Editor-in-Chief Karel Beckman looks back on one year at Energy Post. He gives some suggestions on the wealth of information readers can find on the website, including the 10 best-read stories of the year. And he takes a look ahead on what more there is to come – after we come back from our summer break. … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2014
Brussels sets dangerous precedent by clearing UK capacity market
The European Commission has given the green light to a proposed UK capacity market that aims to ensure enough electricity is available to cover consumption at peak times. This is the Commission’s first assessment of a capacity market under new EU guidelines on energy and environment state aid that entered force on 1 July. The Commission says the aid is justified because it will contribute to the UK’s security of supply “without distorting … [Read more...]
European Commission spits forth a 30% energy efficiency target
Europe should adopt a 30% energy efficiency target for 2030, the European Commission finally announced on 23 July – without specifying whether that target should be binding or not. That decision it left to European leaders when they meet on 23-24 October. There, they are set to decide on a 2030 climate and energy package for Europe. But certainly for energy efficiency, the path is far from clear and any legislative follow-up is at least three … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Crisis of EU refining industry: a threat to our energy security?
viEUws.eu's leading energy journalist Hughes Belin is joined by Fabrizio Barbaso, Deputy Director General ofDG Energy at the European Commission, for an exclusive interview on the refining industry and security of energy supply. For the time being, the flow of Russian gas and oil supplies to Europe has not been disrupted. Barbaso argues that Energy relations between the European Union and Russia are interdependent:Russia is a key energy … [Read more...]
Four scientific breakthroughs that can take us to a new, clean energy world
Discussions on the energy transition usually focus on the economics of renewables and cost comparisons with fossil fuels and other energy sources. What is usually ignored, are innovations in materials and chemical processes, which are nonetheless increasingly important as agents of change in the energy sector. Innovation watcher Denis Kuznetsov discusses four scientific breakthroughs in materials research that could shake up the energy sector in … [Read more...]
Get this: Germany does not have generous subsidies for renewables
In an otherwise well-written and informative article on the recent decision by the EU Court of Justice on renewables policy, Energy Post repeats the unfounded notion that Germany has generous subsidies. This is wrong – and the difference matters: the German system of feed-in tariffs favours small companies and cooperatives. Now, the EU wants to kill feed-in tariffs, ostensibly because of the cost – but what’s at stake is freedom. … [Read more...]
Twenty-first century energy wars: how oil and gas are fuelling global conflicts
Fossil fuels are triggering violent conflicts all over the world, says Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, the US. Klare zooms in on four areas – Iraq/Syria, South Sudan, the Crimea/Ukraine, and the South China Sea – to argue that the desire to control valuable oil and gas assets is fuelling long-standing historic tensions. “In a fossil-fuel world, control over oil and gas reserves … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Top 5 Energy – All you need to know for the Italian EU Presidency
In this special briefing, viEUws.eu's leading energy journalist Hughes Belin picks out the top 5 energy issues that will be discussed by the European institutions under the Italian Presidency. Security of supply remains at the top of EU decision makers’ agenda as the crisis between Ukraine and Russia continues. 2030 climate & energy framework: the Italian EU Presidency will have a chance to draw a compromise at the informal Energy and … [Read more...]
Moscow’s great new gas game: Russia will become a bigger player – but in a bigger market
Russia has embarked on a strategy to become a major player in the global LNG business, with as many as five or six  big new projects expected to come online by the end of the decade. This new LNG production capacity is part of Russia's broader strategy that involves reducing its reliance on European markets and becoming one of the top gas suppliers to the Asia-Pacific region. Paradoxically, these efforts, if they succeed, are likely to reduce … [Read more...]
Carbon Tracker blasts Shell’s take on Carbon Bubble
In a new report out today, Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), the NGO that invented the concept of “stranded assets”, blasts Shell’s “climate letter” of 16 May, in which Shell argues that “we do not believe that any of our proven reserves will become stranded”. According to CTI, Shell’s focus on proven reserves is “too narrow” and “understates the risk that its business faces from changes in climate policy”. EP editor Karel Beckman takes stock of … [Read more...]
US energy independence: fact or fiction?
What do you get when you speak with four American investment analysts about the prospects of US gas and oil production, the sustainability of fracking, the risks of the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the potential of nuclear energy and renewables? You get four different, but outspoken opinions, from people with different  perspectives on the world than what you usually find in Europe. A four-way interview by J.T. Long for The Energy … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Top 5 Environment – All you need to know for the Italian EU Presidency
In this special briefing, viEUws.eu's leading environment journalist Sonja van Renssen picks out the top 5 environment issues that will be discussed by the EU institutions under the Italian Presidency. A first priority is the circular or zero waste economy, after the European Commission unveiled a new policy package on 1 July that pushes for higher recycling targets and the total elimination of landfill Green growth and jobs will be high on … [Read more...]
Who is responsible for climate change?
Jan Kunnas from the University of Stirling and colleagues from universities in the UK and New Zealand have written an ademic paper in which they calculate the cumulative historical cost of carbon dioxide emissions, in order to measure the responsibility various nations have for climate change. They suggest their results could be used to form the foundation of a future climate agreement. One of the major reasons for the failure of the 2009 … [Read more...]
New study: Debate on biofuels distracts from root causes of agricultural commodity price volatility
The German Bioethanol Industry Association (Bundesverband der deutschen Bioethanolwirtschaft - BDBe) commissioned a scholarly study to investigate claims that biofuels have been the main culprit behind rising agricultural prices and land-use conflicts. The public debate of the pros and cons of biofuels is dominated by issues related to the impact of biofuel production on the prices of agricultural commodities, food security and natural … [Read more...]
Russian energy sector will cease to be engine of growth
The contribution of the energy sector to Russian GDP will decrease by nearly 50% over the coming decades. Although energy will continue to provide an important foundation to the Russian economy, it will cease to be an engine of growth. That is the main conclusion of Global and Russian Energy Outlook to 2040, recently published the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Analytical Centre of the Government of Russia. … [Read more...]