Bloomberg’s renewable energy affiliate forecasts that wind and solar power will make major inroads into the global market share of natural gas within a decade. This is a crucially important question for major oil companies who are betting their future on gas, writes Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group Geoffrey Styles. But according to Styles, it is likelier that coal, not gas, faces the biggest risk from the … [Read more...]
Carbon-pusher in Chief: Trump’s fossil-fueled foreign policy
Donald Trump’s efforts to promote fossil fuel consumption has become a defining theme of his foreign policy, writes Michael Klare, expert and author of many books on energy and foreign policy. Trump’s words and actions make that all too clear – although the media and most commentators have so far failed to notice. Courtesy Tom Dispatch. … [Read more...]
It’s nonsense to say fracking can be made safe, whatever guidelines we come up with
With companies in the UK (Cuadrilla Resources, Third Energy) getting ready to frack for shale gas, the debate over whether this can be done safely has once again flared up. According to Professor Richard Davies of Newcastle University it is possible to manage and reduce risks, but it is an illusion to believe fracking can ever be completely safe. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Is energy ‘dominance’ the right goal for U.S. policy?
In recent weeks, a new energy buzzword has taken flight from Washington, D.C., making stops in Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, Utah and more: “American energy dominance.” But according to Daniel Raimi, senior research associate at the University of Michigan, this goal is unrealistic and it distracts from the goals that should be shaping U.S. energy policy. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Is the U.S. close to achieving energy dominance?
If you hadn’t heard, the Trump Administration declared last week to be “Energy Week”, a week during which the President and his senior officials were focusing on the theme of “U.S. Energy Dominance.” Not “energy independence” or “energy security”, both themes past presidential administrations have focused upon. David Blackmon looks at what this means. Article courtesy Oilprice.com. … [Read more...]
Finkel Review, blueprint for Australia’s electricity market: “the real work has still to be done”
The blueprint for Australia’s future electricity market released recently by Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel pleases some but not all market watchers, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. For some critics, the real work on climate and energy policy in Australia has still to be done. … [Read more...]
Interview bio-energy expert André Faaij: “So much nonsense has been told – high time for the real story”
“An enormous amount of nonsense” has been told about bio-energy, says André Faaij, scientific director of Energy Academy Europe and professor Energy Systems Analysis at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. According to Faaij, it is high time for the real – scientifically validated – story. “The bio-based economy is indispensable for our climate policy and can mean huge progress for agriculture and nature in developing countries”. … [Read more...]
Climate change (I): How did we get here, and why is it so hard to fix?
Why is the climate change problem so hard to fix, asks energy and climate change economist Adam Whitmore? The answer in a nutshell: activities that cause emissions are ubiquitous, diverse and deeply embedded in modern life. The world’s energy system is huge and long-lived. In addition, there are considerable political and psychological barriers. Whitmore addresses both these aspects in a two-part series. … [Read more...]
The Petro-Powers vs. the Greens: is Trump launching a New World Order?
There may be more method behind Donald Trump’s madness than people think, writes energy expert and author Michael Klare. His attempts to forge alliances with Russia and Saudi Arabia show that Trump is laying the foundations for a new world order, in which fossil-fuel powers will contend for supremacy with post-carbon, green-energy states. If we let him get his way, warns Klare, the world may soon be divided into two camps: the carbonites versus … [Read more...]
Interview David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor Shell: “Net zero emissions are achievable. The timing is challenging”
EU climate and energy policy is “reasonably effective”, but it could achieve more for the climate if it focused purely on reducing CO2-emissions, says David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell, in an interview with Energy Post. “There are too many goals and too many targets.” Hone also argues that first generation biofuels are needed to make advanced biofuels work and that a “new approach” towards CCS is urgently needed. Globally, Hone … [Read more...]
Remi Eriksen, CEO DNV GL: Gas and renewables can be best of ‘frenemies’
Gas could be the ideal partner for renewable energy generation in a future sustainable energy mix, writes Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO of DNV GL, one of the largest risk management providers in the world with operations in more than 100 countries. However, for this to happen, the oil and gas industry must help policymakers and the public become aware of all the benefits of gas, notes Eriksen, not just the economic ones. Also, the … [Read more...]
A revolution: The Netherlands kisses gas goodbye – but will it help the climate?
Revolution in gas country the Netherlands: the Dutch government wants all residential buildings to be off gas in 2050. The objective is to reduce CO2 emissions from the built environment. But does phasing out gas deliver the expected results? Eline van den Ende spoke to experts and concludes that a ‘gas-less’ society makes sense only if additional measures are taken. … [Read more...]
A new energy bible: Samuele Furfari explains why technology is king
If you’re in the energy business, here is a new manual for you that lays out the essentials of what energy is and how it shapes geopolitics today. Professor and long-time European Commission official Samuele Furfari has condensed his 39 years of experience in the energy sector into a two-volume tome of more than 1,250 pages that goes right from the fundamentals of physics through Britain’s rule of the Middle East to modern day realities such as … [Read more...]
Are solar and wind really killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability?
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry wants to know whether solar and wind are killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability. Thanks to Texas, where Perry was governor, we know that a combination of wind and solar with fast-ramping natural gas, smart market designs and integrated load control systems will lead to a cleaner, cheaper, more reliable grid, write four researchers at the University of Texas. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Costs of electricity generation compared: beware of simple metrics
With the rapid growth of renewables, comparing costs of different forms of power generation has become important for policymakers, investors and analysts. In these comparisons, the metric of LCOE (levelized cost of energy) is often used, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) warns that this metric does not cover all the complexities involved. The EIA has written a short primer on comparing power generation costs. … [Read more...]
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