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Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is booming, but it’s still not clear what its net impacts will be in energy/carbon terms- views differ. However, it is clear that there is a growing drive to use it more and more- with big profits to be made by whoever powers the growth. Not surprising then that all the usual suspects have turned up for a share in the proceeds – most obviously power plants…
As wild fires spread around continental Europe, and also hit the UK, an unusual consensus seemed to emerge in UK press - climate change is real and we need to act urgently on clean energy. You would expect the Guardian to say things like that, but the Telegraph ran an opinion piece saying that ‘the right needs to get serious about climate change’ and another saying that party leader Kemi Badenoch…
While renewables are being supported in the UK by private sector investment, most recently via the Contracts for Difference market system, with no direct government cash input, over 70% of the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero expenditure is now nuclear related. DESNZ’s annual report and accounts says that ‘Great British Energy – Nuclear has remained a key component of the Government’s…
The soon to be UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is being portrayed as a ‘new broom’ that could, or might, adopt better polices in all areas. Well, what about the energy sector? It’s in a mess, economically, driven by high fossil gas prices, with retail electricity prices at an all-time high, despite renewable energy doing well (65 GW so far) with its wholesale price mostly being low. It’s in a…
Renewables remain the cheapest source of new electricity in most markets and have further strengthened their cost advantage over fossil fuels. New cost data from IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, shows that renewables helped avoid an estimated USD 480 billion in fossil-fuel costs in 2025, protecting users against fuel-price volatility. So the story so far is a good one - a…
The heatwave across Europe over the last month, with temperatures reaching 40 C and more, had a big impact and seems consistent with what might expect from climate change . The record-breaking temperatures recorded over Europe would have been ‘virtually impossible’ 50 years ago, according to the World Weather Attribution service, with climate change being ‘unequivocally to blame’. It certainly is…
The removal of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere is seen by some as crucial to compensate for the emissions from human activities that are, it is claimed, difficult to decarbonise – for instance, those generated in aviation and agriculture. However, an interesting Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF) overview back in 2024 noted that since the concentration of CO2 in the air is about 0.04% it…
Some have argued that the wide use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will require substantial amounts of energy and that this will overwhelm any environmental gains from improved energy use efficiency and emission reduction. However, there are other views. LSE's Grantham Institute and Systemiq produced a study last year claiming that AI applications in just three sectors (power, food, and mobility)…
Integrated renewables- the cheapest option IRENA has develop a new energy costing system and found that renewables plus storage could supply firm power at low system costs- see my earlier post . Another new metric for assessing the total levelized cost of energy (LCOE) has also emerged with equally striking results. It puts the costs of a mix of offshore wind & solar at about €46/MWh in a future…
Some changes are afoot with Renew and NATTA, so here’s a short update, along with a retrospective account of their long history. The normal Renew extra weekly news service will return with the next issue. In 1976, along with colleagues from the Open University Faculty of Technology, I helped organise a conference on alternative energy held at Cranfield University. It attracted about over 50 people…
