Recent reports predicting a "peak" in Chinese coal power consumption are misleading, Armond Cohen and Kexin Liu of the Clean Air Task Force (CAFT) point out. The amount of Chinese coal-fired power generation will "continue to skyrocket". The same goes for other parts of Southeast Asia. The only way to prevent climate disaster is by scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS). (Photo from Shanxi province by Bert van Dijk) … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2013
“Franceâs fracking ban to remain for foreseeable future”
The decision to uphold the ban on hydraulic fracturing (âfrackingâ) in France by the constitutional court, preventing further exploration activities for shale gas reserves, is unlikely to change in the near future, despite the warnings of advocates that France will miss out on a significant source of cheap energy, says a new report from research and consulting firm GlobalData. According to the companyâs latest report, France Upstream Fiscal … [Read more...]
VIDEO: 2030 Climate & Energy – Will Europe have the courage to fix its climate & energy tools?
Sonja van Renssen, leading environment journalist at viEUws.eu, gives an insight into the EUâs progress on reducing green house gas emissions in order to tackle climate change and an outlook on the debate on reduction targets for 2030 coming up next year. … [Read more...]
Top climate scientists call on environmentalists to support nuclear
In an open letter addressed to "those influencing environmental policy but opposed to nuclear power", four top climate scientists in the US have called on world leaders and environmental activists to support the developmnet of nuclear power to protect the climate. The scientists are James Hansen, Ken Caldeira, Kerry Emanuel and Tom Wigley. Here is their letter, published by CNN: "As climate and energy scientists concerned with global climate … [Read more...]
How renewables will transform commercial and (geo)political relations
The role that renewable energy could play in changing the balance of power in the world is often overlooked. Rick Bosman of the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) in Rotterdam and Daniel Scholten, Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology, undertake a thought experiment with stunning implications for future consumer-producer relations. Must reading for energy market and political strategists. (Illustration Tjebbe van … [Read more...]
EU Commission: feed-in tariffs should be abandoned
The European Commission has presented a Communication which gives guidance to Member States on âhow to make the most of public interventionsâ in the electricity market. The Communication discusses âhow to reform existingâ interventions, especially renewable energy subsidy schemes, and how to effectively design new ones, especially for back-up capacity schemes." The Commission notes that âin some very specific cases public intervention might be … [Read more...]
EU Court upholds primary importance of internal energy market
In its first ruling on mandatory unbundling, the European Court of Justice has deemed this principle so vital to the internal market that it supersedes fundamental freedoms enshrined in the EU Treaties, such as free movement of capital. It is a victory of public interest over pure economics. The ruling in the case of the Netherlands vs. three energy companies comes on the eve of fresh EU guidance intended to better align the state interventions … [Read more...]
IEA: energy efficiency the world’s first fuel
The scale of global investment in energy efficiency and its contribution to energy demand are as significant as those of other developed supply-side resources, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said as it has unveiled a new report that for the first time describes the wide range of energy efficiency activities worldwide in market terms. The inaugural Energy Efficiency Market Report joins the IEA market reports for oil, gas, coal and … [Read more...]
North Africa and Middle East to double renewable energy capacity by 2015
The capacity of renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa will nearly double from 1.7 gigawatts (GW) today to 3.3 GW by 2015. This is shown by research from Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII). Morocco plays a leading role in expanding the currently capacity, around 0.6 GW, to 1.7 GW by 2015. "North Africa and the Middle East are at the beginning of an impressive energy transition based on wind and sun. I am particularly pleased … [Read more...]
PWC study: Economies generate growth thanks to decarbonisation
New research by PwC, using historical data from five EU member states, shows that countries can decarbonise at faster than average rates without reducing economic growth or losing competitiveness while still generating new sources of economic growth and jobs. This is the conclusion based on analysis of the long-term economic impact of energy policies in five European countries (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) … [Read more...]