2022

Lawmakers in Japan call for faster restart of nuclear plants amid energy crisis. Japan’s government must do more to win public support for restarting nuclear power plants. The energy crisis is putting nuclear power in the spotlight, says the industry’s former top regulator. “The government must face the people and have a proper discussion.” Shunichi […]

The EU directive on CO₂ limits stipulates that no new cars and vans with combustion engines may be registered in the European Union from 2035. If this directive remains unchanged, this could have far-reaching consequences: A boomerang for climate protection may be looming. No compromises with the combustion engine In the second week of June

Japan is stepping up its appeal to citizens and businesses to save electricity. The country is facing an energy supply shortage and escalating fuel import costs this summer. In addition, the yen has fallen sharply. The government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida convened a national meeting to discuss the outlook for electricity supply. The government

The expansion of wind power is not progressing. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Grüne) has now presented a plan to accelerate the expansion of wind power. Among other things, the distance rules to residential areas are to be abolished if necessary. Does Habeck now want wind turbines on every doorstep? Conservationists fear great legal

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, warns: Europe could run out of fuel this summer with the start of the holiday season. The energy expert sees the current energy crisis as much greater than in the two oil crises of 1973 and 1979/80, which is why he is calling on European countries to

In his programme for the decarbonisation of Germany, Economics Minister Habeck relies on the rapid expansion of solar and wind power plants. However, since these only produce electricity when weather conditions permit, electricity storage facilities are to temporarily store surplus electricity and release it back into the grid when demand increases. Our guest author Hans

At the end of the year, the last three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany will finally be taken off the grid. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner now wants to discuss their continued use of nuclear power. This will add a lot of fuel to the fire in the new government with traffic lights. A

With his Easter package, Robert Habeck wants to drastically accelerate the expansion of renewable energies. In particular, he wants to greatly accelerate the expansion of wind power plants. However, too few applications were received in response to the tenders of the Federal Network Agency in May, so that the line in the sum of all

Habeck’s Easter package provides for the massive expansion of solar installations. In the process, the traffic light government wants to introduce a solar roof obligation for buildings that are not used for residential purposes by 2023. In Baden-Württemberg, there is a solar roof obligation also for residential buildings, the construction of which will take place

The gas supply in Germany is highly uncertain due to the Ukraine war and the associated sanctions against Russia. Economics Minister Habeck is trying to prepare the country for a possible gas shortage by quickly changing existing laws. In the process, gas consumption in the event of a gas shortage is initially to be reduced

The electricity supply in Switzerland will already be critical in the coming winter. This is the result of a study commissioned by the Swiss Confederation. Depending on the scenario assessed, there could be widespread power cuts lasting from 48 hours to 10 days. Until now, the responsible electricity regulator Elcom has only expected bottlenecks in

Due to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck expects a dramatic increase in heating costs in autumn. Meanwhile, he fears that the debate about this could endanger social peace in Germany. Habeck fears for social peace On the ZDF programme Maybritt Illner, Habeck said: “We will see a

On 6 June, the White House in Washington released US President Biden’s emergency executive order on electricity generation capacity. The President of the United States Joseph R.Biden Jr. is using the executive order to declare an emergency with respect to the threat to the availability of sufficient electricity generation capacity to meet anticipated customer demand.

Thieves have found a new source for stealing copper: Wind turbines. Several tonnes of copper cable are laid in modern wind turbines and have thus become interesting for copper thieves. The police receive reports of such thefts almost weekly. Thieves steal copper because the metal, like many other metals, is currently in short supply and