Shale gas is booming in the US and Canada and according to some sources is bound to become to most important source of primary energy. There are however some real concerns, concerning both its ecological and economical viability. Behind the overly optimistic assumptions, some insiders reveal worrying figures about rapidly falling production in many wells…
China – Power Stations Reduce Output
China’s generally very effective development machine faces new challenges. With inflation on the rise and heavily relying on export oriented low cost and energy intensive industries, China’s bureaucracy scrambles to keep electricity costs down. One might consider this to be an easy task. After all, utilities are state controlled and basically have to follow orders….
Nuclear Energy – Russian Nuclear Recycling Plant Mayak Inaccessible
The nuclear meltdown in Fukuyama delivered live pictures of the statistical remaining risks of nuclear power plants but there are other subtler and more distant issues with nuclear energy. Just like other European states, Switzerland uses the Russian nuclear facility of Mayak for recycling its used nuclear fuel elements. This is without any doubt matchlessly…
Wind Energy – Too Much Power for the US North-West
Plentiful and now melting snow has completely filled many reservoirs in the US North-West. To the extent actually that operators are now forced to produce too much electricity destroying demand for the output of the many wind power stations in the region. In an unprecedented step, wind farms are now regularly taken from the grid…
Coal Power – Micronesia Disputes Czech Power Plant
The Czech republic, which relies on coal for more than 60 percent of its power generation, plans to build one of the biggest coal power stations in Europe. Its CO2 emissions will be 40 times bigger than the total CO2 emissions of the whole state of Micronesia. The small state, situated mostly just one meter…
US-Deficit – Big Tax Breaks for Big Oil
Two figures are relentlessly increasing in the US: The budget deficit, which will reach staggering 1500 billion dollars in 2011and the benefits of oil companies, helped by federal tax-breaks of some 20 billions per year. On the one hand the oil industry causes huge environmental and societal risks (who still remembers and cares about the…
Saving Energy – Costing More
If there is a message to learn from the recent nuclear meltdown in Fukushima and the ongoing climate warming on which everybody could agree, it would probably be the insight that electricity is a scarce and more and more valuable good. Considering that, you would naturally assume that efficient energy use is promoted and rewarded…
Nuclear Energy – Conservaties Take a Stand for Cost Transparency
At the same time as in Japan the core of the nuclear plant of Fukushima is melting, German and Swiss right wing politician’s positions concerning nuclear energy are faltering. It is close to revolutionary that one of the leading newspaper publishes an article speaking of significant externalized (unaccounted) costs of nuclear power, hidden public subsidies…
Coal – China Burns the Coal That we Save
It is now generally acknowledged that coal-fired power plants emits huge amounts of the greenhouse gas CO2 and menace the world climate more than other sources of energy. As a consequence developed countries are trying to switch to other more sustainable power sources. Unfortunately the saved coal is still being mined and then shipped to…
Nuclear Industry in Switzerland – Most Expensive Campaign Ever
In 2013 Switzerland will have a national referendum whether to construct new nuclear power plants. Billions Swiss Francs of cheap benefits for the nuclear industry are at stake and therefore the industry invests heavily in order to preemptively persuade Swiss voters from their point of view. Years before the decision, the big nuclear companies employ…
Saving Gas – How to do with Ease
Everybody would like to reduce the fuel-price-tag but not everybody can afford to buy a new small fuel-efficient car. Therefore, efficient-drive courses are booming. Participants first drive a few kilometers as they always do. Then, after explaining some basic rules of how to get further with a given amount of fuel, they drive the same…
Great-Britain – Catching-up on Renewable Energy
England, for a long time virtually energy-independent thanks to its North-Sea-petrol, has badly missed to develop its huge wind-energy-potential. While for instance Germany has become a leading player in this future-proof industry, Britain only now starts to pay attention. Being late, it goes directly after the more challenging offshore wind farm-technology, which promises to harvest…
Shower – Hot or Warm Water for Feeling Refreshed?
What do you do after a hot day? Taking a cold shower. Sounds logical and is not completely wrong. However, as this article suggests, it’s not completely right either. The body’s temperature regulation reacts to different sensors. The inside body temperature is important but skin sensors are also taken into account enabling preemptive reaction…
Electric bicycle boom in China – For Real!
In spite of the economic crisis the electric bicycle market is booming. In Europe e-bikes get trendy, and even more so in China, where sales really take off. There, the 1000 producers sold about 22m units for about 11b $ in 2009. On the other hand the conventional bike market contracted by a fourth to…
Oil Spill – How BP is Giving Away its Reputation
As if the oil on the sea wouldn’t be bad enough, scientist have now evidence that even more oil is beneath the surface. Thanks to massively applied chemicals most of it the crude is now floating deep in the Mexican Golf where it potentially has even more detrimental effects to the ecosystem than on the…
Bionics – Shark-Skin-like Coating Replaces Chemicals for Protecting Ship-Hulls
Mussels and algae growing on ship create an environment-protectionist dilemma. Either ship-owners apply highly poisoning chemicals or they let them grow, increasing water resistance and fuel consumption. Remedy is now available in the form a new coating inspired by the structure of shark-skin. It’s small teeth and grooves prevent the undesired plants to settle down…
Freighters – Slowing Down for the Sake of Efficiency
Stronger, bigger, faster – at least in the maritime trade, this is a thing of the past. Maersk, one of the world-biggest shipping companies has announced to halve the speed of hundreds of its ships. Considering the though freight-market with dipping volumes, increasing capacity and rising fuel costs, this an important efficiency-improving move. The slowing-down…
Climate Change – Free-Riders Punished by Investors
The ”Carbon Disclosure Project” collects and publishes data concerning climate relevant behavior of corporations. While this alone is not noteworthy, it gets interesting because more than 400 investors of multinational companies are relying on this database in order to make investment and cooperation decisions. 56% of interviewed firms declare to take the climate-consciousness of suppliers…
China – Takes the Lead in the Solar- and Windenergy-Industry
China has a very bad reputation concerning the environmentally friendly energy production – every second day, a new coal-fired power plant comes on stream. Some of these hundreds of additional plants replace older even less-efficient ones but they still represent a major problem for the urgent global reduction of greenhouse gas. However, one should not…
