Can Europe, including the Eastern part, continue to profit from cheap Russian gas without succumbing to Russian energy dominance? According to a new paper from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), the EU should not shy away from “countervailing measures”. But these should preferably take the form of a “grand bargain” with Russia rather than a confrontation. … [Read more...]
Meet the new ‘renewable superpowers’: 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 “renewable superpowers”, will be less susceptible to outside influence in the future, writes Andrew Barron, a professor of Swansea University. Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Europe’s biggest fossil fuel project gets €1.5bn public loan
The European Investment Bank has approved a loan to the Southern Gas Corridor, in a move environmentalists described as a “historical mistake”, writes Karl Mathiesen of Climate Home News. The move brings the total public backing for Europe's biggest fossil fuel project to $3.5 billion. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
Exclusive interview Maros Šefčovič: Energy Union is “deepest transformation of energy systems since Industrial Revolution”
Before the next European elections in 2019, Maroš Šefčovič , the European Commission’s Vice-President for the Energy Union, wants to have a new legal framework in place which will “bring in the most comprehensive and deepest transformation of energy systems in Europe, since the [industrial revolution] one hundred and fifty years ago.” In an exclusive interview with Energy Post, he says that the success of the Energy Union project “will decide the … [Read more...]
Lost in regulation: the EU and Nord Stream 2
The European Commission has proposed changing the Gas Market Directive to include import pipelines from third countries. This would make EU regulations, such as unbundling and third-party access rules, applicable to Nord Stream 2. According to Severin Fischer, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, the Commission’s approach to Gazprom’s pipeline project risks getting lost in legal inconsistencies. Fischer … [Read more...]
Shell, BP climate disclosures ‘just a marketing tool’, says ShareAction
Two years after BP and Shell shareholders resoundingly passed resolutions requiring the oil majors to factor climate change risks into their corporate strategy and accounting, the two companies are disclosing no more than bare minimum, a new report from a U.K.-based NGO has found. Article by Kyla Mandel of DeSmog. … [Read more...]
Interview Claude Fischer Herzog: “EU needs a nuclear industrial policy”
Europe is in danger of losing its leading position in nuclear power, warns Claude Fischer Herzog, Director of ASCPE-Les Entretiens Européens et Eurafricains, a prominent Paris-based pro-nuclear civil society organisation. Fischer calls on the EU to develop an industrial policy of which nuclear power will form an integral part. … [Read more...]
A dangerous energy policy: Ukraine, despite war, is making itself dependent on Russian oil
When it comes to Ukrainian dependence on Russian energy, the spotlight is usually on natural gas. Here Ukraine has made unprecedented progress, writes Wojciech Konończuk, analyst at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw. But what few observers notice, Konończuk adds, is that as a result of corruption and neglect Ukraine has let its domestic oil refining industry decay and has become critically dependent on Russian diesel and LPG … [Read more...]
Energy wonks have a meltdown over the US going 100 percent renewable. Why?
In the U.S. a furious debate has erupted among academic energy experts about whether the country could run 100% on renewable energy. Joshua D. Rhodes, Postdoctoral Researcher of Energy at the University of Texas, Austin, explains what is going on and offers some thoughts of his own. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
The fall and rise of nuclear power
The United States has allowed itself to fall behind in nuclear power technology and market development, writes author and thorium expert Robert Hargraves. Regulations have unnecessarily driven up costs of nuclear power and scared the public. According to Hargraves, to revive the nuclear sector, the first steps that needs to be taken are to fight historical fear-creating radiation regulations with science, and to replace the federal regulator, the … [Read more...]
EU’s Mediterranean neighbours struggle with energy transition
Taking a cue from the EU, members of the Arab League have adopted renewable energy and energy efficiency plans and targets. But they lack incentives and a stable policy framework to drive growth. “There are local initiatives, but no process to underpin an energy transition”. … [Read more...]
The woman who is building a nuclear power plant
Minna Forsström is responsible for a unique project: the first Russian-made nuclear power plant to be built in the E.U. outside of the former Soviet Union. In a personal interview with Energy Post, she reveals how her company, Fennovoima, has coped with extremely demanding regulatory challenges (“you can’t expect to submit a project and have it approved all in one go”), why they chose to work with Rosatom (“they have huge engineering capacity and … [Read more...]
Do we need an Airbus for nuclear?
Author and pro-nuclear activist Michael Shellenberger recently wrote that the nuclear sector, to survive, must embark on a radical new course: create one company, comparable to Airbus in the aircraft sector, that will develop a standardized, efficient reactor design. Josh Freed and Todd Allen of think tank the Third Way and Ted Nordhaus and Jessica Lovering of think tank The Breakthrough Institute argue that this approach will not solve … [Read more...]
Will clean coal be allowed to develop in Europe?
EU and national energy policies are strongly focused on promoting the use of renewable energy. However, EU policymakers should not overlook progress being made in traditional energy sources, especially in coal power plants, writes Pieter Cleppe, head of the Brussels office of think tank Open Europe. According to Cleppe, a significant expansion of ‘clean coal’ – which involves both carbon capture and storage (CCS) and supercritical power plants – … [Read more...]
Politics and economics clash over Nord Stream 2
At a dinner debate in Brussels on European relations with Russia, members of the European Parliament made it clear they regard Russia as an enemy which should be opposed in any possible way. That includes projects such as Gazprom’s planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Whether EU institutions have the means to stop Nord Stream 2, remains to be seen. … [Read more...]
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