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Future plans for energy production in the European Union as well as other locations call for a high penetration of renewable technologies (20% by 2020, and higher after 2020). The remaining energy requirements will be met by fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Smaller, less-capital intensive nuclear reactors are emerging as an alternative to fossil fuel and large nuclear systems. Approximately 50 small (<300 MWe) to medium-sized (<700 MWe) reactors (SMRs) concepts are being pursued for use in electricity and cogeneration (combined heat and power) markets. However, many of the SMRs are at the early design stage and full data needed for economic analysis or market assessment is not yet available. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop “target cost” estimates for reactors deployed in a range of competitive market situations (electricity prices ranging from 45–150 €/MWh). Parametric analysis was used to develop a cost breakdown for reactors that can compete against future natural gas and coal (with/without carbon capture) and large nuclear systems. Sensitivity analysis was performed to understand the impacts on competitiveness from key cost variables. This study suggests that SMRs may effectively compete in future electricity markets if their capital costs are controlled, favorable financing is obtained, and reactor capacity factors match those of current light water reactors. This methodology can be extended to cogeneration markets supporting a range of process heat applications.

The study prepared by the European and international climate experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the European Climate Forum, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis, examines the potential for powering Europe and North Africa with renewable electricity exclusively by 2050 and the opportunities this transformation to the power sector presents.  The study provides policy makers and business leaders with clear direction and a step wise approach on how to achieve the 2050 vision.

Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger published the op-ed “Global Warming Scare Tactics” in the New York Times on April 8. Participants in recent debates over climate change may recognize their names. They’re the guys who run the Breakthrough Institute, a pseudo-contrarian “environmental research organization.”

While occasionally on point in its charges against the big organizations, the essay (based on interviews with mostly white male leaders of large national groups) had nothing to say about the environmental justice movement, or other grassroots groups led by women and people of color. It neglected as well the environmental movements of the Global South, today the heart of the climate justice movement.

Is fear of disruption of what Habermas calls the life-world the sole inducer of civic action? Of course not: social movements also cohere around other shared, negotiated understandings, identities, diagnoses of problems, and assessments of opportunities. Might fear paralyze rather than mobilize? Yes: in cases when the perceived threat appears impervious to resistance, and when commitment to the cause flags over time. Fear-based campaigns require a tangible evil: a draft card, a nuclear plant cooling tower, a polluting facility’s smoke plume, an Operation Rescue picket line.

The Ecotricity wind turbine could generate close to 5 million units of energy annually. It joins two other wind turbines that have been operational since May 2004.

Is the smart grid nearly as smart as the hype around it says? It depends on whether you expect the technology to ax energy consumption and carbon emissions … or whether you think it’ll act more like a scalpel.

Today, the Commission launches "SETIS", the online Strategic Energy Technologies (SET-Plan) Information System, which provides the latest research results on the status, forecasts and R&D investment figures for low-carbon technologies. It underpins the effective strategic planning, conception and implementation of EU energy technology policy and serves notably to the implementation of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan). SETIS assesses and monitors those technologies that have a significant potential to help Europe meet its energy and climate change targets, such as wind power, solar power, CCS or bioenergy. The Information System offers interactive tools to compare the maximum potential and energy production costs foreseen for the different technologies over time.

Today the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (see IP/07/1750). Energy technology will be a key element of Europe's plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and move towards a low-carbon future. But there are structural weaknesses in the current energy research system (see MEMO/07/469 – Why Europe needs a Strategic Energy Plan). The SET-plan (see MEMO/07/493 for details) should help the European Union position itself to develop the technologies it needs to meet its political objectives and at the same time ensure its companies can benefit from the opportunities of a new approach to energy.