Rhein on Energy and Climate

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Conventional climate policy relies on curbing emissions and fossil energy demand. Emission caps on utilities, oil refineries, steel and chemical energies are the principal tool for fighting against climate change. High taxes on gasoline and subsidies on renewable energies complete the tool box. This approach aims at making fossil energy more expensive and encouraging investment… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The answer is: yes, though wind power is still far ahead. It will therefore take 20 years or more before the globally installed solar capacity will exceed that of wind power. At the end of 2008, the global capacity of wind energy exceeded 100 GW, about half of which installed in Western and Northern Europe,… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

No other country on earth wastes more energy than Russia. According to Russian estimates, the country could save about 40 percent of its energy consumption if its energy sector functioned according to Western standards. The losses due to poor heat isolation of buildings, outdated equipment in industry and power generation and transmission are colossal. It… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Spurred by the ruling of the Environmental Protection Agency declaring C02 emissions a risk for human health and welfare, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has begun work on what might become one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation passed by Congress. Its basic contours would resemble EU legislation, in particular a cap and… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

On April 23, 2009, the European Parliament has called for all new buildings respecting zero energy and emission standards, as of 2019. This would be feasible through super-insulation combined with renewable energy covering the remaining energy needs, e.g. for heating, cooling and warm water. Buildings account for 40 percent of global energy consumption and C02… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The global economic crisis is taking its toll on what has been one of the leading industries of the 20th centuries: automobiles. For the first time since World War II it been gripped by a dramatic fall of production and profits, and the imminent prospect of insolvency of GM, the symbol of the global automobile… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

On April 17, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a provisional ruling that the concentration of six green house gases in the atmosphere constitute a risk for human health and welfare and that the combined emissions of C02, CH4, N2O and FsH HFCs from new motor vehicle engines contribute to further concentration of green… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

April 20, 2009 should be remembered as a black day in UN history. At the opening day of the “Fourth World Conference against Racism” some 40 delegations left the meeting, protesting against outrageous statements by the Iranian President Ahmadi Nejad against Israel. The UN and the international community could have avoided the public relations damage… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein