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Rebalancing energy levies is a practical way to increase the electrification of heat

By Jan Rosenow, Richard Lowes
Every year households in the UK install about 1.7 million gas boilers. In May, the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council reported that 2021 looks to be a record year for gas boiler sales, with year-to-date sales up 41 per cent from 2020. So far, low-carbon heating occupies a small — although growing — niche in the heating market. One important factor suppo... Read More

Trust, not control: Germany, EVs and the power of consumer choice

By Andreas Jahn, Jaap Burger, Jan Rosenow
‘How electric vehicles endanger electricity supply’ rang the alarm in a major German newspaper in 2018. The author warned that the local electricity networks would collapse if people returned from work in the evening and all charged their cars at the same time, a fear that kept many network operators up at night. The government that, eight years prior, had... Read More

From laggard to leader: How the UK can capitalise on the heat pump opportunity

By Richard Lowes
The urgent tone of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report, published on the ninth of August this year, shows the clear and stark need for immediate and rapid greenhouse gas emission reductions. Globally, across the EU and in the UK, heat pumps are seen as a vital technology to remove emissions from heating where fossil fuels cu... Read More

The Unsung Hero of the Climate Fight: Energy Efficiency

By Elaine Prause
It’s official: There is absolutely no time to waste, and our mission is clear. Whether or not you were surprised by the key findings from the recently released Working Group 1 contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this version is the most direct yet in stating findings that warming is human-induced and ... Read More

Lapping the Field: A Model Approach to Managing EV Adoption in Connecticut

By David Littell, Donna Brutkoski
Sales growth of plug-in vehicles well outpaced the auto industry as a whole over the first half of 2021 — just another piece of evidence that utilities and regulators must move quickly and thoughtfully to meet the fast-increasing demand for electric-vehicle infrastructure. Now the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has pulled to the fro... Read More

In a Quickly Changing World, Gas Utilities and Regulators Need a Plan

By Megan Anderson
America’s favorite fictional salesman of propane and propane accessories, Hank Hill, may have said it best: “When you plan ahead, then when things happen, you're prepared.” Changes in the energy sector have big ramifications for the way utilities serve the current 70 million residential and 3.5 million commercial and industrial consumers of fossil gas in... Read More

Electrification: Using more to emit less

By Jan Rosenow
Estimating the emissions savings associated with electrification is complex. A number of analysts have made admirable attempts to appraise emissions savings resulting from a shift to electric vehicles (EVs) from internal combustion engine vehicles or to electric heat pumps from gas condensing boilers. These studies show electrification leads to significant reduct... Read More

Unwinding Finance for Coal Power in China: The Role of Power Sector Reform

By Max Dupuy
Building on its commitment to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060, China’s government recently pledged to “strictly control” coal power capacity over the next five years, before beginning to phase it out in subsequent years. Yet, despite these targets and the weakening underlying economics of coal-fired power plants relativ... Read More

“十四五”规划：西北地区电力行业转型下一步怎么走？

By Wang Xuan
在国际能源转型的大浪潮下，制定中国电力行业低碳发展路线的工作也在逐步深入。习近平总书记在2020年底气候雄心峰会上宣布，到2030年，中国单位国内生产总值二氧化碳排放将比2005年下降65%以上，非化石能源占一次能源消费比重将达到25%左右，风电、太阳能发电总装机容... Read More

How the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive risks destroying Europe’s forests

By Dominic Scott, Jan Rosenow, Samuel Thomas
In meeting their 2020 renewable energy targets, EU Member States have overseen large increases in renewable power. But this has been accompanied by a less welcome development: a near doubling in the amount of energy derived from solid biomass, which is currently classified as zero carbon. The majority of this biomass comes from the EU’s forests – and a maj... Read More

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