Rhein on Energy and Climate

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About two thirds of the EU member states are using toll systems for financing the construction and maintenance of highways. National governments monitor the rates being charged; and this functions quite satisfactorily. There is no reason for the EU to intervene, except insisting on strict non-discrimination between road users from different member states. This seems… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

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

With oil prices having declined to less than $90 per barrel, a low level not seen for more than a decade, oil/gas subsidies are becoming a costly affair to countries with high production costs like Russia, Egypt, Yemen, Venezuela, Indonesia. At the same time, due to the lower prices consumers enjoying them will hardly feel… » 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

After seven years of negotiations Bulgaria has signed a provisional contract with the US company Westinghouse to build a 1 GW nuclear power plant to complement the 3.8 GW nuclear capacity of the 40 year old Soviet-built Kozloduy plant, reserving the final decision to the summer of 2015 after detailed cost-benefit analysis. Bulgaria`s record in… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

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

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

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

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