After the recent insurrection failed to overturn the election results, there is a long list of companies that have pledged not to give money to those who voted against confirmation of the election results. Since many politicians rely on corporate money to finance their campaigns, this will have some influence going forward. And it isContinue reading “Fast Lobbyist Reaction”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
XLink Desertec Project
As I learn from this Greentechmedia article by Jason Deign, there is a new startup in the United Kingdom with big plans. Their big plan is to connect North Africa directly with the UK. They want to build a long subsea cable hugging the coasts of Portugal, Spain, and France, at a cost of $21.6Continue reading “XLink Desertec Project”
Earshot.earth
So I just registered the above domain on an impulse today. The immediate reason for that was the new “Earthshot” initiative, where some famous people came up with 50 million English pounds to be awarded to good ideas. Well, I have an idea. I have no idea if it is any good, but it isContinue reading “Earshot.earth”
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”
German Offshore Wind Law Draft
Just published by the Federal Economy Ministry and approved by the Cabinet. Germany wants to achieve 20 GW until 2030 and 40 GW until 2040. As usual now prices are set by auctions, with a new twist. Since people are starting to bid 0 cents (meaning no feed-in tariff payments at all) the new lawContinue reading “German Offshore Wind Law Draft”
Fossil Fuel Overdose
European Union High Representative and Vice President Josep Borrell just apologized for his choice of words when discussing climate. He recently used the term “Greta Syndrome” when talking about this question. If I understood him correctly, he wanted to say something like “people are very much for climate measures until they are actually asked toContinue reading “Fossil Fuel Overdose”
Japan and Germany Failed Transition to Auction Models
(repost, copied from the backup at the LIbrary of Congress Archive of this blog, because I lost posts between 2016 and 2020 when moving to this new site. First posted October 23, 2018). Japan and Germany have one thing in common. Both countries managed to record declining investments in renewable energy in 2017. As the GlobalContinue reading “Japan and Germany Failed Transition to Auction Models”
Auctions in German Coal Exit Law
The German cabinet approved the draft law for the coal exit yesterday. That law wants to use an auction model for deciding which coal plants are switched off at what time. The shift to an auction model in German renewable policy over the last couple of years was one of the main reasons for developmentContinue reading “Auctions in German Coal Exit Law”
Wind in Germany Down 80 Percent
The German wind energy industry association released numbers for 2019. Installations are down 80 percent compared to 2017. This is the lowest record since 2000, the year the law on priority for renewable energy was enacted. That does not look like success. This drastic failure comes after the support policy was changed to an auctionContinue reading “Wind in Germany Down 80 Percent”
