Do We Eat Oil? Farms Are More Energy Efficient Than Ever
14 Nov, 2013
A common refrain one hears about modern farming in the US is that it's too energy intensive. However, data from the USDA shows that US farms use only half as much energy per unit of farm output as they did in 1950. That includes energy…
R e a d M o r eCan We Feed the World?
14 Nov, 2013
By 2050, the FAO projects that we’ll need to increase global food production by 70% to meet rising food demand. Most of that, as Jon Foley has noted, is not from population growth, but rather from increasingly meat rich diets in the developing world. Perhaps…
R e a d M o r eSolar Power Prices Dropping Faster Than Ever
14 Nov, 2013
In 2011, I wrote a piece for Scientific American on the exponential price decline in solar power. I haven't had a chance to fully update that piece, but two quick notes. First, the price decline in solar cost per watt has, if anything, accelerated since then.…
R e a d M o r eThe Sunlight is Where the Energy Poverty Is
14 Nov, 2013
The future world energy system will undoubtedly be a mix of many different energy technologies – nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and some fossil fuels for decades and decades to come. Yet I’m particularly optimistic about solar. One reason is its incredible price trajectory, a trait…
R e a d M o r ePieces I’ve Written Around the Web
8 Sep, 2013
Over the last few months (and a bit over the past few years) I wrote a number of pieces around the web, primarily on energy, sustainability, genetically modified foods, and economic growth. I did a poor job of linking to them on my own site.…
R e a d M o r eThe Evidence on GMO Safety
28 Apr, 2013
This page started as a followup to an appearance I made on NBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry show in April of 2013, speaking about GMOs. You can see the video at the show’s website or embedded below. See also: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Or if…
R e a d M o r eChina’s Tipping Point on Environment?
29 Jul, 2012
Chinese environmental protesters have won the cancellation of an industrial waste pipeline that would have dumped waste from a paper factory into the ocean near the town of Qidong. This is not the first such victory. The Guardian notes that: The protest followed similar demonstrations against projects in…
R e a d M o r ePricing Nature to Save the Planet
27 Jun, 2012
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 will bring the real wealth…
R e a d M o r eInnovation as the Infinite Resource: My Talk at Chicago Ideas Week
31 Jan, 2012
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: Ramez Naam at Chicago Ideas Week
R e a d M o r eA roadmap for growing prosperity while saving the planet
3 Aug, 2011
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 Prosperity While Reducing Impact on…
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