The EU Low Carbon Economy Tour 2015 gets underway This week The Heinrich Böll Foundation is hosting a delegation of U.S. state legislators on the EU Low Carbon Economy Tour 2015.
What Germany’s energy transition means for the United States Germany’s energy transition – or Energiewende – has created a global market for renewable energies, such as wind and solar, by promoting the rapid build-up of these technologies through a stable policy framework. As a result, the cost of both wind and solar has dramatically decreased over the past few years. This is now enabling other countries to follow suit, in particular the United States. By Rebecca Bertram
The car of the future — the very near future — might be driven by the wind People have been fantasizing about hydrogen cars forever. It was the car of the future before the Prius and the Tesla were the car of the future. TECN Media Fellow Peter Thomson reports from Berlin on the development of hydrogen-power cars in Germany. By Peter Thomson
When the grid says 'no' to wind and solar power, this company's technology helps it say 'yes' again Too much solar and wind power. Really? Is that possible? It’s a good problem to have, because if we’re going to beat climate change, we’re going to need way more low-carbon energy than we get now. But it’s still a problem for Germany. By Peter Thomson
How do you catch the sun to make electricity at night? This German inventor has an answer Solar power production has grown more than 25 times over the last decade in Germany, spurred largely by big incentives for small producers to get into the market. But sunshine and wind power are intermittent, so engineers and others are looking for ways to balance out the flow of these renewable power sources through new storage technologies. By Peter Thomson
Renewable Energy in the Baltics and the Future of European Energy Security On December 15, 2014, the Heinrich Böll Foundation hosted representatives of renewable energy associations from each of the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – in Washington. See interviews with them here about diversifying the energy mix to include more renewables.
Copenhagen Turns to Two Wheels and Takes Off Today, 60 percent of people in Copenhagen's city core commute by bike. In the greater Copenhagen area, over 40 percent do. “It’s not something that’s in Copenhagen’s genes, or that we’re weirder or stranger than any other people on earth,” Kabell says. “Every city can do this.” By Terrence Henry
The Carbon Bubble: Assessing the risks to investors in the EU and U.S. financial systems On December 4, 2014, the Heinrich Boell Foundation hosted representatives from the Sustainable Finance Lab and Carbon Tracker for a transatlantic discussion about the possible financial risks of the carbon bubble. You can listen the recording of the discussion and find the event materials here.
