Looking at Europe’s shale gas efforts from abroad

Eric Reguly writes in Canada’s Globe and Mail about his concerns for the future of the shale gas industry in Europe. Europe’s shale gas backers are living in a fantasy world The Ukraine crisis has come as a godsend to the shale gas cheerleaders in Europe. Russian natural gas exports to Western and Central Europe, … Continue reading Looking at Europe’s shale gas efforts from abroad →

Ukraine must tackle how it uses energy

While many of the headlines concerning Ukraine and Russia have included the problems over natural gas, Ukraine has to take a more balanced approach and address how it uses energy. Christian Oliver and Roman Olearchyk provide a good article in the Financial Times, explaining many of the problems. The article describes the support from the … Continue reading Ukraine must tackle how it uses energy →

Assessing how to decarbonise our energy systems

Jeff McMahon provides an important article on the effort required to decarbonise the US energy system. While it includes efforts on the demand side, it mainly relates to decarbonised energy supply. Hopefully this is leading to a better dialogue to gain some consensus on the way forward. What Would It Take To Decarbonize The Energy … Continue reading Assessing how to decarbonise our energy systems →

Canadians in quandary over views on their tar sands

Konrad Yakabuski writes in Canada’s Globe and Mail about the conflicting feelings that Canadians have over their tar sands. While they have a significant impact on overall national income, Canadians also want to be seen as conscientious global citizens. While many countries have conflicting priorities, it is acute in Canada and this article is important … Continue reading Canadians in quandary over views on their tar sands →

Taking a community approach to deploying solar systems

How would you like a solar garden? It sounds intriguing. Diane Cardwell writes in the New York Times about some community efforts in the US for customers to buy into a solar array constructed elsewhere and receive credit on their electricity bills for the power their panels produce. This could be an interesting approach for … Continue reading Taking a community approach to deploying solar systems →

Update on rolling out smart meters

Barbara Lewis writes on the Reuters website about the poor progress of introducing smart meters throughout the EU. The EU risks not reaching the 80% roll out goal by 2020. Europe behind target for energy saving power meters Sixteen of the European Union's 28 nations will go ahead with a large-scale roll out of … Continue reading Update on rolling out smart meters →

New IEA report: World Energy Investment Outlook

The IEA recently published the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2014 Special Report "World Energy Investment Outlook". Questions about the reliability, affordability and sustainability of our energy future often boil down to questions about investment. But the report questions whether investors are ready to commit capital in a fast-changing energy world? This special report takes up … Continue reading New IEA report: World Energy Investment Outlook →

New IEA report on Russian energy policies

The International Energy Agency has just published its assessment of Russia’s energy policies. Russia's energy sector plays an essential role for the Russian economy, its energy security and global hydrocarbon supplies. Russia holds among the world’s largest resources of gas, oil and coal. Its liquids production has reached historical highs, yet major additional upstream investments … Continue reading New IEA report on Russian energy policies →

Road to low carbon economy never was going to be easy

We have seen many good efforts for our economies to reduce carbon emissions but there are undoubted blips along the path. Terry Macalister writes in The Guardian about how the use of coal grew by 3% in 2013, faster than any other fossil fuel. Coal's share of energy market at highest level since 1970 … Continue reading Road to low carbon economy never was going to be easy →

German renewable energy policy about to change

We have all been following Germany’s energy transition. With the new government coalition we are now seeing some interesting changes to the approach taken, as Bentham Paulos writes on the Greentech website. The next phase of Germany’s energy transition takes competitive markets into account. Will other European countries start making the same move? Germany’s … Continue reading German renewable energy policy about to change →