Gas: climate panacea or industry propaganda?
First published in the New Scientist 25 February 2012.
I once hitched a lift from New York to London in the private jet of an American gas billionaire. (more…)...
Gas galore?
This article was first published in the New Scientist print edition of 21 January 2012, and will appear online at energyrealities.org.
It may come as news to hard-pressed European households, but the world is enjoying a glut of natural gas. (more…)...
Has the world reached economic peak oil?
This article was first published in the 3 December print edition of New Scientist and online at energyrealities.org.
Whisper it. Oil production in the US is increasing. The country where output peaked in 1970 and then shrank by 40 per cent over four decades, has turned some kind of corner. (more…)...
Nuclear: why Britain is right and Germany wrong
First published in Energy World, November 2011.
For decades Britain seemed to have cornered the market in bad energy policy, but these days it has some stiff competition from Germany. Which is ironic, really. (more…)...
The real Greek tragedy
First published in New Scientist, 12 October 2011.
Greece is going to default, one way or another, that much is clear. The bigger question is whether it will also leave the Euro and what that would mean. What is so far underappreciated is that a Greek exit would have appalling consequences not only for the world economy, but also the climate. (more…)...
Will the real peak oil policy please stand up?
First published in Petroleum Review, September 2011.
There has been much excitement in the press recently about the last government’s attitude to peak oil. Documents released under Freedom of Information requests seem to show New Labour facing both ways: dismissing the issue in public, while privately worrying about its potential impacts. Far more relevant today is the attitude of the coalition, which is just as perplexing and equally dangerous. (more…)...
Cold storage
First published in Energy World, September 2011.
Only connect. In the last twelve months Britain has shelled out £4.3 million pounds to wind farms that were not producing power even though the wind was blowing. Over the same period our power stations and heavy industries chucked 800 gigawatt hours of waste heat up the chimney, about the same as all the heat consumed by the entire country. (more…)...