The green energy transition: shifting away from fossil fuels is particularly challenging

In an article on The Conversation website, Martin Brueckner, Charles Roche and Tauel Harper all from  Murdoch University in Australia discuss the difficulties in getting off fossil fuels and  the little progress that Australia has made to date. How much success is your country having?   Getting rid of fossil fuels is really hard – … Continue reading The green energy transition: shifting away from fossil fuels is particularly challenging

Energy in Demand News, August 24-25, 2025

Encouragingly, the Financial Times reports that solar power generation in Britain so far this year has surpassed the total for 2024 “as panels are rapidly installed amid favourable weather, underlining renewable energy’s increasing importance to the grid. . . . Some 14.08 terawatt hours of electricity was produced from solar in Great Britain by August … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, August 24-25, 2025

Opportunity to create a new form of infrastructure: capturing, storing and sharing the massive amounts of heat lost from industry, electricity generation and communities

James (Jim) S. Cotton, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University in Canada and Caleb Duffield, PhD Candidate in Political Science, McMaster University write on The Conversation website about how Canada’s infrastructure could be used as a major energy source.   Canada could use thermal infrastructure to turn wasted heat emissions into energy Buildings are the third-largest … Continue reading Opportunity to create a new form of infrastructure: capturing, storing and sharing the massive amounts of heat lost from industry, electricity generation and communities

Energy in Demand News, August 17-18, 2025

It was certainly disappointing that the UN negotiations for a global treaty on plastics pollution collapsed without an agreement. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and a number of other petrostates would not budge from their long-standing refusal to agree measures that address the production of plastic, agreeing only to waste management. It is not clear when negotiations … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, August 17-18, 2025

Will Trump administration cutbacks on research affect the roll out of sustainable aviation fuels?

In an article on The Conversation website, Li Qiao, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University discusses the concerns about meeting the targets for the aviation industry to decarbonise its fuels.   Inside the search for sustainable aviation fuels, which are on the federal chopping block The federal spending law passed in early July 2025, … Continue reading Will Trump administration cutbacks on research affect the roll out of sustainable aviation fuels?

Energy in Demand News, August 10-11, 2025

GHG emissions are “going through the roof” because of AI, according to an article on the New York Times website that explains how Big Tech’s net-zero goals are looking shaky. “Google’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 11 percent in 2024 from the year before. Amazon’s were up by 6 percent. Microsoft’s fell slightly but remained … Continue reading Energy in Demand News, August 10-11, 2025

Trump’s EPA cancels $7 billion in funding for solar projects

A Le Monde news item reports that the US Environmental Protection Agency has terminated the grant that was intended to help pay for residential solar projects for more than 900,000 lower-income US households − a Biden-era attempt to introduce cleaner power onto the electrical grid and to lower energy bills for American consumers.   EPA … Continue reading Trump’s EPA cancels $7 billion in funding for solar projects

Understanding China’s energy transition

In an article on the China Daily website, Michael Edesess and Christine Loh from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology discuss China’s energy transition. They write that China’s example demonstrates that when a government treats the energy transition as a national imperative, rather than a market experiment, the results follow.   China’s renewable … Continue reading Understanding China’s energy transition

America’s energy transition: leaving the clean energy playing field to China

In an article on The Conversation website, Stephen Lezak, Programme Manager at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford explains how across the world, utilities are embracing clean energy, choosing lower costs for their customers while reducing pollution and America, under the Trump administration, is choosing a different path that will … Continue reading America’s energy transition: leaving the clean energy playing field to China

China has updated its green taxonomy as part of the country’s efforts to strengthen its net-zero transition ambitions

In an article on the Green Central Banking website, Moriah Costa writes about latest developments in China to update its green taxonomy, which comes into effect in October. The catalogue defines which economic activities and investments qualify as green or environmentally sustainable across a wide variety of industries.   China updates green taxonomy to increase … Continue reading China has updated its green taxonomy as part of the country’s efforts to strengthen its net-zero transition ambitions