Solar + Wind, More Than the Sum of Their Parts
28 Apr, 2015
David Roberts has an amazing first post in his new job at Vox, on why a solar future is inevitable. Clearly I’m bullish on solar. My own reasons are that: 1. Solar is plunging in price far faster than any other energy source. 2. Solar…
R e a d M o r eThe Patents Argument Against GMOs Just Ended With the First Off-Patent GMO
12 Dec, 2014
I argued in my 2013 book, The Infinite Resource, that the “seeds shouldn’t be patented” argument against GMOs and specifically against Monsanto was invalid for a very specific reason: Patents end. As I wrote then, the patents for Monsanto’s first commercial genetically modified crop, Roundup Ready…
R e a d M o r eCarbon Prices Drive Clean Energy Innovation
11 Mar, 2014
I want to point out something I see commonly missed. Carbon prices accelerate innovation that brings down the price of green energy. So do renewable energy portfolio standards, green energy subsidies, and a whole swath of other climate policies. They do this by increasing the scale of…
R e a d M o r eLess Water, Less Oil
14 Nov, 2013
Here in the US, we consume less oil per person and less water per person than we have in decades. Oil consumption per person per year, from the IEA. (The last bullet point is their projection for 2030): Water withdrawals per person, from the Pacific…
R e a d M o r eDo 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 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 eIncome, Energy Use, and Life Expectancy
14 Nov, 2013
One of the best indicators of human well-being is life expectancy. High life expectancy often means low infant mortality and typically correlates with ample access to food, medicine, shelter, and education, as well as low levels of disease and violence. Interestingly, during an economic development…
R e a d M o r eChina now consumes twice as much meat as the United States
24 Apr, 2012
Janet Larsen at the Earth Policy Institute has an extremely informative post on meat consumption in China. Total meat consumption there has risen by a whopping 600% since 1980 and is now double the amount consumed in the US. Yet on a per-capita basis, Chinese…
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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