If the Paris climate objectives are upheld, policymakers will soon be facing calls to set emission-reduction targets of much more than 100 percent, write Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and Stefan SchĂ€fer of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam. But the debate about how to achieve ânegative emissionsâ â and who will have to achieve them â has not even … [Read more...]
Open letter to policymakers: make Europe Renewable Energy World Leader by 2020
Europe should embark on a collective project to become the world leader in renewable energy by 2020, write Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute, Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council and President of the European Policy Center and Bertrand Piccard, pilot of the Solar Impulse, in an open letter to policymakers. Such a leadership effort would go a long way to addressing a multitude of challenges facing … [Read more...]
How utilities can deal with the threat of community energy
Community energy is the next big threat to utility companies â unless they manage to become part of this emerging energy economy. They still have a window of opportunity, says Craig Cavanaugh of software services company Omnetric Group, who spent six months researching the energy community market in Europe and the US. He sees three main opportunities for utilities: they can become âcollaborative partnerâ, âcommunity energy service providerâ or … [Read more...]
Energy may be ripe for the sharing economy, thanks to Bitcoinâs blockchain technology
The marriage of blockchain technology with microgrid applications could transform the way communities and organisations use renewable energy, writes Lexie Briggs of Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), an association of businesses in the US that includes companies such as Vestas, Siemens, Microsoft, GE and Schneider Electric. Siemens has just launched a project in Brooklyn, New York, that allows neighbours to purchase solar power from each otherâs … [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...]
Fracking: âGang plank to climate chaosâ or ânecessary part of decarbonisationâ?
Fracking is a threat to the climate and the environment in the UK, says Professor Peter Strachan of Robert Gordon University. No, the climate benefits of domestically produced shale gas outweigh the risks, argues Stephen Tindale, co-founder of consultancy Climate Answers. The two men held a fascinating debate at the Houses of Parliament in London on 29 November hosted by the All-Parliamentary Group on Unconventional Oil and Gas. Ruth Hayhurst of … [Read more...]
The future of OPEC: it wonât die, but it will become a different animal
Regardless of the outcome of the meeting on 30 November, the future of OPEC looks uncertain. The organisation is facing a perfect storm, squeezed as it is between the revolution in shale oil, which has increased global supply and brought down prices, and the prospect of a global peak demand stemming from climate policies and falling costs of alternatives. Some have even declared the death of OPEC, but according to Thijs Van de Graaf, professor at … [Read more...]
Why the future belongs to decentralised renewables, not centralised hydrogen and giga-scale nuclear
What the future of our energy system will look like continues to be a subject of heated debate. According to one well-established tradition, writes Professor John Mathews of Macquarie University in Australia, the route to decarbonisation will run via massive nuclear power systems to the hydrogen economy. But China and to some extent India are emerging as the principal practitioners of an alternative vision of energy growth, underpinning their … [Read more...]
IEA in the Age of Trump: policies will determine where we go from here
The most important message from the 2016 edition of the annual World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agencyâs (IEA) flagship publication released today, is that âpolicies will determine where we go from hereâ. âParisâ has given the international energy sector âa new sense of directionâ, notes the IEA. But much stronger policies are needed to keep global warming limited to 2 degrees Celsius, it adds. Its message takes on extra importance … [Read more...]
Europeâs renewable transport targets need biofuels, they canât be met with EVs alone
The decarbonisation of the transport sector presents a huge challenge for Europe, writes Paul Deane of the Environmental Research Institute in University College Cork, Ireland. Many people believe electric vehicles (EVs) are the answer, but according to Deane biofuels will need to deliver most of the targets for the time being. âEVs will have their day but it may be further down the road than we hoped.â … [Read more...]
Lumenaza creates regional electricity markets: âWe want to connect up all 1.4 million solar PV producers in Germany with consumers locallyâ
A new software platform in Germany lets utilities buy and sell âregional electricityâ by connecting up small producers with consumers. Start-up Lumenaza, founded three years ago, meets a growing demand for transparency, explains CEO and founder Christian Chudoba in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. Unlike a typical virtual power plant, Lumenaza targets tiny producers such as owners of rooftop solar. Its goal is to connect up all of … [Read more...]
The five S’s that will define the new energy order
Digitalisation has already had a huge impact on the energy sector, yet we are only at the start of a revolution that will rip apart any business that is too slow to embrace it, writes Gerard Reid, founding partner of Alexa Capital, financial analyst and co-founder of the Energy and Carbon blog. According to Reid it is the combination of five Sâs â software, semiconductors, sensors, solar and storage â that will define the new energy order. And it … [Read more...]
Peak car ownership will speed up peak oil demand
In a new report, the Rocky Mountain Institute makes the stunning prediction that car ownership will peak by 2020. New ownership models and technological advances such as driverless cars will utterly transform the mobility market, concludes Fereidoon Sioshansi, president of Menlo Energy Economics and publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. The big casualty will be oil companies, which are still in denial. … [Read more...]
Peter Carlsson, business angel (ex-Tesla): âBattery breakthrough 5-8 years awayâ
Europe is behind the US and Asia in battery development, but it can catch up if it sets aggressive goals and tough standards, says  California-based entrepreneur and investor Peter Carlsson. After leaving Tesla Motors last year, the supply chain expert is helping a host of cleantech start-ups profit from the energy transition. Within 5-8 years, batteries will break through big-time, he predicts. Grid storage will be done in stationary batteries … [Read more...]
Using clean cars as power plants: it can be done in the UAE
The combined engine capacity of the new cars we build in just one year is more than the entire electricity generation capacity in the world. If we power our cars with fuel cells, we can use them as clean power plants the 96% of the time we are not driving in them, generating all the electricity we need, at competitive costs, with zero emissions. Frank Wouters, Director of the EU-GCC Clean Energy Network, and Ad van Wijk, Professor Future Energy … [Read more...]
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