Welcome to The Energy Blog, the CEE’s online forum for all things energy! Launched in 2020, the Blog is an open and interdisciplinary space featuring short reflection pieces informed by the latest energy research from the Centre and beyond. We explore key energy issues of contemporary relevance: from legacies of energy industries to the future of nuclear power, from the politics of gas infrastructures to the potential of hydrogen. Our contributors include geographers, historians, social anthropologists, ecologists, physicists, and even astronomers. We are always keen to hear from new contributors, so if you have an idea to pitch, please write to us at [email protected].
by Ava Rawson
The accepted international legal custom for liability structuring within the context of Oil Rig Decommissioning is the ‘polluter pays principle’, yet determining fiscal responsibility is not always so straightforward. Through examining the descriptors of decommissioning, the types of knowledge deemed suitable for decision making by operators, and ownership trends, we can gain a better understanding of the complexities of why installations may remain unplugged.
by Zak Gainey
With the global focus on reducing carbon emissions, nuclear energy has seen a resurgence in recent years. However, 2024 might be remembered as a landmark year for this controversial energy source; the year which saw big tech companies advance their own private nuclear initiatives.
by Paul Conlan
The aim of this blog post is to reflect philosophically on questions of our individual moral obligations in the face of climate change. In doing so, we will also respond to two objections which claim we have no obligation at all. That is, my goal as a philosopher is to replace the ‘seeming’ obviousness of our obligations with something more philosophically robust.
Throughout the summer of 2024, CEE Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Cornelia Helmcke travelled the Scottish Islands, hosting ‘townhalls’ on Orkney, Lewis, South Uist, Skye and Mull. Local community groups, energy experts and residents were invited to collectively brainstorm constraints to the national electricity grid as perceived on the islands and how to overcome these. In this blog post, Cornelia reflects on her experiences and what she has learned from those who live ‘at the end of the line’.
by Léa Weimann
From my first Climate Strike in December 2015, I knew that I wanted to participate in a Conference of the Parties (COP) on Climate Change. I wanted to take the energy, passion, and frustration I felt as a teenager protesting in the streets into the negotiating rooms that decide our future. Eight years later, the reality of that dream is very different from what I had imagined.
by Sean Field
The electrification of heat and transportation is vital to the UK achieving Net Zero. In this short piece, Sean explores how a weighted average wholesale electricity price could reduce electricity prices for consumers and substantially delink wholesale natural gas and electricity prices. This promises not just to insulate UK consumers from global natural gas price volatility, but also facilitate the electrification of heat and transport by making electricity cheaper, which is essential for meeting the UK’s net zero targets.
by Riyoko Shibe and Energy Cafe – The Unjust Transition at Grangemouth Oil Refinery: Workers’ Perspectives
Scotland has a proud – and extensive – energy history. For much of the 20th century, the refinery at Grangemouth was a major hub around which a community not only formed but flourished. However, this was not to last. After decades of stagnation, the refinery is set to close in 2025. What lessons can we learn from Grangemouth’s history? Can this Scottish town help inform the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels?
I don’t drive. Having lived in cities with robust public transportation systems and extensive bike lane networks, this was never an issue. However, my choice not to get behind the wheel was to be tested from December 2022 when I took a job in Austin, Texas.
Reflections following the first two parts of Looking North – a series of conversations between the worlds of art, literature, natural science and ecological conservation.
The process of transitioning to cleaner fuel sources is often portrayed as a simple linear progression. In the promotion of such transitions, economic factors regularly take priority. This piece, based on fieldwork in rural Kenya, challenges this singular approach. Energy sources, especially those relating to domestic use, may be socially embedded, making the decision to transition to alternative sources more complex than a simple economic choice.
