Then, there is Germany's phenomenal progress...
Across Germany many communities and small towns have discovered that they don't need big utility or energy companies at all any more. For example, Ursula Sladek, is a housewife who powered a green revolution. A former teacher with no formal business qualifications, Ursula Sladek now cuts an unusual figure as the head of a major electricity company. But then her company, the Schonau Power Supply (EWS) -- based in the hills of a remote German town -- is not your typical electricity supplier. Founded by Sladek and a few friends in 1991, to protest and fight the building of nuclear plants around them, EWS is a citizen-owned co-operative that powers 120,000 homes across Germany, using only sustainable energy supplies...
Then there is Wildpoldsried, a small town in Germany that now creates its own 4 million euro surplus by having committed to renewable energies. It produces 321 percent more energy than it needs and is generating $5.7 million in annual revenue — a remarkable accomplishment for a modest farming community that has been able to invest in new municipal infrastructure without going into debt...
There is also Germany's Sonnenschiff solar city, which produces 4 times more energy than it consumes…. http://inhabitat.com/sonnenschiff-so...ergy-it-needs/
And Juhnde is another town becoming fully energy autonomous using biomass… http://discovermagazine.com/photos/1...german-village
Indeed, it is this incredible grass-roots democratization potential of renewable energies that so threatens and terrifies the existing established energy oligarchies (much of which are based upon American energy companies and their extensive use of US military power to preserve and maintain their interests), which is driving their war against them being used on a worldwide level that could veritably save the planet and our species from extinction. But inspite of their efforts, the revolution goes on- aided by the lowering costs, increased efficiencies and productivity, and quicker startup capabilities of renewables.
Yet one more example is in Australia, where a new study from Bloomberg has just concluded that even unsubsidized renewables are now cheaper than coal and gas… http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/rene...ustralia-62268
And in Spain, over the last three months wind farms produced more electricity than any other power source in Spain for the first time. The performance means wind energy exceeded output from both nuclear and coal-fired power stations and represents more than a quarter of Spain's total power generation… http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...y-record-spain
The city on New York, CUNY and the Department of Energy are using tools lto encourage solar installation and ease the grid's burden. Solar panels on NYC's available rooftop areas can provide up to 49% of the city's electricity needs...
Solar was already found to be cheaper than nuclear back in 2010 in a landmark study by Duke University that was meekly covered (with a flurry of protest from the nuclear lobby) in the New York Times. Nevertheless, inspire of the apologetic "corrections and addendums added later after nuclear industry pressure on the newspaper, the piece known as "the Historic Crossover" pointed out key trends in costs of nuclear vs. solar power, that are proving to be true more and more over time. References here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/bu...ht-renuke.html
Historic Crossover addtional story:
And the price of solar panels is projected to drop even further- down to $1 in 2013. An Ernst & Young analysis report forecasts suggests that falling solar and rising fossil fuel prices could make large-scale installations cost-competitive without any government support within a decade...
And lets not forget efficiency
A recent study in London concluded that some 70 percent of the world's energy consumption could be saved simply with better designed housing and buildings. I repeat 70 percent of our energy consumption in the world is being wasted now. In general, up to 75% of the electricity used in the U.S. today could be saved with efficiency measures that cost less than the electricity itself. The same holds true for home-owners, leaky ducts have remained an invisible energy culprit for years. In fact, researchers at the US Department of Energy and their consortium, Residential Energy Efficient Distribution Systems (REEDS) have found that duct efficiency may be as low as 50-70%. The US Department of Energy has stated that there is potential for energy saving in the magnitude of 90 Billion kWh by increasing home energy efficiency. see... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use
So, if you want to make the world safe from environmental energy-related catastrophes, save money and create jobs, get efficient. For example, for half the cost of replacing one single nuclear power plant, we can retrofit 1.6 million U.S. homes for energy efficiency saving the equivalent amount energy of what the new nuke plant would produce (when and if it finally got on line) AND create 220,000 new jobs - that's 90 times more jobs than you'd get from a power plant replacement. (source EnergySavvy.com)
And then there is "Garbage Warrior" Architect Micheal Reynold's incredible Earthship technology work over the past 4 decades that is now able to build and offer incredibly-efficient totally-sustainable buildings that radically reduce energy and resource consumption to an unprecedented historical level. Total annual utility costs per year for one of his buildings are less than a 100 dollars. I repeat less than a 100 bucks a year in utilities. Quite simply, if we build a billion of them in the next 5 years, we would solve most of the world's problems. I believe he is the true designer of this new century bar none, and I provide a stack of links on his amazing work and career here...
Sundance Film Movie trailer
Sundance Movie full-length
Earthship Global Model: Radically Sustainable Buildings.
Earthship Biotecture on the Weather Channel
Tour of the amazing Phoenix Earthship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTnqb...ayer_embedded#!
Earthships 101 part I
Walk through an Earthship
So if we combine renewable energy expansion seriously with efficiency technologies: you and I and our families and all their offspring for generations to come are all set to live well and live sustainably on this planet for the next thousand years... if the oil, gas, nuke, media and paid politician interests don't prevent us from doing so.
Across Germany many communities and small towns have discovered that they don't need big utility or energy companies at all any more. For example, Ursula Sladek, is a housewife who powered a green revolution. A former teacher with no formal business qualifications, Ursula Sladek now cuts an unusual figure as the head of a major electricity company. But then her company, the Schonau Power Supply (EWS) -- based in the hills of a remote German town -- is not your typical electricity supplier. Founded by Sladek and a few friends in 1991, to protest and fight the building of nuclear plants around them, EWS is a citizen-owned co-operative that powers 120,000 homes across Germany, using only sustainable energy supplies...
Then there is Wildpoldsried, a small town in Germany that now creates its own 4 million euro surplus by having committed to renewable energies. It produces 321 percent more energy than it needs and is generating $5.7 million in annual revenue — a remarkable accomplishment for a modest farming community that has been able to invest in new municipal infrastructure without going into debt...
There is also Germany's Sonnenschiff solar city, which produces 4 times more energy than it consumes…. http://inhabitat.com/sonnenschiff-so...ergy-it-needs/
And Juhnde is another town becoming fully energy autonomous using biomass… http://discovermagazine.com/photos/1...german-village
Indeed, it is this incredible grass-roots democratization potential of renewable energies that so threatens and terrifies the existing established energy oligarchies (much of which are based upon American energy companies and their extensive use of US military power to preserve and maintain their interests), which is driving their war against them being used on a worldwide level that could veritably save the planet and our species from extinction. But inspite of their efforts, the revolution goes on- aided by the lowering costs, increased efficiencies and productivity, and quicker startup capabilities of renewables.
Yet one more example is in Australia, where a new study from Bloomberg has just concluded that even unsubsidized renewables are now cheaper than coal and gas… http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/rene...ustralia-62268
And in Spain, over the last three months wind farms produced more electricity than any other power source in Spain for the first time. The performance means wind energy exceeded output from both nuclear and coal-fired power stations and represents more than a quarter of Spain's total power generation… http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...y-record-spain
The city on New York, CUNY and the Department of Energy are using tools lto encourage solar installation and ease the grid's burden. Solar panels on NYC's available rooftop areas can provide up to 49% of the city's electricity needs...
Solar was already found to be cheaper than nuclear back in 2010 in a landmark study by Duke University that was meekly covered (with a flurry of protest from the nuclear lobby) in the New York Times. Nevertheless, inspire of the apologetic "corrections and addendums added later after nuclear industry pressure on the newspaper, the piece known as "the Historic Crossover" pointed out key trends in costs of nuclear vs. solar power, that are proving to be true more and more over time. References here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/bu...ht-renuke.html
Historic Crossover addtional story:
And the price of solar panels is projected to drop even further- down to $1 in 2013. An Ernst & Young analysis report forecasts suggests that falling solar and rising fossil fuel prices could make large-scale installations cost-competitive without any government support within a decade...
And lets not forget efficiency
A recent study in London concluded that some 70 percent of the world's energy consumption could be saved simply with better designed housing and buildings. I repeat 70 percent of our energy consumption in the world is being wasted now. In general, up to 75% of the electricity used in the U.S. today could be saved with efficiency measures that cost less than the electricity itself. The same holds true for home-owners, leaky ducts have remained an invisible energy culprit for years. In fact, researchers at the US Department of Energy and their consortium, Residential Energy Efficient Distribution Systems (REEDS) have found that duct efficiency may be as low as 50-70%. The US Department of Energy has stated that there is potential for energy saving in the magnitude of 90 Billion kWh by increasing home energy efficiency. see... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use
So, if you want to make the world safe from environmental energy-related catastrophes, save money and create jobs, get efficient. For example, for half the cost of replacing one single nuclear power plant, we can retrofit 1.6 million U.S. homes for energy efficiency saving the equivalent amount energy of what the new nuke plant would produce (when and if it finally got on line) AND create 220,000 new jobs - that's 90 times more jobs than you'd get from a power plant replacement. (source EnergySavvy.com)
And then there is "Garbage Warrior" Architect Micheal Reynold's incredible Earthship technology work over the past 4 decades that is now able to build and offer incredibly-efficient totally-sustainable buildings that radically reduce energy and resource consumption to an unprecedented historical level. Total annual utility costs per year for one of his buildings are less than a 100 dollars. I repeat less than a 100 bucks a year in utilities. Quite simply, if we build a billion of them in the next 5 years, we would solve most of the world's problems. I believe he is the true designer of this new century bar none, and I provide a stack of links on his amazing work and career here...
Sundance Film Movie trailer
Sundance Movie full-length
Earthship Global Model: Radically Sustainable Buildings.
Earthship Biotecture on the Weather Channel
Tour of the amazing Phoenix Earthship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTnqb...ayer_embedded#!
Earthships 101 part I
Walk through an Earthship
So if we combine renewable energy expansion seriously with efficiency technologies: you and I and our families and all their offspring for generations to come are all set to live well and live sustainably on this planet for the next thousand years... if the oil, gas, nuke, media and paid politician interests don't prevent us from doing so.
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