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The UK will be forced to rely on imported natural gas to meet its emerging shortfall in power generation, with a lack of capacity in the nuclear construction industry meaning there is not enough time to roll out a new generation of nuclear stations, EDF said Friday. The UK is set to lose around 22.5 GW of power generation by 2020 due to closures of ageing nuclear stations and coal-fired plant that do not conform to European emissions regulations.

Earth2Tech reports that England may be left out of Scottish plans to join a European supergrid crossing the north sea - Scotland Snubbing England in Supergrid Plans?. The Scottish government believes the North Sea could become host to an underwater renewable energy grid, supplying power from wind, wave and tidal power across Europe, but England could be left out in the cold. A new study from Scotland looks at the possibility of a supergrid between Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, but doesn't mention Scotland's big neighbor to the south. Yes, Scotland is still part of the UK, and most of England's east coast is also on the North Sea, but the word "England" doesn't even show up once in the 21-page study and "UK" is only used in a couple of footnotes. It might just be an oversight, but the possible snub comes during the same week in which the UK government made a filing with the Commission on Scottish Devolution questioning the Scottish government's powers covering energy.

The UK energy supply industry will have to invest over GBP230 billion ($334 billion) in new infrastructure by 2025 to ensure security of supply and to meet climate change and renewable targets, consultants Ernst & Young said Tuesday. In a study for UK utility Centrica, Ernst & Young said the level of investment needed was double the value of the UK's total energy supply asset base. "The landscape in which this investment must be raised has altered fundamentally as the credit crunch and economic downturn take hold," the report said.

Peak oil is just five years away, and we must start to plan now to avert a truly ruinous crisis If eight companies across a broad spectrum of UK industry had warned, five years ago, that a ruinous credit crunch would hit the global economy this year, might the government have taken the warning seriously? Might UK leadership in damage limitation have been proactive, rather than reactive? Could a softer landing and a faster recovery have been possible as a result?

"Even if oil demand was to remain flat to 2030, 45m bpd of gross capacity - roughly four times the current capacity of Saudi Arabia - would need to be built by 2030 just to offset the effect of oilfield decline", according to Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA, speaking at a news conference in London. Oil reached a record peak of more than $147 a barrel in July, but has fallen back below $60, a drop of more than 50pc. Given the high cost of bringing on new output and the struggle to match supplies with demand, the IEA has assumed consumers will pay an average of $100 a barrel for oil over the next seven years and more beyond that. "Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically and socially - they can and must be altered," said Mr Tanaka. * o Text Size o click here to increase the text size o click here to decrease the text size * Email this article * Print this article * Share this article o delicious o Digg o Facebook o Fark o Google o Newsvine o NowPublic o Reddit o StumbleUpon http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/3448385/Credit-crunch-risks-world-oil-supply.html Related Content * More on Oil and Gas More on ... Oil and Gas Get feed updates Finance Get feed updates Energy Get feed updates telegraph tools Switch Utilities Save on fuel bills Search the market for the best prices on gas and electricity. Telegraph Utilities Comparison Service Advertisement telegraph financial partners Investment solutions * Investor services * Portfolio management * Investing for income guide * Inheritance tax advice * Reader guides Finance most viewed * TODAY * PAST WEEK * PAST MONTH 1. Row breaks out at easyJet 2. Abandon all hope once you enter deflation 3. B

Global shipping contributes about a billion tonnes of CO2. That's more than the entire economies of Germany or the UK. Aviation lobbyists have gleefully highlighted the figures. They are a useful distraction from green assaults on the rise in aircraft emissions. But the shipping industry indignantly rejects the comparison with aviation. The International Maritime Organisation says moving goods by ship is 80-100 times more efficient than by air.

The UK's renewable energy targets could prove both costly and risky, and nuclear energy is the most reliable viable low-carbon alternative, according to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. The committee's report - entitled The Economics of Renewable Energy - acknowledges government commitments to increase renewable energy use, but is sceptical as to whether the target of 15% renewables for the UK by 2020, proposed by the European Union (EU), can be met. It also warns that an over-reliance on intermittment power generation options, such as wind energy, could prove both costly and risky in terms of security of supply.

In the US, the Californian desert and the Mid-West plains are ideal locations for solar and wind energy plants. In the UK the Scottish Highlands and Welsh mountains have the highest winds in the UK. These locations have similar characteristics - great resources for renewable energy generation, but limited grid infrastructure and not many people. Hundreds and in some cases thousands of miles of new expensive, high voltage grid infrastructure is needed in these key locations to transport green energy to areas of high demand - the big cities. This grid infrastructure is both expensive and geographically extensive.

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL completed its withdrawal from the UK wind-energy sector after quietly selling out of the last project it had in this country. The oil giant recently agreed to sell its stake in the £800m Cirrus Shell Flat Array, a 270MW project off the Blackpool coast, to partners Scottish Power and Dong Energy. Its exit, three months after it walked away from the world's largest proposed offshore wind farm, the London Array, will raise questions about the government's ambitious wind-energy targets. The decision will also anger environmentalists already critical of Shell's push into dirty-fuel sources such as Canada's tar sands.

Citizen action restoring passenger rail in the UK - Sweet! A coalition of citizens' groups are working to restore the New Somerset and Dorset rail lines between Bath and Bournemouth in the UK. There's tons of room for this sort of thing in the United States, given the great love railroad enthusiasts have for lost railroad glory. Don't miss the detailed Google map of the New Somerset and Dorset lines.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on the world's commodity markets tonight after the head of Opec dismissed as "irrational and illogical" a call by Gordon Brown for the cartel to pump more oil.

One of the biggest stories in the UK at present is the relationship between democracy and the police - or as it has been expressed several times by Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission - the police needed to remember that they were "servants, not masters" of the public.

John Holdren, science advisor to President Barack Obama, swung by Blighty today for some tea and crumpets with the Brits. But before embarking on a who's who tour of UK science policymakers, he joined the press in the basement of the US embassy for some all-American cookies and black coffee. Most of his hour-long round table was spent discussing climate change. He expressed some disappointment with the climate change legislation winding its way through the US Congress, but sees it as a make-or-break step for getting an effective international accord out of the UN's Copenhagen conference, which will take place in December. Some of the reporters expressed scepticism that a bill could be passed in time, but Holdren was optimistic, noting that the administration only needed around 12-15 additional votes in the Senate to pass the legislation. "I would still bet that it will happen, but I have to admit that it's going to be a challenge," he said.

The amount of proven oil reserves awaiting to be exploited fell last year for the first time in a decade, according to new figures released today. The amount of crude left in the ground was 1.258trn barrels - 3bn less than this time last year. These figures, revealed in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, are probably the result of a slump in drilling activity due to a fall in the price of oil last year - from $150 per barrel to $30. At today's rate of use however there is still enough oil to last the next 42 years, according to the oil company although those concerned about Peak Oil say we are closer to running out given demand is expected to rise strongly in the short-term.

Get set for a new government carbon tax designed to subsidise the nuclear industry. The Guardian's Tim Webb says that figures he obtained show the additional levy would add £44 to an annual electricity bill of £500 - that's a nearly 10% increase

Get set for a new government carbon tax designed to subsidise the nuclear industry. The Guardian's Tim Webb says that figures he obtained show the additional levy would add £44 to an annual electricity bill of £500 - that's a nearly 10% increase

With coal being too dirty and wind farms and nuclear power plants arriving late, it seems the world is left with a stark choice: keep on polluting or turn out the lights. Unless, that is, someone comes up with an alternative. Energy executive Rune Bjornson thinks he has the answer. "Natural gas, more than any other fuel, is an option we have here and now," he tells the BBC in an interview. And, he adds, there is plenty of it around - unlike scarcer resources such as oil and coal.

With coal being too dirty and wind farms and nuclear power plants arriving late, it seems the world is left with a stark choice: keep on polluting or turn out the lights. Unless, that is, someone comes up with an alternative. Energy executive Rune Bjornson thinks he has the answer. "Natural gas, more than any other fuel, is an option we have here and now," he tells the BBC in an interview. And, he adds, there is plenty of it around - unlike scarcer resources such as oil and coal.

US economic, military and political dominance is likely to decline over the next two decades, according to a new US intelligence report on global trends. The National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicts China, India and Russia will increasingly challenge US influence. It also says the dollar may no longer be the world's major currency, and food and water shortages will fuel conflict.

The efficiency and eco-credentials of solid fuel fires have seen such products witness a recent increase in popularity driven in part by the soaring cost of other forms of energy. solid fuel appliances increase in popularity Writing in the Guardian, Andrew Martin stated that while it is necessary to burn smokeless solid fuel, except in the case of where approved appliances are used, these products can offer a carbon neutral solution to heating. Mr Martin stated that wood used as a fuel is carbon neutral because the carbon dioxide that is emitted is captured by the growth of the tree.

Energy leaders at the World Economic Forum debated the true cost of fuel on Thursday as they grappled with the implications of world recession and how to navigate out of it. Record-high oil prices close to $150 a barrel in July last year added to the pain of economic slowdown, and now much cheaper prices of near $40 a barrel could help the global economy to rally. But for consumers, producers and the planet, oil at that level could be too cheap as it slows investment in new supplies of fossil fuel as well as in alternative energy. Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, said late last year $75 was a fair price for crude -- at the top end of the $60-$80 a barrel many in the industry consider a desirable level. "That seems to be what you need to get investment," BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward on Thursday told the forum in Davos, with reference to the $60-$80 range.

US Congressman Henry Waxman has unseated John Dingell to become chair of the powerful energy committee of the House of Representatives. Democratic members of Congress voted 137 to 122 for Mr Waxman, 69, to take up the committee chairmanship. Mr Dingell, 82, a representative from Michigan, had been viewed as a strong ally of the US car industry. Mr Waxman, who represents a California district, is a keen proponent of measures to ease global warming.