All posts tagged: Bioenergy


Who is leading in patents for the Energy Transition?

Scientists and politicians around the world agree that energy provision must be transformed from reliance on fossil fuels to renewables to combat global warming. But how can this happen while maintaining, or even improving, the international competitiveness of industrialized nations like Germany? Philip Emmerich and Dr. Manuel Baumann assess Germany’s status among leading OECD countries and China regarding energy transition technologies and patents.

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Rethinking biomass’ carbon loophole: will the EU chart a more science-based course?

When the EU embarked upon its energy transition odyssey, regulators deemed the burning of biomass as climate neutral—which when done on a relatively small-scale and under controlled conditions, it can be. But taking advantage of the EU’s biomass baked-in carbon loophole, power generators soon began converting older, coal-fired plants to burning it instead. There’s only one catch: the climate science doesn’t add up. Biomass’ special carbon accounting loophole is creating a superficial impression of climate progress as forests disappear and emissions rise. Despite sunk capital and billions in government subsidies, the EU has vowed reform, but will regulators really change course? L. Michael Buchsbaum has the details.

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Renewables: The End of Energy Globalization?

Over the last two centuries, energy trade has become increasingly global. Where wood was found and used locally, coal was mined and transported nationally, and oil emerged as a global commodity. Natural gas is also moving from regional markets to the global shipping of LNG. The same holds for energy demand, which is growing and shifting Southward, away from traditional OECD markets, to China, India, South-East Asia and Africa, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirms in its findings. Renewable energy harbors a number of characteristics that could potentially end this trend of increasingly global energy trade. Just Voskuyl and Daniel Scholten take a critical look at the bigger picture.

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India’s energy transition: potential and prospects

Touted as the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gas, India is steadily on its way to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The targets that the country has set itself are closer to being achieved and even surpassed. Sadia Sohail explains the newest study on India’s energy policy.

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