Far from celebrating Britain going “coal free” last week, I am dreading the short-term consequences. In an apparent triumph for renewable energy, the UK National Grid went coal free on several occasions last week: “In what green energy supporters have described as a “historic turning point” for the UK’s power …

Third Energy’s application to hydraulically fracture an existing gas well at Kirby Misperton in north Yorkshire looks set to be given the go-ahead according to Nina Chestney at Reuters: “[A] report by the head of planning at North Yorkshire County Council was prepared ahead of a meeting of councillors due …

The Energy Act 2016 was passed into law yesterday.  The Act – which is seen as an attack on renewable energy – is designed to promote further development offshore and onshore oil and gas in an attempt to arrest the sharp fall in output from the North Sea fields.  Secretary of …

Faced with an uncertain energy future, Britain’s businesses are voting with their feet.  As we have reported on this site in recent days, supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is planning to generate all of its own energy from biogas, while confectionery manufacturer, Mars aims to operate all 12 of its UK plants …

Pension funds are putting pressure on ExxonMobil to start telling its shareholders how climate change will affect the oil giant’s business, according to Ben Walsh at the Huffington Post: “The California public employee pension fund and the New York City pension fund, which together manage $433 billion in investments, told …

Low oil prices and uncertainty over climate change policy is making an impact on energy companies in the Arctic, according to Helle Abelvik-Lawson at Greenpeace: “Shell, Eni, ConocoPhillips and Iona Energy have surrendered a total of 350 oil drilling leases covering more than 2 million acres of the Arctic Ocean.  …

British energy supplies fell below critical levels on Monday night as several UK power stations broke down, according to Kiran Stacey in the Financial Times: “Power prices jumped to £1,250 per megawatt hour at one point as the company that runs the UK’s electricity network rushed to make sure there …

Following accusations of hypocrisy in the French media, energy minister, Segolene Royal is discussing with French parliament a potential ban on the import of U.S. shale gas. France has banned shale gas exploration using hydraulic fracking for environmental reasons.  However, this has not prevented French energy companies importing liquid natural …

The Financial Times recently started a discussion of the impact of robots and AI on the future of the economy, reflecting concerns about hyper-unemployment in the near future as AI threatens to take over the jobs currently performed by humans. On the one side of the discussion are those who …

Mars is the latest company to choose to generate its own electricity rather than continue to rely upon the UK’s increasingly creaky National Grid.  Its deal with windfarm generator Eneco means that all 12 Mars plants in the UK will be powered by renewable energy.  Keith Findlay at Energy Voice …