The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is usually referred to as ‘decarbonisation’. Jonathan Porritt, the chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, thinks that it is better to call it “re-solarisation”, because this is positive and solar power has immense potential.
read more »The US EPA is to issue guidelines on which forms of biomass are sustainable and which not. This is some progress, but the Scottish government is doing much better, issuing mandatory standards in April 2011.
read more »Swiss paper Le Temps has now published (in French) my article on the need for a new narrative for European integration. Here is the English version.
read more »The Economist has published my short article on why we need energy efficiency plus all clean energy sources: renewables, carbon capture and storage and nuclear.
read more »Is gas sufficiently low-carbon to be an adequate bridge technology? No – it’s emissions for every unit of electricity produced are over three times as high as emissions from nuclear power.
read more »UK Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, has proposed a radical overhaul of the UK’s electricity market. This is good news, but the government must do more to combat fuel poverty.
read more »On Wednesday 15 July 2009, the UK government published its plan to make the UK a low carbon economy. It is good on electricity, quite good on energy efficiency and heat, but bad on transport.
read more »In my new CER paper I argue that international climate negotiations should focus on money not targets. So the G20 is a better forum than the UN is.
read more »In November 2009, 3% of OECD electricity was generated by renewables other than hydro. 14% came from hydro. And this was only 17% of what electricity was then used, not total energy used.
read more »Last week the former energy minister Charles Hendry published his review on tidal lagoons (https://hendryreview.wordpress.com/) I am a consultant to Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP), so not disinterested. But I think that anyone reading the report will recognise it as an extensive, evidence-based and therefore serious review. Hendry was in my view a good energy minister […]
read more »My article for Interfax Global Energy on why shale gas is part of the way forward for climate and energy policy.
read more »Key quotes from, and a few of my comments on, the excellent Lancet Commission report
read more »Energy Post has now published my article on why and how the EU should start to use its tidal resources for energy. This would have major climate, energy security and economic benefits.
read more »Yesterday I went to Brussels for a seminar on CCS with Ruud Lubbers, who used to be prime minister of the Netherlands and is now running the Rotterdam Climate Initiative.
read more »Vote Leave is today claiming that, if the UK leaves the EU, domestic energy bills would be lower. They are wrong. Domestic energy bills could and should be reduced by changing taxes and tariffs. It is possible to do this without leaving the EU. Quitting the European Internal Energy Market – the single market for […]
read more »Comment on the launch of the European Climate Foundation’s latest report, Power Perspectives 2030.
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So climate change has claimed a political victim in Australia and you don’t know whether to laugh or cry…
read more »The UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources and the UCL European Institute have released a new paper on Brexit and the impact on UK climate and energy policy. This paper, written by Professor Michael Grubb, UCL ISR and Stephen Tindale, Director, Alvin Weinberg Foundation analyses the implications of Brexit for the UK’s energy sector. Despite significant uncertainties, the […]
read more »The EU should not buy electricity from countries with highly-polluting coal power stations, and should instead support efficiency and clean energy in these countries.
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My article for the Responding to Climate Change website in which I argue that Polish prime minister Tusk would not be a bad choice as president of the European Council – despite his pro-coal position.
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This is a summary of a longer paper by Prashant Vaze and Ed Mayo on how a new, low-carbon energy infrastructure can be financed at reasonable cost.
read more »The Committee on Climate Change sensibly calls for an ‘all of the above’ approach to decarbonisation.
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A small island in Rio bay already gets most of its energy from renewables. It should move to become totally powered by solar, biogas and imported hydroelectricity.
read more »The low-carbon energy sectors – efficiency, most renewables, CCS and nuclear – should work together more strategically
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For climate and air quality reasons, we need more gas. Shale gas is less bad than liquified natural gas – and better than coal.
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