Author Archives: Matthew Lockwood
A question of legacy
There’s been quite a lot of discussion of the intergenerational implications of debt recently. Paul Krugman tries to explain (here, here and here) that borrowing today does not, on the whole, leave a net burden of debt to our children tomorrow,
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Talks about talks
The Durban climate summit produced a surprise (or at least a surprise for natural pessimists like me…). A consensus agreement has been reached to open a new phase of negotiations, to be finished by 2015 at the latest, with targets for all countries kicking … Continue reading
Avoiding the spin
Amongst all the coverage in the build up to Durban last week, I noticed a rather odd-looking story from Fiona Harvey (previously at the Financial Times, now in the green corner at The Guardian) on “government research” claiming that UK … Continue reading
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A town in South Africa beginning with D
So the UNFCCC juggernaut gears up again for another year. According to reports, top celebs attending COP17 in Durban include Angelina Jolie, Bono, Leonardio di Caprio, Arnold Schwarzengger and Sarah Palin. But for them, and the thousands of official delegates … Continue reading
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Denial Tango
Nice bit of satire from the delightfully named Men With Day Jobs – thanks to John Macgrath via Duncan Green.
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The renewable energy backlash – Part 2
In the previous post, I reviewed the current controversy about the costs of expanding offshore wind, and the argument made by organisations like Policy Exchange that we could meet our 2020 carbon targets more cheaply simply by bringing in a … Continue reading
Filed under Energy prices, Renewable energy, UK politics
The renewable energy backlash – part 1
In early 2008, I interviewed the generation portfolio manager (the guy who decided whether to invest in new power stations, and what kind) for one of the Big 6 UK energy companies. In the course of the interview he said … Continue reading
Filed under Energy prices, Public opinion, Renewable energy, UK politics
Is the UK decoupling?
Interesting new report from Chris Goodall out recently (hat tip to Reg Platt) suggesting that the UK may have reached “peak stuff” – i.e. consumption of physcial resources, including energy – in the early/mid 2000s. Goodall’s paper is a bit … Continue reading
Filed under Decoupling, Growth
Desertec and energy security
According to media reports, Morocco is to be the site for the first investment by the Desertec consortium led by German energy firms. We argued earlier this year that the Arab Spring opened up a big opportunity for integrating North African and … Continue reading
Filed under Europe, Renewable energy
Back from the dead
After a long summer away, assessing options for the future of this blog, we are back. We intend to try to blog once a week, at least initially, and see if that is sustainable. First post should be up shortly, … Continue reading
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