Rethinking our energy needs
The fact is that plastics are a miracle material and could even be the very thing that saves humanity from catastrophic climate change. The problem in our oceans isn’t plastics, it’s what we do with them. Over the years, we got lazy – creating an infinite number of singleuse, throwaway items like bags, drinking straws […]
SunFunder is a specialist finance company that has unlocked $62 million for solar enterprises from 2012-17. In doing so, it has experimented with a range of structures to increase investment – and discovered ways to help the sector scale-up to a long-term sustainable future, sourcing larger amounts of capital from commercial investors. The Energy Access […]
SIDS are on the frontlines of climate change. Despite having done little to cause it, the effects of a warming planet are already beginning to adversely affect livelihoods and security for millions who call islands around the world home. Yet islands are nothing if not resilient, and their collective commitments to renewable energy are proof […]
COP23 in Bonn this month reaffirmed that sub-national regions lead the energy transition. Not only can they lead, they are actually leading by example. This is true in Europe, the United States and in the small island developing states (SIDS) that in effect act as a unified region calling for the rest of the world […]
One of the main challenges facing the Caribbean is the energy market.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their efforts to advance renewable energy. Engaged with over 180 countries, IRENA serves as a platform for international cooperation, a center of excellence,and a repository of renewable energy policy, technology, resource, and financial knowledge. IRENA provides practical tools and policy advice, […]
Coal-fired power plants benefit from preferential treatment in the sense that they are exempt from the “polluter pays” principle enshrined in EU treaties. A collapsing EU ETS makes it artificially cheap to emit CO2 at around 5 euros/ton. Unfortunately, the reforms of the ETS put forward by the European Commission for 2020-2030 are not enough […]
Energy is affecting all of our economies and100% of our populations day and night. It plays a key role for our security, our competitive ness,but also our environment andcomfort of life. In the light of the on-going Russia-Ukraine tensions, European energy security cannot be taken for granted and at the same time, with the liberalisation […]
This is a historic period. The year of 2015 will hopefully be remembered as the turning point in the global fight against climate change and in the European transition towards a low-carbon economy. In December this year, global leaders will convene in Paris to negotiate an international framework for reducing our carbon footprint, right before […]
The Kawah Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia, has one of the largest sulphur mines in the world and the only mine that is still quarried manually. Hundreds of men from the surrounding areas undertake the task of retrieving blocks of sulphur from the crater of the volcano. They trek down the perpendicular path from the […]
Europe is the world’s leading investor in renewable energies, representing together an annual turnover of more than €137 billion and providing over 1.1 million jobs in Europe. In collaboration with the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), Revolve launched an initiative to highlight the human dimension of renewables by showing workers on projects around Europe. Coming […]
Buildings are a pillar of society – places where we work, rest, study, and where Europeans spend, on average, 90% of their time. Buildings consume over one third of the European energy supply, and cause the related amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The construction industry is one of the biggest economic players in Europe. Buildings […]
How can cities and urban areas confronted with climate change, urbanization and population growth create more sustainable futures? Planning and developing sustainable cities is a high priority around the world and a crucial component of global sustainability given rapidly increasing numbers of urbanites. Leaders and decision-makers are faced with difficult choices on how to simultaneously make […]
$1 trillion worth of undeveloped mineral resources: this figure has become a common reference to describing the potential of Afghanistan’s extractive industry. Referring to Soviet maps that were saved and preserved by Afghan geologists, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) team surveyed Afghanistan between 2004 and 2007 to map its mineral potentials. Data collection and […]
“Bwala five five” is the name given by waste pickers to the main dumpsite of Koforidua, a town of 130,000 inhabitants in eastern Ghana. On a regular working day, about 15 women and children work on the site, picking whatever may have some value from the rubbish deposited by municipal garbage trucks. They come equipped […]
Certified sustainable bioenergy production in Africa is feasible and necessary. Sierra Leone and many other African states are ready to prove it, but they need predictable and attractive markets, such as the EU’s 10% renewable energy target in transport. Sierra Leone, like the whole African continent, is undergoing rapid change. Attracting investment, improving the business […]
Water and energy are inextricably linked. Water is fundamental to nearly all energy processes, while energy is required to treat, transport and extract water. Despite their interdependency and critical role in our lives and sustainable development, countries and governments worldwide continue to struggle to integrate energy and water into planning and investment decisions. Two thirds […]
When we talk about building a future based on more renewable energy, we usually think of cleaner production, replacing fossil fuels, overcoming dependency on highly volatile fossil fuel prices, fewer emissions and other issues which might sometimes seem abstract. But there is another face to the transition to renewable energies, one which witnesses the concrete […]
In no other place in the world is wind energy used for so many different purposes as between Morocco and Mauritania – all within an intricately inter-related system including scientists, academia, government agencies, industrial companies and NATO – that ultimately could benefit the lives of millions of people. The winds that blow along the Atlantic […]
In Jharia, in the Jharkhand state of eastern India, coal mining, scavenging and picking plays an overwhelming role in the lives of 600,000 inhabitants. Once abundant woodlands, Jharia is now an apocalyptic landscape of contaminated soil, water and air. Coal seam fires spew around 1.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere […]
