The international community is busy negotiating new C02 reduction targets for 2013-2020. There is agreement that these ought to be much tougher than those for 1990-2010.  For the developed countries the ambition is for a 25-40 cut over 1990. That is a tall order! 
The risk is therefore high that governments will take commitments without having [...]

France and Italy have signed an agreement on closer cooperation in the nuclear field. It will allow Italy to benefit from long French experience and accelerate its return to nuclear power generation after Chernobyl in 1986.
But it will take until 2020, before any of the new reactors planned to be built jointly with EDF will [...]

After having been cut off twice in the last three years from Russian gas supplies, the EU is getting finally serious with improving its short-term  gas supply security. Member states have started discussing to put in place a system of short-term storage, similar to the emergency oil storage installed after the first oil crisis in [...]

 
Throughout the last 15 years, Alan Greenspan, the once illustrious FED Chairman, had indulged in an irresponsible deregulation of the American banking system, ignoring occasional warnings from subaltern officials. He had full trust in the self-regulating capacity of Wall Street and could fully rely on the backing of US Presidents, in particular G.W. Bush. 
Today, we [...]

Vattenfall, the state-owned Swedish power company, has announced the take-over of Nuon, a Dutch power company heavily engaged in wind energy. This decision follows the take-over bid made by RWE, the German power giant, for another Dutch utility, Essent, and the completion of the lengthy take-over battle for the Spanish Endesa by the Italian Enel [...]

The new US approach on climate policy has led American oil and energy companies to redefine their positions. Realising that it is no longer possible to block any action aiming at reducing C02 emissions they now accept working with the Administration with the objective of obtaining the most business-friendly solutions.
Their main concern is, of course, [...]

In 2008 more than 40 percent of all newly installed power in the EU and USA is generated by wind turbines.
European utilities invested 20 times more in wind-driven than in coal-fired power plants (8 GW against 0.4 GW). In Europe, the end of the “coal age” seems near, thanks to increasing public protests and the [...]

After 30 years of banning new nuclear power and decommissioning four reactors, the Swedish government has reversed its anti-nuclear course. The 10 reactors operating presently can continue until the end of their economic life time, maximum 60 years, and be replaced by new, even bigger ones on the present sites. But they will not receive [...]