China’s Belt and Road Initiative is arguably the biggest regional connectivity and cooperation programme in operation today. But with China being a major polluter, there are also concerns the Initiative could just be adding to global environmental stress. Not so, argue John A Mathews and Carol X Huang of Macquarie University, Sydney: it’s actually a magnet for renewable energy investments. Courtesy of The Asia-Pacific Journal. … [Read more...]
Flexible printed solar cells – a new manufacturing frontier?
The University of Newcastle in Australia has unveiled a 200m2 rooftop solar array made from innovative flexible and printed solar cells that could further revolutionise the global use and manufacturing industry of renewables. According to Professor John Mathews of Macquarie University in Australia, this could be a giant step forward for solar cells. Courtesy Global Green Shift blog … [Read more...]
What role for gas in Europe’s 2050 energy system?
The European Commission sees natural gas play a critical role in the energy transition to 2035, but beyond that its views on the role of gas are much less clear. Simon Blakey, analyst at IHS Markit, does not believe that renewables can be ramped up quickly enough to replace coal generation. Jonathan Gaventa of think tank E3G argues gas has no place in the energy mix by then, unless it is decarbonized. Energy Post editor Jason Deign spoke to both … [Read more...]
Hydrogen is heading up the European policy agenda
Hydrogen’s momentum is building, as European ministers consider approving a new ‘Hydrogen Initiative’ this week that aims to “maximise the great potential of sustainable hydrogen technology.” With funding from the EU’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a consortium of industrial heavyweights in the H2FUTURE project is already ramping up production of hydrogen from renewable sources. But, as the International Renewable Energy Agency notes … [Read more...]
Why we need a blackout
The risk of a cyber-attack that will take down the power system is seriously underestimated, writes financial energy specialist Gerard Reid. To prevent future disaster, we need to build a completely new power system. Reliability is not anymore about the “average minutes of downtime per year”. Courtesy Energy and Carbon blog. … [Read more...]
An evening with ecomodernist Michael Shellenberger (or: a defence of nuclear power you have not heard before)
Pro-nuclear activist Michael Shellenberger, founder of the California-based global citizens movement Environmental Progress (“not paid by the nuclear industry”) was in Amsterdam recently, where he gave a very personal “Ecomodernist” defense of why nuclear power is good and how it should be supported. “It is about protecting the natural environment by concentrating human activity.” This article was first published on Energy Post Weekly. … [Read more...]
DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook shows massive shift of investment from oil and gas into power lines
The global energy transition will lead to a massive expansion of power lines at all voltage levels as well as a steep growth in the number of transformers and substations in the electricity system. This is one of the major new findings of the second edition of the Energy Transition Outlook, the annual flagship publication of global technical consultancy DNV GL. As a result, grid costs will triple, yet this cost explosion is offset by cost … [Read more...]
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