As the UN climate talks in Paris are nearing completion, the implications for the energy sector are becoming clear. The 186 national action plans that will form the basis of an agreement really amount to clean energy investment plans, observers say. “A whole new economy will be created.” What this means for fossil fuels is uncertain. Although the term decarbonisation has been replaced by a much vaguer “emissions neutrality”, few believe that a 2 … [Read more...]
The electricity network is changing fast – here is where Australia is heading
The Australian electricity sector is changing extremely fast, writes Paul Graham, Chief Economist CSIRO Energy at CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Australia. CSIRO Energy sees solar and storage costs still dropping rapidly. According to Graham, scenarios under which a third of people may be leaving the grid and 25-45% of electricity will be generated on-site are “plausible”. … [Read more...]
COP21: a deal is in the making
As we enter the second week of the world’s make-or-break UN climate conference, the elements of a new global climate agreement are falling into place. It will provide energy companies the world over with the certainty of a long-term climate goal and of a push from governments to make them pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. But it will also recognise that the world has changed since the Kyoto Protocol and that emerging economies like China … [Read more...]
The Autowende has begun
In the next 60 months the automotive industry will see more change than in the last 60 years, writes entrepreneur Michiel Langezaal. He notes that Asian and US manufacturers are putting massive resources into developing batteries, electric drive trains and solar cells. Nothing like this is happening on a similar scale in Europe. European car and energy companies need to go all-out for the Autowende or Europe will miss out on the next trillion … [Read more...]
Energiewende is easily affordable – if we don’t go 100% renewable
Researchers from Fraunhofer ISE have published a new report investigating the net cost of Germany’s energy transition. The good news is that the German government’s current goals are likely to be affordable. The bad news is that 100 percent renewable energy is less so, writes Craig Morris of the website German Energy Transition. … [Read more...]
Energy Union as “energy democracy”
Citizens are at the core of the EU’s most ambitious energy strategy to date, the Energy Union, according to the European Commission. But how exactly could they get involved? Since 2012 social scientists with the R&Dialogue project have been working on processes to engage citizens, NGOs and industry in the energy transition. Their conclusion: citizens and companies should cooperate in participatory, ‘democratic’ structures to create a … [Read more...]
State of the Energy Union: the political work has yet to be done
The European Commission appears to be making a valiant effort at getting the Energy Union’s goals internalised into an institutional process that does not scare off Member States wary of “more Europe”. However, writes Oliver Sartor of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), the key test for the Energy Union will be how well it can succeed at getting Member States to buy into its objectives. The Energy Union … [Read more...]
Stanford: world can go 100% wind, water, sun by 2050 – and save money
Reneweconomy.com A new analysis from Stanford University has laid out a roadmap for 139 countries to power their economies with solar, wind, and hydro energy by 2050. It says the world can reach 80 per cent WWS (wind, water and sunlight) by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2050 with no impact on economic growth. … [Read more...]
Does the IEA’s new World Energy Outlook miss the global transition?
The energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables will likely be faster than the International Energy Agency predicts in its recent World Energy Outlook, writes Peter Simon Vargha, Chief Economist at Hungarian oil and gas company MOL. According to Vargha, we are at a point when renewables are getting cheaper than fossil fuels in many areas, and that means a whole different game. … [Read more...]
The curse of lignite: the long-term underdevelopment of Germany´s second largest mining region
The government of the German State of Brandenburg wanted to buy the lignite mines and power plants from Vattenfall in the Lusatia region to keep them open. The left-far-left coalition was motivated by economic reasons: to prevent job losses and de-industrialisation. But statistics show that Lusatia is actually worse off both economically and socially because of the presence of lignite mining, write Conrad Kunze and Anika Zorn, Social Scientists … [Read more...]
The case against Nord Stream 2
By opening up an additional route for cheap Russian gas to Germany, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project may look like a good deal for Europe. However, its advantages are primarily short term, writes Agata Loskot-Strachota of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland. In the longer term the pipeline increases the possibilities for Russia’s excessive influence on the European gas market, undermines the policy goals of the Energy Union, and … [Read more...]
EU’s first State of the Energy Union report: how it will deliver on climate and energy goals for 2030
The EU’s first-ever “State of the Energy Union” report is determinedly optimistic on progress, but offers little new information and appears to take just a small step towards resolving the biggest challenge of all: uniting national interests around EU priorities. Published by the European Commission on 18 November, the report is accompanied by a whole suite of studies in areas from energy security to climate action. The package sets out … [Read more...]
Security alert: Europe needs more grids, more power plants – say grid operators and generators
Under any decarbonisation scenario, whether dominated by fossil fuels or renewables, centralised or decentralised, €10 to €20 billion in annual investments in grid infrastructure will be needed in Europe in the decades out to 2050, concludes a multi-stakeholder consortium led by European Transmission System Operators in a landmark report. In another report, the European technical association for electricity and heat generation VGB PowerTech, … [Read more...]
The energy ship changes course – IEA Chief “optimistic”
Slowly but surely the global energy oil tanker is changing course. The long journey to a low-carbon energy future has finally gotten underway – and there is no turning back anymore. That’s the central message that can be deduced from the 2015 edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO), released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Fatih Birol, the new Executive Director of the IEA, tells Energy Post he is “more optimistic” for the … [Read more...]
Interview Marko Delimar, IEEE: “Technologists need to demystify energy”
“Right now renewable energy is still in the single digits in Europe. That’s a disaster”, says Marko Delimar, Professor at the University of Zagreb and Chair of the European Public Policy Group of the engineers association IEEE, the largest professional association in the world. According to Delimar, the energy transition is still at a very early stage. Technologists, he says, in an interview with Energy Post, have an important task: “We need to … [Read more...]
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