Last week saw two very interesting stories: The Australian government of Kevin Rudd presented its Green Paper on a possible greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. Australia wants to have its “Carbon Pollution Reduction scheme” (a better name than the EU’s ETS) started by 2010. It will cover around 1000 companies in the energy sector, transport… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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carbon trading, Climate change, Global Warming, Gore, renewable energy |
After EU policymakers’ disenchantment with biofuels (see EurActiv: MEPs seek reduced biofuel commitments), it is time to find the new “silver bullet” to tackle the climate and energy crisis. During two conferences held in Brussels this week, lobbyists for carbon capture and storage (CCS) pulled out all the stops to convince us that governments should… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Carbon capture and storage, coal, renewable energy, resource depletion, sustainability |
1 March, 2008
Now that the EU’s policies on first-generation biofuels is getting more and more headwind, the biofuels advocates in Brussels (and globally) are holding a plea for quicker research and development of cellulosic or second-generation biofuels. In the impact assessment of its 23 January 2008 climate/energy package, the Commission foresees a 30% share of these new… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
10 February, 2008
How do you communicate the need to take urgent climate change actions when your citizens are enjoying the warmest winter in ages with temperatures which save them a lot of money in energy consumption? This was one of the interesting questions I discussed with government communicators, EU information officers and aspiring journalists during my two-day… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Climate change, energy security, Global Warming, Lithuania, Nuclear, renewable energy |
One year after it presented its first climate/energy package, the European Commission published [press release] on Wednesday 23 January five further proposals dealing with the strengthening and extension of its greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (ETS); the individual commitments of member states to reduce non-ETS-sector emissions by 2020; the support mechanisms to produce electricity from… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Carbon capture and storage, Climate change, European Commission, European Union, Global Warming, renewable energy |
According to the Independent, the UK government will today announce what amounts to a real renewables revolution. In a remarkable U-turn, Gordon Brown’s government wants all households in Britain to be powered by off-shore windfarms in 2020. It could mean building 7000 wind turbines along the coast of the UK. Read further articles about this… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Climate change, energy security, renewable energy, Wind energy |
30 November, 2007
I was quite surprised this week when I attended a conference organised by the Greens in the European Parliament and saw them do the lobbying for a grand solar industrial project which I think still has a lot of uncertainties and even environmental dangers. The DESERTEC project [see Wikipedia FR] aims at building huge concentrating… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
18 October, 2007
Technorati Tags: renewables By 2025, the United States should produce 25% of its energy needs from renewable sources according to a non-binding resolution adopted in the US House of Representatives on 15 October. The “25 by 25” resolution is the result of a big lobbying campaign by a coalition consisting of more than 600 agricultural, energy, and… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
12 September, 2007
OPEC ministers decided to raise output by 500,000 barrels per day on Tuesday. The symbolic move did not impress oil traders, who sent up crude oil prices to record highs. Many experts are now expecting 80 dollars per barrel prices in the next weeks. Read the Guardian and Bloomberg. For all believers in the rosy future of… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
30 July, 2007
The most interesting energy news last week dealt with the negative environmental aspects of renewable energies, as Jesse Ausubel, one of the leading US academics on energy and climate change policies, launched a damning attack on the “green” credentials of renewable energy projects. Ausubel looked at the vast areas of land that would have to… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
