Oil and gas company valuations are based, in part, on their reserves – volumes of oil or gas yet to be developed from assets in their possession. But the International Energy Agency has said that to avoid catastrophic climate change, a third of global fossil fuel reserves must be off-limits until 2050. And if governments… Keep reading →
In the search for safety barriers at the edge of the US fiscal cliff, a carbon tax is a possible solution that’s expected to get serious attention during the remainder of 2012 and beyond.
As the new Obama Administration urgently seeks new sources of revenue ahead of the Jan. 1 trigger for automatic spending cuts and tax increases, and Congressional Republicans signal a post-election willingness to compromise on budget negotiations, the idea of a tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels is gaining traction as a measure that could meet the requirements of different groups. Keep reading →
UK consumers care about price – that much is clear from the Vestas Global Consumer Wind Study 2012. And well they might. Government figures for 2011 show that the annual average electricity bill rose by £36 to £453 from the previous year.
It’s a trend that is never likely to be reversed. Electricity prices started to rise sharply from 2004 when the UK became a net importer of natural gas. Around 28% of the UK’s electricity fleet is gas-fired. This connection between fossil fuel imports and high energy prices is not lost on consumers – 77.5% of GCWS respondents expressed very high or moderately high levels of concern about dependency on fossil fuels. Keep reading →
