Climate Crisis
A 100% renewable energy payoff
A new Stanford University study, published in Energy and Environmental Science, shows how 145 countries could attain 100% renewable energy economies within six years. That transition would also create millions more jobs than “business-as-usual” scenarios, the study finds. An excerpt: “The world is undergoing a transition to clean, renewable energy to reduce air pollution, global…
Read More‘Significant harm’
Nuclear power can’t avoid harm to environment despite inclusion under ‘Taxonomy’ The European Parliament has chosen to include nuclear power and gas under the European Commission’s Taxonomy Delegated Act. This effectively — and absurdly — classifies nuclear power and gas as environmentally sustainable economic activities. Inclusion in the Taxonomy theoretically allows nuclear and gas access…
Read MoreEU Parliament “greenwashing” nukes and gas
Sound science and sustainable economics could globally accelerate renewable energy policy to abate the climate crisis. Instead, on July 6, 2022, members of the European Union (EU) Parliament decided to let politics trump science and voted 328 to 278 to reject a resolution that would have blocked nuclear power and natural gas from being included…
Read MoreSierra Club Michigan Chapter letter to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, expressing opposition to Palisades bailout and restart
Half of French reactors not operating
Half of France’s 56 reactors are currently offline and 12 of them are closed due to corrosion problems that are waiting inspection. The corrosion caused cracks in the pipes of a back-up water injection system, a problem French nuclear safety authorities said could take years to fix. France’s nuclear plants delivered just 37 percent of…
Read MoreA German first for offshore wind
From Clean Energy Wire For the first time, offshore wind energy in Germany is being used to stabilise the country’s electricity system in case of grid fluctuations. The offshore wind farm Riffgrund 1, operated by Danish energy company Ørsted, will act as a so-called secondary reserve for the grid, meaning “offshore wind power is just…
Read MoreMacron’s nuclear error
Progressives in France may be breathing a sigh of relief that at least the winner in last Sunday’s presidential election runoff was not the far right candidate, Marine Le Pen. But another term of Emmanuel Macron is a bitter consolation prize for the country’s — and Europe’s — anti-nuclear movement. Although not as unhinged as…
Read MoreBiden’s $6 billion nuclear boondoggle
A statement from Beyond Nuclear The misguided but predictable decision by the Biden administration to waste $6 billion in taxpayer dollars propping up US reactors that were scheduled to close, further detours from and delays urgently needed action on the climate crisis. Just as predictably, conservative Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin, wrongfully claimed that the funding…
Read MoreInternational report reveals nuclear is boondoggle for climate
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this chart from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022 report Mitigation of Climate Change reveals our entire carbon-free future roadmap, encapsulating the nearly 3,000 page, highly-detailed report, in a single page (and some fine print footnotes). Not surprisingly, nuclear power is exposed…
Read MoreThe Chernobyl tinder box: War increases fire risks
Forest fires have again erupted around the defunct and radioactively-contaminated Chernobyl nuclear power facility. Fires reloft and redistribute radionuclides trapped in soil and the forest litter, which is taking much longer to decay than it should, providing further fuel for fires. When one reactor core of the 4-reactor Chernobyl complex melted down and exploded in…
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