Renewables are not only the environmental answer to climate change, they are the economic answer too.

This is a short piece about a much longer piece that you will want to take a bit of time to read.

Actually, it is unfair to describe it as a “piece.” It’s a study, by Mark Cooper, who for years has been writing extensively about the transition to a clean energy future from an economist’s perspective.

Cooper examines three recent studies taking different approaches to achieving deep decarbonization of our electrical system, two that reject nuclear power as part of the means of attaining massive carbon reductions and one that accepts nuclear power and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage (CCS) as pieces of the approach. He then lays over that two recent studies of the economics of electricity generation, along with the political structure for attaining carbon reductions established by the…

Student Protest in Lancaster Barclays. Photo – Ian Meeks

Today 11am ­ Barclays branches in Lancaster and four other cities have been closed by protests highlighting the social and environmental impacts of the bank’s investments in fracking, coal and tar sands. Sit­ins and occupations of Barclays branches have taken place in Lancaster, Leeds, Sheffield, London and Oxford. The protests caused major disruption, forcing Barclays to turn away customers and close several branches. Police were called to several branches. Activists stayed for up to two hours at each of the branches. A group of students and local anti-fracking campaigners occupied the branch on Alexander Square in Lancaster University campus and held a teach­in to discuss the dangers of fracking. This protest comes a few days after the beginning of Cuadrilla’s appeal of a Lancashire Country Council decision to reject two of the company’s fracking applications.

Don’t Frack Lancs! Photo – Ian…