The Italian energy giant Eni has just fired up the world’s most powerful supercomputer outside the US as it races rivals to build the technology infrastructure needed to better explore for new sources of oil and gas. The supercomputer cost €100 million, reports the Financial Times (behind a paywall). The supercomputer took fifth place in an annual list of the world’s fastest computers last month, with a benchmark speed of 477 petaflops per second, falling just behind three US research computers and Microsoft’s cloud-based Eagle computer. “While oil companies have been using supercomputers to interpret seismic data and model the behaviour of oil and gas reservoirs for years, they are now also increasingly using AI to do everything from creating digital twins of their assets to generating hundreds of different options for how to drill oilfields and where to place their wells.” Eni’s research and digital department says it now spends “70 per cent of its time on clean energy and that HPC6 would be used to research how to manage plasma clouds in nuclear fusion reactors for discovering new materials; to increase the efficiency of devices that capture carbon emissions; and to work out how to make better solar panels.” But the quest for more oil and gas goes on.
It is encouraging to see that the EU is planning to stress test railways and electricity grids for hot weather, according to the Financial Times (behind a paywall). “Brussels is weighing whether to require EU governments “to do stress testing across energy, health [etc] for a four-degree warmer scenario”, a senior EU official said. “It’s something we believe would be a sensible effort from member states.”” Four degrees! Gulp. The FT article says that temperatures in Europe are expected to increase at least 3C by 2050 above pre-industrial levels according to assessments by the European Environment Agency. This is definitely time to knuckle down and take mitigation implementation more seriously.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here is some useful ideas to help you along:
- Country Living Magazine provides 3 European train routes set to transform travel in 2025.
- Much Better Adventures provides us with 10 of the best winter walks in Europe.
- For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 Best Cycling Holidays in Europe 2025.
From his most recent book, NEXUS, Yuval Noah Harari (b. 1976), an Israeli medievalist, military historian, public intellectual, and popular science writer, asks a question that should dominate our thoughts as we start 2025: “Why are we so good at accumulating more information and power, but far less successful at acquiring wisdom?”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- New EEA briefing on impact on children from transport noise
- Shell had been caught out using “what in essence are fake carbon offsets”
- Europe’s biggest and greenest electric battery factory is having a bumpy period but there’s a strong industrial will for Sweden to remain a green tech role model
- Youth climate activists get major win in Montana Supreme Court
- Blog by Ettore Piantoni: Connecting the dots of Energy Efficiency Directive with sustainable finance reporting. The full potential unlocked.
- Which of Britain’s favourite dishes has the largest environmental impact?
- How do Australia’s vehicle emissions policies compare to those in Europe?
- AI and the energy transition
- There is much to look forward to in Europe if you love trains
Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
Nice post 🌅🌅