Energy in Demand News, February 1-2, 2026

Prof. Steve Thomas, Emeritus Professor of Energy Policy, University of Greenwich wrote in a letter to the editor published in the Financial Times this week about the impact small modular reactors (SMRs) to be a major source of low-carbon energy. He questions the length of time to build SMRs. Even new ones in Russia have taken 13 years. He ends with this important message: “The increasing concentration of carbon in the atmosphere will not wait a decade to see if the ambitious claims for SMRs are met. So even if we were to believe the hype surrounding SMRs, we cannot afford to wait to see if they prove viable.” So, let’s focus on the solutions that we know will work  – now.

The New York Times wrote that Dutch court has ordered the Netherlands to protect Bonaire, a Caribbean island from climate change. Bonaire is a Dutch territory. “The Hague District Court ordered the national government to set binding targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions within 18 months and to draft a detailed adaptation plan for Bonaire to be implemented within four years. The court found that the government had discriminated against the approximately 26,000 residents of Bonaire by failing to come up with such a plan, despite the well-known dangers of global warming… “The ruling, based on discrimination against the inhabitants of Bonaire, is significant, and will surely open doors for a host of comparable cases around the world,” said Vesselina Newman, a lawyer for ClientEarth, a nonprofit legal group. She said that was particularly true for countries with overseas territories.”

The headline from the iPaper says it all: Climate King: People thought I was bonkers – now we’re in a battle for survival. King Charles of the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries has come out with a new documentary this week on his actions on the environment. In the 90-minute film, Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, Charles is described at one point as a “hippy”, and headlines that he talked to plants “haunted” him for years.  He has an excellent quote in The Times: “It all boils down to the fact that we are actually nature ourselves, we are a part of it, not apart from it, which is really how things are being presented for so long. Maybe, by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil, there might be a little more awareness … of the need to bring things back together again.”

With so many excellent events related to sustainable energy coming soon – including one this week in Rome –  check out our latest list in a post this week. If you know of an upcoming event that EiD readers should know about, please contact us.

In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:

• The Man in Seat Sixty-One explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey
• Check out the Good Night Train website for the unique way to travel through Europe while you sleep. See EiD’s recent post on why Europe’s night-train renaissance has derailed.
• World Walks provides us with walking holidays in Europe.
• For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.  Watch their slide presentation for available tours in 2026.
• Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 best cycling holidays in Europe in 2026.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968, gives us an important message why to do right: “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:

• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warn us its 85 seconds to midnight
• UNECE launches new study calling for systemic efficiency to accelerate a resilient, affordable, and just energy transition
• Sales of electric vehicles on upward trajectory in the EU
• New report: most Americans underestimate how worried the American public is about global warming
• Leaked EU Industrial Accelerator Act puts low-carbon steel at centre of clean industrial push
• The carbon cost of the super-rich’s luxury travel
• New JRC report finds that energy efficiency was the main driver behind EU energy consumption decrease
• Energy Highways: Germany and Denmark agree on joint development of the Bornholm Energy Island offshore wind project
• Tough times for the chemical industry in Europe
• Plans for Thames River to be the source for heat pump in central London

Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.

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