Despite political claims to the contrary, most of Britain’s FTSE 350 firms are unconcerned with Brexit. A growing number are, however, worried about developments in the wider economy, according to a new survey by ICSA The Governance Institute. Fewer than half the respondents (43%) rated a UK exit from Europe as …
Read More »UK to secure 10% of its power from offshore wind
Despite the best efforts of the UK government, 10 percent of Britain’s energy will be generated from offshore windfarms thanks to a deal between SSE, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and SDIC Power of China, to build Beatrice offshore wind farm, according to industry trade body RenewableUK. RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Hugh McNeal …
Read More »Could we turn trains into batteries?
Without electricity storage, we stand no chance of maintaining our economy using renewable energy. Unfortunately, we lack any scalable battery technology to meet this challenge. However, the problem might be that we are looking for answers in the wrong places. Rather than a single hi-tech solution, a dispersed combination of …
Read More »How would you prefer your collapse?
There are three possible futures for the global economy, according to Satyajit Das at the Independent. First, there is the highly unlikely Lazarus scenario in which the global economy is risen from the dead by the economic wizardry of the central banks: “Such an outcome is unlikely. The fact that …
Read More »What – exactly – are the proponents of renewable energy trying to tell us?
Last week we saw yet another headline proclaiming that another country had produced all of its electricity from renewables. This time it was Portugal; the week before it was the UK that – for all the wrong reasons – went “coal free”. Before that, Germany and Denmark have, on occasion …
Read More »UK bank reforms are no reforms at all
Recent proposals from the UK Competition and Markets Authority bolster the position of the big banks, according to Alex Hawkes at This is Money: “Big banks have to set aside substantially less capital to issue mortgages. They pay rock bottom rates for funding because they are sitting on hundreds of …
Read More »Saudi financial collapse could push oil down to $25 per barrel
Low oil prices since 2014 are taking their toll on the economy of Saudi Arabia according to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph: “Saudi Arabia faces a vicious liquidity squeeze as capital continues to leak out the country, with a sharp contraction of the money supply and mounting stress in the …
Read More »New Orleans is sinking
New Orleans – a city that is already below sea level – is sinking much faster than was previously believed; and it isn’t just climate change that is responsible. New research published in The Journal of Geophysical Research found that the city is sinking by 2 inches (5 cm) per …
Read More »Osborne’s competence questioned as UK economy stalls
It was all meant to be so different. Riding high after an unexpected election victory, and free from the moderating hand of his LibDem coalition partners, George Osborne was finally free to introduce full-blown Tory economic policies. It started to unravel almost immediately, of course. The plan to cut the …
Read More »A new way to settle old climate arguments
Climate denial is primarily an article of faith that boils down to “don’t take my privilege away!” Indeed, it is no accident that climate change denial is most prominent among rich old white men (step forward Donald Trump). However, the task of calling out the deniers is hampered by their …
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