Disruption can bring opportunities, and those businesses which have a mindset of accepting opportunities thrown up from the unwelcome disruption caused by Covid-19 will survive and thrive, while new businesses will emerge to capitalise on these opportunities.
The Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once spoke of being told by a writing tutor that a plot she had written of a middle-class African family was inauthentic. She was met with disbelief when she revealed the story was autobiographical.
As reported by Energy Voice on Monday 11th Jan, Kwasi Kwarteng (Minister of State for Energy) in a Westminster Energy Forum interview stated:
Technology never stands still. In the almost 40 years that we’ve been extracting oil and gas from the North Sea, technology has constantly evolved to solve increasingly complex challenges.
Given the appalling mess called Brexit and the Covid-19 crisis that beset all of us, it is quite a surprise that the Scottish Government actually found the resource to cobble together and publish just before Christmas an outline of its £100 million over five years hydrogen industry stimulus dream.
Hydrogen is the new Holy Grail. The UK Government’s Energy White Paper gives it 175 references, three times the number for offshore wind and 10 times more than new nuclear.
Wow, what a 12 months that was. The last article I wrote for Energy Voice was in June and looking back now, it shows how little was understood about the impact Covid-19 would have on our lives. I suggested in that article that we were emerging from the crisis then. How wrong could I be?
The world’s eyes will be on Scotland in November when global leaders are set to meet in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, a year later than originally planned.
That’s what we are all asking as we approach the New Year. We are all hoping that the advent of vaccines will mean 2021 is more “normal” than 2020. However, the pandemic has also coincided with, and possibly accelerated, a more fundamental change in our society – our response to the climate crisis, so the new “normal” will be different to the old “normal”.
It is a fact of life that if you want to achieve net zero you need the technology that can make it happen. You can play around with what you think are smart economic wheezes such as contracts for difference and carbon tax but if you don’t have the technology to enable you to stop burning hydrocarbons then ultimately, they’re of no benefit whatsoever.
Iman Hill, recently appointed as the new executive director of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) writes for Energy Voice on the current "litmus test" for the sector.
Crown Estate Scotland is set to launch a rather interesting mini-study.
Energy Voice, and numerous other media outlets, covered the Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Policy Statement issued on the 21st December. The policy statement was informed by the Scottish hydrogen: assessment report issued on the same day.
With the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fluctuating price of oil, 2020 has been a difficult year for us all and particularly our industry. During this time, we experienced a period of dramatic change, leading to a very “different” future.
“The child gold-diggers”. That was the title of a recent Sunday Times feature, which tracked illegally mined gold from the child miners of Ghana to the “clean” gold markets of Europe, via the Dubai gold souk.
ABIS Energy is passionate about Guyana. We have been engaged with the Guyana economy for the past 4 years and foresee a bright future.
Women-led SMEs across the continent depend on reliable and affordable energy but often lose out because of grid and centralised power problems. Instead of waiting for grid power, Salma Okonkwo argues, off-grid solar projects and mini grids offer a way forward.
History may never repeat itself exactly, but it can teach us a lot about achieving a successfully managed, fair and inclusive energy transition to a net-zero carbon future and green recovery in the UK.
With the oil industry facing the twin crisis of demand destruction and a climate emergency, and society grappling with a pandemic you could be forgiven for asking how much of a priority should diversity & inclusion be right now?
As we endure these challenging times, the climate emergency persists, and the planet continues to be threatened. Without a strong and stable economy, the funds to invest in a greener, cleaner future simply won’t be there. Even with the fall in carbon emissions, our modelling shows that the pandemic will only reduce demand through to 2050 by 8%.1
Its bold, it’s ambitious and it’s also been warmly received by most stakeholders including industry and even environmental groups. The UK Government’s 10 point plan covers clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies in its quest to create jobs and achieve net-zero by 2050.
With talk of hydrogen-powered breakfasts as well as trains, ships and planes – have we reached a tipping point where this could become a reality?
As reported by Energy Voice, The Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently issued its Sixth Carbon Budget, The UK’s path to Net Zero.
The recent publication of the timetable for the Scotwind leasing round that will start the next stage in the development of offshore wind in Scotland, shortly followed by the UK Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan, has focused minds on what a green recovery really means for the communities and businesses north of the border.
With the confirmation of President-Elect Biden now certain, three credible vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic entering final stages of approval, and governments around the world seeking to spur a green economic recovery, we bring 2020 to a close with a great deal more certainty and hope for 2021 than we might have thought possible only a few months, if not weeks, ago.