The latest update for energy technology costs put together by global investment bank Lazard has been released and shows a growing advantage for wind and solar technologies over fossil fuels such as coal, gas and nuclear, writes Giles Parkinson of Reneweconomy.com. Original post. … [Read more...]
Britain’s switch to low-carbon energy could give a £21 billion boost to the economy
The UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy will lead to new markets being created which could generate up to ÂŁ21 billion in value annually for utilities, according to new research from Stephen Hall of the University of Leeds and Jeffrey Hardy of Imperial College London. Their research, which focuses on the effects of energy policy on the creation of new markets, can help companies plan for the future. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Dutch coalition accord: the Netherlands goes for climate leadership in Europe
While the U.S. government is abandoning Obama’s Clean Power Plan and taking the U.S. back to the age of fossil fuels, the new Dutch government has presented an unexpectedly ambitious climate and energy policy. The Netherlands will adopt a Climate Law and a minimum CO2 price and it wants to persuade the EU to increase its CO2-reduction ambition from the current 40% in 2030 to 55%. It also intends to close all its coal-fired power stations by 2030 … [Read more...]
The spectacular success of the German Energiewende- and what needs to be done next
While a government is being formed in Berlin, which will have important implications for the future of the Energiewende, author and scholar Professor John Mathews of Macquarie University in Australia, looks back on what Germany has achieved so far with its unique energy policy and concludes that it has been a spectacular success, whatever its detractors may say. But he also has some advice to offer: the German government, he writes, should be … [Read more...]
U.S. Energy Department sees sizable increase in world energy use till 2040
Whereas DNV GL in its recent Energy Transition Outlook forecasts an energy demand peak in the 2030s, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will have none of this: it projects a 28% increase in world energy use by 2040. Consequently, it sees a much slower transition to a low-carbon energy system. … [Read more...]
Shell executive describes inevitable transition to carbon-free energy
"Shell wants to be a voice and a leader in the energy transition", said Harry Brekelmans, the projects and technology director for Royal Dutch Shell, a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). But the company must "not abandon the process that made us a leader", namely production and distribution of oil and gas. Brekelmans met with groups of MIT students and faculty members for a public discussion about energy issues with MITEI … [Read more...]
UK offshore wind boom concentrates power in the hands of a few very large developers
The price of offshore wind continues to fall dramatically. The UK government’s latest round of contracts for renewable generation have just been announced, and they show the costs of subsidies have halved in just two years, writes Bridget Woodman of the University of Exeter. This is good news, but there are downsides, Woodman notes. The scale of the projects concentrates power in the hands of a few very large developers. Courtesy The … [Read more...]
New Energy Challenge 2017: Startups focus on interface between energy and automation
Energy start-ups seem to be focusing on solar power, storage, material sciences, and on the interface between automation and energy, such as big data, mobile internet and e-commerce applications. That’s the picture that emerges from the successful submissions of startups to the New Energy Challenge 2017, which is preparing for a grand finale on 28 September in Amsterdam. Geert van de Wouw, Managing Director of Shell Technology Ventures, one of … [Read more...]
DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook: for the first time in history, energy demand will peak
Global energy demand will plateau from 2030, oil demand will flatten from 2020 to 2028 and go to a significant decline thereafter, the shift to renewable energy will be quicker and more massive than most people realize, yet the energy transition will not be difficult to finance. These are some of the momentous conclusions of a set of major new reports from independent energy consultancy DNV GL, under the name Energy Transition Outlook (ETO). They … [Read more...]
IEA underreports contribution solar and wind by a factor of three compared to fossil fuels
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) statistics underreport the role of wind and solar in the world’s energy mix by a factor of three, writes Erik Sauar. This gives policymakers, investors and the public the false impression that wind and solar are insignificant. According to Sauar, the counting method must be changed to reflect how close the world really is to a transition to renewables. Article courtesy Energi og Klima. [See note at the end … [Read more...]
100% renewable energy for 139 nations detailed in Stanford report
Mark Z. Jacobson, the famed professor at the Stanford School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences, and 26 of his colleagues have compiled a report that shows exactly how 139 nations could transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050 without throwing millions of people out of work. In fact, they contend that the changeover would actually spur job growth while dramatically reducing carbon emissions, writes Steve Hanley. Article courtesy of … [Read more...]
Battery storage is becoming a built-in product feature
Batteries will increasingly be built into power generating systems and other infrastructure, writes John Massey, a UK-based business trainer who gives workshops for energy investors, policymakers and energy companies worldwide. According to Massey, the integration of batteries into products and systems will create an entirely new value chain that will partially come to replace standalone grid-scale and household batteries. … [Read more...]
If we keep subsidizing wind, will the cost of wind energy go down?
The learning rate for wind power is in the range of 7.7%-11%, researchers Eric Williams and Eric Hittinger of Rochester Institute of Technology found. This means the cost should go down from 5.5 cts/kWh today to 4.1-4.5 cts/kWh in 2030, cheaper than conventional power sources. Does this mean we should stop subsidizing wind? Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
The perils of falling in love with energy technology
Renewable energy and fossil fuel advocates have one thing in common – an unhealthy tendency to fall in love with a particular energy technology, writes Hal Harvey, founder and CEO of think tank Energy Innovation. Policymakers for their part often fall in love with particular policies. But according to Harvey, what matters is setting ambitious goals, adopting policies that reward performance and let the dynamics of the market work out how to get … [Read more...]
How electricity will be priced in the future
The rapid transformation of the electricity sector will make it necessary for utilities to adopt radically new pricing methods, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, publisher of newsletter EEnergy Informer and editor of a new book, Innovation & Disruption at the Grid’s Edge. According to Sioshansi, existing volumetric tariffs will increasingly be replaced by fixed service fees. … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 15
- Next Page »