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Tag Archives: energy
Pricing Nature to Save the Planet
New Scientist, covering Rio+20, talks about putting a price on the natural world: Green economics, the theory goes, will work by quantifying nature and giving it a cash value. As Steiner put it: “Factoring natural capital into the bottom line … Continue reading
Combining Current Tech Could Make Solar Cheaper than Coal
By the end of the decade, manufacturers in the United States could make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the ones they make now. That would be cheap enough for solar power to compete with electricity … Continue reading
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: My Talk at Chicago Ideas Week
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: Ramez Naam at Chicago Ideas Week
Carbon Nanotubes Could Replace Rare Earth Indium in Solar Cells
A frequently voiced concern about solar energy is the dependence of solar cells on rare earth elements such as indium. While rare earth elements are actually far more plentiful than their name suggests, it’s also encouraging to see studies showing … Continue reading
A roadmap for growing prosperity while saving the planet
Chris Jablonski at ZDnet interviewed me recently about my next book, The Infinite Resource. Here’s a short excerpt. Click at the link at the bottom to read the whole interview. In your upcoming book, The Infinite Resource – Growing … Continue reading
My WFS2011 Talk: The Infinite Resource: Growing Prosperity While Reducing Impact on the Earth
I gave at talk this morning at the World Future Society 2011 Conference in Vancouver. The talk was entitled The Infinite Resource: Growing Prosperity While Reducing Impact on the Earth, and it looks at what the ultimate limits of growth … Continue reading
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Tagged climate change, energy, environment, future trends, politics, science, solar
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Solar Cheaper than Coal in 3-5 Years? GE and First Solar Think So
The news is carrying two stories in the last two weeks pitching solar as potentially cheaper than current electrical rates in the next 3-5 years. First, in an interview with Bloomberg, GE’s global research director Mark M. Little said that … Continue reading
Genetically Tweaked Microbes on 0.6% of Earth’s Land Could Replace Oil
New Scientist has an article on biotech firm Joule’s upcoming ethanol production biofuel plant. Joule already has a pilot plant covering 0.8 hectares in Leander, Texas. On 5 May, the firm announced that it had secured 486 hectares in Lea … Continue reading
Can We Capture All the World’s Carbon?
I originally posted this at Scientific American. Reposting here with permission. In 2011, the world will emit more than 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Every day of the year, almost a hundred million tons will be released into the … Continue reading
More Efficient Aircraft Designs
The Economist has an article on aircraft designs that could cut fuel use by 50-70%, while still working with today’s airports (a challenge for flying wing designs). From the article: Two groups working on the future of aircraft have come … Continue reading