Featured Posts
Windfall tax harms oil and gas production and must be cut
In May last year, the UK Government introduced a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies [...]
Why Norway’s views on energy security should ring alarm bells across Europe
Norway's energy security would appear to be a done deal, yet the past couple of years have been very [...]
Addressing the high real cost of renewable generation
Over the past few months we have been inundated with claims from interested parties that more renewables are the [...]
Recent Posts
Germany-Austria electricity zone to spilt due to renewable power spills into neighbouring grids
The German electricity system has been celebrating record levels of renewable generation, with 85% of the electricity consumed in the country on 30 April coming from renewable sources. However, this high level of renewable energy is not without cost [...]
The General Election: nothing to get excited about for energy
This week the main political parties published their manifestos ahead of the General Election next month. In this post I will explore what they mean for the energy markets. The current political landscape has resulted in a very interesting [...]
Barriers to effective retail competition need to be removed
Retail price caps continue to make the news, as "dealing" with rising energy prices is seen as a popular move in the run up to the General Election. As has now been argued many times, including in this blog, [...]
Can energy price caps ever work?
Last week the Conservative Party has announced a manifesto commitment to an energy price cap, despite warnings from across the industry, including in this blog, that the idea is unlikely to work, and may have significant unintended adverse consequences. [...]
Building energy efficiency forecasts appear to be largely useless
Following on from my previous post on energy efficiency, I was very interested to read about a recent study by the University of Bath which shows a significant gap between the forecast energy efficiency of new buildings and their actual [...]
Is the theory of peak oil demand any more credible than its supply-side cousin?
Peak oil has been in the news again over the last week, but this time in relation to the theory of peak oil demand. This recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute, explores a number of potential long-term themes [...]
Watt-Logic: an interesting year of innovation in the energy markets
Today my blog on energy innovation, Watt-Logic is one year old! It’s been an interesting and unexpected year. A year of surprises... A year ago Brexit was still seen as a somewhat unlikely prospect, as was President Trump, yet [...]
New York REV: a case study in whole system re-design
I have highlighted in recent posts some areas of regulatory reform that are needed in order to deliver the energy transition at the lowest possible cost. This is a complex challenge, so it is interesting to consider the work [...]
Energy efficiency measures should be a no-brainer, so why are businesses so reluctant?
This week I attended an event run by the Energy Institute on whether in the context of the UK’s industrial strategy the policy can keep up with the energy market. One comment that was made repeatedly was that UK [...]
Disruptive innovations in the energy sector
13 April 1892 saw the birth of Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar, and descendant of Scottish inventor James Watt after whom the unit of power was named. Also on this day in 1960 the first satellite navigation system [...]
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