<![CDATA[]]> http://localhost/blog/ EN Thu, 25 Dec 2025 13:27:00 +0100 Incomedia WebSite X5 Pro <![CDATA[The AI boom is forcing a reality check on energy systems.]]> imblog


According to recent reporting, old and highly polluting “peaker” power plants — many of them oil- and gas-fired and previously considered obsolete — are being brought back into service to meet surging electricity demand from data centres. Plants that were meant to disappear are suddenly becoming indispensable again.
This is uncomfortable, but not surprising.
When demand spikes and grids are under strain, cheap, dispatchable fossil power is what keeps the lights on. Not because it is fashionable or desirable, but because it is available, controllable and affordable — qualities that intermittent systems still struggle to guarantee at scale.
The result is a contradiction we keep avoiding: while energy narratives focus on the future, energy security today is still anchored to fossil infrastructure, including some of the dirtiest assets in the system.
As long as fossil generation remains essential for reliability and cost, the credibility of the transition rests on whether ready, affordable technologies exist today to drastically reduce emissions and pollutants from the assets we continue to operate.
Ignoring this reality doesn’t make it go away. Confronting it is the only way to reconcile affordability, security and climate objectives.
]]> Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:27:00 GMT http://localhost/blog/?the-ai-boom-is-forcing-a-reality-check-on-energy-systems- http://localhost/blog/rss/00000000A <![CDATA[When carbon-capture projects lose backers, what does that say about the so-called “green transition”?]]> imblog


When carbon-capture projects lose backers, what does that say about the so-called “green transition”?
The Acorn CCS initiative in Scotland — billed as a flagship solution to decarbonise heavy industry — is now in trouble. Its main developer is selling off its stake. This shift raises uncomfortable questions: can carbon capture at scale really be the backbone of industrial decarbonisation, if even its flagship projects struggle financially?
What happens to CO₂ emissions from heavy industries in the meantime?
Meanwhile, what we need — and what remains rare — are technologies real enough to be deployed today, certified, effective.
Because when “clean transition” depends on shaky financial bets, the climate doesn’t wait.

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