Tag: Renewable energy
AI Is Taking Water From the Desert
One scorching day this past September, I made the dangerous decision to try to circumnavigate some data centers. The ones I chose sit between a regional airport and some farm fields in Goodyear, Arizona, half an hour’s drive west of downtown Phoenix. When my Uber pulled up beside the unmarked buildings, the temperature was 97 degrees Fahrenheit. The air crackled with a latent energy, and some kind of pulsating sound was emanating from the electric wires above my head,
Vaclav Smil and the Value of Doubt
Not long ago, I randomly opened Vaclav Smil’s recent book “Size: How It Explains the World.” The first paragraph I read, in a chapter about good and bad design, concerned rubber flip-flops, which Smil described as among the world’s most widely owned individual possessions even though “they provide neither good lateral support nor basic vertical stability.” The following paragraph, about furniture, mentioned “the steadily diminishing share of the rich world’s population that grows food, catches fish, cuts wood, mines minerals
Oil industry rides into climate summit bigger than ever – POLITICO
This article is part of the Road to COP special report, presented by SQM.
WASHINGTON — Eight years after Paris, the oil business is bigger than ever.
Profits are soaring. Production is climbing — and marking a record year in the United States. The industry is even poised to gain from the crusade to rein in climate pollution, including the billions of dollars in incentives that U.S. President Joe Biden is offering for wind farms, battery minerals and carbon-carrying pipelines.
They’re talking, but a climate divide between Beijing and Washington remains – POLITICO
This article is part of the Road to COP special report, presented by SQM.
Last week’s surprise deal between China and the United States may provide a boost to the climate talks in Dubai — but the two powers remain at odds on tough questions such as how quickly to shut down coal and who should provide climate aid to developing nations.
The world’s top two drivers of climate change are also divided by a thicket of disagreements on trade,
The state of the planet in 10 numbers – POLITICO
This article is part of the Road to COP special report, presented by SQM.
The COP28 climate summit comes at a critical moment for the planet.
A summer that toppled heat records left a trail of disasters around the globe. The world may be just six years away from breaching the Paris Agreement’s temperature target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, setting the stage for much worse calamities to come. And governments are cutting their greenhouse gas pollution far too slowly to
What America Could Look Like in 2050
“I feel like it is a race, and I do not have the crystal ball to see the outcome,” one reader argues.
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Last week I asked readers, what will America be like
How the far right turned heat pumps into electoral rocket fuel – POLITICO
When they write the book on the downfall of liberal democracy, will it begin with the heat pumps?
Immediately outside the main train station in the German city of Wiesbaden, an election poster has been tied high up on a lamppost, out of reach of those who would tear it down in the belief that it’s a harbinger of fascism once again spreading across the country. The subject? Not scary depictions of migrants. Nor the overreach of the European Union.
Rishi Sunak weaponizes net zero as election looms – POLITICO
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LONDON — Rishi Sunak has rolled the dice on weaponizing net zero for electoral advantage. No one knows if it will pay off — and some say it’s already costing him dearly.
In a Downing Street speech on Wednesday — coincidentally on the very afternoon the UN hosted talks in New York on increasing climate ambition — the British prime minister took a red pen to some of his
Now is the time to double down on green pledges — not back down – POLITICO
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Matt Hancock is a member of parliament of the United Kingdom and former secretary of state for health and social care.
As the impact of climate change becomes more apparent, and the competition for green investment intensifies, it is clear that voters will not forgive politicians that slow down. They will reward those who double down and deliver the fair, affordable and ambitious environmental action we need to see.
Beset by fire and heat, Meloni’s government flirts with climate denial – POLITICO
On the world stage, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni talks up the dangers of climate change. But at home, even in the face of record heat, fires and floods, her government is far from convinced.
“It’s hot, yes, without a doubt. In summer it’s hot, in winter it’s cold,” Transport Minister Matteo Salvini joked on Sunday evening in response to a question about mounting climate anxiety among young people.
Last week, Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said “if the climate