News & Articles on Renewable Energy
My specialty is wind energy, but I have worked with all forms of renewable energy. Over the years I’ve written about a number of renewable technologies, including solar and geothermal energy. In recent years I’ve focused on comprehensive renewable energy policies that develop a mix of renewable resources. I’ve also written about our use of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
New study highlights enthusiasm of British farmers for renewable energy
By
Dave Toke
‘Forum For the Future’, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, blow away the alleged conservatism of British farmers by indicating how large quantities of British electricity supply (much larger than that provided by Hinkley C) could be installed by 2020 – And integrated with existing levels of food production and increased biodiversity protection.
Boell: The call for a German coal phaseout
By
Craig Morris
The call for a coal phaseout has been in the foreground for the past month in Germany. It all started with a leak about a discussion proposal to switch off between 5 and 10 GW of coal plant capacity, equivalent to around 5 to 10 percent of dispatchable power generation in Germany.
Renewable energy: does it need critically rare materials?
By
Ugo Bardi
The use of wind energy (both onshore and offshore) was investigated with regard to the consumption of neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy), which are increasingly being employed in high field strength permanent magnets in generators. If only geological availability is taken into consideration, all of the scenarios and trajectories considered here for wind energy utilisation in Germany can be implemented, even if a similar expansion of wind energy is also assumed for all other countries. In spite of a high degree of availability, however, an adequate supply of the required quantities cannot necessarily be guaranteed for Germany. On the one hand, recovery from mines is poor, in some cases only 10 per cent. Hence the minerals, available in sufficient quantities in principle, remain partially or predominantly unused. In addition, the very different environmental performance involved in their extraction must be borne in mind. Depending on the minerals extracted, processing technologies and additions of other materials to the minerals extracted, the mining of neodymium and dysprosium has a considerable environmental impact.
This German Energy Expert Says Canada is Perfect for a Clean Energy Transition
By
Erin Flegg
German clean energy policy expert Dr. David Jacobs paid Canada a visit this week to dispel a few myths about the Energiewende. While addressing potential downsides, Jacobs talked about the lessons North American countries can take from Germany’s push toward completely sustainable energy.
Renewables International: German coal phaseout: SPD vs CDU
By
Craig Morris
If the policy is implemented… The renewables sector has come to see the current Social Democrats as a party of coal power; the party traditionally represents unions, including coal miners. But this new idea is directed at coal plants, not unionized coal miners. And perhaps it was unfair to believe that the SPD no longer cared about climate targets at all.
JREF: Grid Access Requests Denial – Transparency and Neutrality are Essential in Grid Operation
By
Mika Ohbayashi
Indeed, the law of the Japan’s Feed-in Tariff system allows utilities to refuse requests of renewable electricity producers for grid access “when securing a smooth supply of electricity by said the utility is likely to be disturbed.” However, you must keep in mind the principle that the right to refuse should be exercised with the greatest restraint, only in exceptional cases, for the fundamental purpose of the law, which is the deployment of renewables. Power companies must be accountable, in the most serious sense of the word, to renewable energy operators and electricity users.
