Canada must move away from using fossil fuels, but a transition that comes too fast could harm the economy. Policy-makers must strike a balance between energy security and economic growth.
Advanced small modular reactors, known as SMRs, will probably have many advantages over older technology. But it’s not yet known how they will stack up against other sources of electricity.
Construction at Plant Vogtle, Georgia, Dec. 1, 2014.
USNRC
Nuclear power provides 60 percent of US carbon-free electricity generation, but existing plants are aging and only one is under construction. Should government intervene to keep nuclear energy in the mix?
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, gestures during a special address in Davos, Switzerland.
AP Photo/Markus Schreiber
The French president said he would eliminate all coal-fired plants in his country by 2021, while his US counterpart is pushing policies intended to make them more profitable. Either way, the laws of economics will win.
Following President Lázaro Cárdenas’ expropriation of foreign oil company assets in 1938, the oil industry has been a symbol of Mexican sovereignty. This made the state oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex…
Britain’s Energy Performance Certificate - could do better.
Grant Wilson/National Grid
We’ve just been through an unusually mild winter for the UK. Despite the excessive rain and storms, the warmer temperatures meant we’ve needed less energy to heat our homes. This has reduced household…
Who goes there? Who goes under there?
Djuradj Vujcic
Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY-ism as it is known, is one thing, but the prospect of fracking for shale gas in rock deep underground has thrown up a new type of protest: Not Under My Back Yard. Following…
While there may be gold beneath the surface, it’s hard to reach.
Wu Hong/EPA
Britain’s energy-hungry population is highly dependent on oil and gas, which powers around two thirds of the UK’s energy needs. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) projects that by 2030…
Solar panels: a tale of the haves and have-nots?
Mtaylor848
Energy-generating solar panels provide the opportunity to generate low-carbon electricity from the roof over your head, at a cost that has fallen dramatically and continues to slide. So many governments…
A rose-tinted view of central energy planning, or the best fit for the job?
Ackers72
While a privatised energy market has delivered stable and cost-effective electricity to Britain’s national grid for 25 years, the world and the pressures it faces are changing. A group of Newcastle University…
Building serious infrastructure – such as energy supply, energy distribution, road and rail – is a big undertaking. It takes a long time to build, but an even longer time to plan and to generate enough…
The UK’s coal revival is set to continue.
Gareth Watson
The big energy policy headline in the budget was well trailed. As expected, the level of the UK’s carbon tax on electricity generation will be frozen from 2016/17 until the end of this decade. Conceived…
PhD Student and research associate at the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, Department of System Analysis and Technology Assessment, German Aerospace Center