An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world.

Without urgent action the UK will miss its climate targets, says this week’s feature story. What will it take to meet them? Carbon capture and storage and lots of electric cars. We follow with the US the world’s energy leader; Russian gas in Europe; NASA tests its mini-nuke; New York sues Shell & BP over climate change; the solar lobby files to stop construction of a Michigan gas plant; the EU ups its renewables targets; bitcoin miners flock to Canada; France to double wind capacity; Tesla’s Hornsdale battery gets paid for charging; UK wind and solar investment craters; Nike goes 100% renewable and how a warming Arctic is entombing musk oxen in ice and shrinking their babies.

This week we return to the Big South Australian Battery (BSAB), the alleged success of which – the “Tesla effect” – is spawning a raft of similar projects elsewhere in the country. Coming after we have Frydenberg on Snowy River; the usual dose of OPEC; Russia sells gas to the US; less gas to come from Groningen; California to close Diablo Canyon; coal in Finland, Poland, Bulgaria and Japan, hydro in Colombia; Germany’s Energiewende problems; renewables in Denmark and Colorado; less gas capacity planned for UK; Ineos to challenge Scotland’s fracking ban; a contingency plan needed for cold winter nights when the wind doesn’t blow; Trump reconsiders Paris and how climate change makes turtles female.

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Earlier in the week:
The 2018 Oil Production Forecast Explained

Is the US about to become the world’s largest oil producer? Our feature story says yes. To follow we have Trump’s offshore leasing program; record Russian gas production; Saudi Arabia’s gasoline price hike; Germany shuts down a nuclear reactor; Australia’s industry to power down during heatwave; Coal growth in Asia; the Snowy hydro project a “write off”; UK releases plans for coal phase-out; North America’s largest lithium battery; the wind (almost) always blows somewhere in Europe; fossil-fuel burning without the CO2; Scotland’s plans to combat coastal erosion and the struggle to save chocolate from climate change extinction.
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This week’s lead story features the imminent return of the Ice Age to UK – good news for those looking forward to a White Christmas. After that the usual mix: record production from the Permian, Putin replaces petroleum with natural gas; New England replaces natural gas with petroleum; nuclear plant restarts and shutdowns in Japan; German factories paid for using electricity; batteries and the California Duck Curve, solar in the Canadian Arctic; renewables in South Korea; the Scotland-Wales transmission link, UK frackers running out of time; the brutal US-Canada cold snap; Santa relocates to the South Pole and a Happy New Year to all.

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An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world:

In this week’s Blowout we once more feature Tesla’s Big South Australian Battery, which is already helping to save Australia from blackouts. We follow with OPEC’s dilemma; Saudi Arabia hunts for gas; Macron backs nuclear; BHP exits the World Coal Organization; China’s carbon trading market; India’s hybrid wind-solar project; AEMO’s baseload-free future; CSP in the Sahara; Swansea Bay on the skids; climate scientists flock to France; snowfall doubles in Alaska while climate change threatens the Winter Olympics, and Season’s Greetings to all our readers.

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Bitcoin mining to consume the world

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An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world.

Have you ever wondered how you are going to charge your EV during a blackout? This week’s feature story tells you. We continue with more US oil to Asia; the Israel-Italy natural gas pipeline; Chinese hydro projects canceled; BHP installs 30MW of diesel generation; Google now 100% renewable; “game over” for CCS; GE to cut 12,000 jobs; Europe’s utilities to go 100% carbon-neutral; Korea to Moorside’s rescue; UK mismanagement of North Sea oil and how climate change is going to be even worse than we thought.

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Al Gore on making money from climate change

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Canadian provinces join global coal phaseout

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Ontario’s duck curve problem

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