Blackouts were common across Cuba during the 1990s. Today, the country is once again in the midst of an energy crisis as power shortages push Cubans’ patience to the limits, and remind many of the decades of government failings.
Tag: energy
The price of cooking oils and fats has gone up dramatically. Indonesia has even banned exports of palm oil. Suddenly, what type of oil and how we use it to fry foods, dress salads and process products has become an ever more important question.
The European Union has prepared the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes restrictions on Russian oil imports, as well as disconnecting more Russian banks from the SWIFT bank circuit. The effectiveness of these measures are not always visible, but they are real … and potentially fatal .. for the Russian economy.
Against the backdrop of skyrocketing electricity and gas prices, the idea of houses that produce their own energy is more attractive than ever.
With its vast untapped resources up for grabs, the Arctic region is where the climate crisis is now inextricably linked to a new global arms race. Now Moscow finds itself shut out in the cold after invading Ukraine.
In an attempt to shore up its failing economy, Russia is trying to blackmail the West and asking to be paid in rubles for its natural gas. However, such a move is unlikely to help Moscow in the long-term. And the important question still remains of how the EU will manage without Russian gas.
While the strategic issues are still being debated, the Indian government has dismissed the moral issue by concluding a cheap oil agreement with Russia. But are Indian consumers prepared to accept the true cost of discount Russian oil?
The United States expects Germany to put a halt to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. But the Americans are not mentioning the fact that they themselves import plenty of oil from Russia.
Can Puerto Rico’s abundant sunshine and ambitious women unlock its renewable energy potential?
The Islamic Republic of Iran has no shortage of oil and gas. And yet, its people and industries are having to contend right now with regular power cuts. The question, then, is why, and what — if anything — the Iranian government can hope to do about it.
Five Questions for the Head of Business Innovation at Veolia on the launch of its new ‘Open Playground’ program.
Venezuela’s PDVSA, once among the world’s most powerful oil firms, was transformed and largely gutted under Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. But the story is more complicated than it may seem.
Lockdowns, travel restrictions and the shift toward remote working have combined to cut global demand for oil. Moscow hopes it’s all just a passing trend. But is that really the safest bet?
Chinese-backed projects are bringing irreperable damage to the Mekong, the largest freshwater fish source in the world feeding millions of people living along its banks.
The finance mechanism for sustainable infrastructure, energy and industry may be the ultimate key to curbing, and partly reversing, the harms of climate change.
Wind-powered homes are expected to generate power and kickstart development in a ‘dreamy’ but isolated part of the southern province of Santa Cruz.
In the Balkans, developers are rushing to install hydroelectric plants on Europe’s last untapped river systems. Activists — including an unlikely group of Bosnian villagers — are fighting back.
With its abundance of sunshine and adequate wind, Egypt is well suited to embrace green-energy alternatives. Instead it’s opting for old-fashioned coal.
With the help of a talented young engineer, demobilized FARC fighters are using an Archimedes screw hydro turbine to power a remote enclave.
PARIS — This past summer, Parisians bid adieu to Autolib”, a pioneering electric-car-sharing service that came to a premature demise after operating for fewer than seven years. But that doesn’t mean the French capital is turning its back on the overall concept. There is a plan B in the works, though what exactly it will […]
Wind power has its drawbacks, especially in central German region of Hesse, where developers want to erect generators in wooded areas like the Reinhardswald, of Brothers Grimm fame.
Rescuing the planet from the ravages of capitalism may be just the thing our dominant economic system needs to save itself, columnist Jean-Marc Vittori argues.
A waste processing center in the Argentine capital turns almost half the city’s refuse into reusable materials such as compost, wood chips and plastic pellets.
A popular tourist destination in the Adriatic sea is bracing for the construction of a floating, 400-million-euro regasification facility.
As the world moves to reduce the role of hydrocarbons, Argentina must exploit the biofuels potential of its vast farming sector, not entertain dreams of becoming a regional oil power like Venezuela.
A young designer from Paris is applying his knowledge about natural light to the narrow streets of the Argentine capital.
CHRISTOPHERSEN — Argentina’s Adecoagro, an industrial farming multinational has turned one of its dairy farms into a surprising source of power. A new technique for generating energy from cow dung has now proven to supply enough electricity from cowpat to power a town of 5,000 residents. Its biodigester system with a 1.4 MW capacity, began […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Drilling operations have begun off the coast of Cyprus despite Ankara’s threats against the Cypriot government. And for French oil and gas multinational Total and its Italian partner, ENI, hopes for a huge payout are running high. As IHS Markit reported earlier this year, the “Onisiforos’ operation, as it’s known, is expected […]
LAUSANNE — A Swiss-based charity, Race For Water Foundation, wants to turn the PlanetSolar catamaran into a floating display of emerging hydrogen technologies. “That’s unprecedented on a boat,” says Alexandre Closset, CEO of Swiss Hydrogen. “For the first time, a full hydrogen chain will be installed on a boat.” The electric vessel, the first to […]
-Analysis- WARSAW — For the Polish government, coal is nothing to worry about. Sixteen Polish cities exceeded the annual limit of days with smog in the first two months of this year alone. And still, the government hasn’t taken any steps to restrict poisonous coal dust or remove the fossil fuel from the market. Coal […]
The Thyon tourism office rents innovative ‘tiny houses’ to ski vacationers: 56 square feet, fun and environmentally friendly. But it’s not so simple.
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From Oil Pipelines To Green Bonds
PARIS — Even as President Trump appears clearly convinced that eight years of Obama environmental policy were bad for business, other governments are betting on the massive investments that energy transition requires. Le Figaro reports that France has become the world’s second country to issue green bonds, raising a record 7 billion euros ($7.5 billion) […]
PARIS — Solar has become the new energy El Dorado. With the price of solar panels plummeting, solar energy has developed spectacularly in recent years. Less than 10 years ago, there were only a few gigawatts (GW) of new solar panels installed each year. This year, new capacity should represent more than 70 GW, up […]
ACCRA — It’s a hot and humid night in this capital city and a long line waits at the entrance of Papaye, Ghana’s top fast-food chain and a symbol of the country’s burgeoning middle class. But the restaurant seems closed, its neon lights turned off. The restaurant’s staff struggle to turn on the generator. A […]
People who seek therapies to boost their health and outlook often experiment with a number of different methods, either simultaneously or in quick succession, hurting their chances for improvement.
“Saving the Planet” isn’t enough. Activists must begin to think about other ways to push people towards an ecological approach to life.
PECS — When they first took the plunge two years ago, farmers around Pécs may have only seen it as a way to improve profit margins. Certainly nothing wrong with that. But as time went by, their foray into alternative energy production turned out to be much for this group of 50 pioneers, who live […]
Muslims are supposed to save water, Christians and Jews energy. In the past, we blamed those ideologies for ecological crises.
The U.S. was once vulnerable to the geopolitics of energy reserves. Now American shale gas exploration offers foreign policy muscle in the face of the Saudis, Russians and Iranians.