Vietnamese environmental activist Nguy Thi Khanh, director of the Green Innovation and Development Centre Vietnam, was honored with the Goldman Environmental Prize. Lars Blume and Do Minh Tam celebrate her work for Vietnam’s energy transition: fighting against coal plants and advocating for renewable energy.
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Europe must choose a green future
A group of experts has published their suggestions for Europe’s energy future in the European Energy Atlas 2018. In this excerpt, European Parliment member Claude Turmes points out that the energy transition will save money and create jobs – if Europe is willing to take action.
Solar start-ups are plugging Africa’s energy gap
There are an estimated 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who may remain without electricity by 2040. Could solar be the key to electrifying the region? Only if investors embrace the change, explain Akinyi Ochieng and Fadekemi Abiru.
How do former miners in Czechia and Slovakia see the coal phaseout?
Until recently, the term ‘coal phaseout’ was taboo in Central Europe. But things are changing in Czechia and Slovakia. Hard coal mines are continuously shutting down because of low purchase prices of coal and strong foreign competition. Lignite mines, facing emissions regulations and pollution charges, are slowly following suit. Kateřina Davidová and Lenka Ilčíková explain.
Green Tiger: Time for Germany’s coal exit
To continue leading the Energiewende it started, Germany now needs to follow other progressive nations and announce a swift coal exit. But the “Coal Commission” tasked with structuring the coal phaseout seems to be dragging its feet. L. Michael Buchsbaum takes a look.
Climate leadership means ending fossil fuel production
This year alone, the world has faced unprecedented floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts on virtually every continent. A safe climate future requires ending the age of Big Oil. Tzeporah Berman and Lili Fuhr take a look.
There is a long positive road ahead for solar in Brazil
Emiliano Bellini of PV Magazine interviewed Luiz Augusto Barroso, the head of the Brazilian government-run energy agency EPE. He explains how the newly-implemented mechanism for power auctions increases competition.
A dirty deal: Germans paying billons for coal power that will never be used
Renewable energy is making coal redundant in Germany – so why are lignite plants still being held as a reserve? The costs of keeping them on standby are massive, and the emissions are even worse. L. Michael Buchsbaum takes an in-depth look.
Craig Morris bids this project farewell
Will 2018 be the year of new nuclear design success?
The new third generation (EPR) nuclear reactor is being built in France and Finland and is also proposed in the UK. A similar design went into operation in South Korea in December 2016 – but it remains the only one running commercially worldwide. That could change soon, however, as Craig Morris explains.