Articles by
Craig Morris
Wind turbines make me sick
By
Craig Morris
Want to get a sense of what Germans think of all this talk--in English--about wind turbines making people sick? Then take a look at this little video. Germany has more wind turbines close to people than any other country in the world.
Four German words
By
Craig Morris
Practice your German and learn what Germans think of all those wind turbines spinning away on their landscape.
Renewables International: The “technical maximum” of wind power – in 1995
By
Craig Morris
18 years ago, a skeptic of wind power reviewed a German book on the history of wind power in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ). The journalist still publishes for the paper. His comments from way back have not aged well, but they do sound like a lot of the criticism we now hear outside of Germany today.
Renewables International: Nuclear power – very unpopular
By
Craig Morris
Recent surveys in the United States and Germany show that renewables remain very popular – and that an overwhelming majority of people oppose nuclear. At the same time it, surveys show that the political divide is greater in the US over renewables than it is in Germany.
Renewables International: Grid parity in Hawaii – not a breakthrough
By
Craig Morris
Now that grid parity has been reached in a number of areas, we can see what the future will look like – regulation will still be needed. In Hawaii, new obstacles were put in place at the end of 2011, right when grid parity was reached. What has the effect been?
Renewables International: The cost of new nuclear–Feed-in tariffs for nuclear power in the UK?
By
Craig Morris
In the next few weeks, the future of nuclear in the UK could be decided. French electricity provider EDF is essentially asking for guaranteed prices – feed-in tariffs – for the electricity generated by new nuclear plants it would like to build. French energy expert Bernard Chabot took a look at the figures. . .
Renewables International: California fast-tracks 750 MW PV plant
By
Craig Morris
Los Angeles has adopted feed-in tariffs for solar, and a solar array the size of a coal plant is now going up nearby – so what's the problem? . . Renewables International reported on the five-fold oversubscription of LA's feed-in tariffs program for mid-sized systems, which local campaigners are calling "groundbreaking" – though it looks like a crippled policy from the German perspective. Essentially, the program is tiny (20 megawatts every six months) and homeowners are practically all shut out. . .
Renewables International: Los Angeles solar feed-in tariffs program oversubscribed
By
Craig Morris
Officials at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have announced that applications for solar projects eligible for feed-in tariffs exceeded the allotment more than fivefold. The oversubscription is being touted as a success – not a failure. . .
Renewables International: IWR says coal will shrink in Germany in 2013
By
Craig Morris
Overall, the total amount of lignite power production capacity in Germany fell from 19,100 megawatts in 2012 to around 17,800 megawatts at present. The IWR therefore expects power production from lignite to drop from around 158 terawatt-hours last year to below 150 kilowatt-hours in 2013. . .
Renewables International: Europe’s coal renaissance – the end is nigh
By
Craig Morris
An unpublished briefing paper drawn up by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) takes a look at charges of a "coal renaissance" in the EU and confirms our recently published findings for Germany, where a slew of coal plants were planned in the second half of the previous decade, but they are largely not moving forward.
Renewables International: Community ownership of grids
By
Craig Morris
The government of the northernmost German state of Schleswig-Holstein and grid operator Tennet have launched a unique project to combat NIMBYism against new power lines. Now, citizens will be able to purchase shares of new power lines along the western coast. The project is the first implementation of a proposal made by German Environmental Minister Peter Altmaier last fall.
