Tag: Policy

Why Brazil Should Develop Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure in its South

Why Brazil Should Develop Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure in its South

10/28/18

“Why should Brazil develop off-shore wind energy in its southern states?”

The nation of Brazil is a behemoth. Taking up half of the land and population of South America, it needs a vast amount of energy. And to make it sustainable, it should seek to maximize all of the resources available to it. One promising technology is off-shore wind. Since the Southern states by Porto Alegre have some of the highest offshore wind speeds, it would only make sense for Brazil to Develop Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure there.

Image credit http://latinamericanscience.org

How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket

How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket

10/22/18

“How can extreme weather events cause energy prices to go out of whack?”

When the weather gets too hot or too cold, people will turn on HVAC systems to compensate. This will cause greater demand on the electricity system, which in turn will lead to more constraints and therefore higher costs for everyone. This is How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket. The advent of climate change will only exacerbate this, as extreme weather events will become far more frequent. So in the end, it will pay in the long term to upgrade critical infrastructure systems to more resilient standards.

Image credit Bigerna, S. (2018). Estimating temperature effects on the Italian electricity market. Energy Policy, 118, 257-269.

Why We Need to Expand Coastal Barriers for Climate Change Resilience

Why We Need to Expand Coastal Barriers for Climate Change Resilience

10/21/18

“Why should we expand coastal barriers to withstand against climate change?”

As the global average temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, the world will need to adapt in response. Part of this will include expanding coastal barriers to prevent against widespread destruction as seen in New Orleans and Houston.

Image credit images.arcadis.com

Why Rooftop Solar Could be Greatly Beneficial for India

Why Rooftop Solar Could be Greatly Beneficial for India

10/16/18

“How could India greatly benefit from rooftop solar initiatives?”

India’s urban population is massive. Totaling over 300 million people, It is nearly equal to that of the entire United States! This in turn will lead to a massive consumption of energy, which could result in further air pollution and carbon emissions. However, this can be challenged by implementing rooftop solar. This will result in locally generated, clean power that will bright up the cities. As a result, Rooftop Solar Could be Greatly Beneficial for India.

How Microgrids Can Help Indigenous Communities

How Microgrids Can Help Indigenous Communities

10/14/18

“How can indigenous communities benefit from the deployment of microgrids?”

The freedom brought by Distributed Energy Resource technologies such as microgrids can benefit almost anyone. But one group which can greatly reap the rewards are indigenous communities. By being able to generate their own non-pollutive energy independent of any outside regulator, they will be able to develop more resource independence and greatly enhance their quality of life.

Photo credit http://www.pembina.org

Vehicle Emission Standards

Vehicle Emission Standards

09/27/18

“How can we regulate vehicle emissions?”

Much of the debate around decarbonization centers around the energy sector. But in some areas such as California, the transportation sector have become the highest emitter of CO2 emissions. To combat this, governments can adopt Vehicle Emissions Standards which regulate how polluted vehicle emissions can be.

How Electric Vehicle Charging Forecasting will Help with Net Zero Emissions Policy

How Electric Vehicle Charging Forecasting will Help with Net Zero Emissions Policy

09/20/18

“How can predicting electric vehicle charging help with environmental policy?”

Electric Vehicles are one of the fastest growing market segments in the world. Their smaller pollution factor will greatly help in decarbonization policy. But they have one catch to them. Because they require a great deal of charging and might replenish their energy at non-peak generation times, they have the potential to cause great harm to the grid. But if we can predict when and how EVs will charge it can allow us to plan out policies to achieve balance. This is How Electric Vehicle Charging Forecasting will Help with Net Zero Emissions Policy.

California Bill SB 100 and its Ramifications

California Bill SB 100 and its Ramifications

“California is really going 100% carbon neutral!”

Remember how we said that California might pass a law to go carbon-free by 2045? Well, it looks like it just did that. California Governor Jerry Brown signed bill SB 100 on Monday, effectively shifting the weight of the state to achieve a 60% renewable portfolio by 2030 and 100% by 2045! The state will also look at pathways to decarbonize other carbon-intensive sectors such as transportation. Although commendable, much work will be needed to make these goals a reality. Paramount is finding a way to solve the duck curve and reducing the state’s dependence on natural gas (which currently supplies a third of the state’s power). All in all, I am very excited yet cautious at these results and look forward to all of the future work to achieve this. If California can get this right, then other states and countries might follow suit with similar programs.

Urgent Report: Humanity is not Investing Enough into Renewable Energy!

Urgent Report: Humanity is not Investing Enough into Renewable Energy!

06/11/18

“How much more renewable energy do we exactly need to build?”

Humanity is in big trouble. Although we have been investing more in renewable energy than ever before, at our current rates it is still not enough. A paper by Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institute for Science has calculated that the entire world will need to 1.1 gigawatts of clean energy per day to limit climate change levels to be below 2 degrees Celsius. But against this monumental number, we are only adding around 15% of that! If we keep going at this pace, it will take four centuries to completely overhaul our energy system, which could lead to drastic consequences.