100% renewable energy is possible and good economics

Bill McKibben has written an article describing not just the advisability of, but the financial feasibility of supplanting fossil fuels with solar and wind electricity.  He points out that our industrial society is on a trajectory toward 100% renewable energy for multiple reasons.  Technological advances in the design and scale of both wind turbines and photovoltaic collectors have brought the per-killowatt price down to out-compete coal and nuclear electricity.  Heavy investment in electric and hybrid-electric autos has stimulated a rapid growth rate leading to the serendipitous side benefit of a huge rolling storage battery, which in turn offsets the earlier problem of renewables intermittency.  Transmission network power pools are upgrading the electric grid to better convey electricity from remote wind farms to urban centers.  Rooftop leasing programs for solar collectors has made financing solar within the reach of many more homeowners.  Society is passing the tipping point where each of these advances is synergistically combining to make it all cheaper and within reach.  As one California utility executive put it: “The technology has been resolved.  How fast do you want to get to 100 percent?  That can be done today” – The Climate Movement’s New Battle Cry – 100% Renewables.

However, the political (read self-interested, plutocratic, monopolist) battle still goes on, trying to prevent or delay the inevitable.  The Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Americans for Prosperity, the Edison Electric Institute, and others have their surrogates installed in many state legislatures and the three branches of the Federal government, to subsidize and give unfair advantage to centralized big coal and nukes.  The Guardian UK recently published a report that Global fossil fuel subsidies are a staggering $5 trillion per year.  And Sustainable Business reported that 50 of the World’s 500 Biggest Companies Undermine Progress on Climate Change.  But grass roots groups are countering much of that market manipulation by working with progressive Congress people, governors, state legislators, and mayors.  The Sierra Club is finding dramatic success with its #ReadyFor100 campaign, which lobbies cities to commit to 100 percent renewable.  Various states such as California and New York have set target dates to achieve 100 percent renewable energy.  Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Jeff Merkley proposed in April the first federal 100 percent bill – setting the gauntlet for 2018 and 2020.

Ultimately, the economics of renewables will bypass artificially propped-up fossil fuels.  The economic strength of renewable electricity can be gaged by employment statistics.  Already, more U.S. workers are employed in the solar industry than in coal fields.  Bruce Graham, who runs the Cloud County, Kansas wind technician program, said “wind energy program graduates can make $20 to $25 per hour, and supervisors well above $25 per hour”.  The wind industry is growing so fast that training schools can’t keep up with the demand – Wind farm growth saps technicians supply.  An article in Eco Watch pointed out that six months of regulatory rollback by Trump has done almost nothing to create jobs on oil fields.  Technology and economics, not environmental protections, are driving the loss of oil industry jobs.  There is very little that this president—or any president—can do about it.  The UK, France and Norway have all passed laws banning the sale of gas-powered cars by 2040, which will reduce demand for gasoline, leading to more oversupply of oil and a further downturn in prices.  Conversely, Karl Cates, from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said “Low prices for solar and wind are good for employment in the clean-energy sector because they drive development.  It’s growing because it’s cheaper.  Growth, of course, means more jobs” – Only Renewables Can Provide the Jobs and Revenue Trump Promised From Oil.  On a final note – Wind Power Costs Could See Another 50% Reduction by 2030.

The Poison Papers: EPA Collusion with the Chemical Industry

It appears that during this Trump era, the EPA is under unprecedented assault, with Scott Pruitt bending or neutering its regulations to favor corporate interests.  But this has always been the goal of the laissez-faire deregulation crowd.  The main difference now is that Trump has engaged in a high spectacle, full-frontal attack, whereas previous administrations maintained a pretext of scientific objectivity and regulatory balance.  This was necessary when there were still checks and balance between the three branches of government – but no more.  It’s no-holds-barred with our Federal government in lock down by Neo-cons, Tea Partyers, and the likes of Monsanto and Koch and JPMorgan Chase.

Nowadays, the main impediments to power and profit that corporations want removed from EPA jurisdiction have to do with fossil fuel policies – extraction, pipelines, export terminals, waste, and the costs associated with those.  Before climate disruption was acknowledged, or before genetic engineering existed, in the 1970’s and 80’s the EPA focus was more on personal and environmental toxins – pesticides, food contaminants, air and water pollution, acid rain, CFCs and the ozone hole, etc.  Either way, “environmental responsibility” was never part of the corporate lexicon, but a “burden” preventing maximization of profits.

Through Congressional bills and EPA regulations, many of the 20th Century environmental problems were resolved, or at least diminished.  This seemed true also of toxic agricultural chemicals or food additives, which were subjected to a host of testing and certification.  However, the Bioscience Resource Project recently released an exposé titled “The Poison Papers”, that illustrates EPA collusion with the chemical industry in the 1970’s, that allowed pseudoscience or even fraudulent testing to certify dangerous chemicals as being safe.

The Poison Papers represent a vast trove of rediscovered chemical industry and regulatory agency documents and correspondence stretching back to the 1920s.  One case has to do with animal testing by the Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT), which conducted an estimated 35 to 40 percent of all the toxicology tests performed in the United States.  When IBT fraud and misconduct was discovered in the 1970’s, the EPA could have ordered retests, and withdrawn its approval from every IBT-tested chemical.  Instead, senior EPA administrators held a secret 1978 meeting to cover up the fraud, along with Canada’s Health Protection Branch and executives of the chemical industry.  Dr. Jonathan Latham, Director of the Bioscience Resource Project, said the transcript of the meeting “exemplifies as well as any other single document among The Poison Papers, the history of everyday regulatory failures and agency complicity that is the unknown story of the EPA and its enduring collusion with the chemical industry, and whose result is a systemic failure to protect the American public from chemical hazards”.

At this particular meeting which was held at the Arlington VA Howard Johnson Inn, the EPA’s chief representative, Fred Arnold, assured IBT that “no chemicals would be removed from the market, even though the studies supposedly showing their safety had been proven fraudulent”.  Dr. Latham notes “As the Howard Johnson transcript reveals, a majority of the IBT studies were never intended to be redone, and still underlie the U.S. chemical regulatory system”.  Learn more at – The Poison Papers: Thousands of Pages Discovered, Detail the Secret EPA Collusion With the Chemical Industry, and Bioscience Resource Project.

Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Spans North American Continent

There are, on average, two solar eclipses per year in various locations on Earth.  Rarely do they cross the United States.  In 1979, an eclipse’s path of totality passed through four northwest states.  On 10 May 1994, another eclipse was visible in much of the United States, the path of totality going from New Mexico northeast to Maine, passing through southeast Kansas and central Missouri along the way – Annular Solar Eclipse of May 10, 1994.  Kansas City was barely on the northern edge of the total eclipse path, and Lawrence KS experienced about 98% solar concealment.

One week from now, on Monday, 21 August 2017, there will be a total solar eclipse, its ecliptic path spanning the entire contiguous United States.  The path of totality will enter near Corvallis OR and exit near Charleston SC.  Just after 1:00pm CDT, the eclipse shadow will pass through northeast Kansas and Central Missouri.  Kansas City will be barely on it’s southern edge, and Lawrence KS will experience about 96% solar concealment.  It won’t be until 2045 when another total solar eclipse will transverse the U.S., barely touching the southwest corner of Kansas.

At no time is it safe to look at the sun without stringent eye protection.  Sunglasses are not adequate – safe lenses must filter 100% of ultraviolet, 100% of infrared, and 99.999% of visible light.  If not, permanent eye damage can occur, if not blindness.  The most popular eye protection are cardboard eyeglasses with either aluminized mylar lenses or black polymer lenses.  However, NASA and others are reporting that many fly-by-night vendors are taking advantage of the astronomical growth (pardon the pun) in demand for eclipse glasses, and looking to turn a quick profit by selling subpar and potentially dangerous goods to the unsuspecting public.  Solar Eclipse Glasses that are ISO 12312-2 certified are safe for eclipse viewing.  Another option is welder’s goggles with #14 rated glass, nothing less (combining welder glass layers does not work, such as #10 with #4) – Observing Astronomical Events Safely.  All of the NASA-approved manufacturers are specialists, making only lenses or astronomical gear, and have also been in business for decades – Reputable Vendors of Solar Filters & Viewers.

There are a number of great web sites with the history and science of solar eclipses, many types of maps, and animations of the 2017 eclipse from several vantage points.  View them at:

Total Solar Eclipse – 21 August 2017
NASA – Solar Eclipse Page
2017 Solar Eclipse Animations by Ernie Wright of NASA
Total Solar Eclipse 2017 – Communities in Kansas
Total Solar Eclipse 2017 – Communities in Missouri
eclipse maps

Enjoy!