SUMA Net Impact Turns Students Into Sustainability Consultants
A matchmaking program pairs Sustainability Management students with industry leaders aspiring to make positive changes.
solar energy Archives - State of the Planet
New Center Would Bring Digital Skills, Solar Energy and Employment Hope For Women—All Under One Roof
The proposed “ITC Center” in India would provide a cyber café and training center for women, powered by a solar mini-grid for reliable and affordable electricity.
What it Will Take to Decarbonize the Economy
The transition to a renewable resource-based economy will be a massive and complex endeavor and its difficulty should not be underestimated. The transition depends on five key components.
Puerto Rico Faces a Long Road to a Sustainable Future
Puerto Rico suffered an estimated $94 billion or more in damage, on top of an already sagging economy and $74 billion in debt. The island needs a total reboot. Can it do it sustainably?
Alumni Startup Brings Pay-as-you-Go Solar Energy to Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, only 1 percent of rural citizens have access to electricity. Easy Solar, founded by graduates of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, hopes to change that.
Solar New York
Governor Cuomo has set the goal that in less than a decade and a half, 50% of New York State’s energy will come from renewable resources. To some, that goal seems to be a stretch, but the chatter I’m starting to hear indicates we might even do better.
Turning Sunlight into Fuel
The world uses little more than one percent of the sun’s energy for our electricity needs. A major obstacle to tapping into its full potential is that it is intermittent. Solar fuels could one day store, transport and use solar energy to produce electricity and replace fossil fuels in vehicles.
California’s First In The Nation Climate Plan
The goal of the energy transition is to create a renewable energy system that is as effective and reliable as the current fossil fuel-based system. Microgrids provide backup capacity and vastly increase the reliability of power systems for consumers. A second goal of the energy transition is to switch off of fossil fuels and rely on solar, wind and geothermal sources of energy.
Where is Solar Power Headed?
To have a shot at curbing the worst impacts of climate change, we need to extricate our society from fossil fuels and ramp up our use of renewable energy. Where does solar energy stand today, and where does it need to go in order for us to make the transition to renewable energy?
As a Leading Environmental Organization Closes, Its Leader is Upbeat
Lester Brown, the global environmental leader, turned 81 this year and is closing The Earth Policy Institute, the environmental research organization he founded in 2001. His new book “The Great Transition” asserts that the world is shifting from fossil fuels to solar and wind energy.