The Cannabis Industry Has a Fossil Fuel Reliance Problem Merry Jane, June 21,2017 As the legal cannabis industry grows, so does its carbon footprint. In order to grow cannabis plants indoors, cultivators must resort to using powerful high-pressure sodium lights, similar to the ones used in hospital operating rooms. These lights produce about 500 times … Read more
Britain’s last coal power plants to close by 2025 The Guardian, November 9, 2016 The last coal power station in Britain will be forced to close in 2025, the government said as it laid out its plan to phase-out the polluting fossil fuel. Ministers promised last year that the UK would close coal power within … Read more
Ryan Pollin for Zondits, June 5, 2015. Image credit: PublicDomainPictures Last week marked four new entries in the growing list of fossil fuel divestment commitments, this time by Oxford University (OU), University of Hawaii (UH), University of Edinburgh (UE), and French insurance giant Axa. Of these, only UH has moved to complete divestment from oil, … Read more
Bryan Kilgore for Zondits, February 19, 2015 Because natural gas and oil prices are low in North America right now, investing in energy efficiency improvements may be counter-intuitive. There are reasons to conclude, though, that it is ultimately a wise choice. Those low prices may actually make this the best time to invest in energy … Read more
Energy efficiency is B.C.’s key to kicking fossil fuel economic crutch Business Vancouver, February 10, 2015 The current slump in oil prices is a reminder that surprises are never far away, and that our most fervent beliefs about energy just might need some fracking. For starters, does it make sense to keep pinning our provincial … Read more
Power from fossil fuel drops to 35-year low in Germany Energy Transition, January 8, 2015 In 2014, German coal power production fell considerably year over year (see the table below) – and to the lowest level since 2011. One of the main headlines in the German press based on these figures is that renewables now … Read more
It’s always a challenge to find a new set of nominees for Forbes’ 30-Under-30 list in energy. This despite the fact that the “energy industry” is quite likely the biggest in the world. According to the International Energy Agency, keeping the people of the world supplied with energy in all its forms costs about $1.7 trillion a year.
When the world’s two largest polluters join in establishing new goals for reducing emissions of climate-disrupting gases, criticism and skepticism are predictable. And there was plenty following the recent agreement between the United States and China to do just that.