Rhein on Energy and Climate

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After hydro power wind energy presently constitutes the biggest source of renewable energy on earth, ahead of PV electricity. The EU is the biggest producer of wind energy, China coming second. Both register extraordinary growth rates. Installed wind capacity accounts for 4 per cent of total power capacity in China and 5 per cent in… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

2010 marks a new record in global C02 emissions. They totalled 30.6 Gigatons, 6 percent more than in 2009, when global economic activity suffered from the financial cataclysm in USA and Europe. According to IEA estimates, C02 emissions must absolutely peak at a level of 32 Gigatons by 2020. If they fail to do so… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Change in Egypt has become unstoppable. The Tunisian virus has infected Egyptian students and taken them to the streets, no longer by hundreds but by tens of thousands, no longer at one isolated place but in many places across the country. The battle call is the same as in Tunisia: Mubarak quit; go to Saudi… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Wind and solar energy will be the two main pillars of Europe’s future clean energy supply. Though both are perfect instruments for reducing C02 emissions they generate negative by-effects for citizens living close to the areas of power generation and transmission. This goes particularly for wind energy. One cannot install wind parks without spoiling virgin… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

During the last 12 months oil prices have risen by 15 percent, much less than either wheat or maize. At the London market they vacillate presently close to € 100 per barrel, about two thirds of the peak price registered in June 2008. There is a priori no reason for concern, the more so as… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

According to data released by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010 has been -jointly with 2005- the warmest year on earth since the middle of the 19th century, when reliable meteorological measurements first started. In 2010,the global surface temperature was 0.6° above the average temperature of 14.5° during the 20th century, a big… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein