High-efficiency and low-emission technology coal generation describes three tiers of carbon-intensity and coal-consumption intensity: supercritical, ultra-super critical, and advanced ultra-supercritical technology. According to the IEA, non-HELE technology, or sub-critical generation, is most common in coal-generated electricity today. Plants combust pulverized coal in a boiler to produce steam that powers a… read more
Coal
Hydraulic Fracturing and the Energy Future of Europe
The issue of hydraulic fracturing is revealing deep divisions in the European Union. While many of the rich nations of Western Europe have all shunned the practice, the poorer countries of Eastern Europe are in favor of it. The debate is revealing deep rifts in the power structure of the… read more
Germany’s “Energy Poverty”
In the wake of the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor disaster of 2011, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a controversial plan to shut down all of Germany’s nuclear power facilities by 2022. The end goal of this plan is for 80 percent of Germany’s energy production to be from renewable sources.[1] There… read more