Water & Energy Solutions

Getting to a Green Energy Future Daniel Kammen has just been appointed "clean energy czar" at the World Bank – a first for the bank. Currently a Professor at UC Berkeley, Dan has shared his time in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. He is also the founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), and is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We interviewed him on a variety of energy-related topics in June 2010. Here are a few excerpts. International Rivers: How ha

From June 2010 World Rivers ReviewThe Government of Kenya learned about the unreliability of hydropower the hard way. In recent years, drought crippled its hydropower-dependent energy system many times (about two-thirds of the nation's electricity currently comes from dams). But unlike many other drought-prone African nations, Kenya has taken steps to analyze its energy options and work to diversify its supply. After two months of power rationing in 2009, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said "The country can no longer continue to rely on hydroelectric power supply." The government wants to

From March 2010 World Rivers ReviewSolar thermal collectors – used for heating water and buildings (and even for cooling, through solar chillers) – are now the world's top renewable energy source, producing more energy than wind power, and more than geothermal, solar photovoltaic (PV) and ocean energy combined, a new report states. In 2009, there were 147,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power, and 174,000 MW of solar thermal collectors. By comparison, there were only about 1,000 MW of concentrating solar plants (another type of solar thermal) and about 17,000 MW of solar PV capacity around the

From March 2010 World Rivers Review The Future of Energy is Getting Greener (And Closer)Renewables are booming around the world, but they still have a lot of catch-up to do. Installation of solar PV systems has been nearly doubling every two years in both the US and Europe. The cost of producing solar-generated energy fell by over half in just a decade and a half. Wind power capacity rose nearly a third last year, to a total power capacity of 157.9 gigawatts (China accounted for a third of that, doubling its wind capacity). Some 150 companies worldwide are working to commercialize algal biofu

A Bright Future For Hydro – Without Dams From March 2010 World Rivers Review A quiet revolution is underway in the world of hydropower. An emerging non-dam based hydro industry holds the promise of economically viable technologies that do not deplete resources or warm the planet, and do not wipe out species, ecosystems and cultures. With supportive policies from governments, non-dam hydro could become a key part of the world's energy mix over the coming decades, and could, as wind power already has, overtake big-dam hydro in terms of its share of new capacity additions. A t

Cahora Bassa power lines bypass Zambezi villagers Lori Pottinger Mozambique has among the lowest uses of electricity in the world. Yet virtually all of the electricity it does produce from Cahora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi is shipped to its wealthy neighbor, South Africa. As the government prepares to build another costly large dam on the Zambezi that will also power South Africa rather than homes and businesses in Mozambique, a new report lays out a saner plan for developing renewable energy sources across the nation that would share the energy wealth more equitably; diversify the national ele