Author Archives: kflenz

New Failure in Germany: Renewable Energy Law Reform Draft

The German government just approved a draft on reforming the renewable energy law. In the tradition of recent failures leading to much less deployment, it is another disappointment for the climate. Having introduced auctions as a policy model and having seen that policy change reduce deployment, the draft doubles down on the failed auction conceptContinue reading “New Failure in Germany: Renewable Energy Law Reform Draft”

Some questions for Oil Change International

Oil Change International has just published a report titled “Big Oil Reality Check”. It analyzes the commitments of leading oil and gas companies to do something about the climate emergency. If you guess that they find those commitments not sufficient, you would be right. And I tend to agree. If you look at the variousContinue reading “Some questions for Oil Change International”

Altmaier Proposal

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier just published a short paper on climate change policy. His portfolio includes energy, so he does have some influence in these matters. I used to blog about him when he was Environment Minister in 2012 and estimated the cost of the feed-in tariff system as one trillion Euro until 2040Continue reading “Altmaier Proposal”

Neom Helios Desert Energy Project

Desertec Industrial Initiative recently held a web seminar featuring Paul Van Son and Driss Beraho. The first short presentation by Son was about what the Desertec Industrial Initiative is up to lately. We learn that the vision now exceeds green electrons and has expanded to include green molecules. That is hydrogen made from renewable energyContinue reading “Neom Helios Desert Energy Project”

Desertec not Outdated

I just heard about Mr. Abdelmadjid Attar, since the North Africa Post reported about his views on the Desertec project. He is quoted like this: “The Desertec project is outdated. Let’s forget it,” Being of the opinion that the world is in urgent need of massive solar projects, including in the North African deserts, IContinue reading “Desertec not Outdated”

Democrat Report on Fossil Fuel Industry Influence

Emily Holden reports in the Guardian on the Democrats plan to release a 200 page report about how the fossil fuel industry bought policy over the decades to delay climate measures. I have not read that report, which may not be published yet. But I know the story already from other sources. Politics in theContinue reading “Democrat Report on Fossil Fuel Industry Influence”

“Reverse OPEC” Proposal by Kamela Harris

I was thrilled to read this post by Aimee Barnes at the Columbia University Earth Institute. It explains that Kamela Harris (recently nominated for Vice President of the USA) wants international coalitions of countries trying to reduce fossil fuel production. The blog post calls this “reverse OPEC”. I think this is a great idea, thoughContinue reading ““Reverse OPEC” Proposal by Kamela Harris”

Could BP Coordinate Their Move to Less Production?

BP announced last week that they plan to reduce oil production by about 40 percent over the next decade, which is “at least one million barrels of oil equivalent a day”. They also announced to increase low carbon investment by a factor of ten to $5 billion a year. The plan is to develop fromContinue reading “Could BP Coordinate Their Move to Less Production?”

Nothing Wrong With EEG Payments Running Out After 20 Years

The German Law on Priority for Renewable Energy started out 20 years ago. The basic concept was paying a fixed price for renewable energy for 20 years. That price was calculated to make sure people could make a profit over those 20 years. Now that the first installations under that law are falling out ofContinue reading “Nothing Wrong With EEG Payments Running Out After 20 Years”