Germany can meet its climate goals for the energy sector if it introduces a CO2-price floor of between €50 and €75 per ton, write Fabian Huneke, Carlos Perez Linkenheil and Simon Göß from the Berlin-based independent energy market specialist Energy Brainpool. However, if neighbouring countries don’t take similar measures, more than half of the reduced CO2- emissions will be shifted abroad, note the authors. As long as power markets are … [Read more...]
France can’t meet its own power demand
France was heavily dependent on power imports from Germany during the first cold spell of this winter, despite the fact that most of the country’s nuclear reactors are back online, writes Craig Morris from the Energy Transition blog. As the US is now also investigating 17 nuclear reactors with parts from reactor producer Areva, just rescued by the French state, it shows the perilous state the French power sector is in. Courtesy Energy Transition. … [Read more...]
Turning point: solar cheaper than wind
It was bound to happen, and apparently it has: utility-scale solar-generated power, certainly in sunny parts of the world, appears to be cheaper than wind and both are cheaper than fossil-fuel generated power, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, president of Menlo Energy Economics and publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. … [Read more...]
U.S. energy under Trump
Today’s presidential inauguration will trigger the biggest policy and regulatory shift for the US energy industry in at least ten years, writes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. That’s how long it has been since energy policy was set by a Republican president and Congress. Donald Trump is a different kind of Republican, though, and his goal does not seem to be a return to scarcity and high … [Read more...]
What is holding renewable energy back?
For all the enthusiasm about renewables, there are glaring weaknesses being overlooked, writes Todd Royal, an independent strategic consultant, researcher and author based in southern California. According to Royal, for renewable energy to truly break through numerous obstacles such as costs, back-up generation power, storage, and – above all – grid modernization will need to be solved. Article courtesy of OilPrice.com. … [Read more...]
The geopolitics of energy: renewables are not in the race yet
At the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on 12-13 January, oil executives, Middle Eastern energy ministers and experts in the geopolitics of energy came together to discuss the geopolitical implications of “the energy transformation”. Yet no one presented a vision of what a new global order, based on renewable energy, would look like, writes Karel Beckman, Energy Post’s editor-in-chief. The oil players all embrace renewable … [Read more...]
The year coal collapsed: 2016 was a turning point for Britain’s electricity
Socially and politically, 2016 was a momentous year for Britain. It was also a record breaking year for energy and the environment, but thankfully for all the right reasons, write Grant Wilson of the University of Sheffield and Iain Staffell of Imperial College London. Britain’s electricity was the cleanest it had been in 60 years, as coal collapsed and renewables rose to record levels. Courtesy of the Conversation. … [Read more...]
The End of the Energiewende?
The prominent German economist Heiner Flassbeck has challenged fundamental assumptions of the Energiewende at his blog site makroskop.eu. According to Flassbeck, the former Director of Macroeconomics and Development at the UNCTAD in Geneva and a former State Secretary of Finance, a recent period of extremely low solar and wind power generation shows that Germany will never be able to rely on renewable energy, regardless of  how much new capacity … [Read more...]
Australians can have zero-emission electricity, without blowing the bill
Australia, which already has the highest solar PV concentration in the world but still relies heavily on fossil fuels, can move to a zero-emission electricity system while keeping prices low, writes Paul Graham, Chief Economist at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
10 energy surprises in 2017
Peter Tertzakian of Oilprice.com zooms in on 10 not-so-obvious issues that may turn out to be key influencers in energy markets in 2017. … [Read more...]
The burning issue
Fire is at the root of our climate problems and it is time we put it out, writes Walt Patterson, Associate Fellow at Chatham House. “We need to switch from using fire to using electricity.” … [Read more...]
Donald Trump’s carbon-obsessed energy policy and the planetary nightmare to comeÂ
Despite apparent contradictions, the main thrust of Donald Trump’s energy policy approach is very clear, writes author and energy expert Michael Klare: he aims to abolish all regulations that stand in the way of unrestrained fossil fuel extraction. Even if this spells doom for segments of the fossil fuel industry that will get hurt by low prices – not to mention the planet. Courtesy Tomdispatch.com. … [Read more...]
A rush to subsidies as power plants in Europe face existential threat
So-called capacity markets are driving what appears to be a major new trend in energy policy across Europe: more public subsidies for electric utilities, writes independent consultant Gerard Wynn. In a new report for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), Wynn takes a critical look at capacity payments in Spain, which cost taxpayers €1 billion annually. Meanwhile, the UK just forked out ÂŁ1.2 billion in a capacity … [Read more...]
Dutch government: only EVs and hydrogen cars from 2035, phase-out natural gas
The Dutch government has presented a long-term energy plan that stipulates that no new cars with combustion engines may be sold from 2035 on. In addition, in the Netherlands – for over 50 years the largest natural gas producer in the EU – all houses will be disconnected from the gas grid by 2050. The plan has broad parliamentary support – in fact, many political parties believe it does not go far enough. … [Read more...]
The big Dutch coal mistake and the future of coal in Europe
RWE, Uniper and Engie have fairly quietly written off billions of euros on three brand new coal power plants in the Netherlands, according to a new report from independent consultant Gerard Wynn for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In an article for his own website, the Energy and Carbon Blog, Wynn notes that the Dutch experience means no new coal power plants are likely to be built again any time soon in Europe. … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- …
- 26
- Next Page »