This week, renewable energy experts, community leaders and local governments from all over the world meet in Kassel to discuss experiences and strategies to reach so-called 100% renewable energy regions. Anna Leidreiter reports.
All posts tagged: European Union
Coal wars in Poland
Poland is one of the key actors preventing more progressive European climate policies. Why? Polish miners are one of the very few social forces that the Polish government is really afraid of, explains Michal Olszewski.
Analysis: Who wants what from the EU 2030 climate framework
An ambitious EU 2030 climate framework could be crucial to unlocking a global climate deal in Paris next year. Yet EU leaders still can’t agree on the details. Simon Evans compares the ambitions and goals ahead of today’s negotiations.
German reliance on market players makes energy policy legal
In his previous post, Craig Morris talks about how the renewable surcharge will drop for the first time in 2015. But there is another interesting aspect to the issue. Germany allows transmission grid operators (TSOs), rather than a government entity, to calculate the charge. For the EU, that distinction is the difference between legal and illegal.
The price of new nuclear revisited
Can the energy transition make Germany independent of Russian gas?
A new study by Fraunhofer IWES investigates how much natural gas could be offset by renewables and efficiency, and one graphic indicates the implicit message that the energy transition could make Germany independent of gas imports from Russia by 2030. Craig Morris investigates.
Nervousness behind the scenes in Berlin
Craig Morris just spent three weeks in Berlin and other German cities speaking with a slew of energy experts off the record. Today, he talks about the nervous mood in the wake of the recent policy changes.
Is Europe burning America’s forests?
A recent article at Grist.com under this subtitle “biomass backward” charges that “the European Union and its well-intentioned clean energy rules” are the reason for “denuded fields in the South.” Craig Morris, himself a Southerner, says something about the situation certainly is backward. But he says progress will require a deal between the US and the EU.
It’s the costs, stupid. Therefore, opt for renewables!
In the coming months, the EU will decide on its future energy mix and the role of renewables. So far, the outlook is bleak. Silvia Brugger explains why the EU should opt for a much more ambitious program: Renewables are cheaper and reduce Europe’s foreign energy dependence.
A Polish appetite for biomass
In order to greenwash its coal power plants and fulfill EU requirements, Poland co-fires biomass with coal. While this is a phenomenon common in many European countries, Michał Olszewski argues that it does not make sense for the environment and helps coal companies.