Guardian: “Britain’s big four high street banks could be forced to pay millions of pounds in compensation to small businesses, after the main City regulator found they mis-sold complex insurance products in more than 90% of cases.” Read more
Solarcentury
The company I founded in 1998 to design and supply solar energy solutions for the built environment. Solarcentury
Solar Aid
The charity I founded in 2006, with a 5% contribution of Solarcentury profits, to help deliver solar lighting to Africa. Solar Aid
UK PM: “We can make Britain a global showcase for green innovation.”
February 4, 2013 Clean Energy
David Cameron, launching the Green Deal: “Make no mistake we are in a global race and the countries that succeed in that race, the economies in Europe that will prosper, are those that are the greenest and the most energy efficient.” Read more
More electricity from wind than any other source in Spain for first time.
February 4, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: “Over the last three months wind farms produced more electricity than any other power source in Spain for the first time ever, an industry group has said.” Read more
Suspect fraud in JP Morgan’s off-balance-sheet practices, former exec says.
February 4, 2013 Finance
Capital Institute: “After apologizing at Davos – but only to his shareholders – according to William Cohan on the Bloomberg View, the JPMorgan Chairman and CEO hastened to add about 2012, “We did have record profits. Life goes on.” Read more
Germany: UK risks being an “island of hedge funds” under Cameron.
February 3, 2013 Finance
Bloomberg: “Cameron’s determination to protect the financial-services powerhouse in London and tame what he sees as the bureaucratic leviathan known as the European Union risks turning his country into an island of hedge funds, in the German view.” Read more
US shale gas boom is sparking an EU coal revival and hiking emissions.
FT: “There was a sharp increase in the level of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming emitted by the European Union’s coal-fired power stations in 2012, analysts say, as plant owners rushed to take advantage of high profits ahead of looming environmental restrictions.” Read more
UK study for DoT shows trains could run 600 miles on a single charge.
February 3, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: “The experts, working on behalf of the )Department of Transport) looked into two options, the first of which would see a relatively small battery – still weighing up to two tonnes – with a shorter range, which would be mechanically swapped at stations.” Read more
Is the US natural gas market in the process of being destroyed?
February 1, 2013 Gas
Dan Dicker on Oilprice.com: “Aubrey McClendon is gone – or at least he’s on his way out from Chesapeake energy. But the destruction of the natural gas market, where he was the ringleader in the shale gas land grab and cratering well price, is his real legacy, and not likely to be recovered from anytime soon. While Aubrey will now go into a very wealthy retirement, he leaves behind a decimated market and a long road to making natural gas a true transition fuel to energy independence and a renewable future.” Read more
Shell has yet to drill a single well in the Arctic and may not in 2013.
January 31, 2013 Oil
FT: ” Shell’s ambitious plans to explore for oil in the Arctic this year are clouding over again. Peter Voser, chief executive, said the two drilling rigs the company is deploying offshore Alaska are both out of action.” Read more
MPs accuse Big 4 accountants of “undermining society.”
January 31, 2013 Finance
FT: “Tax experts at the four biggest accounting firms were accused of undermining the fabric of society on Thursday, as MPs stepped up their scrutiny of corporate tax avoidance.” Read more
Yet another claim on banks: mis-selling of SME insurance.
January 31, 2013 Finance
FSA & Serious Fraud Office investigate Barclays over 2008 Qatar bailout.
January 31, 2013 Finance
FT: “UK authorities are probing an allegation that Barclays loaned Qatar money to invest in the bank as part of its cash call at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, which enabled the bank to avoid a UK government bailout.” Read more
Investors force out gas giant’s CEO as shale gas story clouds.
January 30, 2013 Gas
FT: “Carl Icahn, the corporate raider who was a prime mover behind Aubrey McClendon’s decision to step down as chief executive of Chesapeake Energy could afford to be generous in victory. The appeal to the judgment of history, though, was an indication that in the present, Chesapeake is in deep difficulties” Read more
A renewables revolution despite civil war in energy markets? Possible.
My presentation to Enova 2013 in Trondheim, posted on You-Tube, professionally edited, on the same day as the impressively organised conference. The part in English starts 1 minute in.
UK Green Deal gives no guarantee of saving participants money.
January 28, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: “The government’s flagship “green deal” home insulation programme provides no guarantee of saving money for cash-strapped households, and is unlikely to rescue many from fuel poverty, experts warned ahead of its formal launch on Monday.” Read more
Davos mulls whether fracking is the next big idea.
Heather Stewart sums up the World Economic Forum: “Governments are increasingly pinning their hopes on the fuel (shale gas) as a low-cost energy source, releasing them from dependence on the volatile Middle East.” Read more
US shale oil boom flares so much gas it can been seen from space.
FT: “Oil companies at the heart of the US shale oil boom are burning off enough gas to power all the homes in Chicago and Washington combined in a practice causing growing concern about the waste of resources and damage to the environment.” Read more
Stern: I got it wrong. Climate change is “far, far, worse” than I said.
January 26, 2013 Climate
Guardian: “Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then.” Read more
ETS carbon price crashes to new low as committee votes down rescue.
January 24, 2013 Climate
Guardian: “The EU’s flagship climate policy, its emissions trading scheme (ETS), saw the price of carbon crash to a record low on Thursday after a vote in Brussels against a proposal to support the struggling market.” Read more
Senate majority urges Obama to approve Keystone XL pipeline.
Guardian: A bipartisan majority in the Senate has urged approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Read more
Widespread concern about outlook for global economy in Davos.
January 23, 2013 Finance
Larry Elliot in the Guardian: “Davos has been through some violent mood swings these past five years. First there was denial. Then there was panic. Then there was hope that the worst was over. Now there is nagging concern that this downturn simply won’t come to an end.” Read more
Solar companies sue UK government for feed-in tariff damages.
January 23, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: 17 solar companies are to sue DECC for damages as a result of the December 2011 “ambush” feed-in tariff cut, after which the market shrunk 90% and thousands lost their jobs. The sum sought is £140 million.
Spiralling nuclear costs at EDF threaten dividend.
January 22, 2013 Nuclear
Business Week: “Electricite de France SA’s near record dividend is at risk for the first time in four years as costs spiral at the world’s biggest atomic-power producer.” Read more
“Four factors bringing down the curtain on global growth”: Tullett Prebon.
January 21, 2013 Finance
FT alphaville posts a very thought-provoking Tullet Prebon report. “Perfect Storm: Energy, finance and the end of growth.” Read more