Category Archives: Energy

How the World Really Works

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Harry Katz

Global climate change is an unprecedented challenge for the world.  To meet the challenge, we need to make unprecedented changes in the ways we live, work, produce, and consume.   In a new book called How the World Really Works: … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Energy, Environment, Science and technology | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Big Switch

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Harry Katz

I’m only halfway through the book I’m reading, so this week I’m writing about a podcast instead. The Big Switch is a terrific podcast about how we switch to a net zero carbon economy to help slow down climate change. … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Environment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Harry Katz

Around the world we humans are adding an average of fifty-one billion (51,000,000,000) tons of greenhouse gasses to Earth’s atmosphere every year. To avoid a climate disaster, we need to get to zero. 51 billion to zero. That’s how Microsoft … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Energy, Environment, Science and technology | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Harry Katz

Those tree-hugging liberals over at the Pentagon just don’t get it. They don’t understand that climate change is a hoax and the Trump White House doesn’t want to hear about it. They keep working away, defying Presidential directives, studying and … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Energy, Environment | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Solar power is becoming insanely cheap

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Harry Katz

The cost of solar power has fallen by a factor of 5 since 2010, and it will keep falling for decades to come.  That’s the gist of a May 14, 2020 blog post titled Solar’s Future Is Insanely Cheap (2020) … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Environment | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dematerialization in The Cloud

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Harry Katz

Whenever you log on to Facebook or YouTube or your bank or your favorite online game, you’re connecting to computers in some data center somewhere on the planet. All those servers and all those data centers consume a huge amount … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers and Internet, Energy, Environment | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Peak Stuff

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Harry Katz

I’m going to try something different in this post.  Instead of reviewing a book, I’m going to look at a research paper called “Peak Stuff — did the UK reach a peak in material consumption in about 2001-3?” Sounds pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Environment | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

More From Less

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Harry Katz

More From LessBy Andrew McAfeeScribner, New York, 2019 More From Less is a book about dematerialization Demawhat?  No, it’s not some sort of Star Trek transporter technology. Dematerialization is the phenomenon of producing the same goods from less material and … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Energy, Environment, Science and technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Growth

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Harry Katz

Growth:  From Microorganisms to Megacities By Vaclav Smil The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2019 People used to think growth was a good thing.  Politicians, economists and business leaders brag about healthy or robust growth in jobs, GDP, and profits.  But … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Energy, Environment, History, Science and technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Video: What the Future of Energy Means for Canada

Posted on February 10, 2018 by Harry Katz

A link to this panel discussion cane across my FB feed and I wanted to share it here in a brief post. http://singularityucanadasummit.org/event/debate-future-energy-means-canada/ The context is Canadian but the perspective is definitely global. Really intelligent, though-provoking discussion about the energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Environment, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment