Yes, they really do exist. Subsidies for the use of fossil fuels. Obviously this is insane when we’ve also got huge subsidies for the use of non-fossil fuels. The thing is though, it’s different countries offering the different subsidies. It’s the rich western countries subsidising non-fossil while the fossil fuel subsidies are all in poor

Unconventional fuels, that is gas or oil from coal, shale and tar sands are a bit helpful for security of supply but about the worst thing going for the environement. How much energy do we get for every pound of carbon we send into the atmosphere? Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, meaning they consist of atoms of

The European Investment Bank has been accused of funding the fossil fuel industry with €16 billion of loans since 2007, more than that stumped up for any other energy source.  More »

Geoffrey Lean: Reducing consumption of fossil fuels saves money Sadly it’s all a little more complex than that: if that’s all there were to it then we’d all be cutting our consumption of fossil fuels and there wouldn’t be any problem, would there? We can reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, of course: if we decide to reduce

With smart meters gradually being rolled out across Europe, households are expected to gain full control over their electricity consumption, helping the fight against global warming and putting more renewable energy onto the electricity grid.   EurActiv Links:  European Commission: Smarter use of energy European Commission: Commission Recommendation on mobilising Information and Communic...

Just as with our gas supply, diversity of sources increases our energy security: renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear are not mutually exclusive. They work together to make our energy system more resilient. Our aim is a policy that is technology-neutral. We want to encourage competitive tension between all forms of generation, to get the best

Despite Gordon's claims to the contrary, nobody seems to believe him that Britain is "best placed to weather the global financial turbulence", not the currency markets, not foreign investors and nor now the European Commission. The FT reports that the Commission is forecasting EU growth will slow from 1.4% cent this year to just 0.2% in 2009, while the eurozone economy would expand by 1.2% this ye...

The gas crisis exposed the vulnerability of the European Union to outside disturbances and lack of interconnection in the energy area. What is the EC Commission doing to tackle the problems? *** The Commission’s Legislative and Work Programme 2009, Acting now for a better Europe (Brussels, 5.11.2008 COM(2008) 712 final), deals with Climate Change and Sustainable Europe as the second priority...

The European Commission has proposed yesterday a wide-ranging energy package which gives a new boost to energy security in Europe, supporting the 20-20-20 climate change proposals which should be agreed by December.

I thought I would share some recent correspondence I had with the Labour PPC for Charnwood Eric Goodyer on the subject of Oil and Gas Security:- Good morning Roger I hope that you are well. Putting aside our differences on renewable energy, I have a question for you on fossil fuels. How would you propose to ensure