Electronic cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were supposed to provide us with the means to destroy our corrupt banking and finance system without destroying the essential payments system that the global economy depends upon.  Bitcoin has the potential to take down the current system in two ways.  First, the blockchain technology that …

George Osborne has spent the best part of a decade telling everyone else that we need to live within our means.  By which, of course, he means that ordinary people are going to have to pay more in taxes and get less back in public services and benefits in order …

For most people, climate change is about the fossil fuels we burn to generate electricity, heat our buildings and fuel our transport.  But these activities are not the only ones that contribute to climate change.  Nor is the carbon dioxide that they produce the only greenhouse gas we need to …

Oil companies face record pressure from shareholders according to Ed Crooks in the Financial Times.  Concern about climate change policies has resulted in a record number of shareholder resolutions aimed at altering the balance between dividends and investment: “Proposals include calls for ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest US oil groups, …

Chemical company INEOS’ Grangemouth plant has opened for its first shipment of fracked ethane from the USA. Gordon Milne, INEOS Grangemouth Operations Director explained: “When US shale gas finally arrives here in the autumn, this plant will move into the premier league of European petrochemical plants. Bringing the site back …

Data from the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change shows that North Sea oil and gas production rose last year – the first increase since 1999.  Oil production was 13.4 per cent higher and natural gas production was 7.8 per cent higher than in 2014. The additional production came …

According to Rebecca Harrington in Tech Science European countries have added so much renewable energy generation that they are undermining electricity grids that were designed for large-scale fossil fuel generation: “Since renewable energies like wind and solar can’t provide energy 24/7, battery storage captures it for when the wind’s not …

World electric vehicle (EV) sales grew by nearly 60% last year according to a new report from the Frankfurt School. Although EVs only make up a tiny fraction of vehicles on our roads, the fact that sales have grown in the face of low oil prices suggests that they could …

Despite George Osborne’s budget measure to cut around £1bn of supplementary taxes on North Sea oil companies, investment in future production continues to fall. Until now, most of the losses resulting from low oil prices have been felt by the small oil companies.  However, global players like Shell and ConocoPhillips …

As the tide of public opinion tips ever further toward the reality of climate change, a much greater arena of dispute has opened up.  Once we acknowledge that climate change is happening, we move on to the much thornier question of what we should do about it.  Here, the moral …