Europe
Northern Europe in general and Germany in particular are kicking ass.
General News
Germany takes lead after Paris Talks, plan to be carbon neutral by 2050 11/16.
Iceland's Upstart Pirate Party makes waves in election ally of Green, while the election didn't bring a Pirate revolution, it did see the emergence of new parties, a decline in support for traditional ones, and a record number of seats for women — 30 out of 63. Crowdsouncing its constitution. 10/16
World's First Wind-Hydro Farm Supplies Power Even When There's No Wind.
The upper house of Germany’s parliament, passed a resolution on Monday that calls for the elimination of vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines by 2030. 10/16 Germany has led because of the Green Party inspired by Ecotopia.
Europe’s Rejection of GMOs Ignites Eco-Farming Revolution.11.15.
Wind Supplied 98 Percent of Scotland’s 2014 Household Power and Other Amazing Green Energy Stories, 1/15 also progress in Japan and Germany.
Top 10 greenest cities in the world 10/14.
Swiss Showing the World How to Take on Pay Inequality A growing movement. Switzerland is one of Europe's richest countries but does not have a minimum wage law. But growing public activism over pay inequality since the 2008 financial crisis has already led to two referendum drives on CEO pay. In March 2013, Swiss voters overwhelmingly passed one of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, forcing public companies to give shareholders a binding vote on compensation. Voters ignored the business lobby's claim that such curbs would undermine the country’s investor-friendly image. Next month, November 24, a separate proposal to limit monthly executive pay to no more than what the company's lowest-paid staff earn in a year, the so-called 1:12 initiative, faces a popular vote. Now, on Friday, Swiss activists submitted over 130,000 signatures to the Swiss Parliament likely forcing another referendum - this one to create a new law guaranteeing all Swiss nationals a basic income of CHF 2,500 a month ($2,756 US). 10/13.
Can the EU Make a Dent in Food Waste By Nixing ‘Best By’ Labels? 5/14.
Germany
The world's largest artificial sun is now shining at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) The goal of the experiment, as the Guardian reported, "is to come up with the optimal setup for concentrating natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel." see Hydrogen. also convert coal mine to battery for green energy.
Germany takes lead after Paris Talks, plan to be carbon neutral by 2050 11/16.
The upper house of Germany’s parliament, passed a resolution on Monday that calls for the elimination of vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines by 2030. 10/16 Germany has led because of the Green Party inspired by Ecotopia. World's First Wind-Hydro Farm Supplies Power Even When There's No Wind.
Germany gets 3/4 of its energy from renewables! 5/14. though coal lobby powerful.
OVER-ACHIEVING GERMANS TO GREEN THE AUTOBAHN 1/15.
Astronauts Throw New Light on Earth’s Energy Budget German scientists have identified a new way to measure the planet’s energy budget: the brightness of the city lights. And the first results clear up one or two points. American city-dwellers emit “many times” more light than their counterparts in Germany, while western German citizens tend to dim the lights more than those in the former Eastern Bloc. (CA is at Eur levels b/c of 1st Gov Brown admin). 1.15
Biogas, a Low-Tech Fuel With a Big Payoff big in Germany 11/14.
Berliners Still Fighting to Pull the Plug on Coal-Fired Utility: Citizens in Berlin are fighting to democratize and decentralize the city's energy system, and they've found an unlikely model—in Sacramento, Calif. 12/13.
Overwhelming the Grid with Renewable Energy 10/13.
Book of the Year: Clean Break, the Story of Germany's Energy Transformation -- and What Americans Can Learn From It. Germany's plan is not infallible, of course, nor is it alone in its goal to operate on 80 percent renewable power by 2050 -- Scotland recently announced its intention to become 100 percent renewable by 2020. download ebook.
Germany gets half their power from solar. 1/13
History of how they came to be so green.
Timeline of Green Party inspired by Ecotopia by Callenbach. (More on novel).
Even that commie rag the Wall St. Journal says green is good business.
| Germany has so much wind energy, they’ll pay you to take it | |
| 10/7 | How much will switching to renewables raise your utility bill? How about NEGATIVE ALL OF IT? In Germany, wind and solar projects have regularly been generating so much surplus energy that utilities are paying consumers to take it off the grid. High winds -- although not that high, only 15 mph -- led to negative-price wind energy for nine hours on July 24, bringing Germany's total to 31 hours of below-zero-cost energy this year. More |
| Germany to Phase out Nuclear Power | |
| 5/31 |
Germany's coalition government has announced a reversal of policy that will see all the country's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022. The decision makes Germany the biggest industrial power to announce plans to give up nuclear energy. Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement following late-night talks. Chancellor Angela Merkel set up a panel to review nuclear power following the crisis at Fukushima in Japan. There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany in the wake of March's Fukushima crisis, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami. More |
Viking Economics: How The Scandinavians Got It Right – And How We Can Too. author interview (text); interview (audio); Extended Resistance Studies talk (video). 30 min audio interview; 10 min video interview see Economics.
Norway Becomes World’s First Country to Ban Deforestation 6/16.
Norway first country to divest 2/15.b alsp from Dakota Access pipeline fought by Native ppl and vets.
Denmark Is the Happiest Country on Earth! You'll Never Guess Why 10/13. powerplant doubles as ski slope, how Ecotopian.
Can You Guess the 10 Best Countries For Women? Hint: the U.S. Isn't One of Them 10/13.
Swedish co-op creates a stake for women in wind industry. Qvinnovindar members individually invested anywhere from 500 to 300,000 Krona ($77-46,000) each, giving them an equal vote in how the company is run, regardless of the amount they put in.
Denmark’s Samso Island, in 1998, population 4,000, won a national contest with a bold plan to completely switch to renewable energy. In just ten short years, the island has achieved its goal of becoming carbon-neutral. Residents use wind, sun — and even rapeseed oil — to power their homes and cars.
Bjork's on a quest to see Iceland take back its geothermal resources. see also here.
PBS Global Focus special segment on Denmark, which bought wind energy industry the US abandoned and is now the world leader. Includes segment on Samso Island, which is now carbon neutral after ten year effort. More.
United Kingdom
Wind Supplied 98 Percent of Scotland’s 2014 Household Power
UK Wind Power Beats Coal and Nukes 9/14.
Scotland Produced Enough Wind Energy To Power Every Home In October 11/14. See Wind.
France
Solar Road Will Provide Power to 5 Million People see Category:Solar. 1/16.
Italy
Green Nobel Prize won by Rossano Ercolini, Italy. An elementary school teacher, Ercolini began a public education campaign about the dangers of incinerators in his small Tuscan town that grew into a national Zero Waste movement. Inspired by a trip to San Francisco. video). see Solid Waste.
