We saw it from the distance when we were in Iceland just a few weeks ago, but little did we know just how deep the geothermal well on the Reykjanes peninsular had reached, nor just how incredibly hot it was. Fresh reports from the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) reveal that their newest bore hole has reached a…
Tag: energy
The importance of context: why Iceland’s colossal electricity consumption is not so bad after all…
Having just been out in Iceland with my students where we visited one of their vast networks of geothermal greenhouses it comes as no surprise to me to find that Iceland currently consumes the most electricity per capita than any other country in the world. I may not have put it at number 1, but…
Horizontal fracking gets the green light in Lancashire
It’s hugely controversial and locally very divisive but this week, for the first time, horizontal fracking for shale gas has been approved in Lancashire. The UK government has not given up on its pursuit of natural gas and it is likely that this will be the first of many attempts to access potential gas reserves…
Hinkley gets the final go ahead
It has been a decision delayed since July but today the new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point has finally been given the go ahead and looks set to set the tone for future energy sources in the UK: Hinkley Point approved The graph of projected energy use, shared in this article by BBC News from…
Can carbon capture really be compared to renewable energy sources?
The appeal of gas-powered power plants has been waning justifiably under the growing global pressure to cut CO2 emissions and slow climate change. The UK in particular is under growing pressure to switch to renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar or nuclear energy but the change, as in many MEDCs, is slow to…
Promise of UK off-shore wind farm: too good to be true?
Mammoth British wind farm gets the go ahead: Britain is getting greener after a project to build over 300 off-shore wind turbines which will generate enough electricity to power 1.8 million homes has been given the go ahead. Located in Hornsea, off the Yorkshire coast this will be the world’s biggest off-shore wind farm to date. Very exciting…
To frack or not to frack?
Fracking compensation: the proposal to give pay-outs to residents heightens the controversy: Fracking pay-outs proposed
Supply and demand: the fickle oil market
Despite a globally dwindling supply, despite a continuous growth in energy consumption, oil prices victim to the caprices of the global market. A flooded oil market has made this dwindling resource bizarrely cheap… for the moment anyway: Oil prices plummet
