Category:Energy
Introductory citation
Networked (distributed, p2p) energy anchors a networked economy and society:
'As long as fossil-fuel energies underlie every aspect of the global economy, every other commercial enterprise that relies on these fuels for its materials, power generation, and logistics will be forced by necessity to continue using a vertically integrated business model and centralized management to achieve its own economies of scale and stay alive.'
- Jeremy Rifkin (Zero-Margin Society)
Introductory Material
1.
"Energy is the material basis for human survival and development. . . .
- The first industrial revolution, from 1770 to 1860, . . . . . . was built on Coal in England. . . .
- The second industrial revolution, from 1910 to 2010, . . . . . . was built on Electricity in United States. . . .
- The third industrial revolution, . . . . . . will be built on Renewable Energy and Energy Internet."
(http://www.altenergyshift.com/page/blog/_/green-energy/smart-grid-3rd-industrial-revolution-r2369)
Articles
- Information Technology is Good for the Environment and for the Climate. Joe Romm and . Jonathan Koomey.
- A reading list of key energy writers, recommended by John Thackara: here
- Can Renewable Energy Sustain Consumer Societies? Samuel Alexander and Ted Trainer.
- Introduction: Energy from the Perspective of the Commons
- George Papanikolaou – Peer to Peer Energy Production and the Social Conflicts in the Era of Green Development; with Vasilis Kostakis, see the P2P Energy Manifesto
- Jeremy Rikin on the Energy Internet: [When New Communication Technologies Converge With New Energy Systems]]
- John Robb on the Energy Trap: there is no replacing of fossil fuels by renewables under the current economic models
- Nine Pitfalls of Alternative Energy: "This isn’t an argument against alternative energy. It is however an argument against having unreasonable expectations for what alternative energy sources can deliver in the short time span in which we’ll need to transition to them."
- Jeff Vail on the Energy Trap: a detailed investigation ; Jeff Vail’s Call for a Scale-Free Energy Policy
- Eric Hunting – On the prospects and strategy of peer-to-peer energyl
- John Michael Greer: The fundamental limits in energy supplies ; Reply to Greer by Stuart Staniford: Limits on the Thermodynamic Potential of Archdruids
- What we should know about past energy transitions. Cutler Cleveland on energy transitions.
- John Thackara: When Renewable Energy Becomes a Snake Oil Recipe
- Correcting Negative Mythis about Renewable Energy
- Joshua Pearce, Photovoltaics - A Path to Sustainable Futures
- The Internet is NOT an Energy Hog
Video:
- Open Hardware is energy smart: see Dominic Muren on the Ecological Advantages of Open Hardware Manufacturing
Also:
- Michel Bauwens – Setting the broader context for P2P infrastructures: The long waves and the new social contract'
- Wiener, J., 2005. Sharing Potential and the Potential for Sharing: Open Source Licensing as a Legal and Economic Modality for the Dissemination of Renewable Energy Technology, Boston: Suffolk University Law School. [1]
- Sawin, J,L, & Moomaw, W, R. Renewable Revolution: Low-Carbon Energy by 2030. World Watch Institute [online] (2009). http://www.worldwatch.org/bookstore/publication/renewable-revolution-low...
Books
- Book by David Holmgren on Energy Scenarios
- "Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution" is "a major contribution to the movement working for a transition from carbon capitalism to an ecologically sound energy system. Its sixty chapters document the present energy crisis, describe alternative technologies, and introduces us to the people who worldwide are fighting for a healthy planet and the recreation of the earth's commons" [2]
- Jeremy Rifkin. The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World, Palgrave Macmillan 2011.
Facts and Figures
Status: TheRise of Decentralized Renewable Energy Is Happening Faster Than Anticipated
- Renewable energy passed up nuclear in total installed power capacity in 2010 (worldwide) Clean Technica [3]
- Annual government subsidies for renewables amount to $57 billion, compared with $b312 for fossil fuels [4]
- Solar energy is now cheaper than nuclear energy [5]
- 51% of all renewable energy in Germany is owned by individual citizens or farms, totaling $100 billion worth of private investment in clean energy. [6]
Energy Crowdfunding Platforms
The three forms of distributed finance for distributed energy:
- Leasing, e.g. Solar Leasing Financial Model
- Community Power, e.g. Community Solar Financial Model
- Power Purchase Agreements, e.g. Solar Power Purchase Agreements
More information on the theory: Peer to peer finance mechanisms to support renewable energy growth
Directory
Topics
Distributed Energy
- Bill McKibben on Why We Need a P2P Energy Grid; Jeremy Rifkin on the InterGrid
- Towards a World Wide Web of Electricity. Michael Powers.
- How Green Capitalism Differs from Distributed P2P Energy Projects. Kevin Carson.
- Report: Sustainable Agriculture and Off-Grid Renewable Energy. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho. ISIS contribution to UNCTAD Trade and Environment Review 2011 [7]
- How Renewables Will Change Electricity Markets
Status reports:
- Global Clean Energy Investments 2005-2009. G20 stats compiled by Hazel Henderson et al.
- Global Renewable Energy Status Report 2009
- 2007 Status of Decentralized Renewables and Micropower
- Peer Production and Industrial Cooperation in Alternative Energy
- The energy transition juggernaut : lots of both objective (uptake) and subjective (public opinion) stats
Let's not forget:
- The Case against Nuclear Energy and for Renewables. By Conrad Miller.
Green Computing
- Report: Smart 2020, enabling the low carbon economy in the information age
- The monster footprint of digital technology: The power consumption of our high-tech machines and devices is hugely underestimated. Here are the statistics to give insight in the true ecological cost of our digital infrastructures.
The facts:
- The Energy Effiency Fallacy
- How much energy does the Internet use?
- ICTs in the home account for almost 50% of energy use
- IT to consume 40% of world's electricity by 2030
Policy Proposals
- Surveying the Territory of Energy Alternatives, check the Report: Energy Alternatives: Surveying the Territory. Corner House, 2013: [8] The main conflict in energy policy today is not between 'business as usual' and 'The Alternative', but among the many different proposed alternatives themselves.
- Five Policy Solutions to the Climate and Energy Crisis. By Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute
- The "centralized" $420b Solar Grand Plan of Scientific American.
- Peter Barnes commons-based proposal: Why We Need a Cap and Dividend based Skytrust to solve Global Warming
- Neither Carbon Taxation, nor Cap and Trade and Cap and Dividend will work, nor even pass, because it combines immediate hardship with deferred benefits; what is needed are Cap and Reward systems, which immediately reward virtuous behaviours, argues Bill St. Arnaud
- Beware of the Energy Efficiency Fallacy
- Chris Cook's proposal for a Global Natural Energy Grid
See also:
- Thermoeconomics]: scientific pathways to solar energy
Specifics: Green Computing
Proposals for Green Computing, by Bill St. Arnaud:
- Free Fiber to the Home
- Green Grid
- Green Broadband
- Follow the Energy Computing Grids
- Bits for Carbon Trading
- Virtualization as strategy for green computing
Overview essay:
- ICT and Global Warming. Bill St. Arnaud
Nuclear Energy
Via:
In the wake of the Lovelock and Wired magazine arguments, Alex Steffen expresses his concerns about nuclear and his desire to see a global commitment to creating a clean-energy economy.
Alex Steffen shares a 2006 report that states that nuclear is not a climate-friendly energy source.
Research from Stanford University ranks the world's energy options -- putting wind, concentrated solar and geothermal at the top of the list, and nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration in a tie for dead last.
Renewables
- A proposed Cooperative Strategy for Distributed Renewable Energy. By Kevin Carson.
- Nuclear isn't necessary: detailed review of the arguments and facts and figures. Report Summary
General articles about energy future challenges:
- Sustainable Energy for World Economies. Tariq Muneer.
- Energy Security and the Social Use of Energy. Igor MatutinoviĆ.
- Open-source development of solar photovoltaic technology
Renewable Energy Transition Plans
Via [9] :
- a team of scientists from Stanford University led by Mark Jacobson published a study showing how New York State could switch to a 100 percent renewable energy infrastructure by 2030–a highly ambitious plan that would only wind, water solar energy to power not just electricity but all forms of energy consumption, including building heating and cooling and transportation. The plan is a follow up to a more general proposal that powers the entire world with renewable energy in less than two decades.
URL = http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/march/new-york-energy-031213.html
- a team led by Vasilis Fthenakis, a senior research scientist at Columbia University’s department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, published a study showing how the entire United States could go renewable
URL = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421508004072
- in 2011 a World Wildlife Federation report (prepared by Ecofys Consulting) has laid out another path to 100 percent renewable energy.
Short Citations
Equipment powering the internet accounts annually for 9.4% (or 350 billion kWh) of the total electricity consumption in the US, and 5.3% (or 868 billion kWh) of the global usage. [10]
Long Citations
"Energy independence at the local level is in large part achieved by eliminating reliance on any single energy source, whether that is oil, gas, natural gas, biofuels, wood, solar, or wind. In other words, resilient communities need to be able to input all available energy sources and convert them into a standardized format. Further, that format must be usable in a plethora of different ways."
- John Robb [11]
"The industrial capacity for building alternatives is a tiny fraction of what would be needed to substitute for fossil fuels even within 2 decades, given the massive scale required. (Just to give an idea of the scale involved – per Bill McKibben’s must-read book Eaarth the sunk cost of today’s fossil fuel infrastructure is $10 trillion, and would require 10-50 years of operation for capital cost recovery.) Almost none of the substitutes provides a dense liquid fuel substitute for oil that can be used in transportation or agriculture. The only alternative that does – algae-based biofuel – is extremely far from commercial viability and requires even more land area per unit energy than corn-based ethanol."
- barath [12]
Bill McKibben on the Carbon Bubble
"The oil companies, private and state-owned, have current reserves on the books equivalent to 2,795 gigatons -- five times more than we can ever safely burn. It has to stay in the ground. Put another way, in ecological terms it would be extremely prudent to write off $20 trillion worth of those reserves. In economic terms, of course, it would be a disaster, first and foremost for shareholders and executives of companies like ExxonMobil (and people in places like Venezuela). If you run an oil company, this sort of write-off is the disastrous future staring you in the face as soon as climate change is taken as seriously as it should be, and that’s far scarier than drought and flood. It’s why you’ll do anything -- including fund an endless campaigns of lies -- to avoid coming to terms with its reality."
- Bill McKibben [13]
Key Resources
- Category: Energy - Open Source Ecology wiki
- The Energy section of Appropedia
- Energy Collective [14]: an independent, moderated community of professionals focused on the complex challenges of meeting the world's energy needs sustainably.
- Wind Works Archive [15]: Online archive of articles on wind energy, feed-in tariffs, and advanced renewable tariffs.
See also:
- To monitor developments, see also our Delicious tag on P2P Energy
- the Distributed Generation Educational Module
Key Companies
For distributed energy creation:
- Nanosolar: plastic solar panel manufacture: “Panel cost of manufacture is said to be $0.30 per watt. Panel cost at retail is around $1. Price of a machine which will print panels: $0.16 per panel per year.”
- Konarka Technologies: “thinks their panels will be about 1/3 the price of nanosolar. In about a year or so.”
- Jellyfish Wind Turbines: $400 a pop
See also:
- The Micropower Council - UK [16] : represents companies and organisations active in the microgeneration sector.
Key Podcasts
Key Videos
- Tom Raftery on the Smart Grid and Electricity 2.0: well done, comprehensive, introduction
- Understand the genius ofthe Cap and Share proposal through this five minute video introduction
- Great and crucial introduction to Peak Oil dynamics: What You Should Know About Peak Oil and Resource Depletion
Open Source Energy Projects
- Absorber Roof:low cost solar absorbing roofing material, details in the public domain
- Build-It-Solar - Plans and tools and information to do renewable energy and conservation projects.
- Canuckle: designed to be the LEGO of alternative energy. The first project is a highly accurate solar tracker
- Concentrated Solar Power Open Source Initiative ; (CSPOSI) - Project Archimedes: hybrid thermal solar collector for distributed power generation and water purification; Software and electronics hardware for concentrated solar power under GNU General Public License [17]
- Gasifier Experimenter Kit: biomass gasifiers that are ready for everyday use, to serve distributed energy needs.
- Open Source Arduino Sun, see Heliostat Projects
- SHPEGS Open Energy Project (Solar Heat Pump Electrical Generation System): open concept for a renewable base load power station for moderate climates, based on solar and geothermal heat [18]
- Solar Flower: an open source solar energy collector which can be made very easily from common recycled and salvaged materials [19]
- SolaRoof, open design of solar energy for households
Pages in category "Energy"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 836 total.
(previous page) (next page)A
- Abundance and the Generative Logic of the Commons
- Abundance Generation
- Abundance of Food vs the Abundance of Recipes
- Abundant Energy Revolution
- Active Distribution Networks
- Affordable DIY Solar and Wind
- Aggregate Energy Efficiency
- Agrovoltaics
- Aizu Power Cooperative in Fukushima
- Albert Bartlett on the Exponential Function in Climate and Energy
- Alex Steffen on Distributed Disaster Relief and P2P Energy Networks
- ALL Power Labs
- Alternative Energy Matrix
- Amory Lovins and Robert Rosner on Nuclear and Carbon
- Amory Lovins on Climate change, Peak Oil and Energy Autonomy
- Antje Tönnis
- Art and Energy
- Arthur Berman on the Magical Thinking on Fracking
- Asset Germination Event
- Attuning to Natural Energy Flows vs. Abstract Economic Rationality
- Austria's Solar Self-Build Movement
- Austro-German Social Energetics
- Auzolan/es
B
- Barcelona Environmental Ordinance
- Barcelona's Solar Thermal Ordinance
- Behind the Meter Community Energy Projects
- Berlin Energy Roundtable
- Beyond Utility 2.0 to Energy Democracy
- Bibliography on Distributed Energy Policy
- Bill St Arnaud
- Bio-Physical Triggers of Political Violence
- Biodigesters in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Biophysical Economic Theory
- Bitcoin Mining and its Energy Footprint
- BitTorrent Proxy for Green Internet File Sharing
- Blake Jones of Namaste Solar on Democratic Energy Cooperatives
- Bottom-Up Energy Transition
- Brighton Energy Co-op
- Brooklyn Microgrid
- Buerger Energie Berlin
- Build It Solar
C
- Can Economic Growth Last
- Can Micropower Become as Deep a Game-Changer as Microprocessing
- Can Renewable Energy Sustain Consumer Societies
- Cap and Reward
- Cape Light Compact
- Carbon Bubble
- Carbon Co-op
- Carbon Pulse
- Carbon Reduction Rewards
- Carbon Removal Market
- Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free
- Case against Nuclear Energy and for Renewables
- Case Studies of Community Energy
- Cecile Blanchet on Energy as a Commons and Remunicipalization in Germany
- Centro de Doc e Info Bolivia/es
- Charles Hall on Biophysical Economics and the Key Resource Metric of Energy Returned On Energy Invested
- Charter of REScoop
- Chris Paine on Who Killed the Electric Car
- Citizen-funded Wind Turbines
- Citizens Own Renewable Energy Network Australia
- Civil Society in Sustainable Energy Transitions
- Clean Economy Network
- Clean Tech Nation
- CleanCrowd
- Cleanweb
- Climate Farmers
- Co-op Power
- COGEN Europe
- Cogeneration
- Collaboration between Local Authorities and Renewable Energy Cooperatives
- Collective Power
- Combined Heat Power
- Comet-Farm
- Commons-Based Cases in Alternative Energy
- Commons-Based Renewable Energy in the Age of Climate Collapse
- Community and Cooperative Renewable Energy Powershifts
- Community Charter
- Community Choice Aggregation
- Community Choice Energy
- Community Choice Energy Aggregation
- Community Choice Energy Model
- Community Energy
- Community Energy Coalition
- Community Energy England
- Community Energy in Germany
- Community Energy in the UK
- Community Energy Investment Web Sites
- Community Energy Management Software
- Community Energy Pioneers in Finland
- Community Energy Practitioners Forum - UK
- Community Energy Scotland
- Community Energy Strategy
- Community Geothermal
- Community Geothermal Energy
- Community Heat Partnerships
- Community Innovation for Sustainable Energy
- Community Innovation in Sustainable Energy
- Community Micro-Financing for Solar Projects
- Community Power
- Community Renewable Energy
- Community Renewable Energy Webinar
- Community Shared Solar
- Community Shares Marketplace
- Community Solar Financial Model
- Community Solar Gardens
- Community Supported Energy
- Community Wind
- Community-Based Ethical Energy
- Community-Based Micro Grids
- Community-Led Hydro Initiatives
- Community-Led Wind Power
- Community-Owned Energy Retailers
- Community-Owned Heat Production - Denmark
- Community-Owned Wind Power Projects
- Community-Powered Renewable Energy in Gussing, Austria
- Comparing Successful Grassroots Innovations in Solar Collectors and Wind Power
- Concentrated Solar Power Open Source Initiative
- Connections Between Energy Use and Leadership Transitions
- Connections between Energy Use and Societal Leadership Transitions
- Contribution of Energy to Economic Growth
- Cooperativa La Fabbrica del Sole
- Cooperative Approaches to Energy, Water and Rail
- Cooperative Strategy for Distributed Renewable Energy
- Cooperatively Owned Wind Turbines in Denmark
- CORENA
- Correcting Negative Myths about Renewable Energy
- Cosmic Evolution as the Rise of Complexity in Nature
- Crash on Demand
- Critical Approach towards the Energy Commons
- Crowdfunded Solar
- Crowdsourcing to Find Nuclear Hotspots with Safecast Japan
- Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute
- Crypto Climate Accord
- Crypto Climate Impact Accounting Framework
- Cryptocurrencies Linked to Renewable Energy
- Cryptocurrency’s Energy Consumption Problem
D
- DAISEE
- Daisee
- Danish Promotion of Renewable Energy Act of 2008
- Dave Grundy on Free Home Energy Audits in Vermont
- David Fridley and Richard Heinberg on a Renewable Future with One Hundred Percent Clean Energy
- David Holmgren on Holistic Approaches to Food Production during Energy Descent
- David Holmgren's Four Scenarios for Coping with Climate Change and Resource Depletion
- David Korowicz on the Peak Oil Tipping Point and its Economic Effects
- David MacBryde
- Decarbonizing Bitcoin and Choices for Reducing the Energy Consumption of Blockchain Technologies
- Decarbonizing the Crypto Industry
- Decentralized Allocation in Electrified Energy Systems
- Decentralized Energy
- Decentralized Renewable Energy
- Decline of EROI Directly Impacts on Economic Prosperity
- Degrowth and the Supply of Money in an Energy-Scarce World
- Demand-Side Reduction Cooperatives
- Denmark's Distribured Natural Grid Policy and Infrastructure
- Digital Ultra-Decentralization and the End of Data Centers
- Distributed Energy Financing
- Distributed Energy Infrastructures in Nepal Based on Small-Scale Hydropower Technologies
- Distributed Energy Metering Considered as a Commons
- Distributed Generation Systems
- Distributed Generation with High Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources
- Distributed Natural Grid
- Distributed Networks of Solar Power on Residential Houses Coordinated as Commons
- Distributed Power Generation
- Distributed Renewable Energy
- Distributed Solar
- Distributed Transactive Energy Systems
- Distributed Wind Energy
- Distributed Wind Power
- DiVER
- DIY Self-Replicable Solar Forge
- DIY Wind Turbines for Decentralized Power Supply
- Do's and Dont's of Crowdfunding for Social Good
- Dominic Muren on the Ecological Advantages of Open Hardware Manufacturing
- Dominican Light Project
- Donation-Based Energy Crowdfunding
- DURGA Energy
E
- Earthworker Cooperative - Australia
- Eco-Patent Commons
- Economic Growth Remains Ultimately Dependent on Growth in Material and Energy Use
- Economies Are Completely Dependent on Energy
- ECOOO
- Edogawatt
- EEmeter
- Electric Carsharing
- Electric Consumer Bill of Rights
- Electricity-Backed Currency Proposal
- Electrizitatswerke Schonau
- Elethron
- Embodied Energy of Digital Technology
- Emergy Theory
- Emissions Reduction Currency System
- EnerChain
- EnerGent
- Energetics
- Energiewende
- Energise Barnet