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Energy

News, opinions and analysis related to energy topics.

80 articles in this category

  1. Anders Lorenzen ·
    When Francois Hollande was elected President of France in 2012, he pledged that he would reduce the nuclear energy contribution to the country's electricity mix from 75% to 50% by 2025. But this pledge might no longer be a reality. Energy Minister, Ms Segolene Royal, said last month that it was no longer a high priority to do so. She said that she was not in favour of quitting nuclear power and added that France needs to continue investing in it, particularly in fourth-generation reactors which
    Anders Lorenzen
    Anders Lorenzen
    Anders Lorenzen
    Updated by Simon
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  2. Green Blog ·
    China has been the world’s largest consumer of energy since 2009 when the country surpassed the US. The majority of the energy which is produced and consumed in China comes from dirty fossil fuels. According to numbers from the International Energy Agency (IEA), about 78 percent of the total electricity generated in China between 2004 and 2010 came from coal. In 2007 China surpassed the US – yet again – and became the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter. It’s worth pointing out though that C
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Simon
    Updated by Simon
    • 1 comment
    • 8,132 views
  3. People's World ·
    The fires from Monday's derailment of a train carrying crude oil in Fayette County, West Virginia, continued to burn Tuesday morning, and emergency shelters for hundreds of people who had to evacuate after the derailment remain open. "A CSX train, hauling 107 tank car loads of Bakken Shale crude oil from North Dakota to a transportation terminal in Yorktown, Virginia, derailed in Adena Village near Mount Carbon and Deepwater West Virginia about 1:30 p.m. Monday," according to the Charleston G
    People's World
    People's World
    People's World
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  4. Green Blog ·
    Shell has announced that they intend to revive their oil drilling plans in the Arctic waters of off Alaska. But environmentalists, whom have campaigned against these plans for years, warn that Shell is taking a massive risk that could potentially end in disaster for the pristine Arctic environment and its wildlife. The giant's chief executive, Ben van Beurden, acknowledged to the BBC that these fossil fuel development plans for the Arctic may “divide society”, but that they are needed to meet
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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  5. People's World ·
    A nuclear power plant near the town of Brattleboro, Vermont is being shut down thanks to local environmental activism. The Vermont Yankee plant ceased splitting atoms on Dec. 29 after more than 42 years of activity. The victory is one that will surely bring relief to activists and citizens alike, as the plant's reactor was the General Electric Mark I, the same design as that of Fukushima, which infamously melted down and exploded, spewing radiation into the atmosphere. Due to a hefty push-bac
    People's World
    People's World
    NoNukes
    Added by People's World
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    • 5,287 views
  6. Green Blog ·
    E.ON, which is one of Europe’s largest utility firms, has issued a “new corporate strategy” in which the energy giant lay out its plans to focus on renewable energy while spinning off its fossil fuel assets in a separate company. “We are convinced that it’s necessary to respond to dramatically altered global energy markets, technical innovation, and more diverse customer expectations with a bold new beginning,” said E.ON Supervisory Board Chairman Werner Wenning in a statement. This move b
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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  7. Green Blog ·
    The International Energy Agency (IEA) says in a newly released report that the longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes to decarbonize our energy systems. According to the Paris-based organization, cutting carbon emissions from power generation now through 2050 requires investments of up to $44 trillion – up by 22 percent since 2012. The increased costs is mainly due to a growing use of coal that outweighs the implementation of renewable energy globally. To be able to limit global warmin
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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  8. Green Blog ·
    An escalating conflict between Ukraine and Russia could impact the construction of Chernobyl’s radiation shield. The gigantic $2 billion containment shield – one of the largest moveable structures ever constructed – is designed to keep the still highly unstable nuclear power plant safe from radiation leaks for approximately 100 years. The containment shield was planned to be placed above the leaking reactor by the end of next year. But the economic crisis in Ukraine, following the revolution and
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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  9. Green Blog ·
    A dozen of Greenpeace activists sneaked into France's oldest nuclear power plant earlier this morning in an effort to highlight security weaknesses at nuclear facilities in Europe. All in all, about 60 Greenpeace activists from 14 different countries participated in today's protest at the Fessenheim nuclear plant - the oldest in France. The protest started early at dawn this Tuesday when several activists sneaked inside the premises of the nuclear power plant to hang anti-nuclear banners from
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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    • 3,726 views
  10. Simon ·
    Around 1.3 billion people lack electricity in their homes or businesses. And nearly 40% of the world’s population have to rely on wood, coal or charcoal to cook their food with – which causes both environmental destruction and toxic gases that kills nearly two million people every year. Electricity could help children study after dark. It would allow medicines and food to be refrigerated. Electricity would also help replace outdated cookstoves and open fires, that are dangerous to people’s healt
    Simon
    Simon
    Simon
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    • 3,968 views
  11. People's World ·
    One might see it as a good development that the federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is planning to shut down eight coal-burning generating stations across Alabama and Kentucky. While, indeed, this will be a blow to the profiteering coal industry (reducing coal production by 3,300 megawatts in those states), it could be little more than a false triumph in terms of health and the environment. That's because the TVA is planning on replacing those stations with nuclear plants and natura
    People's World
    People's World
    NoNukes
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    • 1 comment
    • 3,566 views
  12. Earth Policy ·
    Nuclear power generation in the United States is falling. After increasing rapidly since the 1970s, electricity generation at U.S. nuclear plants began to grow more slowly in the early 2000s. It then plateaued between 2007 and 2010 - before falling more than 4 percent over the last two years. Projections for 2013 show a further 1 percent drop. With reactors retiring early and proposed projects being abandoned, U.S. nuclear power's days are numbered. The nuclear industry's troubles began well
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
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    • 3,702 views
  13. Green Blog ·
    In the article, Cameron writes that he wants to see fracking in all parts of Britain - and not just in the less populated areas in the north. "It's been suggested in recent weeks that we want fracking to be confined to certain parts of Britain. This is wrong," he said. "I want all parts of our nation to share in the benefits: north or south, Conservative or Labour. We are all in this together." Fracking is a controversial method of extracting gas. The word fracking comes from its technique, w
    Green Blog
    Green Blog
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  14. D A. Ryan ·
    George Monbiot was celebrating "victory" the other week in a bet he alleges to have made with Jeremy Leggett of SolarCentury. Jeremy Leggett had claimed, that solar power would achieve grid parity by 2013. George Monbiot managed to get him to turn that into a bet though inevitably when George started getting all legal and turning it into some sort of personal vendetta Jeremy seems to have backed away. Anyway, Monbiot claims he won the bet by virtue of the fact that Solar PV hasn't achieved "g
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
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  15. D A. Ryan ·
    I came across an article in the NY times a few days ago that makes for an interesting read. It relates to the slow gradual decline of the US nuclear power sector. I've never been in a US nuclear plant, but people whom I know who have (pro-nuclear mind) paint a bleak picture. We're talking scenes that would resemble the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Old antiquated machinery in dusty old buildings. Control rooms with clunky, ridiculously ancient control systems. Here and there they will see comp
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
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  16. Elaine Graham-Leigh ·
    Some environmentalists champion nuclear power as an answer to global warming. But a new book by anti-nuclear campaigner Joseph Mangano argues that the dangers far outweigh any benefits. Elaine Graham-Leigh has reviewed Mad Science: The Nuclear Power Experiment by Joseph Mangano. The review was first published on Counterfire. The thesis of Mangano's book is that the era of nuclear power, in the US at least, is nearly over. The US nuclear power programme, he argues, "˜has been a failure, and wi
    Elaine Graham-Leigh
    Elaine Graham-Leigh
    Elaine Graham-Leigh
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  17. D A. Ryan ·
    I've recently discussed a report by David Hughes of the Post Carbon institute on my energy blog (see here). The report is called "Drill Baby Drill" and it serves to debunk many of the myths regarding shale gas and tight oil (often referred to as "shale oil"). If you believe the propaganda shale gas / oil "solves" all of the west's energy problems for "a hundred years" (or a thousand years or some other large made up number!)"¦.not so! As this report illustrates shale gas is currently plateaui
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
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  18. Simon ·
    Despite commitments from Australia to limit global warming to below 2 degrees the country’s coal export are planned to expand by more than double current levels in the coming years. For that reason six Greenpeace activists boarded a ship from Australia carrying coal for the Asian market earlier this morning. The dramatic stunt is part of a ramped up campaign from Greenpeace against Australia's ever increasing coal exports. “We’ve taken the action today because Australia is on
    Simon
    Simon
    Simon
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  19. Earth Policy ·
    World nuclear electricity-generating capacity has been essentially flat since 2007 and is likely to fall as plants retire faster than new ones are built. In fact, the actual electricity generated at nuclear power plants fell 5 percent between 2006 and 2011. In 2011, following Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, 13 nuclear reactors in Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom were permanently taken offline. Seven new reactors, three of them in China, were connected to the grid
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
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  20. Earth Policy ·
    The great energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is under way. As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about pollution and climate instability cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new world energy economy is emerging. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced with an economy powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The Earth’s renewable energy resources are vast and available to be tapped
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
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  21. Simon ·
    On Tuesday this week more than 70 Greenpeace activists took action in what they said was “a peaceful stress test” of two Swedish nuclear power plants. The stress test took place shortly a week after a safety report was released by Greenpeace highlighting severe security problems, shortcomings and weaknesses at the aging nuclear reactors in Sweden. The action lasted for two days and revealed the unacceptable lax security at Swedish nuclear plants. At 7:30 on Tuesday morning aroun
    Simon
    Simon
    • 1 comment
    • 2,604 views
  22. Simon ·
    Last week Greenpeace released an alarming report about the state of Swedish nuclear power plants. According to the report, the security problems at the aging nuclear reactors in Sweden are so urgent that they should be shut down immediately to avoid any severe accidents. And on Tuesday this week around 70 Greenpeace activists managed, without much trouble, to get inside the area at two Swedish nuclear plants. A few activists even succeeded to hide from both the police and the plant’s security
    Simon
    Simon
    • 1 comment
    • 3,187 views
  23. D A. Ryan ·
    I’m getting a bit worried about George Monbiot. At one time he was one of the sharpest orators within the left/green environmental movement. But I’ve noticed a distinct change in tone and I fear he might be doing a bit of “a Bellamy” (ironically enough for those who don’t understand that last one, check out Monbiot’s own post on the downward spiral of Bellamy). Last month he produced a post labelled “We were wrong on peak oil. There's enough to fry us all”. All this
    D A. Ryan
    D A. Ryan
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  24. Simon ·
    Yesterday explosives were found at the Ringhals nuclear power plant in Sweden. In response to this, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority increased security levels to “yellow”, which is the second level of a three-point scale, at all Swedish nuclear power plants. The explosives were found on a large truck that was about to enter the inner area of the nuclear power plant where the reactors are located. To be able to enter this inner area of the nuclear power plant you need to go
    Simon
    Simon
    Simon
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  25. Earth Policy ·
    On May 5, 2012, Japan shut down its Tomari 3 nuclear reactor on the northern island of Hokkaido for inspection, marking the first time in over 40 years that the country had not a single nuclear power plant generating electricity. The March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown shattered public confidence in atomic energy, thus far making it politically impossible to restart any of the reactors taken offline. And the disaster’s legacy has spread far beyond
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
    Earth Policy
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