Monday, December 29, 2025

Technologies News

Orlen, Grupa WB Collaborate to Improve Maritime Infrastructure Security

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State-controlled Polish refiner Orlen and private defence technology company Grupa WB have agreed to work together to improve the security of critical infrastructure, Orlen said on Tuesday.The Baltic Sea region is on high alert following power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.Under an agreement the two companies signed, they will cooperate to ensure energy security by protecting maritime infrastructure and to counter criminal a

FEATURE-AI data explosion in Mexico fuels rise of dirty energy

The country's power infrastructure is overloaded and pollution has increased due to the shortfall in green power, despite promises by government and industry to increase capacity. The data centers are huge warehouses that are the size of Olympic stadiums. They sprawl over industrial parks and house hundreds of servers, which consume a lot of energy. These servers power the most powerful technology companies, like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

AI data explosion in Mexico fuels growth in dirty energy

The lack of green power, despite promises by government and industry to increase capacity, has overloaded and increased local pollution. Masheika Allgood is the founder of AllAI Consulting. She provides information on data center environmental impacts. The data centers are huge warehouses that are the size of Olympic stadiums. They sprawl over industrial parks and house hundreds of servers, which consume a lot of energy.

What is Fusion Energy, the Quest that Trump Media is so enamored with?

Scientists and businesses have tried for decades to harness the fusion energy that powers the sun to produce electricity on Earth. The $6 billion merger announced on Thursday between U.S. president Donald Trump's Trump Media and Technology Group and?Google-backed TAE technologies is the latest development for an industry still a long way from commercialization. What is Fusion? The process…

Italy's offshore-wind push is stagnant, putting climate targets at risk

Analysts say that Italian plans to harness the offshore wind power are coming to a grinding halt. This puts the country's goals for climate change at risk and hits firms who have invested in this sector. A government decree from 2024 offered incentives for 3.8 gigawatts of?capacity?by 2028. However, the contracts were never awarded due to bureaucratic and regulation hurdles. This has prevented billions of euro in potential investments.

Report: China invested $80 billion in cleantech overseas last year

According to a recent report from the Australian research group Climate Energy Finance, Chinese companies have invested $80 billion overseas in clean technologies to help absorb an oversupply. According to the report published on Sunday, many countries have also intensified their cleantech collaboration with China as a result of U.S. president Donald Trump's new tariffs. This brings…

Tetra is considering a magnesium project in Arkansas with Pentagon-backed Magrathea

Tetra Technologies said on Tuesday that it may form a joint-venture with the Pentagon-backed startup Magrathea in order to build America's first magnesium refinery, and increase domestic supplies of this metal. U.S. Magnesium, a privately owned company, closed its Utah operation in 2022 due to environmental concerns. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China produces 95% of all magnesium in the world.

Russell: Silver outperforms Gold for the precious metal podium

Silver is often referred to as the bridesmaid of gold on precious metal markets. Its more popular rival seems to overshadow its less talked about counterpart. Silver is outperforming gold quietly in terms of returns for investors. It may also have a better long-term outlook, given the structural deficit in supply and the surge in demand from renewable technologies like solar panels. Since October 2023, spot silver has been on a steady upward trend.

Equinor Explores Role in Germany Gas Plant Capacity Expansion

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Norwegian energy producer Equinor is looking at options for participating in a planned German gas-fired power plant tender but requires more detail before making any decision, a senior executive said on Tuesday.Germany plans to tender eight gigawatts (GW) of new gas-fired power plant capacity next year, with a further 2 GW to be offered in 2026 and 2027 to strike a balance between decarbonisation and backing up intermittent renewables."We have had, and are having, conversatio

Equinor looks at its role in expanding Germany's gas capacity

A senior executive at Equinor said that the Norwegian energy company is considering its options to participate in a German gas-fired plant tender, but needs more information before taking a decision. Germany will tender 8 gigawatts of new gas-fired plant capacity in the coming year. A further 2 GW will be offered by 2026 or 2027, to strike a balanced between decarbonisation while supporting intermittent renewables.

Equinor plans to drill 250 oil and natural gas exploration wells by 2035 in Norway

Equinor plans to drill 250 oil-and-gas exploration wells in Norwegian waterways in the next ten years in order to achieve a goal that will maintain production in 2035, at levels of 2020, due in part, according its CEO, Tuesday, to expectations of continued fossil fuel demand. Anders Opedal, the CEO of Norwegian Energy Company, said at an energy conference that the company will invest…

Russell: COP30 agreement is not important in the battle between renewables and fossil fuels.

It was not realistic to expect anything better from the COP30 Climate Summit than a weak statement that omitted all mention of fossil fuels. It was never going to be easy to bring nearly 200 countries together with vastly different perspectives and make a statement of commitment to fight climate change. After the Belem summit, the question that needs to be asked is, does what the final statement says and doesn't state, really matter?

Russell: COP30 agreement is not important in the battle between renewables and fossil fuels.

It was not realistic to expect anything better from the COP30 Climate Summit than a weak statement that omitted all mention of fossil fuels. It was never going to be easy to bring nearly 200 countries together with vastly different perspectives and make a statement of commitment to fight climate change. After the Belem summit, the question that needs to be asked is, does what the final statement says and doesn't state, really matter?

Takeaways from COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil

The U.N. Climate Change Summit ended this year with a shaky compromise that ignored most of the countries' main demands, except for one: wealthy countries were obligated to triple their expenditures to help other countries adapt to global warming. Here are some key takeaways from COP30, the climate summit that took place in Brazil's Amazonian city of Belem. HOOKED UP TO HYDROCARBONES Luiz Inacio Lula…

Energy Transition' Future: Fractured, Bumpy and Long

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As COP30 kicks off its second week in Brazil, much has changed since the landmark Paris climate agreement was penned 10 years ago.The spirit of cooperation that once reigned has been shattered by economic rivalries and a stark divergence in climate policies among the world’s biggest polluters.The landmark UN COP21 climate agreement signed in Paris on December 12, 2015 saw 195 nations…

China finds bigger role as US sidesteps Brazil climate summit

China has stepped into the spotlight as a leader of the global warming fight, with the United States missing the U.N.'s annual climate summit in New York for the first three decades. The country's pavilion dominates the entrance of the sprawling COP30 grounds in Brazil’s Amazonian city of Belem. Executives from its largest clean energy companies present their visions of a greener future in English to large audiences…

As yttrium shortages grow, a new rare earth crisis is on the horizon

Due to Chinese export restrictions on yttrium, global supplies are in short supply. This has led to fears of shortages, and a rise in costs, which could affect aerospace, energy, and semiconductor production. In April, China, which is the primary source of this element, used in coatings that protect against high temperatures and in alloys for engines, limited exports, along with six others rare earths, in response to U.S. duties.

COP30: Brazil seeks biofuel boom, but critics query climate impact

Timothy Searchinger is a senior research scholar from Princeton University. He said that when land produces fuel instead of food someone else will have to clear more land or eat less. Biofuels are counted at zero, so countries believe that they have cut emissions. He said that in reality, the pressure is shifted onto food and land systems. India has already shown signs of this pressure.

As the US shutdown comes to an end, UK's FTSE100 hits a record high.

Investors welcomed signs that the long-running U.S. shutdown may be ending. The blue-chip index ended 0.1% higher and is now within striking distance of 10,000. The FTSE 250 mid-cap index was down by 0.7%. Upgrade the UK's regulated electric networks and expand their renewable business. Metal mining companies gained 1.3% in value as the copper price increased on global commodities markets. Market sentiment improved after growing optimism that the U.S.

Made in Nigeria: Africa's drive to become a solar superpower

In pink overalls they pack the tested products to be shipped from the Salpha Energy solar assembly plant near Calabar, West Africa. It's not happening at home anymore. Salpha Energy, which began in 2017, has produced solar power systems for over two million Nigerian households and businesses. It aims to produce up to 300,000. Salpha Energy is part and parcel of the green leadership that Africans attending the U.N. COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil want to promote and showcase.