Energy Post

The best thinkers on energy

The real prospects for South Stream: it’s all about exemption

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With the end of the Nabucco pipeline project, the road seems clear for Gazprom to soon triumphantly roll out its rival South Stream project. This is certainly what recent media reports have suggested. In reality, however, South Stream is still very far from what could be described as a “launching phase”, writes Bulgarian energy consultant Valentin Stoyanov. According to Stoyanov the success of South Stream now depends on the EU. If Brussels does … [Read more...]

Deepening democracy: scientists must guide, not usurp, climate policy

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Scientists and other experts must become more attuned to the different roles that they play in broader society, especially what it means to be facilitators of democracy rather than advocates for more authoritarian political systems. In practice this means recognizing that the main function of expert advisory bodies is not to tell the public what should be done, but rather what could be done. Experts, such as the Global Challenges Foundation … [Read more...]

Biofuels: regulatory uncertainty threatens to derail a fledgling European industry

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The European Parliament and EU member states are completely deadlocked over new biofuels legislation. Although the Parliament may decide this week to start negotiations with member states, the two camps are so far apart that a deal seems almost inconceivable before 2015. The regulatory uncertainty is threatening to paralyse the European biofuels sector – and even to kill off progress in “advanced” (climate-friendly) biofuels. Sonja van Renssen … [Read more...]

The Dutch Energiewende

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With the National Energy Accord, signed on 6 September, the Netherlands has its own version of the Energiewende. Or has it? Energy Post editor Karel Beckman explains the ins and outs of the Accord and discusses its implications for the future of Dutch energy policy. His verdict: despite the hype that has surrounded the Accord, it does not come anywhere near an “energy transition” in the German style. … [Read more...]

European-Russian gas partnership threatens to unravel

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As the areas of potential conflict are multiplying, the EU and Russia seem to be blundering into an increasingly fractious energy relationship that threatens to hurt both sides. Russia’s policies are even risking the whole future of gas in the European energy market, argues Frank Umbach,  Associate Director at the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS), King's College, London. Umbach, who also works for the Centre for European … [Read more...]

Christoph Frei, World Energy Council: “Resilience will rise to top of agenda”

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The chances that we will be able to meet our climate targets are becoming increasingly slim, notes Christoph Frei, Secretary-General of the World Energy Council (WEC) in an interview with Energy Post. The main reason for this is that CCS (carbon capture and storage), a crucial element in any emission reduction strategy, “is not happening”. This means, says Frei, that “if no radical policy shift takes place, concerns will shift from mitigation to … [Read more...]

Egypt for Sale

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The Egyptian “street” has exchanged the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood for that of the military, putting them back to square one. What the Egyptians fail to see, writes the Canadian foreign policy expert Felix Imonti, is that the military is a major source of the poverty they are suffering from. The military controls the Egyptian economy and shuts out the majority of the population from participating in it. The generals get away with this because … [Read more...]

Mr Putin, please shut down those pipelines again!

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The EU internal market for gas will remain incomplete as long as long as many Member States continue to persist in following national policies, writes Tim Boersma, dissertation candidate at the University of Groningen and soon-to-be fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Energy Security Initiative in Washington, DC. According to Boersma, much better policy coordination is needed if Europe is not to miss out on the substantial benefits of an … [Read more...]

The Romania-Moldova Gas Pipeline: a chance for Moldova to connect to the EU

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The Iasi-Ungheni gas interconnector between Romania and Moldova, the construction of which began in late August, is expected to improve Moldova’s energy security, bring commercial benefits to both Moldova and Romania, and contribute to the physical integration of the European gas market. The real raison d'ĂŞtre of the new pipeline is, however, rather geopolitical in nature: it will help wean Moldova from Russian domination and bring the country … [Read more...]

World Energy in 2040: Our fossil-fueled future

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What sort of fabulous new energy systems will the world possess in 2040?  Which fuels will supply the bulk of our energy needs?  And how will that change the global energy equation, international politics, and the planet’s health?  If the experts at the U.S. Department of Energy are right, the startling “new” fuels of 2040 will be oil, coal, and natural gas -- and we will find ourselves on a baking, painfully uncomfortable planet. Famous energy … [Read more...]

How much energy does the world need?

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Although global energy consumption is expected to rise dramatically, established projections don’t even come close to accounting for the additional capacity it will take to ensure modern energy access for all. Most scenarios presume that 1  to 2 billion people will still be living without electricity in 2035. That, says environmental policy expert Roger Pielke, Jr., is unacceptable. Pielke calculates how much energy the world needs if we assume … [Read more...]