The German government plans to decommission its nuclear plants by 2022 and to obtain 80% of all energy from renewables by 2050. Today, renewable energy sources already account for nearly a fifth of Germany's electricity, but the construction and transfer of wind energy from offshore farms is not making as much headway as had been expected.
A Royal Navy frigate and a French ship joined the USS Abraham Lincoln (pictured) in sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Monday. Iran has threatened to close the strategic waterway in response to Western sanctions.
Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, food safety has been a major concern for the Japanese people. Although Japan's government says people can feel secure about eating what they see for sale, fear of radioactive-tainted food is unlikely to stop any time soon in Japan. As our correspondents found out, each new harvest brings new suspicions.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (right) and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez (left) concluded a raft of deals during talks in Moscow on Friday, including an agreement for Russia to build Venezuela's first nuclear power plant.
Moscow and Minsk failed to find an agreement over a dispute on energy costs, said Belarussian state news agency Belta. There are fears that the stalemate could affect Europe's energy supply as Belarussia is a key transit country for Russian oil.
Oil prices approached $80 a barrel on the first trading day of 2010 after Russia cut crude supplies to Belarus on New Year's Eve following a price dispute. Russian oil resumed normal flows to Europe via Belarus on Monday.
Energy issues are expected to top the agenda at an EU-Russian summit in Stockholm on Wednesday as Europe seeks to avoid the interruptions in the supply of Russian natural gas that it saw last winter.
Energy issues are expected to top the agenda at an EU-Russian summit in Stockholm Wednesday, as Europe hopes to avoid a repetition of last winter's Russian natural gas flow stoppage.
Hundreds of iconic monuments and buildings in Paris, the 'City of Lights', went dark for one hour to raise awareness on energy-saving, in solidarity with an Australian-born campaign that spread to 371 landmarks worldwide.
At a meeting of business leaders, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said low-carbon recovery was "a central part" of economic recovery. Brown expects that "green" economy could create 400,000 jobs by 2017.
