Biomass

The poor in the South African townships are feeling the brunt of it already, a growing electricity crisis that will squeeze already meagre household incomes, spur inflation, add to the costs of essential foods, and raise transport costs in a country whose mass transport systems are utterly inadequate. Already saddled with a more than 30% hike in metered power costs for this year, they were told to expect a hike of a further 150% over the next three years.

-Transforming Clean-Energy Industry Into a Local One
-National Grid plan for local waste-to-biogas plants
-Saving energy may generate billions, study says

Evolution demands short-term thinking focused on individual survival. Most attempts to overcome our evolutionarily hardwired absorption with self are selected against. The Overman is dead, killed by a high-fat diet and unwillingness to exercise. Reflexively, we follow him into the grave.

-On burning wood, coppicing and pollarding
-Floating challenge for offshore wind turbine
-Renewable Fuel Pretenders
-Pumping Up the Grid: Key Step to Green Energy
-US and China to unveil joint plan to 'take over' cleantech market

In the world of climate policy, the argument has been shifting. It used to be between a few global warming Cassandras and hoards of global warming deniers, and that arguing got, well, pretty heated. The deniers long ago lost their argument to the hard science of the matter, so the debate has boiled down to the preventionists versus the mitigators.

-A New Test for Business and Biofuel
-Surely Some Flora Out There Can Fuel My Car
-Fuels for thought
-Entrepreneurs Wade Into the 'Dead Zone'

European Farmers Turn to Biogas Plants
Europe Mulls Huge Solar Project
Water for energy: The bad bet for biofuels

A mid-week review, including:
-Prices and production
-Airlines under pressure
-Update on China
-Briefs

This paper investigates the link between population growth, energy resources and carrying capacity at a global level, to determine if there might be dependencies and if so, how they could be modelled. Different qualities of energy resources may interact differently with population growth. Finally the implications of a peak in energy resource availability on population growth are examined.

Despite economy, prospects for green energy remain strong
Coming soon: Your personal electric-use tracker
Biochar Institute responds to Monbiot criticism
Cellulosic ethanol suffers in down economy

This content is no longer available. It was a pre-publication draft of a section of "Energy Limits to Growth," a report that will be published in expanded form by Post Carbon Institute and International Forum on globalization in May.

Our preferred food source is our own land. We know what goes into, and what comes out of, our little garden plot, and we know how it is handled, processed and stored. We now how to locate and identify wild edible plants – greens, mushrooms, nuts, berries and other fruit.

Black is the new green (Financial Times on biochar)
Australian opposition embraces biochar
Sierra Club & Worldwatch: Time to Get “Smart” on Biofuels
Review of "Fuel"

This content is no longer available. It was a pre-publication draft of a section of "Energy Limits to Growth," a report that will be published in expanded form by Post Carbon Institute and International Forum on globalization in May.

Could biodiesel power future rockets?
Industry worries as California takes lead in setting bio-fuel rules
Biofuels more harmful to humans than petrol and diesel, warn scientists
New biomass charcoal heater: A 'new era' of efficiency and sustainability
EntropyPawsed: Heating With Wood