The disposal of used solar panels is a huge and growing problem that is not being sufficiently addressed, writes Michael Shellenberger, founder of the pro-nuclear citizens movement Environmental Progress (EP). He argues that a fee should be imposed on solar panels which should go into a fund to pay for recyling and clean-up. … [Read more...]
Planned Kosovo lignite power plant fails to commit to cleaner technologies
London-listed, global energy investor ContourGlobal portrays its plans for a new coal power plant in Kosovo as a step towards cleaner air, but its legal agreement with the government shows that it fails to commit to best-in-class environmental performance, writes energy finance consultant Gerard Wynn. Courtesy Energy and Carbon blog. … [Read more...]
11 ways the Paris climate deal is working in the real world
As climate talks stall, itâs clear the UN process is no longer the major driving force of the climate transition, write Soila Apparicio, Megan Darby and Karl Mathiesen of Climate Home News. While diplomates are negotiating the complex rules of the Paris deal, businesses, researchers, governments and citizens are coming up with new ways to move the climate to a safer place. Courtesy: Climate Home News … [Read more...]
‘Tsunami’ of hydropower dam building threatens Europe’s last wild rivers â campaigners
The transition to low-carbon energy sources in the Balkans could cause irreversible environmental damage, environmentalists fear. Proposed hydropower dam constructions endanger Europeâs last wild rivers and some diversity hotspots, writes Umberto Bacchi of Thomson Reuters Foundation. Courtesy: Thomson Reuters Foundation. … [Read more...]
How to ensure resilience in the grid of the future
A low-carbon world is an electrified world. But electricity has an Achilles heel: it is vulnerable. And will become more so as digitalization progresses and extreme weather increases, notes Mark Byrne of the Total Environment Centre in Australia. To reduce vulnerability, Byrne believes we need to create a system of enmeshed micro-grids. Keywords: âmutual interdependenceâ. Â … [Read more...]
As the energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean grows, so does the potential for conflict
The United States and the European Union should play a more proactive role in defusing the growing tensions over energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, writes David Koranyi of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Institute. … [Read more...]
Meet the new ârenewable superpowersâ: nations that boss the materials used for wind and solar
Countries that create green energy infrastructure now, before political and economic control shifts to a new group of ârenewable superpowersâ, will be less susceptible to outside influence in the future, writes Andrew Barron, a professor of Swansea University. Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Circular economy: âFrance aims to lead by exampleâ stresses French Sustainable Development official
In an exclusive interview with viEUws at Green Week 2014, Jean-Paul Albertini - French Executive Commissioner for Sustainable Development at the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy - talks to viEUws.eu's leading environment journalist Sonja van Renssen about the implementation of circular economy in Europe. Albertini discusses the benefits which a circular economy could bring to Europe. He claims that such an economy … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Effective recycling at heart of Commissionâs waste and circular economy package
Karl Falkenberg, Director-General for Environment at the European Commission meets with viEUws.eu's leading environment journalist Sonja van Renssen to discuss the Commissionâs upcoming waste and circular economy package. The European Union has set an ambitious goal to recycle half of all household waste by 2020, however the door to landfill is still open. The Director-General for Environment argues that to increase recycling, member states need … [Read more...]