No. Just as it was impossible to stitch together an economy with half-slave, half-free labor, a half-nuke and half-renewable energy house is equally impossible. Nuclear and renewable power are irreconcilably incompatible. Yet, the General Assembly and Governor’s 2021 Clean Energy…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | What caused the death spiral of Illinois coal-fired electricity?
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
What a difference a decade makes. Climate-destabilizing, coal-fired electricity expanded 2000-2010, and over 100 new coal plants were on the drawing boards. Coal-fired power achieved its Illinois peak in 2008 at 96.7 MMWh (million megawatt hours) which bested nuclear power’s…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | To Tree or Not to Tree, Part 3: Natural Regeneration of Forests and Woodlands
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth … through the scent of…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | To Tree or Not to Tree, Part 2: Assisted Regeneration of Trees
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
Several themes guide this series. First, climate deterioration demands rapid abolition of fossil-fuel emissions. Trees cannot substitute for ending emissions. However, we must also extract LOTS of atmospheric carbon. Half of above-ground tree mass consists of carbon absorbed through photosynthesis.…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | To Tree or Not to Tree, Part 1: The 1 Trillion Tree Initiative
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
When the annual World Economic Forum draws the wealthy and powerful to Davos, Switzerland, things happen. The 2019 initiation of a 1 trillion tree planting scheme (https://www.1t.org/) – 1t for short – is an example. Does it mean that the…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Is Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Possible? The Loess Plateau Experiment, Part 2
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
China’s Loess Plateau experiment successfully restored depleted farmland in the less arid parts of the plateau. One precondition for success required an end to free-range grazing by goats, a major cause of soil erosion. The breakthrough came when a county…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Is Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Possible? The Loess Plateau Experiment, Part 1
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
We are the last generation that can stabilize the earth’s deteriorating climate. That outcome requires a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the early 2030s. Then, we must reduce remaining emission to zero by 2050. Finally, we must go…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Designed to Fail: Texas’ Radically Deregulated Power Grid
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
The massive, multi-day electricity blackout in Texas this February vividly highlights the importance of reliable electricity during extreme heat or cold. The economic cost to Texas from days without power will be close to $200 billion, or $75 billion more…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Paul Hawken’s Drawdown Fellows and the 80 Ways to Cut Your Carbon
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
My last three columns highlighted a federal, dividend-based carbon tax. This policy would often amplify complementary local, state and international policies. State governments, for example, can capitalize on a dividend-based carbon tax by expanding renewable energy production, electrifying transportation, increasing…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Reasons for a Dividend-Based Carbon Tax, Part 3: Heat that Kills
by William Rau • • 2 Comments
Kim Stanley Robinson opens his climate fiction opus, “The Ministry for the Future,” in the year 2025 with a brutal heat wave spreading across India. Heat and humidity approach the survival limit for humans. Then, the grid goes down across…