Still no UK energy policy
First published in the The Independent on Sunday, 26 April 2009
“All targets and no trousers” seemed to be the gist of the reaction from environmentalists to the Budget this week. (more…)...
Electric avenues
First published in the The Independent on Sunday, 29 March 2009
'The future has not been cancelled," quipped BP chief executive Tony Hayward in a bullish presentation about the company's prospects recently. (more…)...
Green grid
A version of this article was published in New Scientist on 12 March 2009.
Thomas Edison might have relished the irony. Just as his most famous legacy, the incandescent light bulb, heads for extinction, his other great passion, direct current, is set to boom. (more…)...
Why $40 per barrel is no cause for complacency
By David Strahan and Gary Kendall of SustainAbility
These days it is comforting to have one thing not to worry about. As the world teeters on the edge of a full-blown depression, and business is crushed between slumping sales and seized-up credit markets, at least the oil price is in retreat. (more…)...
Channel 4 News interview: London oil summit
My interview on Channel 4 News on 19 December, about the London oil summit, can now be seen on You Tube. Click on 'read more'. The segment starts about one and a half minutes into the recording. (more…)...
Pipe dreams
First published in the Guardian, 3 December 2008.
An old friend was once memorably described as a sixties liberal with Catholic guilt – you can just imagine the internal contortions. I got the same impression of grinding gears while reading the International Energy Agency’s latest long term forecast, the World Energy Outlook 2008, published last month. (more…)...
The end of the road for hydrogen?
A shorter version of this article appeared in New Scientist magazine on 26 November 2008.
Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy? At the turn of the century it was the next big thing, promising a Jetsons-style future of infinite clean energy and deliverance from climate change. (more…)...