It’s basically emissions free and a cornerstone of today’s global renewable energy supply. But many hydro-electric plants destroy rivers and the communities that live in and around them. Are hydropower’s intrusive dams the price we have to pay for carbon neutrality? Paul Hockenos reports
Author: Paul Hockenos
Geothermal Has to Step Up to Keep Europe Warm and Hit Climate Targets
Long renewable energy’s black sheep, this multitasking energy source has a bright future but only if geothermal developers can dispel the myths around it while lowering the risks to development. While wind and solar continue to gain in popularity, a new project in Bavaria is showing that heat from the Earth’s core can lead the way. Paul Hockenos shows us how.
Electrifying Africa from the Bottom Up: Will Patient Capital Bring Change?
The shooting-star solar provider Mobisol claimed that the private sector could do what US presidents, the UN, the EU, and hundreds of aid organizations had failed at: namely bringing electricity to all of Africa. But last year it filed for insolvency. The French energy giant Engie, however, has stepped in, and wants to make good on Mobisol’s dream. Paul Hockenos reports
Australia’s Infernal Wildfires Have a Name: PyroCbs.
Australia’s catastrophic, out-of-control wildfires constitute a stark, prophetic message from the future: a warning to the world about our fate on a planet that is growing hotter, faster than anyone predicted. And they aren’t unique to the Land Down Under. By end of the century, the fire-triggered thunderstorms could make vast swathes of the Earth uninhabitable. Paul Hockenos explains.
Politicos, Read the Polls: Europeans Want More Climate Action
Throughout 2019 one poll after another has underscored that EU citizens are taking climate change very seriously and want to see action on climate protection on both the national and EU level. This should be a signal to Europe’s political class that they must prioritize all of the climate-related issues: from renewables to sustainable agriculture. The problem is that too many in the halls of power see climate as a “green” issue. A new generation of climate focused politicians is needed. Paul Hockenos analyses the data and comments upon the conclusions.
Is the EU’s Green Deal the Real Deal?
The long discussed plan, though a seminal milestone, risks becoming too watered down as it is stretched to become everything to everybody. The new version now raises as many questions as it answers. Paul Hockenos takes a look.
EU’s Green Deal Needs a Budget Behind It
A day-long conference in Brussels underscored the urgency of making the EU’s 2021-2027 budget a green one. There’s a window of opportunity to do so — and the game is on. Paul Hockenos reports
A New Approach for Electrifying Africa with Clean Energy
The leading lights of wunderkind firm Mobisol, a Berlin start-up, left the company to found their own research institute. They still believe that the private sector has a key role in bringing solar power to Africa and the developing world. Paul Hockenos reports
In US, Community Solar is the Next Big Thing
Americans in some states are realizing the benefits of renewables. Better than in Europe: it saves low-income people money. But its overall numbers are still comparatively small. Paul Hockenos takes a look at the development
Look to Europe to Improve the Green New Deal: Why Laws Matter
The Green New Deal (GND) pact embraced by scores of US Democrats is chock- full of vibrant ideas and urgent policy considerations. It’s right that with the climate crisis accelerating faster than scientists predicted and our window to curb it narrowing, we have to think big – indeed something at least as sweeping in scope as the New Deal recovery program of the 1930s. Paul Hockenos reports