Energy policy is confronted by two major challenges. First, fossil fuels will become ever more scarce and expensive in coming years, a trend which will intensify conflicts for the control of natural resources. Second, the burning of fossil fuels-particularly coal-is leading to an increase in...

Methane is a greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide. This is entirely unwarranted. Being 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, methane accounts for about one-sixth of all anthropogenic (i.e. human-induced) greenhouse gas...

In the course of current climate negotiations, the world is watching the United States in particular. Together with China, the U.S. is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Real progress in protecting the global climate requires substantial action on America's part. The U.S. has the...

Electric vehicle drives offer a number of advantages over conventional internal combustion engines, especially in terms of lower local emissions, higher energy efficiency, and decreased dependency upon oil. Yet there are significant barriers to the rapid adoption of electric cars, including the...

International experts agree that the emission of greenhouse gases by mankind is rising further and further, and causing climate change. This can clearly be seen in the rise in the average global temperature and sea level. It is also evident in the increase in extreme weather events and natural...

The relations between Russia and the EU with respect to energy and climate policies have been characterized in recent months by two phenomena. On the one hand, the EU has to deal with questions regarding the security of energy supply. The Russian government's high-handed treatment of domestic...

The anthropogenic climate change will persist if the global volume of greenhousegas emissions will not be reduced significantly. A dangerous and irreversibleclimate change will occur if atmospheric concentrations of greenhousegases in the year 2100 exceed 450 ppm and global surface temperatureis...

The German electricity market is facing two major challenges: competition and climate protection. The liberalization of the electricity sector in Europe following the directive on the single internal market is increasing competition between suppliers of electricity, while the trading in...

Greenhouse gas emissions should be stabilized to today's level to prevent harmful climate damage.The countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol committed themselves to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2008 to 2012, but only to a very limited extent. The USA decided not to...

The price of crude oil goes up and up -most recently driven by hurricane Katrina, which had a catastrophic effect on the US oil industry, and was followed by hurricane Rita. In September 2005 the price of Brent crude reached a new record at US $ 66 per barrel. The agreement by member states of...