Energy Archives

Certain fluorescent and halogen light bulbs are being banned as of Wednesday (1 September) as new ecodesign and labelling rules come into force across the European Union.

Google will invest in the expansion of its cloud data centres and renewable energy facilities, though critics continue to accuse it of showing a lack of ambition on innovative green technologies. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Five million Germans watched their future Chancellor debate environmental issues on Sunday (29 August), amid calls from prominent think-tanks who highlighted Germany’s legal obligation to cut emissions 65% by 2030.

Norway on Friday began to pump natural gas from the third stage of its offshore Troll field, a development that will extend the deposit's producing lifetime beyond 2050, operator Equinor said on Monday (30 August).

With the German elections less than a month away, the country’s agreed 2038 coal exit looks increasingly untenable. Yet, with voters increasingly concerned about the climate, leaders' past policy choices are coming back to haunt them.

A geothermal power plant in the UK has discovered the highest concentration of lithium ever found in geothermal fluid, opening the door to a new business model for the renewable energy source.

Germany’s youngest coal-fired power plant, Datteln 4, was constructed based on an invalid development plan, a German court ruled on Thursday (26 August), following a case brought against the plant in the north-west of the country.

Challenges to ecological and social sustainability require us to integrate limits to resource consumption into all areas, including residential space, write Doris Fuchs, Sylvia Lorek, Pia Mamut and Nils Blossey.

An August research paper by two US scholars, Robert Howarth and Mark Jacobson, cast doubt over the environmental merits of 'blue' hydrogen made from fossil gas with carbon capture technology, triggering fierce reactions from commentators and the industry.

If Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to help save Greece – and the planet – from the climate emergency, the changes his government must make are dramatic, writes Jonathan Gant.

As the debate on renewable energies and nuclear rages across France, nuclear proponents, environmentalists, scientists and politicians will have to set aside their differences in order to advance the energy transition. EURACTIV France reports.

The UK hydrogen strategy, unveiled last week (17 August), has many similarities with the EU’s own blueprint presented one year before, analysts say. Some consider that the UK is likely to become a rule-taker at the end of the day.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is not exempt from European Union rules that require the owners of pipelines to be different from the suppliers of the gas that flows in them to ensure fair competition, a German court ruled.

Denmark and Costa Rica are trying to forge an alliance of countries willing to fix a date to phase out oil and gas production and to stop giving permits for new exploration, government ministers said and documents showed.

Increasing their share of renewable energy is crucial to the Western Balkans, but this must be done using the right technology for the region and with support from the European Union, argue Viola von Cramon-Taubadel and Thomas Waitz.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday (22 August) called for an agreement to extend Russian gas transit through Ukraine, in an attempt to reassure Kyiv over the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will carry gas to Europe while bypassing the country.

A German regional court will decide whether European Union rules requiring the separation of energy production from transportation and trade must be applied to the Nord Stream 2 (NS 2) gas pipeline, the court's website showed on Thursday (19 August).

Solar power supply in the European Union during June and July rose to a record high in 2021, accounting for 10% of total electricity produced in the region, a report by independent climate think-tank Ember said on Wednesday (18 August).

Slovenian environmental NGOs have called on infrastructure minister Jernej Vrtovec to use the country's EU presidency to propose a political discussion on the bloc exiting the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) at an energy ministers' meeting in September.

The European Commission has rejected a Spanish request to change the rules that underpin member states' electricity markets as power prices in the country hit record highs, Spain's Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera said on Thursday (12 August).

Power and gas exporter Norway should seek to reclaim authority over energy regulation from the European Union as a first step towards renegotiating its wider ties with the bloc, the leader of the eurosceptic opposition Centre Party told Reuters.

Without pricing CO2 emissions from buildings and transport, Europe will miss its -55% emissions target, but it must be introduced bearing in mind the political and societal risks, particularly in countries like Poland, writes Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera.

Including buildings in an emissions trading scheme will have a limited impact on emissions. The EU must also focus on an ambitious revision of the energy performance of buildings directive to ensure that emissions are sufficiently decreased, writes Monica Frassoni.

The recent overhaul of European climate legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 is a good first step towards supporting geothermal energy, but goes little further, according to a former Bulgarian environment minister.