Britain’s free market approach to green energy is not going to save humanity from climate change, claims Labour’s Jeremy Corbin in this week’s feature story. So let’s nationalize the UK energy industry. Stories to follow include OPEC vs. shale; Venezuela’s collapse; Gazprom and Europe’s gas; nuclear in India, Taiwan, France and the Middle East; carbon capture & storage in the US and Norway; Bitcoin mining in Iceland; a Puerto Rico school goes solar; Elon Musk to shake up the Oz grid; CCGTs lose out to batteries and interconnectors in US and UK capacity auctions, blockchain grid balancing in Germany; Lord Deben questions Swansea Bay; the coming mini-ice age and the solution to climate change – more women.
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This week’s lead story highlights the perils of basing policy decisions on speculative computer models. It seems that the ozone layer isn’t healing as predicted after all, so the dangers of man-made CFC radiation are still with us. And if radiation doesn’t do the job other computer models now tell us that melting permafrost threatens us with death from mercury poisoning. And if neither happens the forthcoming magnetic pole reversal spells the demise of civilization as we know it. Lots more energy and climate-related stories in this bumper Blowout, too numerous to synthesize, but read on and enjoy anyway. They’re not all bad.
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An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world:
This week’s feature story raises the intriguing question of whether Russia, already a de facto OPEC member, shouldn’t become a de jure one. We follow up with a series of unusually optimistic stories on the future of oil and gas; France’s load-following nuclear plants; China’s new nuclear mega-company; Fukushima as a tourist destination; the EU acts to keep coal and gas plants afloat; a climate skeptic in charge of EU environmental policy; cuts in US clean energy spending; Maine’s wind moratorium; the UK’s recent capacity market auction; Australia’s heatwave inflates power costs; Ex-Obama adviser rejects battery storage; a 500-year solar cycle and how climate change turns big beetles into little ones.
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Donald Trump’s imposition of solar tariffs gets the nod as this week’s feature story. Does it signal a dismal future for solar in the US or is it just a bump in the road? In other news we have US shale spoiling the oil price rally; Austria on the nuclear warpath (again); Toshiba spins off Westinghouse; a nuclear reactor that won’t melt down; Canadians back renewables; Australia will meet its 2020 emissions target but Germany won’t; Macron’s tainted climate charm offensive; the “Tesla of the canals”; battery storage in the UK – yes or no? Budweiser beer is now 100% renewable and how bacon, egg and sausage sandwiches are to blame for global warming.
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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.
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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
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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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This week’s Blowout features Germany, where the Greens have dropped their demands for a fossil-fuel phaseout as a condition of entering a coalition government and the coal-fired Energiewende is set to continue.
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This week we lead with Sanford University versus the National Academy of Sciences where the sound of science is to be settled in the courts.
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An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world.
And from earlier in the week:
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