Tag Archives: electric cars

Forget the hype. Here’s the state of clean energy in 6 charts.

The world isn’t putting its money where its mouth is to fight climate change.

That’s the depressing takeaway from an annual report the International Energy Agency released on Tuesday. Worldwide investment in renewable energy fell slightly last year, and the proportion of money budgeted to low-carbon energy has stagnated at 35 percent. The report shows that, despite all the rousing pledges to embrace clean power, governments around the world are still spending most of their investment money on new ways to burn fossil fuels.

“[I]nvestment activity in low-carbon supply and demand is stalling, in part due to insufficient policy focus to address persistent risks,” wrote EIA Executive Director Faith Birol, in the preface of the organization’s World Energy Investment report.

The following five charts from the EIA provide a sense of what is happening.

Here’s the big picture: Since 2105, the world had been pouring smaller amounts of money into all kinds of energy investments — coal, natural gas, and renewables. In 2018, instead of dwindling further, energy investments levelled off. Why? Because the money going into coal mining and oil drilling offset decreases for other projects. Investment in coal supply crept up 2 percent, the first rise since 2012.

There is some good news if you dig down far enough. For instance, the number of electric cars and buses on the roads is shooting up. And they’re displacing vehicles running on oil: “Globally, electric cars and buses sold in 2018 are expected to offset 0.1 million barrels per day of transport oil demand growth,” the report’s authors wrote.

But that’s just a drop in the oil barrel: The report also notes that fracking in the United States alone produces 6 million barrels of oil a day.

We’d need to really goose investment in low-carbon energy to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement in sight, according to this report. In 2018 spending on energy efficiency and nuclear power stayed flat from the previous year, while money for renewable power dropped. Money for batteries grew by almost half, but that’s not as significant as it sounds because we’ve never spent much on batteries.

You know what hasn’t stagnated? Demand for energy. More people around the world are installing air conditioners and gaining access to basic creature comforts like thermostats.

And we’re not building enough low-carbon electric plants to keep up.

“Energy investment is misaligned with where the world appears to be heading, and also far out of step with where it needs to go,” the authors of the report wrote. The graph below suggests that the world needs to double the amount it’s investing in low-carbon energy systems every year to have a reasonable chance of avoiding 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels.

At least the amount of government money flowing to science is increasing. And funding for energy research and development is going up.

But even that silver lining has its cloud: The money going to research isn’t keeping up with economic growth in many countries. Even though Europe’s overall economy grew last year, the European Union put a smaller percentage of its money into energy inventions.

These days politicians mostly agree that the risks of climate change are dire, but policies haven’t shifted with the rhetoric. In this snapshot, global movement toward a carbon-free energy system looks more like a tentative tiptoe than a sprint.

Follow this link: 

Forget the hype. Here’s the state of clean energy in 6 charts.

Posted in Accent, alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Thermos, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Forget the hype. Here’s the state of clean energy in 6 charts.

Summing Up the Biggest Green News Stories of 2018

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

“cookieName”:”wBounce”,”isAggressive”:false,”isSitewide”:true,”hesitation”:””,”openAnimation”:false,”exitAnimation”:false,”timer”:””,”sensitivity”:””,”cookieExpire”:”30″,”cookieDomain”:””,”autoFire”:””,”isAnalyticsEnabled”:true

earth911

Read original article: 

Summing Up the Biggest Green News Stories of 2018

Posted in FF, GE, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Summing Up the Biggest Green News Stories of 2018

Volvo is the first mainstream automaker to say ‘Goodbye gas, hello electric.’

Link to article:

Volvo is the first mainstream automaker to say ‘Goodbye gas, hello electric.’

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Volvo is the first mainstream automaker to say ‘Goodbye gas, hello electric.’

Tesla’s parking lot is a nightmare hellscape.

You can’t fight what you can’t measure. But Davida Herzl has a solution: Her company, Aclima, builds sensor networks that monitor environmental impacts at a hyperlocal scale. Clients can deploy sensors on city streets, inside buildings, even on vehicles, to compile data on pollutants, carbon footprint, and more.

Think of it as a Fitbit for a planet trying to take more steps toward carbon reduction. In addition to working with the Environmental Protection Agency, Aclima has partnered with Google’s Street View fleet to map greenhouse gas emissions and air quality in California.

Herzl ultimately wants her sensor networks to create changes in behavior, both from large institutions and from individuals who can follow their lead. “One of the things we know is that emissions from non-electric vehicles influence climate change — but now we’ve learned that the proximity of my house to a freeway increases my health risk,” she says. “That can influence whether I choose to buy an electric vehicle or a nonrenewable-fuel-based vehicle … That personal moment motivates me every day.”

Workplace culture matters to Herzl, too: She sees Aclima’s multiracial, gender-diverse crew as part of a new vanguard in Silicon Valley dedicated to solving the world’s biggest problems through industry and innovation.


Meet all the fixers on this year’s Grist 50.

View article: 

Tesla’s parking lot is a nightmare hellscape.

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, solar, Ultima, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Tesla’s parking lot is a nightmare hellscape.

Electric cars are so popular we’re running out of plugs

Plug Ugly

Electric cars are so popular we’re running out of plugs

By on Aug 11, 2016Share

In Los Angeles, there are approximately 20 electric vehicles for every public electric car charger. In a fair and just world, that ratio should be more like four to one, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told Utility Dive. But as things stand, L.A. Water and Power has some of the most heavily used car chargers in the state.

And this isn’t just true in L.A. — similar situations in other cities confirm that we’re staring down a plug shortage.

Faced with a world of cutthroat plug competition, many electric car owners choose to charge at home. But home charging often means that electric cars are pulling energy from the electrical grid during the time it’s used most heavily — i.e., nighttime hours when commuters come home, make dinner, watch The Bachelor in Paradise, have living room disco parties, et cetera. If electric cars could charge all day, they could actually help the grid work more efficiently.

A hundred years ago, drivers of gasoline-powered cars were in the same fix — gas stations were few and far between. Less than 1 percent of cars on the road are electric right now. But when that percentage gets higher, then we’ll see a serious plug boom.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

Original article:

Electric cars are so popular we’re running out of plugs

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Paradise, PUR, Smith's, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Electric cars are so popular we’re running out of plugs