Get Energy Smart! NOW!

As part of President Barak Obama’s speech at the White House Correspondent’s dinner, as part of his speech (full video), the President introduced his anger translator who expressed — forcefully — perspectives that many in the reality-based community feel (and believe are pent up in many) and wish were part of the general and open dialogue […]

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It is seriously difficult and even more seriously important for us to consider our energy and climate challenges and opportunities with systems thinking. Let’s consider the all-encompassing information revolution which, clearly, is integrally tied to energy and energy usage. (After all, omething is behind your screen turning on, isn’t it?) If one takes a systems approach, […]

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Last fall, the world learned that the Brightsource concentrating solar plant at Ivanpah, California, was killing birds. There was a rather huge outcry, much of it without a context of overall numbers and causes of bird deaths. While seeking to place the deaths in context, I wrote “the system can/should be improved”. Well, this has occurred. […]

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The Australian government has given The Smiling Dane, Bjorn Lomborg, a major reason to smile.  It seems that Bjorn won’t have to headquarter out of a post office box any more.  While imposing draconian cuts on higher education, the climate-change denial dominated Australian government has given Lomborg $4 million (Australian $) to set up a […]

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Yesterday, the Department of Energy’s released the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) “Annual Energy Outlook 2015“. Before even reading the summary, there are two things that we know: EIA is WRONG! Forecasting is extremely difficult and the energy sector is no exception to the rule. Note, to say “EIA is WRONG!” is something that can be written […]

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There is an old adage: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.  With an advocacy piece, with heavy over tones of analysis and citations with reams of numbers, it is hard to work through a series of statistics to understand whether the basic material is truthful or contrived and manipulated to support a preconceived notion.  This poses […]

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Within discussions of the energy system and options, what is too often lost is that people simply want (and, well, often require) “services” — the meeting of their needs and wants.  As put before Consumption: Needs / wants — what are seeking? Example: At the end of the day, I want (oops, many days, need) […]

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To some, perhaps the idea that they should look to the Bronx for true inspiration likely seems foreign.  Here are three examples of Bronx institutions and people who take my breath away and inspire me with hope as to ways to solve problems and create opportunities … Sustainable South Bronx (SSBX) (and its founder, Majora […]

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Wonder what your favourite glacier to ski or hike will look like in 20 or 40 years? A new study makes detailed predictions about how the glaciers in B.C. and Alberta will melt and shrink between now and 2100. Nature Geoscience just published a sobering look at likely deglaciation in Western Canada during the 21st century with […]

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There are multiple factors fostering climate denial/skepticism and a raft of truthiness laden arguments and shaky assertions (repeated time and time again, no matter the evidence proving them wrong) leveraged by science denialists against climate science.  Amid them is one that, in some ways, reflects humanity’s basic wonder at the immensity, scope, and wonder of […]

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