Amid rising global concerns following Japan’s disastrous 11 March 2011 nuclear catastrophe at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex and surging oil prices, renewable energy is receiving increased attention from investors. The leading candidates are solar and wind energy, but both have problems beyond significant investment costs and the fact that they have yet to generate power at competitive rates with more traditional power sources such as oil, coal and natural gas. Beyond issues of power storage, a further concern is the fickle…

Read more…

On 30 May 2011, in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster two months earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced an “energy revolution” and that Germany would close all of its 19 nuclear power plants (NPPs) between 2015 and 2022, which produce about 28 percent of the country’s electricity. The shortfall was to be made up with an increased emphasis on renewable energy sources. In the wake of Germany’s decision, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, Italy, and many other nations declared, in one way or another, their intent…

Read more…

Due to fears over the situation in Iran, amongst other things, oil prices are at a nine month high, and petrol prices are also at near record levels. These high prices have spurred Democratic Representatives Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Peter Welch of Vermont, and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, to write a letter to Obama in order to ask him to use oil stockpiles to help reduce the price of oil in the US. The US holds 696 million barrels of oil, the world’s largest, government owned stockpile, to be used in times of low oil supply. “This…

Read more…