Green energy usage topped oil and gas for the first time last week

DutchNews, April 11, 2022 

Photo: DutchNews.nl

More than half the energy used in the Netherlands last week came from renewable sources for the first time, according to website Energieopwek.nl, an alliance between gas company Gasunie and national grid groups Tennet and Netbeheer Nederland. 

Almost 54% of the energy used last week was officially classed as green although 10% of the total was generated by biomass, which campaign groups do not always consider to be sustainable. Solar power accounted for 11% and wind energy 31%. 

Although the number of wind turbines and solar panels in the Netherlands has expanded considerably, last week’s windy, yet sunny, weather also had a major role in the record-breaking week. 

The use of biomass, or organic material, is controversial because the Netherlands imports large quantities of wood chips from abroad to burn in power stations.

Wind and solar power at record high in 2020, coal dips: analysis

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY, 13 August 2020

Despite a near-record drop in power demand due to the pandemic, renewables'
share of the electricity mix was up 14 percent compared to the same period last year

Wind and solar produced a record 10 percent of global electricity in the first half of 2020 as the world's coal plant fleet ran at less than half its capacity, analysis published Thursday showed.

Despite a near-record drop in power demand due to the pandemic, renewables accounted for 1,129 terawatt-hours in January-June, compared with 992 in the first six months of 2019, according to a report by the Ember energy think tank.

Overall, the percentage of power drawn from wind and solar has more than doubled from 4.6 percent in 2015 -- the year of the landmark Paris deal on climate change.

On the other hand, generation from coal -- the most polluting fossil fuel -- fell 8.3 percent in the first half of 2020, the analysis showed.

This was despite leading emitter China increasing its share of the global coal fleet slightly.

"From 2015 it's an incredible amount of growth (in solar and wind), but even at 10 percent it's not completely transformational," Dave Jones, senior electricity analyst at Ember, told AFP.

"When we ask is it enough what we are really talking about is, how fast are emissions falling?

"Thirty percent of fossil fuel emissions globally are just from coal power plants, so coal fired power generation needs to collapse quickly in order to limit climate change," said Jones.

The analysis showed that many major economies -- including China, the United States, India, Japan, Brazil and Turkey -- now generate at least 10 percent of their electricity through wind and solar.

Britain and the European Union were singled out for particular praise, deriving 21 and 33 percent of their power from renewables, respectively.

'Not fast enough'

Under the Paris Agreement, nations committed to limit temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit) above pre-industrial levels, mainly through sweeping emissions cuts.

The accord also aims for a safer cap of 1.5C of warming.

To reach this, the United Nations says emissions must fall 7.6 percent annually this decade.

Jones said that while 30 percent of coal's decline this year could be attributed to increased wind and solar generation, the rest was likely due to the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19.

"A large part of this is obviously due to the pandemic rather than long term trends and -- let's be honest -- it's not fast enough if your target is 1.5 C," he said.

A study published last week in Nature Climate Change found that absent a rapid switch away from fossil fuels, the unprecedented fall in emissions due to COVID-19 would do virtually nothing to slow climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that coal use needs to fall 13 percent every year this decade to keep the 1.5-C goal in play.

China, the world's leading polluter, reduced its coal production just two percent so far this year despite its economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.

"Where is China's plan to collapse that coal generation by 2030?" said Jones.

"At the moment it doesn't exist."

Renewables could cut power generation health impact by 80 percent

Yahoo – AFP, Patrick GALEY, November 19, 2019

Emissions from power generation account for around 40 percent of all global
carbon pollution, and demand for energy is predicted to rise globally for years
to come (AFP Photo/Patrick Pleul)

Paris (AFP) - Switching to renewables could cut the health impacts of air pollution from power generation as much as 80 percent by mid-century, experts said Tuesday.

Scientists and environmental groups have long advocated a switch to low-carbon power to cap the rise in global temperature to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Farenheit), as stipulated in the Paris climate treaty.

Despite several nations committing to "net-zero" emissions by 2050, few have so far explained precisely how they plan to get there.

Emissions from power generation account for around 40 percent of all energy-related carbon pollution, and demand for energy is predicted to rise globally for years to come.

Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus on the need to slash emissions, relatively little attention has been paid to the human health impacts of climate action.

A team of experts at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) used climate and energy efficiency models to sketch out three scenarios for decarbonising the power sector by 2050.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, they then combined their calculations with human health indexes and analyses of the emission levels throughout a power unit's lifespan.

They found that a scenario where the majority of energy is derived from solar and wind power could cut adverse health effects from electricity production by 80 percent compared with our current fossil-heavy economies.

"The main winner of decarbonisation is human health," said lead author Gunnar Luderer.

"That's a very substantial benefit, if climate change policies can be key contributors to reducing human health impacts," he told AFP.

The World Health Organization estimates 4.2 million people die prematurely each 

year due to air pollution (AFP Photo/Sajjad HUSSAIN)

The World Health Organization estimates 4.2 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution, much of which comes from the burning of fossil fuels for energy.

The PIK models predicted current energy trends would see six million years of life lost globally to air pollution by 2050. If the next three decades are dominated by renewables, that figure drops to about one million.

"This is mainly due to a reduction of air pollution from combusting fuels," Luderer said.

He said all decarbonisation pathways the team studied showed significant health benefits, but the renewables-led approach showed by far the biggest health upside.

Biofuel vs solar

The study also looked at the environmental and ecological impact of green energy generation heading towards mid-century.

While bioenergy -- the harvesting and burning of CO2-absorbing crops for electricity -- has the potential to be low-emission, the team found such schemes would have significant environmental consequences.

In fact, measured per kilowatt-hour, the team found that bioenergy required roughly 100 times the amount of land needed to harvest the same energy from solar panels.

"Land is a finite resource for our planet," said Alexander Popp, head of land use management at PIK.

"Given the growing world population with a hunger for both electricity and for food, pressures on the land and food systems will increase, too."

The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August released a landmark assessment of how land can both ease and contribute to the climate emergency.

It warned of looming tough choices, and a radical reduction in pastureland for livestock if the more ambitious 1.5-C Paris temperature benchmark is to be met.

Related Articles:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge
Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

EU sees US being swayed by its climate change 'example'

Yahoo – AFP, September 11, 2019

At a UN Climate Change Summit two weeks from now, parties to the 2015 Paris
accord will discuss its implementation despite the US withdrawal from the pact under
President Donald Trump (AFP Photo/Wikus DE WET)

Brussels (AFP) - Europe believes the United States will end up following its lead in fighting climate change once it sees the economic benefits that carbon-cutting can bring, EU officials said Wednesday.

This incentive will be stressed at a UN Climate Change Summit two weeks from now at the United Nations in New York, when parties to the 2015 Paris climate agreement will talk up its implementation despite Washington's withdrawal from the pact under President Donald Trump.

The US exit is "a pity... that makes the fight against climate change much more difficult," European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said, adding however that the European Union could "lead by example."

To do that, he told a news conference, the bloc must "develop not only the political or environmental narrative but also the economic one: To be green pays off. To go clean it brings you dividends. To go for clean tech brings you more jobs."

He added: "I think we have all the good figures to support this."

The argument is aimed not only at Trump, who has prioritised the US economy above environmental concerns, but other leaders too, Sefcovic said.

It is also hoped the policy could spur greater action from China which, though it invests heavily in renewable energy, remains deeply dependent on burning fossil fuels to keep its giant economy growing.

"China is still peaking emissions, and will not peak until 2030," said the EU commissioner for energy and climate action, Miguel Arias Canete, adding: "This is a global effort, otherwise we will not be able to stop global warming."

Together, China and the United States account for nearly half the planet's carbon emissions, making them the key countries needed to get behind urgent efforts to battle climate change.

For the EU the issue has been thrown into stark relief over the past five years.

Growing public concern was expressed in recent European parliamentary elections in which green parties did well.

The new European Commission to take charge in November has made it one of its top priorities.

It plans to boost its climate change fight by aiming for carbon neutrality across the bloc by 2050. And it has pledged to plough a quarter of its 1.3 trillion euro ($1.4 trillion) budget plan for 2021-27 into climate mitigation efforts.

Related Article:

EU climate chief appoints fellow Dutch Labour man to top job

Italian hydroponics farm bets on 'red gold

Yahoo – AFP, Ella IDE, August 7, 2019

Luigi Galimberti says his farm can produce a kilogramme of tomatoes using just
two litres of water, compared to 75 in the fields (AFP Photo/ALBERTO PIZZOLI)

Grosseto (Italy) (AFP) - The Italian tomato is prized around the world, but its reputation has soured in recent years over reports of mafia infiltration, slave labour and toxic fires that poison water sources.

Southern Europe's biggest hydroponics farm is out to change all that, by growing pesticide-free crops in environmentally friendly greenhouses -- and getting bees to do the hard work.

Set among organic vineyards in Tuscany, Sfera Agricola was launched in 2015 by Luigi Galimberti as a response to repeated UN warnings that food production will need to increase sharply to feed the growing global population.

"The UN reminds us every year that by 2050 there will be 10 billion of us, and we'll need double the amount of water and double the land to produce food for everyone," Galimberti told AFP.

"Along with the problems of a suddenly-changing climate, which is having an ever-greater impact on farming, it pushed me to imagine a more efficient, technological way of farming that produces more with less," he said.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, using water fortified with mineral nutrients and oxygen instead.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, using water fortified with 

mineral nutrients and oxygen instead (AFP Photo/ALBERTO PIZZOLI)

Galimberti's farm produces a kilogramme of tomatoes or lettuce using just two litres of water, compared to 75 in fields, he says.

Of those two litres, over 90 percent is collected rainwater.

It relies on natural organisms to control pests and disease and the few plants that need to be treated chemically are separated and their fruit destroyed.

'Insect predators'

"We use bumblebees to pollinate the flowers, and we release a series of insect predators to combat the insects we fear," Galimberti said, adding that it had led to the creation of new bee colonies in a boost for the local ecosystem.

Pickers shuttle back and forth on solar-powered platforms, delicately tying back the plants' upper branches as the fruit below ripens.

Further on, vast basins shimmer in the midday heat where styrofoam boards holding baby lettuces are floated on a nutrient-rich, oxygenated solution.

As his farm expands, Luigi Galimbert hopes to grow cabbages, spinach, courgettes, 

peppers and aubergines as well (AFP Photo/ALBERTO PIZZOLI)

As the company expands, it hopes to grow cabbages, spinach, courgettes, peppers and aubergines as well.

Galimberti tapped private investors and banks to raise the 20 million euros ($22.4 million) needed to open the 13-hectare greenhouse, which now employs 230 people and produces crops every day of the year.

Italian tomatoes -- particularly the canned variety -- have received bad press in recent years, with rights charities warning that foreign workers are effectively used as slave labour.

The fruit dubbed "red gold", destined for supermarket shelves around the world, is plucked in back-breaking conditions under a pitiless sun, for pitiful wages, largely by Africans who live in shanty towns.

The illegal dumping and burning of toxic waste particularly in southern Italy has also spooked consumers over recent decades, amid reports of contaminated farm produce and a sharp rise in cancers, malformations and birth defects.

The so-called "agro-mafia" business -- the infiltration of organised crime along the agri-food chain in Italy, from pickers to distributors -- is worth 24.5 billion euros, according to a July report by farming association Coldiretti.

Luigi Galimberti plans to build 500 hectares of hydroponic greenhouses in the

next 10 years (AFP Photo/ALBERTO PIZZOLI)

"The exploitation of workers combined with exhausting conditions make picking in the south an ignoble job," said Galimberti, who says his company's proper contracts and paid overtime are "a rare thing in the sector".

'Flavour advantage'

Sfera Agricola has bet on a return to the Italian tomato's glory days, producing three varieties that have fallen out of favour with farmers and distributors, but that the company is "bringing back to supermarket shelves".

"Over the last 50 years, the market has evolved rapidly for distribution and commercial reasons. Tomato skins have thickened so they last longer on the shelf, and the fruit no longer drops off the vine when ripe," he said.

Thanks to the cubes of rockwool -- a hydroponic growing medium that mimics soil and supports the roots -- "the plant is protected and we can use older, weaker varieties," he added.

Those have thinner skins and tend to fall off the plant when ripe, so they have to be picked and eaten relatively quickly, he said.

Sfera Agricola is betting on a return to the Italian tomato's glory days (AFP Photo/

ALBERTO PIZZOLI)

"But they do not have 'innovative' characteristics, which gives them a flavour advantage," Galimberti said.

He aims to build 500 hectares of hydroponic greenhouses in the next 10 years, to become one of the biggest players in the sector in Europe.

But his toughest competition may be much smaller, and closer to home.

"In Italy almost everyone has someone in their family who produces their own tomatoes. Or their neighbour does, or the old man next door."

Related Articles:

Dutch university grows bananas to help stamp out fungal diseases

When apple trees blossom, worker bees rock

'Inkjet' solar panels poised to revolutionise green energy

Yahoo – AFP, Stanislaw WASZAK, February 3, 2019

Polish physicist and businesswoman Olga Malinkiewicz poses with
a printed solar panel (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

Wroclaw (Poland) (AFP) - What if one day all buildings could be equipped with windows and facades that satisfy the structure's every energy need, whether rain or shine?

That sustainability dream is today one step closer to becoming a reality thanks to Polish physicist and businesswoman Olga Malinkiewicz.

The 36-year-old has developed a novel inkjet processing method for perovskites -- a new generation of cheaper solar cells -- that makes it possible to produce solar panels under lower temperatures, thus sharply reducing costs.

Indeed, perovskite technology is on track to revolutionise access to solar power for all, given its surprising physical properties, some experts say.

"In our opinion, perovskite solar cells have the potential to address the world energy poverty," said Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, a professor at Switzerland's Federal Institue of Technology Lausanne, an institution on the cutting-edge of solar energy research.

Solar panels coated with the mineral are light, flexible, efficient, inexpensive and come in varying hues and degrees of transparency.

They can easily be fixed to almost any surface -- be it laptop, car, drone, spacecraft or building -- to produce electricity, including in the shade or indoors.

Though the excitement is new, perovskite has been known to science since at least the 1830s, when it was first identified by German mineralogist Gustav Rose while prospecting in the Ural mountains and named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.

In the following decades, synthesising the atomic structure of perovskite became easier.

But it was not until 2009 that Japanese researcher Tsutomu Miyasaka discovered that perovskites can be used to form photovoltaic solar cells.

'Bull's eye'

Initially the process was complicated and required ultra high temperatures, so only materials that could withstand extreme heat -- like glass -- could be coated with perovskite cells.

This is where Malinkiewicz comes in.

In 2013, while still a PhD student at the University of Valencia in Spain, she figured out a way to coat flexible foil with perovskites using an evaporation method.

Later, she developed an inkjet printing procedure that lowered production costs enough to make mass production economically feasible.

The panels can easily be fixed to almost any surface (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"That was a bull's eye. Now high temperatures are no longer required to coat things with a photovoltaic layer," Malinkiewicz told AFP.

Her discovery quickly earned her an article in the journal Nature and media attention, as well as the Photonics21 Student Innovation award in a competition organised by the European Commission.

The Polish edition of the MIT Technology Review also selected her as one of its Innovators Under 35 in 2015.

She went on to cofound the company Saule Technologies -- named after the Baltic goddess of the sun -- along with two Polish businessmen.

They had to assemble all their laboratory equipment from scratch, before multimillionaire Japanese investor Hideo Sawada came on board.

The company now has an ultra-modern laboratory with an international team of young experts and is building an industrial-scale production site.

"This will be the world's first production line using this technology. Its capacity will reach 40,000 square metres of panels by the end of the year and 180,000 square metres the following year," Malinkiewicz said at her lab.

"But that's just a drop in the bucket in terms of demand."

Eventually, compact production lines could easily be installed everywhere, according to demand, to manufacture perovskite solar panels that are made to measure.

Self-sufficient buildings

The Swedish construction group Skanska is testing the cutting-edge panels on the facade of one of its buildings in Warsaw.

It also inked a licencing partnership with Saule in December for the exclusive right to incorporate the company's solar cell technology in its projects in Europe, the United States and Canada.

"Perovskite technology is bringing us closer to the goal of energy self-sufficient buildings," said Adam Targowski, sustainability manager at Skanska.

"Perovskites have proven successful even on surfaces that receive little sunlight. We can apply them pretty much everywhere," he told AFP.

"More or less transparent, the panels also respond to design requirements. Thanks to their flexibility and varying tints, there's no need to add any extra architectural elements."

A standard panel of around 1.3 square metres, at a projected cost of 50 euros ($57), would supply a day's worth of energy to an office workstation, according to current estimates.

Malinkiewicz insists that the initial cost of her products will be comparable to conventional solar panels.

Perovskite technology is also being tested on a hotel in Japan, near the city of Nagasaki.

Plans are also afoot for the pilot production of perovskite panels in Valais, Switzerland and in Germany under the wings of the Oxford Photovoltaics venture.

"The potential of the technology is clearly enormous," Assaad Razzouk, the CEO of Singapore-based Sindicatum Rewable Energy, a developer and operator of clean energy projects in Asia, told AFP.

"Just think of all the buildings one could retrofit worldwide!"

Related Articles

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one."