LATEST: 
The distorted logic of shale gas, December 15th
A response to Dieter Helm's book The Carbon Crunch

PREVIOUS:“British Engineers produce amazing petrol from air technology” - So does it stack up?.. MORE


ROUNDUP  October 20th 2012
The Energy Shambles reminds us: we need to take the politics out of energy
This week’s chapter in what tweeters are calling the #EnergyShambles was indeed just like an episode of the Thick of It.... MORE

ROUNDUP October 13th:
Ofgem warns of power shortage, ran the headlines on October 5th, which is old news but has been strangely quiet over recent years. Ofgem now predict capacity margins down from 14% to 4% in the winter of 2015-16, all adding pressure to the EMR legislation going through.... MORE

PREVIOUS:
In a whole series of bizarre policy U-turns creating huge uncertainty for the UK energy industry, George Osborne and the Treasury have succeeded over the past year in significantly reducing the UK's prospects for growth .....  MORE
This site is a focus for writing, research and communication on the economics, physics and politics of the question: How to Power the Planet?

I am seeking to communicate and develop a set of core ideas with the aim of encouraging more robust policy. 

Robert Webb

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Humanity is up against the limits. We are now on track for six degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels - almost certainly creating a highly inhospitable planet. It all comes back to energy. A transition to power the planet from clean and abundant energy sources is the first step necessary to face shortages of food, water and key resources.

The good news is that the transition is well under way. Each year hundreds of billions is invested in clean energy worldwide, and key industries are growing at 30-50% per year. But it is not yet happening fast enough, so the big question is: how do we accelerate it?
Picture
The graph shows a potential outcome for our energy supply if we get the right policies. This would give us a coin-toss chance of remaining within 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.