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I’ve followed the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) and next-generation nuclear in several of my earlier pieces on OilPrice. The argument is familiar: nuclear provides low-carbon baseload, ensures energy security, and will one day deliver affordable, clean power. It sounds persuasive, until you look at the numbers. New nuclear remains slow, expensive, and deeply reliant on state support. In today’s European power markets, where renewables are already driving prices to record lows or even negative territory, the idea that nuclear…
Many of the 80-plus countries at the COP30 climate conference in Brazil are pushing for a detailed road map that would phase out fossil fuels. Brazil has the presidency of the 30th conference of the parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro that binds the world to “avoid dangerous climate change”, without specifying how to do so. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago is reportedly pushing for a decision on four issues that weren’t on the original agenda,…
Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on 11 November and, though pre-election surveys predicted a record-low turnout, the final total turnout was 56.11% according to the Independent High Electoral Commission. (Turnout for the 2021 parliamentary election was 43.3%.) Incumbent prime minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s Construction and Development Coalition, won 46 seats in the 329-seat Council of Representatives of Iraq. Now the election is over and Sudani faces the task of building a governing coalition. (After the 2021 election,…
Chinese scientists have built and tested a floating droplet electricity generator (DEG) to turn the kinetic energy of raindrops into renewable power. Unlike conventional DEGs, which are used on land and are heavier and costlier, the floating device developed by researchers at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), with the support of Chinese state and provincial funding and programs, uses water for both structural and electric-generation components. In the research, published in the November issue of National Science Review,…
LNG carrier rates for the Atlantic route between the U.S. and Europe have surged close to a two-year high on strong demand for American liquefied gas as Europe fills up its storage ahead of winter. The spot rate hit $98,250 per day on Monday, Bloomberg reports, which was a 19% increase and the highest in over a year, according to price trackers. The European Union’s gas storage is now 81.94% full, which is less than the 90% target the bloc had for November, before the winter colds begin. Most of the gas that the EU uses in winter comes from…
