There’s been discussion recently about the upcoming release of the 2019 International Energy Agency (IEA) scenarios related to the World Energy Outlook (WEO). We’ve worked in the past few months to disentangle the drivers for a key 2017 scenario, what IEA calls their “Beyond 2 degrees” (B2DS) scenario
Read moreAs part of our work decomposing growth in greenhouse gas emissions into its key factors that was published in 2019 [1], we delved into historical data to create benchmarks against which trends in scenario projections could be compared. For our historical trends we relied on the long term data in
Read moreMy colleague @AukeHoekstra (on Twitter) has for several years produced a graph of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) projections of global photovoltaic (PV) installations. The graph has become iconic. Auke documents his methods here. The graph shows that IEA’s projections in their “New Polices Scenario” indicate that
Read moreIn response to a recent twitter thread, I dug up an idea I proposed more than a decade ago about requiring utilities to release their rate structures in a standardized structured electronic format. I originally proposed this in my testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress
Read moreIn August 2011, I summarized our experience in retrofitting old downlights with new LEDs. We installed fifty of these beauties at $50/fixture (including free installation because they were so easy for the contractor to install). These avoided having to spend $20 to replace each dingy old fixture, so the
Read moreAs I’ve done for the past couple of years, I appeared again on Chris Nelder’s Transition Show podcast anniversary show. Here’s how he summarized the episode: In this anniversary episode, we welcome back Jonathan Koomey to talk about some of the interesting developments and raucous debates we
Read moreWriting in New York Magazine, @EricLevitz explains the real issues with the terrible article by Franzen in the New Yorker (”Jonathan Franzen’s Climate Pessimism Is Justified. His Fatalism Is Not”). As part of his article, he summarizes with accuracy and nuance the true challenge we face regarding climate in
Read moreMy new report on Bitcoin electricity use is out this morning: Koomey, Jonathan. 2019. Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Use: A Beginner’s Guide. Washington, DC: Coin Center. May 7. [https://coincenter.org/entry/bitcoin-electricity] Here’s the abstract for the report: Abstract The rapid emergence of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has
Read moreBack in 2015, Professor Richard Hirsh (Virginia Tech) and I published the following article in The Electricity Journal, documenting trends in US primary energy, electricity, and real (inflation-adjusted) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through 2014: Hirsh, Richard F., and Jonathan G. Koomey. 2015. “Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth: A New Relationship
Read moreThe Midwest Book Review just released a short review of Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving, 3rd edition. Here’s the money quote: Exceptionally well written, impressively organized, and accessibly presented, “Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving” is an ideal textbook for
Read moreThere’s been a lot written over the past couple of years about the electricity used to mine Bitcoin, the most prominent of many cryptocurrencies. I can best summarize the credibility and tone of that coverage with the following headline from Newsweek: Bitcoin Mining On Track To Consume All Of
Read moreIn September 2017 I posted on our analysis of the trends in the electricity intensity of network data flows, which was placed online in August 2017. The journal finally put the article in a printed edition in August 2018 and I wanted to re-up this post (with minor updates) to
Read moreGoogle just released this white paper, which is the next logical evolution in clean energy for data centers (also see the related blog post). When companies claim their data centers use 100% clean electricity, they do that using an annual balancing act, which sometimes isn’t clear to people not
Read moreAll oil is not created equal when it comes to carbon intensity of production. That’s the message from our latest article, just released in Science today. This work is part of a broader project to assess the full life-cycle emissions impacts of oil production, refining, distribution, and consumption, summarized
Read moreIt’s been a great award season for Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving (3rd Edition). I’m particularly proud of this book because it encapsulates what I’ve learned about being an effective researcher and communicator over the past few decades, and it’s had
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