Written by Ryan McGuine // Every summer, BP releases its annual benchmark publication, the Statistical Review of World Energy, which details trends in energy production and consumption over the course of the previous year. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine // Biomass is the oldest source of energy harnessed by humans. The history of energy transitions has been one of moving away from biomass and toward fuels with greater power densities, like coal, natural gas, and petroleum, but today it is making a comeback in high-income countries as a way to help combat climate change. While replacing all fossil fuel consumption with biomass would be a disaster for the climate, it will certainly play a role in the decarbonization of the economy. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine // There is a profound shift taking place in the way the world produces and consumes energy. However, that transition is better conceptualized as a shift toward the extraction of different resources, rather than the extraction of fewer. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine // Every June, BP releases its annual benchmark publication, the Statistical Review of World Energy, which details trends in energy production and consumption over the course of the previous year. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine //
Cooling enables many things that are taken for granted in modern life, including keeping indoor spaces comfortable, and preserving food and medicine. Refrigeration works by boiling a refrigerant to remove heat from a space and condensing it to dump the heat outside, a cycle which needs a high rate of energy. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine // There have been numerous energy transitions in the past, all of which have been driven by economic imperatives or resource scarcity, and have moved in the direction of increasing power density. The current energy transition toward energy sources that emit less greenhouse gases is a departure from previous transitions in both respects: it is driven by environmental imperatives, and moves in the direction of decreasing power density. Continue reading
Written by Ryan McGuine // Today's shift toward toward an energy system that emits less greenhouse gases than the current one is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. However, achieving this transition on a meaningful timescale is remarkably difficult. While no single policy tool is capable of driving down greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as necessary, it is possible to develop a suite of policies capable of doing so, and at a reasonable cost. Continue reading