Renewable Energy

Specialist writing about global renewable energy issues

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The German Reichstag building - Photo: Christa Richert/Stckxchng

German University Clusters of Excellence receive Funding

The German federal and state governments injected more than €2.72 billion of new money in 2012 into leading universities and programs to improve Germany’s research capabilities and ability to compete against the global elite in the university sector. This follows an injection of €1.9 billion in 2007. It went directly against the predominant international trend towards […]

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Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey - Photo: Liberal Democrats/flickr

Two Cheers for the Energy Bill – And a Pat on the Back for Ed Milliband

Finally! It’s only taken two and a half years, but at last the coalition government have published their long awaited Energy Bill. It has been a tortuous process: dogged by interminable delay, protracted political infighting, behind the scenes wrangling and bovine interventions  – most notably from David Cameron and Junior Energy Minister John Hayes. We […]

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Turkey has abundant wind resources - Photo: Ali AlEfain/stckxchng

Wind Power Sector in Turkey in Take-Off

Installed wind capacity in Turkey reached 2,000 MW by late 2011, according to Professor Tanay Sidki Uyar of Marmara University. There has been strong and accelerating growth in the sector since 2007, when capacity was just 147 MW. New supportive legislation and an increase in the feed-in tariff at the end of 2010 and a […]

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Rio de Janeiro in Brazil - Photo: Ruy Alexandre/stckxchng

Wind Power in Brazil is Cheaper than Gas

Wind power in Brazil can compete directly with natural gas and the price of Brazilian wind projects is showing a steady downward trajectory, according to Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of EPE, the Brazilian national energy agency. In August EPE had announced the winning bid prices in an auction to provide 1.5GW of wind capacity to come […]

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Photo: Sachyn/stckxchng

CEOs pay lip-service to Teamwork

It is hard to find a top CEO who does not support the idea of teamwork and collaboration; but it’s harder still to find one who genuinely works as part of a team. “Collaboration at the top is a myth,” says Celine Legrand, an assistant professor in the field of human resources management Audencia Nantes […]

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Photo: Andreas Krappweis/stckxchng

Good Designers Understand Business Management Constraints

“There is a myth that if you introduce design into a company, it will always improve things,” says Dr. Nicolas Minvielle, Director of the Master’s of Science program in Marketing, Design, and Creation at Audencia Nantes School of Management. “The truth is that there are as many bad designers as there are bad marketers and […]

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Germany Top for Internationalization

Germany has the best national policies for supporting and encouraging international study, according to new research undertaken by the British Council with support from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The research compared the internationalization of higher education in 11 of the largest and most active countries in this area. It examined national performance in three categories: […]

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Gossip can be divisive, creating an "in" group and an "out" group. Photo: J L Burgess/stckxchng

Gossip in the Workplace and Management

Considering how important gossip is for the operation of world markets and business, it is relatively under-studied, says Grant Michelson, Associate Dean for Research at Audencia Nantes School of Management. The world’s stock markets are grounded in a context of rumor and speculative activity, where people try to navigate using information that is more or […]

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Photo: Svilen Milev/stckxchng

Competition does not melt Corruption

As competition grew in Russia’s new capitalist economy at the end of the 1990s, so did the levels of corruption, according to research by Audencia academic Bertrand Venard. Venard’s findings contradict many market purists who argue that corruption should fade as efficient companies – focused on consumer needs – win market share from competitors with […]

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