Germany cut emissions and boosted renewables to record levels last year, writes Henner Weithöner. Yet the country's coal burn remains the EU's highest - and ambitious emissions targets can only be met by closing coal-burning power stations.
… Coal's dark cloud hangs over Germany's energy revolution Henner Weithöner | 22nd January 2015 News Germany Renewables Coal Climate Change Emissions germany-lignite-strip-mine-cut.jpg Germany cut …
'Fast breeder' reactors are promoted by nuclear enthusiasts as the clean, green energy technology of the future, writes Jim Green. But all the evidence tells us they are a catastrophic failure: complex, expensive, unreliable and accident-prone. Is Japan's decision to abandon its Monju reactor the latest nail in the coffin of a dead technology? Or the final stake through its rotten heart?
… Technology Japan France Russia India China US Germany Italy japan-monju-2-cut.jpg 'Fast … States; 2) France; 3) United Kingdom; 4) Germany; 5) Japan; 6) Italy; 7) Soviet Union / … interest in pursuing fast reactor technology. Germany, the UK and the US cancelled their …
World leaders are meeting in New York today to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, write Stephen Buranyi & Oliver Tickell. But the world just failed a big test of its commitment to the Paris targets by deadlocking on IMO proposals to limit emissions from international shipping.
… and initially backed by Belgium, France, Germany, Morocco, and the Solomon Islands, … has a carbon footprint roughly the size of Germany, but at that rate it could grow to …
This week, the International Maritime Organisation could act to curb fast-rising emissions from shipping under the Paris Agreement, write Barry Gardiner & Richard Burden. But there are growing fears that the UK government may seek to delay and obstruct vital progress.
… sector from a carbon footprint the size of Germany, at 3% of global emissions, to one … maritime sector. They are joined by France, Germany, Morocco, the Solomon Islands and …
Hydrogen cars - and the fuel cells that drive them - are about to get a whole lot cheaper thanks to a redesign of the platinum catalyst that makes them work, writes Oliver Tickell. By inserting atom-sized holes into the precious metal's surface, its activity can be trebled.
… and research institutes in France, Germany and the Netherlands have uncovered the … of Munich and the Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), the Ecole normale superieure (ENS) …
As world leaders convene in Paris for the COP21 climate summit, the major task before them is to replace fossil energy generation with renewables, writes Paul N Edwards - and with the right incentives, it could happen fast. For developing countries it's different: they could skip over fossil fuels much as they have gone straight for mobile telephony. But will they seize the opportunity?
… a unique flexibility. Some countries, notably Germany and China, have made major commitments to renewables. Germany now gets over 25% of its electric … ordinary people. These are one component of Germany's ambitious Energiewende , or the …
Of all the impacts of climate change, one stands out for its inexorable menace, writes Pete Dolack: rising oceans. And it's not just for distant future generations to deal with: new scientific studies show that people alive today may face 6-9 metres of sea level rise flooding well over a million sq.km including many of the world's biggest cities. So where's the emergency response?
… scientists from the United States, France, Germany and China who studied the effect of … in summer and 5C to 10C in winter in southern Germany, accompanied by four centuries of arid …
George Osborne pledged £1billion to a green bank that could help Britain reduce carbon emissions. But with low carbon technologies unproven, banks, institutions and energy companies are wary, meaning the venture may not attract the capital to make it viable
… such as the European Investment Bank or Germany's KfW . Ed Matthew, programme director … strongly for the Green Investment Bank, says Germany's KfW has helped bring about hundreds … those done by a few environmentalists. In Germany, they are retrofitting 100,000 homes a …
When Chancellor George Osborne delivers his Budget next month, we can be sure that climate and environment won't take a high priority, writes Alan Simpson. All the more reason for the Labour leadership to develop a new 'one planet' economics for the 21st century that delivers social justice and respects ecological limits.
… deliver the means. News from somewhere else Germany's Energiewende is far from perfect, … interest loans) incentivise the process. When Germany says it is coming out of nuclear, … energy 'systems'. Three quarters of Germany's energy jobs are now in energy saving …
The biofuels of the future will depend on microbes, writes Almuth Ernsting: algae to produce the biomass, and fungi or bacteria to break cellulose down into useful molecules. Just one problem: wild strains aren't up to the job. So scientists are trying to genetically engineer supercharged 'synthetic biology' variants - which will inevitably enter the environment. What could possibly go wrong?
… opened in North Carolina 104 years ago. Nazi Germany operated 25 plants which turned coal … chemical catalysts, a process similar to Nazi Germany's synthetic diesel plants. All …
Despite the PR spin the truth about nuclear power is clear, says Paul Flynn. Current projects are plagued with technical failures, cost escalations and long delays - while renewables power ahead. As tin-eared ministers refuse to get the message, it's time for civil servants to speak out direct to the public.
… the population. That is what happened in Germany, which felt the full force of the … cancelled its whole nuclear programme. Germany is now going into solar power and many … to us. Tidal power is not available to Germany, but we have that great opportunity …
Renewable electricity is already undermining the big energy utilities' business model, writes Emma Howard, breaking their monopoly and bringing down energy bills. But with the unfolding battery revolution, it's going to reach a whole new level as wind and solar powered families and communities become ever more self-sufficient, leaving utilities high and dry.
… via sonnencommunities - an online network in Germany that enables those with battery … This is already causing them problems. In Germany, where community energy projects are …
The world economy and energy use both grew in 2014 - but carbon emissions did not, writes Alex Kirby. The reason? The worldwide surge in renewables, especially in China, has reduced demand for coal in power generation.
… were China, the US, Japan, the UK and Germany. Leading countries for renewables … has less power generation capacity than Germany. The report says that off-grid solar …
'Unbearably tardy' climate negotiations have ended in failure, writes Henner Weithöner. Without even a draft text at this late stage, the chances of a meaningful deal emerging from the crucial UN summit in Paris are looking paper-thin.
Bonn climate talks end with no draft text for Paris Henner Weithöner Climate News Network | 10th September 2015 News Climate Change COP21 Unfccc EU Emissions action-now-bund-cut.jpg 'Unbearably …
A new U.N. led scheme called "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation" (RED) is due to be announced later this year that aims to make it rewarding for countries to preserve their forests rather than cut them down.
… annual greenhouse gas emissions of Japan or Germany. In his report published last year, …
How to reconcile the Paris Agreement's target to deliver a temperature rise 'well under 2C', with its wholly inadequate mechanisms? Easy, writes Myles Allen: Make fossil fuel producers 'take back' their carbon so as to fit within a global carbon budget. And for fossil fuel producers in the rich world, that means there is no time to lose - specially to meet a 1.5C target.
… Climate Change Emissions COP21 brown-coal-germany-cut.jpg How to reconcile the Paris …
Something scary is lurking in the melting Arctic permafrost, write Tim Radford & Oliver Tickell: 1,700 Gt of carbon. That's 53 years worth of current emissions, and if we let it melt the impact would cost the world $43 tn. Or act now, and we could preserve the Arctic ice for a seventh as much.
… product last year of the US, China, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and Brazil, roughly …
As nuclear projects using the EPR design run into long delays and huge costs overruns, industry hopes are pinned on the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, writes Chris Goodall. But with eight AP1000 projects around the world going the way of the EPR, is it really a wise choice for the UK's Moorside nuclear site?
… Austria and from green energy suppliers in Germany and Austria , EDF still wants to …
Advocates claim that synthetic biology and the so-called New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) are distinct from genetic engineering (GE), write Helena Paul, Elisabeth Bücking & Ricarda Steinbrecher. In fact synthetic biology and NBTs carry similar risks to old-style GE, and even create novel hazards. The 'new GE' techniques - as they should be named - and their products deserve regulation at least as strict as those applying to GMOs.
… within Europe it is held up in the courts in Germany. CRISPR - new, but not a breeding … Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg/Germany. She is a founding member of the …
How do we spur more microgrids powered by renewable energy? Deregulate, writes Bill Watkins, ending the monopolies enjoyed by centralized energy companies. The alternative is to keep consumers and micro-generators stuck with the energy equivalent of the 'Princess' phone.
… is bundling TV and other services with power. Germany became a world power in solar through …
The US Constitution guarantees the rights of future generations, not just current ones, writes James E. Hansen. But those rights are being betrayed, knowingly and deliberately, by governments and politicians who are standing by and allowing climate change to wreak long term havoc on the planet. Today, this legal principle is being asserted in a Federal Court in Oregon.
… contributions from China, Russia, Germany, or Britain over time. In light of the …
Promises made by governments to cut their greenhouse emissions come nowhere near stopping global warming rising above the 2C danger level, writes Alex Kirby. And in many cases the laws and policies needed to deliver them are absent.
… analysis at climate talks under way in Bonn, Germany, at the start of the last but one week …
Arctic warming is releasing ancient organic matter that's been deep-frozen for millennia, writes Tim Radford. And now scientists have discovered its fate: within weeks it's all digested by bacteria and released to the atmosphere as CO2 - with potentially catastrophic impacts on climate.
… from the US, UK, Russia, Switzerland and Germany report in Geophysical Research Letters …