Search results

Research and development

Overhead photo of man in hat and high-vis jacket spreading concrete on metal mesh

29/5/2024 News

Research in hard-to-abate sector offers new possibilities to tackle climate change

Scientists in the UK claim to have developed the world’s first process for making zero-emissions cement, while in the US, researchers have found a potential new pathway for fossil fuel-burning operations to capture emissions.

Shipping

Red coloured tanker in calm sea, fitted with four tall, white cylindrical 'suction sails' on deck, two at the front and two further back

EI Member only

29/5/2024 Feature / Johanna Tranell

Wind-assisted propulsion for shipping

Wind-assisted propulsion systems (WAPS) are emerging as a key option in shipping’s quest for net zero. Johanna Tranell, WAPS expert at DNV Maritime Advisory, provides an overview of some of today’s technologies and their future potential.

Building Energy Management Systems

Close up photo of building in domestic housing development

EI Member only

29/5/2024 Feature / Andrew Mourant

Cold comfort: improving the energy-efficiency of UK building stock

Cold, damp, shoddily-built properties blight millions of British lives. Yet opportunities abound to do something better, and there are great examples of forward-thinking building and retrofit, using fabric and design that create far warmer homes, their energy use greatly reduced. Why is there not far more of this, and what is the UK government doing about it? enquires Andrew Mourant.

BESS

Rows of solar panels in dusty earth set against bright blue sky

5/6/2024 News

Australia’s first eight-hour battery to be co-located at NSW solar farm

RWE is to build what will be Australia’s first eight-hour battery near Balranald, in New South Wales (NSW). Meanwhile, a new study suggests that some long-duration energy storage technologies could ‘out-compete’ lithium-ion batteries on cost in some markets.

Unconventionals

Aerial overview of unconventional drilling operations in flat, scrubby landscape

5/6/2024 News

Mega mergers continue in US unconventionals sector

US energy giant ConocoPhillips has bought Marathon Oil in a deal valued at $22bn, including $5.4bn in debt.

Forecourt retailing

Man at a forecourt cafe passing a burger and take away cup of coffee across the counter to a customer

EI Member only

5/6/2024 Feature / Jo Hayward

On the move: how mobility and convenience offers are evolving on the fuel retail forecourt

The days when visiting a service station forecourt simply meant refuelling a vehicle, picking up a newspaper and buying a snack for the onward journey are long gone. Mobility is changing and so is the ‘customer offer’ for convenience nationally and globally, explains Jo Hayward, Vice President Mobility & Convenience Retail, who is responsible for BP’s network of around 1,150 retail sites in the UK.

Net zero / decarbonisation / energy transition

Elaborate Chinese sytle pagoda pavillion set in river in foreground, with modern cityscape behind

EI Member only

5/6/2024 Feature / DNV

Exploring China’s enormous green energy shift

Today, China has 18% of the world’s population, uses 26% of global primary energy, emits 33% of global energy-related CO₂, and is by far the leading installer of renewables. The energy transition in China is critical to its future and to the success of the global energy transition, according to a new report from DNV, Energy Transition Outlook China,* of which an edited summary and extract is republished here.

Coal

Head and shoulders photo of Joseph Curtin, Managing Director Power, The Rockefeller Foundation

29/5/2024 Comment / Joseph Curtin

Transition credits will enable emerging markets to retire coal-fired power plants

All told, there are over 6,500 coal-fired units in operation across the world, which collectively will emit an estimated 190bn tonnes of CO₂ over their remaining operational lifetimes. Over 90% of these plants are shielded from competition due to regulation or long-term contracts that guarantee their returns, meaning many coal plant owners and operators have no financial motivation to retire early. If the world has any hope of limiting warming to 2°C, it must come together behind efforts to accelerate the retirement of coal plants in emerging markets, argues Joseph Curtin, Managing Director Power, The Rockefeller Foundation.

Skills, education and training

Head and shoulders photo of Dr Yanos Michopoulos FEI FIoL set against very dark blue/black speckled backdrop

5/6/2024 Comment / Yanos Michopoulos

Four overlooked leadership skills to navigate confidently the energy transition

Some say great leaders are born, not made. Not according to Energy Institute tutor Dr Yanos Michopoulos FEI, who believes that the art and science of leadership for future energy systems can be cultivated. Dr Michopoulos explains that beyond technical, planning and operating skills developed at the beginning of a professional career, energy industry leaders need soft skills to drive change, overcome challenges and explore opportunities. A new 10-day ‘Executive Leadership in Energy Programme’ by the Energy Institute aims to equip the next generation of energy leaders with these skills and more.

Wind

5/6/2024 News

France commissions first wind farm offshore Brittany

The newly commissioned Saint-Brieuc wind farm is the second fully operational wind farm offshore France, following the inauguration of the Normandy-based Fécamp wind farm last month, and is the first to be located offshore Brittany. The project’s commissioning also comes just weeks after France announced the winners of the world’s first commercial-scale floating offshore wind auction.

New Energy World™

Search results:

Research in hard-to-abate sector offers new possibilities to tackle climate change

Wind-assisted propulsion for shipping

Cold comfort: improving the energy-efficiency of UK building stock

Australia’s first eight-hour battery to be co-located at NSW solar farm

Mega mergers continue in US unconventionals sector

On the move: how mobility and convenience offers are evolving on the fuel retail forecourt

Exploring China’s enormous green energy shift

Transition credits will enable emerging markets to retire coal-fired power plants

Four overlooked leadership skills to navigate confidently the energy transition

France commissions first wind farm offshore Brittany