Chinese energy figures suggest much slower growth than advertised
Article by Kurt Cobb, originally published at Resource Insights Last year China reported the slowest economic growth in 24 years, about 7.4 percent. But the true figure may actually be much lower, and the evidence is buried in electricity figures which...
A Resilient Society
The final video in a four-part video series. Released in conjunction with Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels. Resilience is a word that’s gaining a lot of currency in recent years, as more and more people realize there are...
Marcellus Production Outlook
Has Well Productivity Peaked in the Nation’s Largest Shale Gas Play? The Marcellus shale gas play of Pennsylvania and West Virginia came onto the scene in 2007 in a big way and has grown to become the nation’s...
A Community Resilience Take on The Great Transition
A review of Bounding the Planetary Future: Why We Need a Great Transition by Johan Rockström. “Planetary boundaries” research constitutes an important advance in our ability to identify and quantify the components of global overshoot. Permit me to suggest that all...
Our Renewable Future
Part three of a four-part video series. Released in conjunction with Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels. Can we keep growing the economy and avoid diminishing returns by switching energy sources? The transition to renewable solar and wind technology is both...
One Colorado Town’s Answer to a Catch-22 of Water Conservation
Inefficient lawn irrigation is a common occurrence, and a big water waster, in western U.S. cities. Photo: Sandra Postel A few years ago, the town of Westminster, Colorado, just north of Denver, came eye-to-eye with an issue many water-conserving...
The Great Burning
Part two of a four-part video series. Released in conjunction with Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels. What will we do when the Great Burning comes to an end? In this short video, Richard Heinberg explores why The Great Burning —...
The Purposely Confusing World of Energy Politics
Richard’s new book AFTERBURN: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels is released this week. We’re running some of the essays from the book on PCI this week. Use Discount Code PCI2015 for 20% off your purchase of the printed...
Extended Producer Responsibility Meets Extended Producer Opportunity
Multiple human-caused threats to the biosphere are the overarching challenge of our time. I’ve written before about the fundamentally different approaches of those who believe that solutions can be achieved within our capitalist economic system (for example, by designing products...
The Gross Society
Richard’s new book AFTERBURN: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels is released this week. We’re running some of the essays from the book on PCI this week. Use Discount Code PCI2015 for 20% off your purchase of the printed...