If you’re in the energy business, here is a new manual for you that lays out the essentials of what energy is and how it shapes geopolitics today. Professor and long-time European Commission official Samuele Furfari has condensed his 39 years of experience in the energy sector into a two-volume tome of more than 1,250 pages that goes right from the fundamentals of physics through Britain’s rule of the Middle East to modern day realities such as … [Read more...]
Are solar and wind really killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability?
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry wants to know whether solar and wind are killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability. Thanks to Texas, where Perry was governor, we know that a combination of wind and solar with fast-ramping natural gas, smart market designs and integrated load control systems will lead to a cleaner, cheaper, more reliable grid, write four researchers at the University of Texas. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Pitting wind and solar against nuclear power
With US electricity demand stalled, expanding wind and solar power is increasing the economic pressure on equally low-emission nuclear power, writes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. He notes that the beneficiaries of renewable energy subsidies resist new state incentives for nuclear plants. But according to Styles, wind and solar should not come at the expense of nuclear power, as all are … [Read more...]
Costs of electricity generation compared: beware of simple metrics
With the rapid growth of renewables, comparing costs of different forms of power generation has become important for policymakers, investors and analysts. In these comparisons, the metric of LCOE (levelized cost of energy) is often used, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) warns that this metric does not cover all the complexities involved. The EIA has written a short primer on comparing power generation costs. … [Read more...]
Nuclear energy does not cost the earth
Those who claim nuclear is dead, at least for Europe, because of its high costs and lack of public support are wrong, writes Tim Yeo, Chairman of the pro-nuclear group New Nuclear Watch Europe (NNWE). Despite recent financial troubles besetting certain parties in the nuclear sector, there are competitive vendors and competitive projects out there. Key for European countries considering building new nuclear plants is to choose the right … [Read more...]
The battle for the future of nuclear energy
Nuclear is facing a desperate situation: the world could lose up to two times more nuclear than it gains by 2030, writes Michael Shellenberger, founder and president of the pro-nuclear citizens movement Environmental Progress (EP). According to Shellenberger, the nuclear crisis is caused purely by cultural, ideological and political factors. There are no technological and economic barriers to expanding nuclear power: existing designs are safe and … [Read more...]
Do we need an Airbus for nuclear?
Author and pro-nuclear activist Michael Shellenberger recently wrote that the nuclear sector, to survive, must embark on a radical new course: create one company, comparable to Airbus in the aircraft sector, that will develop a standardized, efficient reactor design. Josh Freed and Todd Allen of think tank the Third Way and Ted Nordhaus and Jessica Lovering of think tank The Breakthrough Institute argue that this approach will not solve … [Read more...]
Six years after Fukushima, much of Japan has lost faith in nuclear power
The Japanese government should consider a fundamental change in its current nuclear energy policy if it wants to recover the public's trust in nuclear power, writes Tatsujiro Suzuki, Director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University. According to Suzuki, staying on the current path will undermine Japan's economic and political security. Courtesy of The Conversation. … [Read more...]
French election 2017: where the candidates stand on energy and climate change
The French presidential elections are fast approaching with the first voting round set to be held on 23 April and the run-off between the top two candidates – if neither wins a majority – on 7 May. Jocelyn Timperley of Carbon Brief takes a look at where the major candidates stand on energy and climate change. Courtesy Carbon Brief. … [Read more...]
How much will it really cost to decommission the aging French nuclear fleet?
A recently published French governmental report has blown a significant hole in the French nuclear decommissioning strategy, writes Paul Dorfman, Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder of the Nuclear Consulting Group. According to Dorfman, the report found that the clean-up of French reactors will take longer, be more challenging and cost much more than French nuclear operator EDF … [Read more...]
Nuclear crisis: even if facts no long matter, consequences still do
The example of Germany shows that trying to decarbonize electricity supply while also removing nuclear power from the mix is simply too high a mountain to climb, writes Milton Caplan, President of MZConsulting. And this is not just about Germany, he adds. … [Read more...]
The nuclear industry must change — or die
The nuclear sector in the West has brought the current crisis partly upon itself by doing the exact opposite of what is known to work in industry, writes Michael Shellenberger. To survive, it must embark on a radical new course: create one company, comparable to Boeing or Airbus in the aircraft sector, that will develop a standardized, efficient reactor design. At the same time, governments should work together to increase confidence in the … [Read more...]
How nuclear safety undermines nuclear economics
Failed EPR and AP1000 reactor projects have brought giant energy companies to their knees, and even pro-nuclear lobbyists now acknowledge that the industry is in crisis. Jim Green, editor of the Nuclear Monitor newsletter, takes stock of the crisis in the global nuclear sector and concludes that the industry's likely response, a retreat from post-Fukushima efforts to strengthen safety standards, risks making a bad situation worse. … [Read more...]
Toshiba in crisis – US nuclear revival ends almost before it starts
With Toshiba in a deep crisis over a massive writedown on its troubled US nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric, the US nuclear renaissance, which started five years ago, looks to be over already. Independent energy author Dennis Wamsted explains what went wrong. … [Read more...]
China’s renewable energy revolution continues on its long march
In one year China added almost as much generation from renewable power as Germany’s total renewable energy generation, according to the end of January statistics for 2016 by the National Energy Administration of China and the China Electricity Council. Yet the country’s electricity supply still relies strongly on coal, notes Simon Göß of Berlin-based consultancy Energy Brainpool. … [Read more...]
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