Rhein on Energy and Climate

Modern agriculture has become a major emitter of green house gases, in particular methane from animal husbandry, nitrogen oxide from intensive fertiliser use and C02 from mechanical farming. In the USA it accounts for as much as seven percent of green house gas emissions, in the EU the share might be around five percent, but… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The Unthinkable has happened. California, the biggest US state, had to declare insolvency and a state of fiscal insolvency. As of July 1st, it will have to pay in newly emitted treasury bills. Its public debt will rise by another $ 26 billion in fiscal year 2009. Governor Schwarzenegger had desperately tried to convince, first… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Dubai, one of the seven tiny countries of the United Arab Republic (UAE), has been more profoundly affected than other Arab countries by the ongoing financial and economic crisis. Disposing only of limited oil and gas reserves that might be depleted in 20 years, it had wisely started engaging in transforming its economy to the… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The Middle East oil/gas producer countries- GCC, Iraq and Iran – are among the big C02 emitters on the planet. Jointly they are responsible for more than four percent of global emissions – more than India – due to the nature of their industries, their high living standards, low energy prices and an excessive waste… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The EU wind power potential is sufficient to cover future European electricity demand at competitive costs. This is the encouraging conclusion of a technical report published by the European Environmental Agency in early June. Currently, the capacity of wind turbines installed in the EU amounts to 10 GW, which generate 4 percent of EU power… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

BP: Beyond Petroleum?

The new BP chairman, who will take over 1st January 2010, has expressed his concerns about the future of the planet. Humanity cannot go on tripling global production and doubling population until 2050. The planet will have great difficulty in coping with such a challenge. The pace of growth of car ownership and air travel… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

After months of tough horse trading the House of Representatives adopted an 1100 page (!) bill aiming at curbing American green house gas emissions. The vote was 219 to 212! Unfortunately, the bill falls far short of what would be necessary to put the USA into the driver’s seat at the forthcoming climate negotiations in… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Exploiting the immense solar energy potential of the Sahara for supplying all countries around the Mediterranean and Europe with clean energy has been a vision since the technical development of large-scale solar power generation in the mid-1980s. In 2007 the Club of Rome has presented the DESERTIC Concept, the realisation of which would combine the… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

At their meeting in Kuala Lumpur the IATA members have committed to achieve “C02 neutral” growth by 2020. Even if this commitment is vague, the fact that the airline industry has started to engage in a discussion on how to cope with climate change is by itself a signal that it sees the necessity to… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

During the weekend of June 5-7th, STATOIL-Hydro, the Norwegian oil and gas company, has inaugurated the first floating wind turbine off the Norwegian coast. The new device might give a tremendous boost to wind energy in general and off-shore wind energy in particular. It allows installing wind turbines in water depths up to 700 meter,… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein