Chief Scientist & Professor of Exploration Geoscience, Heriot-Watt University
Assistant Professor, Durham University
Chair of Urban & Regional Planning and Director of Canberra Urban & Regional Futures, University of Canberra, Visiting Professor, University of Warwick
Associate Professor in Biophysics, University of Pretoria
Production
Talks could unlock gas: Turkish Cypriot chief
An accord reunifying Cyprus could unlock a deal to pipe gas discovered in fields off Israel, Egypt and Cyprus through Turkey, the Turkish Cyprus President Mustafa Akinci said. Turkey offered a cheap, fast and “logical” route for eastern Mediterranean gas, but a peace deal on the island that has been divided since 1974 must precede […]
Transmission
Hywind sets up learning hub
The consortium behind the Hywind floating wind project says it hopes a high-tech classroom investment in northeast Scotland will create a “ripple effect” and encourage renewable expertise. Norway’s Equinor opened its Hywind Hub at the Peterhead Academy on the North Sea coast. The “ultra-modern” renewables space has break-out areas and turbine models in partnership between […]
Storage
Giant VW’s EV launch looms
Volkswagen is reportedly planning to offer an electric car for less than €20,000 and convert three German factories for EV production. The suggested prices would be about US$10,000 lower than the Chevrolet Bolt and US$7,350 below the Nissan Leaf. The car-making group is due to discuss its plan at a supervisory board meeting on November […]
Consumption
LNG still too costly: oil chiefs
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) has massive potential but is too expensive, fuel bosses have told an industry event. There is great interest in gas chilled to liquid form as an alternative to environmentally ruinous coal as LNG terminals are built across Europe. Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Italian fossil fuel giant Eni, told an […]
Policy
EU ramps up anti-Trump action
The European Union said work “has accelerated” on a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to help avoid Donald Trump’s sanctions on Iran as Brussels tries to preserve the hard-won 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement. The bloc said the move by Swift, the international banking messaging network, to suspend some Iranian banks from the network carried “risks” for […]
Environment
German firm to build Scottish biogas plant
A programme to produce “green” biogas from farm waste and dairy residues for residential and industrial customers is being planned in Scotland, home to many innovative energy pilots. The Dumfries and Galloway plant is being built by Germany’s Bioconstruct, a major European anaerobic digestion equipment supplier. Bioconstruct, based near Osnabrück in northern Germany, is responsible […]
Industry
Russia busts leaky sanctions
Despite talk of diplomatic pressure on Russia, European Union leaders continue to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin, foreign direct investment from Europe still flows and ongoing demand for Russia’s oil and gas exports undermine sanctions. The 2014 seizure of Crimea (pictured) and invasion of eastern Ukraine damaged political ties but the EU’s biggest economies have […]
Opinion
Producing More, Complaining Less: Artificial Intelligence and a New Energy Paradigm
This article is the third of a three-part series on how artificial intelligence is already shaping the global energy system and could revolutionize it in the future. I have argued that artificial intelligence is helping fossil fuels on the supply-side by reducing exploration and production costs and streamlining delivery but could also help renewables surge […]
Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil would be a Disaster for the Amazon and Global Climate Change
Photo: Antonio Scorza / Shutterstock Ed Atkins, University of Bristol It is perhaps a cruel irony that, on the same day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a landmark call for urgent action, Jair Bolsonaro surged to victory in the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections. Although the leader of the far-right Partido Social […]