Despite its theoretical promise of “endless energy” by producing electricity from fusing hydrogen atoms, after some 70 years of failure, dead ends, and outright fraud, fusion remains far too expensive to offer a reasonable approach to generating power. That’s the view of two long time observers and participants in fusion energy research, who write in … More Is tokomak fusion too expensive to develop?

For many climate activists, “adaptation” has long been a dirty word. The notion that the way to deal with a warming earth is through localized, adaptive activities, not large-scale, internationally organized science-based political action, has been derided as failing to get to the root causes of global warming, an admission of defeat, focusing only on … More Columbia climate scientist says it’s time to get practical and focus more on effects than causes

Coal v. nukes politics in the coal-rich Powder River Basin have surfaced in Montana, the northern reaches of the Wyoming-Montana coal field. On a partisan vote, Montana has repealed a 1978 law that provided for a referendum that would have allowed the public to vote on whether they wanted nuclear plants in the Big Sky … More Is Montana positioned to replace coal with nukes?

Wyoming: Rock-ribbed Republican; loudly conservative; free-market advocates; pushes small government. Huh? Wyoming’s economy for the past 40 years has relied on revenues from the low-sulfur, low-BTU steam coal from the Powder River Basin (which also extends into neighboring Montana). The state benefitted enormously from the early federal clean air rules, which displaced eastern, high-BTU, high-sulfur … More Wyoming wants to force states to buy Powder River Basin coal

Given that fossil fuel requirements will continue well into the future, and the worldwide desire for cuts to ultimate emissions, is CO2 recycling a valid tactic for emissions reductions? A new study from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy – Opportunities and Limits of CO2 Recycling in a Circular Carbon Economy: Techno-economics, Critical Infrastructure Needs, … More Is recycling CO2 a path to deep emissions reductions?

The US nuclear power industry, failing to produce a growing business from new civilian plants, large and small, is turning to small, mobile nukes to use on military bases in war zones and in space. It’s a concept a Republican Congress and the Trump administration have embraced, but is getting scathing reviews from nuclear non-proliferation … More US nuke industry turns to military and space electric applications for rescue

On April 17, less than a week before the Biden administration’s Earth Day climate summit April 22, which demonstrated return from the Trump administration’s distain for international cooperation in any forum and Trump’s skepticism about global warming, the U.S. and China produced a joint statement on their shared goals for reducing greenhouse gases. The word … More Earth Day warning: coal remains king in China, distorting climate response

Texas is an electrical (among other things) mess. The state features an independent grid operator that is purposefully, and stupidly, unconnected to the rest of the U.S. It has inadequate and unreliable generation, with little flexibility. It has retail rate regulators subservient to the utilities it regulates. Its ideology is autarky, which never works. Texas … More Analysis: Texas is a mess

While hydrogen has a lot going for it as a replacement for fossil fuels, its benefits are being oversold and its costs underplayed. That’s the view of Tom Baxter a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. Writing recently in The Conversation (the university is a founding partner of the UK publication), … More Beware the hydrogen hype machine?

Fusion power hopes spring eternal this time of year, but there’s plenty of reason to doubt. The periodic hype for fusion always seems to start in the spring, particularly when the U.S. federal budget season is in full bud. But endless energy from smashing hydrogen atoms together, promising unlimited clean and cheap electric power, so … More New “cherry blossom” claims of fusion breakthrough