The long-term sustainability of the energy sector is at risk from the short-term measures being considered as a solution to the energy crisis. Currently policy makers are focusing too heavily on solutions to manage the upcoming price cap increase, in particular the Default Tariff Cap, without treating the root cause of the energy crisis,
The number of families experiencing fuel stress is set to triple overnight when the price cap is reset, reaching 6.3 million households. According to new research from charity Resolution Foundation, if the price cap increases by around 50% – as it is predicted to by the likes of Cornwall Insight – the number of households that
The ‘use it or lose it’ rule means that Lufthansa is using its routes even when it hasn’t sold seats. The airline company Lufthansa will operate 18,000 “empty, unnecessary” flights this winter that would have otherwise been cancelled due to lack of passengers. The empty flights will run because of rules imposed by the
Labour has called for a windfall tax on North Sea Oil and Gas companies to help fund measures to protect households from expected energy bill increases in April. Oil refinery plant at night With gas prices throughout Europe going up exponentially in 2021 and remaining high into 2022, the price cap is
Vattenfall and its technology provider subsidiary Feenstra are launching a new high-temperature heat pump. A criticism often raised against heat pumps is the need for additional upgrades to heating systems to accommodate their lower temperature, in particular the need for insulation. This can increase the cost and complexity of switching from a traditional gas
Used lithium-ion batteries taken from carmaker Audi’s electric vehicles (EVs) have been repurposed into a ‘second-life’ stationary energy storage system by energy company RWE at a project in Herdecke, Germany. RWE has deployed the system, which has a capacity of around 4.5MWh, at the site of its pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant at
New data has shown that power from fossil fuels on Britain’s electricity grid fell to an all-time low last week, delivering the UK’s greenest Christmas. The data – from Drax Electric Insights – shows that at 23:45 on Wednesday 29 December, fossil fuels generated 1.7GW of electricity, with this just 6% of the power
What is bidirectional V2H charging, and what can I do with it? Wallbox (WBX), the Barcelona, Spain-based charger maker, announced its second generation Quasar 2 bidirectional charger at CES this week, two years after the original Quasar won our best of CES 2020. The upgrades are many for this new charger, which we consider to be
A new law will force car advertisements in France to carry messages that encourage more eco-friendly forms of transport such as cycling and public transport. Many products in France are required to carry warnings: “Smoking kills”; “Avoid eating too much fat”; “Abuse of Alcohol is dangerous for your health”. From March 2022, a new law will
Only new or refurbished commercial buildings should install charge points, the DfT says, citing fears over cost The government has quietly backtracked on proposals to require every shop, office or factory in England to install at least one electric car charger if they have a large car park, prompting criticism by environmental campaigners. The