By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 26 Jul 22
Mock up of future development of Sri Lanka’s port city of Colombo (Source: YouTube) Sri Lanka is deeply embroiled in a crisis. Fuel shortages have led to protests. Food protests have led to riots. The President fled the country and then resigned by email. A new President was just elected on Wednesday, July 20, but he is no outsider – he has been Prime Minister six times already. The crisis appears to be the result of a convergence of factors, all hitting simultaneously in just the past couple of years: a collapse in tourism revenue due to COVID, greater fossil …
Mock up of future development of Sri Lanka’s port city of Colombo (Source: YouTube) Sri Lanka is deeply embroiled in a crisis. Fuel shortages have led to protests. Food protests have led to riots. The President fled the country and then resigned by email. A new President was just elected on Wednesday, July 20, but he is no outsider – …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 13 May 22
Solar panels on the Werkspoorfabriek, a large industrial warehouse, in Utrecht Germany can shift its entire electricity system onto solar, wind and batteries by 2030 for less than 1% of its GDP. And the countryâs entire energy system can go 100% clean energy by 2035 for less than what it spends on fossil fuels. In 10-15 years, Germany can change everything, permanently ending the era of dependence on expensive, volatile fossil fuel extraction, and leading the way for Europe to do the same. At RethinkX, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompting European governments in particular to radically rethink their …
Solar panels on the Werkspoorfabriek, a large industrial warehouse, in Utrecht Germany can shift its entire electricity system onto solar, wind and batteries by 2030 for less than 1% of its GDP. And the countryâs entire energy system can go 100% clean energy by 2035 for less than what it spends on fossil fuels. In 10-15 years, Germany can change …
How Energy Disruption Led to Russia-Ukraine Crisis â and How the Crisis Will Accelerate Disruption
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 14 Mar 22
Industry in Russia Conventional analysts are looking at the Russian invasion of Ukraine through the lens of military strategy and geopolitical rivalry. But the invasion and its geopolitical consequences can only be properly understood in the context of wider transformations in the global economy, driven by disruptions unfolding across every major sector, namely, energy, transportation, food, information and materials. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is, in other words, symptomatic of a much wider process: the economic and military unwinding of the age of extraction as an entirely new system emerges. Six years ago, RethinkXâs co-founders Tony Seba and James Arbib …
Industry in Russia Conventional analysts are looking at the Russian invasion of Ukraine through the lens of military strategy and geopolitical rivalry. But the invasion and its geopolitical consequences can only be properly understood in the context of wider transformations in the global economy, driven by disruptions unfolding across every major sector, namely, energy, transportation, food, information and materials. The …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 2 Mar 22
With the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) being released, itâs important to revisit the climate scenarios that are its centerpiece. These scenarios form the basis of the climate science communityâs modeling and projections, which in turn affects governance and investment decisions across the world. Trillions of dollars and the policymaking of the entire planet thus ride upon these climate scenarios, and so the cost of getting things wrong is extremely high. Scenarios past and present The previous generation of climate scenarios published in the Fifth Assessment Report in 2014 were known as …
The UN climate panel still doesnât understand technology â and it matters Read More »
With the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) being released, itâs important to revisit the climate scenarios that are its centerpiece. These scenarios form the basis of the climate science communityâs modeling and projections, which in turn affects governance and investment decisions across the world. Trillions of dollars and the policymaking of the …
The UN climate panel still doesnât understand technology â and it matters Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 7 Feb 22
âWhat about the Jevons Paradox?â This is a common refrain in environmental discourse. Itâs another way of asking, âwonât new technology always just create more problems than it solves?â William Stanley Jevons was an English economist and mathematician who noticed in 1865 that, paradoxically, the consumption of coal actually increased when technological progress improved the efficiency of steam engines. Efficiency lowers costs, which lowers prices, which increases demand. And, sometimes, the increase in demand is so disproportionately large that overall consumption actually grows. This outcome came to be known as the Jevons Effect, or Jevons Paradox. The Jevons Effect …
âWhat about the Jevons Paradox?â This is a common refrain in environmental discourse. Itâs another way of asking, âwonât new technology always just create more problems than it solves?â William Stanley Jevons was an English economist and mathematician who noticed in 1865 that, paradoxically, the consumption of coal actually increased when technological progress improved the efficiency of steam engines. …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 31 Jan 22
The JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management Annual Energy Paper is one of the most influential publications among global investment and business leaders in the energy sector. But JP Morgan Chaseâs 2021 Annual Energy Paper is a deeply flawed piece of work that promotes some serious misinformation about the clean energy transformation, reinforcing the mistaken belief â often promulgated by fossil fuel companies â that it will be slow, expensive and require onerous state intervention. Coming from JP Morgan Chase â the worldâs fifth largest bank, and the largest lender to fossil fuel industries – the paper informs the …
JP Morganâs misinformation on the clean energy disruption â a handy guide Read More »
The JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management Annual Energy Paper is one of the most influential publications among global investment and business leaders in the energy sector. But JP Morgan Chaseâs 2021 Annual Energy Paper is a deeply flawed piece of work that promotes some serious misinformation about the clean energy transformation, reinforcing the mistaken belief â often promulgated …
JP Morganâs misinformation on the clean energy disruption â a handy guide Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 2 Dec 21
We are witnessing the start of the most profound disruption of the energy sector in over a century. Like others throughout history, this disruption is the result of a convergence of several key technologies â namely, solar photovoltaics, onshore wind power, and lithium-ion batteries (SWB). A 100% SWB energy system is possible as soon as 2030 in regions that choose to lead, and because energy accounts for over half of all greenhouse gas emissions, the clean disruption of this sector will be a large part of how we can reduce emissions by 90% by 2035.  A common question that arises …
We are witnessing the start of the most profound disruption of the energy sector in over a century. Like others throughout history, this disruption is the result of a convergence of several key technologies â namely, solar photovoltaics, onshore wind power, and lithium-ion batteries (SWB). A 100% SWB energy system is possible as soon as 2030 in regions that choose …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 8 Nov 21
Global business groups are calling on governments to pursue an international strategy on carbon pricing at the COP26 UN climate summit. While well-intentioned, the reality is we donât need carbon pricing to create a level-playing field in global markets. We just need to end trillions of dollars of subsidies to the coal, oil and gas industries: because these industries are already stranded. Carbon polluters, like any polluters, should pay for the damages they impose on societies. But carbon pricing is not the most effective way to accelerate the clean energy disruption and get to net zero. Carbon pricing takes mainly …
Global business groups are calling on governments to pursue an international strategy on carbon pricing at the COP26 UN climate summit. While well-intentioned, the reality is we donât need carbon pricing to create a level-playing field in global markets. We just need to end trillions of dollars of subsidies to the coal, oil and gas industries: because these industries are …
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 26 Oct 21
Despite all of the doom and gloom that surrounds climate change today, there has never been greater cause for optimism about the future of the environment. The reason why is that we already have the tools we need to meet this formidable challenge. But some tools are better than others, and if we get distracted by the wrong ones we could lose trillions while failing to solve the problem, so it is crucial that we stay focused and use the right tools for the job. Climate change represents a genuine existential threat to our civilization that is rivaled in magnitude …
We Already Have the Tools We Need to Solve Climate Change Read More »
Despite all of the doom and gloom that surrounds climate change today, there has never been greater cause for optimism about the future of the environment. The reason why is that we already have the tools we need to meet this formidable challenge. But some tools are better than others, and if we get distracted by the wrong ones we …
We Already Have the Tools We Need to Solve Climate Change Read More »
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 6 Oct 21
It’s often thought that clean energy represents a transition from cheap, abundant fossil fuels to expensive, scarce renewables. In this analysis, we will explore how this fear has it exactly backwards: in reality, the clean energy disruption will usher in a fundamental transformation in the way we produce energy, one that can revolutionalize the specific energy and labour relations that have historically generated episodes of resource scarcity under fossil fuels. In part 1, we saw how the fear that mineral shortages will derail the clean energy disruption is largely unfounded, and that while the risk exists, it can be mitigated …
It’s often thought that clean energy represents a transition from cheap, abundant fossil fuels to expensive, scarce renewables. In this analysis, we will explore how this fear has it exactly backwards: in reality, the clean energy disruption will usher in a fundamental transformation in the way we produce energy, one that can revolutionalize the specific energy and labour relations that …
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