I am so excited to receive Michael Webber’s new book, Powering Humanity! https://a.co/d/0gwhY86

Michael is a leading thinker & practitioner on all things #energy. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this collection bc he is an extraordinary communicator - esp on topics that can be complex.

Michael & I have written many articles together - including a few that found their way into this book! This is a must-read for anyone interested in energy, sustainability & the future of humanity. #books

Watt-Wise Game Jam

"Build delightful games that use as little energy per second as possible in order to make games and computing more sustainable, and to discover new directions for software aesthetics. [...] We are developing both hardware and software estimation techniques for measuring energy consumption. Participants can use our open source power estimation tooling while developing their games to optimize for using less power. "

https://wattwise.games

#permacomputing #lowtech #videogames #energy

A new hope for algae biofuel (microalgae, that is)

#algae #biofuels #biofuel #microalgae #fuels #energy #decarbonization #carboncapture #carbonemissions #aquaculture #agriculture #biobased #bioeconomy #bioenergy #renewableenergy #renewable #sdg7 #sustainableenergy #energytransition #science #research

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/19/algae-biofuel-haunts-fossil-fuel-stakeholders/

Algae Biofuel Rises From Grave To Haunt Fossil Fuel Stakeholders

After ExxonMobil walks away, algae biofuel gets another shot at success and the US Department of Energy is here for it.

^{Tina Casey (CleanTechnica)}

#Announcement - Unfiltered.Coop is co-hosting an event on #labor, #energy, #waste, with journalists, unions & academia, in-person in #Tokyo and virtually, Oct 1st.

Details: https://aajaasiawithunfiltered.peatix.com/

Would love to see some @SocialCoop members joining @emi @Matt_Noyes @ntnsndr @chiematsumoto please share!

Globally we produce A LOT of #energy, but did you know the majority of fossil energy gets wasted? In the US alone, two-thirds of that energy is *wasted* as heat.

As Hannah Ritchie has pointed out, we don’t actually need to produce a low carbon equivalent of all of the coal, oil & gas we currently use.

That means we can decarbonize quickly by being less wasteful & more efficient. #ClimateChange #science

in 2013, coal generated 175 times as much electricity as #solar power in the US. Within a decade, in 2022, coal was generating less than 5 times as much electricity (incl. estimated rooftop solar).

So far this year, coal has generated slightly more than twice as much electricity as all solar.

Coal is dying here but needs to die even faster.
#energy #climate #climateChange #ClimateCrisis
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_1_01

While the #game is amazing, forcing current #gaming trends regarding visual fidelity creates such huge file sizes, which are overall bad for the #environment as it requires a lot more processing power, waste of #energy to download and install and forcing consumers to upgrade to more high-end parts.

That, but its also annoying as hell having to dedicate that much space to a single game 😅
I have a feeling its just gonna get worse over time tho...

Whenever I need cheering up about the climate, things like this really help:

"During the 2010s the levelised cost (that is the average lifetime cost of equipment, per megawatt hour of electricity generated) of solar, offshore wind and onshore wind fell by 87%, 62% and 56%, respectively"

And that dramatic fall in costs isn't stopping.

Even the most short-term thinkers must be convinced by that!

(Quote from this paywalled Economist article: https://www.economist.com/schools-brief/2020/05/23/the-worlds-energy-system-must-be-transformed-completely )

#climate #energy #wind

New job, new #introduction post!

I work at Heriot-Watt's #Orkney campus in the far north of #Scotland. Programme lead for MSc in #Renewable and Sustainable #Energy Transition. Research at the intersection of #renewable #energy & physical #oceanography. Member of https://www.icnz.org/

Not my first career.

I care about the #reproducibility of computational science. I'm a fellow of the Software Sustainability Inst (software.ac.uk) and instructor for Software Carpentry (thecarpentries.org).

Decarbonising Scotland’s islands

The Islands Centre for Net Zero will address the need for fundamental change in how we approach the energy transition across Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides.

^{Islands Centre for Net Zero}

In the U.S., recent annual estimates of bird deaths due to:

Cats = 2.4 billion bird deaths

Collisions from building glass = 600 million bird deaths

Land wind turbines = <200,000 bird deaths

Some politicians claim wind turbines “kill all the birds.”

But… they’re not really worried about birds. Rather, they prefer we stick with oil & gas over renewable #energy.

https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/15195/wind-turbines-are-not-killing-fields-for-birds/ #climatechange

Wind Turbines Are Not Killing Fields for Birds

This chart shows the annual estimated bird mortality for selected anthropogenic causes in the U.S.

^{Sarah Feldman (Statista)}

As a scientist who studies #science policy & risk communication, as a science journalist who has been writing in popular outlets about #ClimateChange & #scicomm for 20 years, & as a former congressional staffer focused on #climate & #energy policy in the early 2000s… This article is frustrating.

“Scientific communication failures linked to faster-rising seas”

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4057045-catch-22-scientific-communication-failures-linked-to-faster-rising-seas/

“Data shows for the first time that the peak demand for electricity this summer will exceed the amount we can generate from on-demand, dispatchable power, so we will be relying on #renewables to keep the lights on.”

But rather than fix the grid, #Republicans spent their time in the #Texas legislature trying to block renewable #energy:
https://www.texasobserver.org/88th-session-texas-legislature-lgbtq-energy-schools/

#environment #infrastructure #ClimateChange #TXlege #politics #news #USpol #OilAndGas

The Awful 88th Session of the Texas Lege

Losers during the 88th session of the legislature included taxpayers, teachers, trans youths, and anyone who uses electricity.

^{Texas Observer Staff (The Texas Observer)}