How Denmark and Texas Became Wind Energy Kings Standing on the shore of the Baltic sea a few miles outside of Copenhagen, Denmark, the view’s about what you’d expect. Rocky shore, grey horizon, a boat here or there. But this shore is special. Look up, and you’ll see — and hear — three giant offshore wind turbines cutting through the air. Each stands 500 feet tall, with three blades (each close to 200 feet long), spinning non-stop. By Terrence Henry
What Spain Can Teach Texas About Solar Energy About an hour’s drive outside of Sevilla, Spain’s old city, past grazing black-footed pigs and olive orchards, sits the Abengoa Solucar complex, and it’s truly a sight: Imagine cresting a hill and then all of the sudden seeing several large towers, over 500 feet high, with hundreds of beams of light striking them — solar rays from an army of mirrors arrayed in a circle on the ground below. They’re called heliostats. By Terrence Henry
Germany’s fight against coal gets underway – albeit slowly Germany's short-term 2020 climate targets are in jeopardy. This is a serious drawback: if the Energiewende should prove ineffective on the climate front, it will fall short on its declared objective and discourage other countries from following suit. The German government is now taking first steps to fight the country's coal power. By Rebecca Bertram
Pennsylvania Drills Wherever It Can This fall the Heinrich Böll Foundation hosted a delegation of civil society representatives and journalists from Poland for a study tour to Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and New York State to gain a better understanding of the effects that natural gas exploration have had on local communities along the Marcellus Shale. Tomasz Ulanowski, a reporter for the Polish daily newspaper Wyborcza, wrote this report. By Tomasz Ulanowski
Transatlantic Exchange on Capacity Markets Even the strongest proponents of the Energiewende agree that Germany needs to reform its energy system to accommodate the next influx of renewables while maintaining security of supply of conventional power at all times. The United States has extensive experience with capacity markets from which the German debate could benefit. As such, a German delegation consisting of national and state energy policy makers and experts will visit the United States from September 1 to 5, 2014.
Iran Advisory Group The Iran Advisory Group convenes Iranian scholars living outside Iran, U.S. and E.U. current and former officials, and internationally renowned experts on a bi-annual basis. It is co-sponsored by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Stimson Center. In addition to the expert workshops, the project partners frequently organize public events on current Iran-related developments.
