Topic: Clean Energy

first published April 2017; updated 2020

Morneau budget is down payment on clean energy “dream home”. Clare Demerse, Clean Energy Canada. March 22, 2016.

Is Vaclav Smil a Pessimist or Voice of Uncomfortable Truths? Tracy Durning, Huffington Post. Jun 1, 2015.

EPA: Building solar panels makes global warming worse:
Solar panels increased emissions of a gas 17,200 times more potent than CO2. Andrew Follett, The Daily Caller. Mar, 1, 2017.


The dark side of renewable energy. Liu Hongqiao, earth journalism network. Aug. 25, 2016.

Rare earth metals, hard-to-find materials, with unfamiliar names such as lanthanum, neodymium and europium, are used in wind and solar energy projects, but dwindling supplies could hinder a roll-out of low carbon technologies and slow China's shift away from coal power. 

These compounds, which are highly toxic when mined and processed, also take a heavy environmental toll on soil and water, posing a conundrum for policymakers in China, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of rare earths. 

Confidence in 100% RE plans is poorly justified and may be dangerous. J. M. Korhonen. Jun. 21, 2017.

The recent publication of an unprecedented critique against the so-called “WWS” 100% renewable energy (RE) scenario has re-ignited the debate about the feasibility of renewable only energy scenarios in the United States and abroad. This is a long-overdue debate the world sorely needs, and everyone who has the slightest interest in climate change mitigation should pay careful attention. At stake is nothing less than whether or not our climate policy measures are based on sound science or pie-in-the-sky optimism. 

As many of the critics of 100% RE plans – myself included – have repeatedly pointed out, the problem here is not that 100% RE plans are being developed. We definitively need research that tries to solve the issues related to large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources, and it is a very good thing that such plans are made. Even if the plans themselves never come to fruition, their existence serves to increase the ambition level of other plans and policy proposals; and if it turns out that we can power the planet with nothing else but renewable energy yet limit the environmental and social damages to an acceptable level, I believe we should do so. 

But the burden of proof lies with those who assert that we definitely do not need certain solutions, usually nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage. At this moment, no country on Earth has managed to decarbonize its economy even close to the extent required by climate science. Despite encouraging progress of renewable energy sources, the “new” renewables that would have to shoulder most of the burden in renewable-only decarbonization plans are still a minor fraction of the world’s total energy supply.

A globalised solar-powered future is wholly unrealistic – and our economy is the reason why. Alf Hornborg, The Conversation. Sept. 6, 2019.


Huge Global Study Just Smashed One of The Last Major Arguments Against Renewables. David Nield, Science Alert. March 31, 2019.

Pumped-hydro is one of the best technologies we have for storing intermittent renewable energy, such as solar power, which means these sites could act as giant batteries, helping to support cheap, fully renewable power grids.

The Limits of Clean Energy. Jason Hickel. Foreign Policy. Sept. 6, 2019.

If the world isn’t careful, renewable energy could become as destructive as fossil fuels.