunately, there’s no context for the post card.
Via @Colin_Peters

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A Fantastic Comment on Nuclear from Left-of-Center

Quite a debate has broken out in the comments of my post on a hypothesis for why white men support nuclear power at higher levels than other groups. Go take a look for yourself: the comments are better than the post.
One of them was so good that I wanted to highlight it here (with a [...]

The Energy Innovators Google Is Listening To

In its swanky San Francisco office, Google hosted an event on energy innovation with a slate of heavy hitters including Lynn Orr, head of Stanford’s Precourt Energy Institute, Berkeley’s Dan Kammen, MIT’s Ernie Moniz, and Google’s Dan Reicher. What do they see in the country’s energy future?

The Solar Space Race That Never Was

Congressional treatment of solar energy hasn’t exactly been charitable, but it has been funny sometimes.
In 1963, Polykarp Kusch, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, went before a Senate subcommittee on space and aeronautics. He was testifying against the form and scale of the American space program. The scientific objectives, he told them, were “limited” — and [...]

Two DOE Graphs: Historically Things Changed, But in The Future Nothing Will

The top graph shows constant change in the energy supply over the last one hundred years. The bottom graph shows no change in energy supply over the next 20+ years.
“While the Nation’s energy history is one of large-scale change as new forms of energy were developed,” the DOE writes, “the outlook for the next couple [...]

SERI Archive: 1979 Wind Energy Promotional Film

In the late 70s, Denis Hayes, then director of the Solar Energy Research Institute, was pushing hard to market solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. Under his direction, SERI produced all kinds of people-friendly outreach documents as well as some films. I haven’t been able to track down many of them, but this one [...]

SERI Archive: 40 Cents a Watt Solar Power by the Year 2000 Or Bust

Document: Advances in Photovoltaics R&D: An Overview [Downloadable PDF]
Authors: L.L. Kazmerski (Larry Kazmerski)
Date: 1981
Notes: Reprinted from the Proceedings of the 16th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Vol. 2. NY: ASME.
Task Number: 1090.00
Abstract: A summary status of the advanced photovoltaics research and development is presented. These technologies cover two broad areas: (1) Thin-film intermediate efficiency (>10%) [...]

SERI Archive: Two Forgotten Government Solar Programs That Worked

Document: A Solar Explosion [Downloadable PDF]
Authors: Bruce Baccei
Date: 1981
Notes: Presented at the AS/ISES Sixth Passive Solar Conference, Portland, OR, September 8-12, 1981
Task Number: 1122.20
Abstract: The Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Passive Solar Manufactured Buildings and Solar Home Builders Programs are developed much needed cost and performance data on solar [...]