November 6, 2014
From November 3 to 11 Beijing is hosting an APEC Summit, which 20 Heads of Government from the Pacific region will attend. To that end, the local authorities have undertaken utmost efforts to clean up their city, which is one the most polluted on earth. The streets are “empty” because schools, local government, public and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
Humanity will be unable to combat climate change without profound transformations in the way it generates energy. Two such transformations have been recently announced, one in Singapore, the other in USA. In Singapore, a team of scientists of the Nanyang Technological University have developed a new type of ultra-fast recharging batteries which are claimed to… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
During the last years international organisations from IMF to IEA have called for the abolition of subsidies on oil and gas consumption. At its meeting in September 2009, the G20 has also agreed to phase them out in the medium term. Without much avail; most governments concerned continue to ignore these calls, whatever the negative… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
October 20, 2014
Germany is in the beginning of its nuclear phase-out to be completed by 2022. To that end, it has to replace nuclear power accounting for 18% of its electricity supply, compared to more than half from coal, by higher energy efficiency and renewable energy. It will also have to close some 30 conventional coal- and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
October 14, 2014
In 2009 Antonio Sobre, one of Brazil’s leading climate scientists, warned his citizens that if the country did not stop deforestation it would experience a catastrophe in five years. Five years later, in October 2014, the centre and south-east of the country is experiencing its worst drought since 50 years. Sao Paulo, with 12 million… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
October 6, 2014
Since the UN Climate Summit meeting in New York the prospects for halving the rate of tropical deforestation by 2020 and stopping it altogether by 2030 look pretty bright,with 40 major international companies and the US, EU, Canada and Norway lending their support to a global forest initiative. Forests constitute a major carbon reservoir and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
September 30, 2014
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, has recently warned his citizens that they might have to do with home temperatures of no more than 16° during the next winter in order to cope with gas and coal shortages, due to the tense economic and financial situation of the country. For the average European, let alone… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
September 29, 2014
The UN Climate Summit on September 24, 2014 has once again underlined the threat of global warming and climate change for future generations but stopped short of responses to what constitutes the overriding challenge for Humanity. A mobilisation event is not enough, even if the thousands of people that flocked the streets in USA and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
September 11, 2014
The division of Commission services into one dealing with energy policy and another one with climate change policy has always been an artificial one: to influence climate change policy makers have to rely on energy policy. It is therefore positive to recombine the two sides of the coin under a single command and put an… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
July 14, 2014
During the last 50 years global energy demand has risen at an unprecedented pace and is expected to continue rising further in the wake of growing world population and prosperity. These trends are not sustainable. The energy resources (coal, oil, gas, uranium) are finite and burning them is bound to accelerate climate change to a… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
Thoughts on energy and climate, the Mediterranean and whatever comes to mind.
