by Judith Curry
A few things that caught my eye this past week
US energy/climate policy
OMB’s whitewash on the Social Cost of Carbon [link]
EPA head: We don’t need to justify our regulations with data [link]
Energy challenges in developing world
Pakistan’s Other National Struggle: Its Energy Crisis [link] …
Karachi’s heat wave a sign of future challenges to Pakistan [link]
Expanding electricity access to all Nigeria: a spatial planning and cost analysis. [link]
Fossil fuel
There are 2,200 coal plants being planned worldwide today. If 1/3 get built, we’ll likely bust through 2°C of warming [link]
“The global coal renaissance is the most important climate story today” [link]
Brown coal wins a reprieve in Germany’s transition to a green future [link]
As US shifts from coal to nat. gas, power plants need substantially less water to operate: [link]
Nuclear
Reinventing #Nuclear Power – Small modular reactors [link] :
If we don’t build 1000 new nuclear plants, we’re going to burn a LOT of coal. [link]
“If you care about nature and climate, Diablo Canyon (nuclear) is the kind of power plant you want.” [link]
Fascinating case of nuclear vs renewable politics in post-EPA coal regulation era. [link] …
Renewables
“Climate change is the second biggest reason – not the biggest – for renewables in a survey of the German public.” [link]
US solar & wind installations will crash — 73% & 46% — without new tax subsidies, industry group warns [link]
How smaller batteries give more power for less money, to UK solar households [link] …
“The dream of ‘renewable, carbon-free energy is creating one environmental disaster after another.” [link]
UK Bioethanol Sector Struggles As It Faces Sceptical Government [link]
Electricity from New Wind Three Times More Costly than Existing Coal [link]
More Canadian hydro #electricity being imported by America [link]
Odd Fallout of German Renewables’ Success – Neighbors risk Blackout [link]
Can the nation’s largest forest restoration project survive sawdust, scrutiny and “sabotage”? [link]
Economics
Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz thinks the U.N. Climate Change Conference is ‘doomed to failure’ [link]
Bill Gates says cost of decarbonization with today’s technology is “beyond astronomical.” [link] …
Modi’s Solar Energy Plan May Sink ‘Made In India’, Economist Warns [link]
“PNAS Study Implicitly Confirms Climate Treaty Threatens Developing Country Economies” [link] …
Learn about new SEI approach to evaluating carbon #lock-in risks [link]
Filed under: Week in review