This week, I have been visiting South Africa to promote the many benefits of why renewable energy will be hugely beneficial to South Africa’s energy mix.
South Africa visit
August 20th, 2010Funding Europe’s future
July 30th, 2010Last week in this column I spoke about the Supergrid and how it will bring revolutionary change to Europe in terms of the free trade of electricity, security of supply, clean sustainable energy and so on. That it will create a leading global position for Europe in the transition to a low carbon economy.
Grids, grids, my kingdom for the Supergrid
July 26th, 2010Once off transition to sustainability
This world of ours is on a once off transition to sustainability. Over three centuries its population will have moved from 600 million to 9.2 billion. There is no rule stipulating that the resources which were adequate in the past will be sufficient for the future. There are many basic raw materials whose abundance cannot be assumed for the future. Oil is depleting rather rapidly, water is becoming scarce in many regions. Metals such as platinum, lithium and phosphorous are scarce.
Climate Deniers
July 7th, 2010While addressing KPMG in Ireland last week I paid tribute to the climate deniers who did such a magnificent job of telling the big lie before Copenhagen last year.
SUSTAINABILITY, ENTROPY AND RISK
June 9th, 2010The world is on a once off transition to sustainability. I often ask myself the question: what does sustainability mean? For me it is ultimately about humans being able to grow, thrive and ultimately leave Earth to colonise elsewhere. It is about civilization and its ongoing ability to provide a societal mode of behaviour based on for instance the values best expressed by Confucious. We in the West have evolved a fine civilisation emanating from the ancient Greeks but refined by the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the lessons learned from a history of conflict.
On Delivering a Speech
June 8th, 2010Having recently made a speech during which a fair number of people walked out, I decided it was high time to write down some guidelines for myself. Of course I will have to stick to them then!
Supergrid
April 30th, 2010I would like to return to a subject that I have often spoken about before. The subject is the Supergrid. Those who are familiar with my history over the past eight years will know that I consider this issue to be one of the most important. What I had not realized until very recently is just how relevant the Supergrid is right now.
Wind: The cheapest solution for electricity generation in South Africa
February 12th, 2010Continuation of the theme that wind and other renewable power sources reduce the cost of providing an electricity service.
Renewables are expensive, we all know that
January 21st, 2010Mr. Brian Dames the COO of Generation in South Africa’s ESKOM said that “renewables are expensive, we all know that. We are a moderate wind country and we will exploit that”.
Those who live in Glasshouses…
January 15th, 2010An article appeared on the Financial Times on Thursday 7th January. It argues that nuclear is the cheapest low carbon electricity source. The article was written by Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of the French owned EDF energy, which plans to build at least four new reactors in Britain at a cost of around £20 billion. In particular, the claim was made that nuclear is the cheapest large-scale low-carbon electricity source.
