David Strahan – Page 8 – write first draft

David MacKay interview

June 4, 2011 By David Strahan8 Comments

First published in Sustainable Business, 4 June 2011. My interview with David MacKay has the feel of a university tutorial. Perhaps it’s not surprising, since the chief scientific advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change is a professor of physics at Cambridge. But the impression is reinforced in his cramped office on the sixth floor of DECC, where I negotiate piles of paperwork and shuffle furniture so we both can see his computer screen. (more…)...

DECC model highlights inconvenient energy truths

June 1, 2011March 19, 2018 By David Strahan4 Comments

First published in Energy World, 1 June 2011. For those of us with an anorak in the closet, the government’s new online energy planning tool, the 2050 Pathways Calculator, has provided hours of perplexing fun. (more…)...

How BP got into another fine mess

April 17, 2011March 19, 2018 By David StrahanNo Comments

The immediate cause of BP’s latest Russian crisis is the ruling last month of an arbitration panel in Switzerland. But its roots spread all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and as far back as the company’s last but one chief executive. And it all reflects the company’s floundering attempts to secure production growth in a world of dwindling oil resources. (more…)...

The real cost of not going nuclear

April 1, 2011 By David Strahan6 Comments

First published in the Utility Week, 1 April 2011. Just because the nuclear backlash was inevitable doesn’t make it right. (more…)...

Turbine revolution

March 8, 2011 By David Strahan4 Comments

This article is published in the Ecologist, Sustainable Business, and the April edition of Energy World. When Thanet wind farm off the Kent coast opened to great fanfare last September, it was no surprise that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne was there to cut the ribbon. (more…)...

My2050@lastoilshock

March 4, 2011March 19, 2018 By David Strahan5 Comments

Here's my initial take on DECC's new energy planning toy, My2050, launched this week. The aim is to cut emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050 and keep the lights on. There are screenshots of my choices below. (more…)...

IEA forecasts conceal bigger crisis to come

March 4, 2011March 19, 2018 By David StrahanNo Comments

British energy policy is founded on dangerously optimistic assumptions that need to be urgently reassessed, according to a paper from the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (ODAC) published today. (more…)...