Are you stuck somewhere in the middle? Why so many sustainability professionals struggle …

Sustainability practitioners are a rather rare breed of people; they are passionate and often go the extra mile for the work they are doing. They break down old behaviors, try to stop old habits and instill new practices. And they are constantly balancing between focus on the task and focus on the people. So why […]

A future for Nuclear Energy? Back to the ‘new’ reality …

Only time will tell if we are about to cut back on nuclear power or not; for now it seems that many of us count on it to keep the wheels turning.
Thirty countries in the world use nuclear power; 23 of them are planning to expand. Most of this nuclear growth is based in Japan, China, India and Korea. Of the 72 new plants recently ordered worldwide, 48 are additional plants, the others are replacements. Soon a total of 29 newcomers will operate in China.

“Will shale gas find its place in today’s energy mix?”

Many decades ago, Albert Einstein said that ‘Everything is Energy and Energy is everything”. This claim still seems very true as we look at the impact of energy resources on today’s modern society.
According to the latest International Energy Outlook, the world’s energy consumption is projected to increase by 56 percent over the 30 years between 2010 and 2040. The expected energy use is set to rise by 112 percent in developing Asia (led by China and India), by 76 percent in the Middle East and by 85 percent in Africa. This evolution impacts our planet and raises growing concerns on how to deal with issues ranging from energy security and high oil prices to the use of nuclear power, renewables and the impact of CO2 emissions on the environment.

Energy governance in Africa is going nowhere…

For the World Bank Africa’s infrastructure is the most deficient and costly in the entire developing world. Today only a quarter of Africa’s Sub-Saharan (SSA) population has access to electricity, as opposed to 50% in other developing regions such as South Asia. While power tariffs in most parts of the developing world vary between US$ 0.04 and US$ 0.08 per kilowatt-hour; the prices in SSA are up to three times higher – and this on a continent that is privileged to be endowed with an abundance of resources; from oil, gas, and coal to renewable resources such as hydro-power, solar and geothermal. SSA also has 30% of the global mineral reserves lying at its feet; waiting to be mined.