Energy Post

Daily reports on the European and Global energy transition

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...]

Seven Steps to Energy Policy Heaven

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Now that a new political year has started, it may be useful to ask what exactly are the most important parameters that should go into any energy policy mix. I have identified seven – which I have dubbed the Seven Steps to Energy Policy Heaven. The nice thing about my “energy policy model” is that it may come in handy – even if you totally disagree with my ideas. Photo: Heaven visited me by Kevin Dooley … [Read more...]

After Nabucco – Croatia to the Rescue of Central Europe’s Energy Security?

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With the "death" of Nabucco, it seems that the EU strategy to diversify gas supplies to Central and South East European member states has failed miserably. Yet according to David Koranyi, Ian Brzezinski and Matthew Bryza of the Atlantic Council there are other ways to reduce these countries’ dependence on Russian gas supplies. They can work to expand gas interconnections in the EU. And, perhaps even more importantly, they can source US shale gas … [Read more...]

Nuclear Power: the Faustian Bargain

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There are good reasons to be in favor of nuclear power – for now. There are even better reasons to want to replace nuclear power by renewable energy – in the not too distant future, writes Allan Hoffman, former energy expert at the US Department of Energy. This is the second of two articles in which Hoffman, who runs the blog Thoughts of a Lapsed Physicist, reflects on a sensitive energy topic. In his first article he weighed the pros and cons of … [Read more...]

Fracking? It will happen – so let’s at least do it very, very carefully

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To frack or not to frack? That is the question being asked now in many European countries. The US has over a decade of experience with fracking. Allan Hoffman, long-time energy expert at the US Department of Energy who started his own blog upon his retirement last year, has mixed feelings about the blessings of shale gas and shale oil. Weighing the pros and cons, he concludes that fracking is probably too lucrative to be stopped, but at least it … [Read more...]