Tag: energy

Venezuela cuts workday, extends school cancelation over blackouts

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s government announced Sunday that it is reducing the length of the workday and keeping schools closed due to devastating electricity blackouts plaguing the country. Crippled infrastructure, little investment in the power grid and poor maintenance mean that the widespread blackouts that have hit Venezuela throughout the month of March are likely here to stay. Add to that the country’s economic deep crisis, eye-popping inflation rate and the “brain drain” of […]

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Lights out around the globe for Earth Hour environmental campaign

By Agence France Presse The Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House and even the ancient Acropolis in Athens were plunged into darkness for an hour Saturday as part of a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change and its impact on the planet’s vanishing plant and animal life. The 13th edition of Earth Hour, organised by green group WWF, saw millions of people across 180 countries turn off their lights at 8:30 pm to […]

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Lights out in Sydney for Earth Hour conservation campaign

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were plunged into darkness for an hour Saturday to raise awareness about climate change and its impact on the planet’s vanishing biodiversity. The 12th edition of Earth Hour, organised by the green group WWF, will see millions of people across 180 countries turn off their lights at 8:30 pm local time to highlight energy use and the need for conservation. “We are […]

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In Caracas, water an obsession after days of blackout

by Margioni BERMÚDEZ CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Plastic bottles and containers at the ready, Keisy Perez ignores the stench from the brown river as it slips slowly through the grimy San Agustin district of Venezuela’s capital. The quest for drinkable water has rapidly become an obsession for millions like her in Caracas days after a crippling power blackout stalled the city’s pumps. In this part of Caracas, the Guaire river is effectively an open sewer. […]

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Venezuela calls public sector back to work as blackout recedes

by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ and Marc BURLEIGH CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s public employees were called to return to work Thursday after the government ended a nearly week-long hiatus caused by an unprecedented nationwide blackout that deepened widespread anger against President Nicolas Maduro. Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in an address on state television Wednesday that Maduro decided the public sector would resume work on Thursday, although state schools would remain closed for an extra […]

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China offers Venezuela help to restore power

China on Wednesday offered to help Venezuela as it faces a crippling multi-day power blackout that President Nicolas Maduro has blamed on the United States. “China hopes that Venezuela can quickly find the cause of this accident and restore normal power and social order,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular briefing. “China is willing to offer assistance and technical support to Venezuela to restore the power system,” Lu said. Power has been […]

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Thousands of Venezuelans protest against Maduro amid blackout

by Maria Isabel SANCHEZ CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Thousands of Venezuelans marched in fresh protests Tuesday called by opposition leader Juan Guaido on the fifth day of a crippling power blackout as the government of President Nicolas Maduro prepared to charge him with “sabotage.” Demonstrators banged pots and sounded car horns as the protest got underway in a square in the east of the capital. Many waved large banners calling on Maduro to go. “The […]

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Venezuela plunged into darkness after huge power cut

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Most of Venezuela was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening after a huge power cut that the government of President Nicolas Maduro blamed on “sabotage.” Apart from a few buildings with electricity supplied from a private generator, AFP reporters said the capital Caracas was hit by a total blackout at 4:50 pm, just before nightfall. That included the city metro, along with telephone and internet services. One of the most dangerous […]

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Global energy demand to soar one third by 2040: BP

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Global energy demand will surge by a third over the next two decades on advancing prosperity, but Indian demand growth will eclipse that of flagging giant China, Britain’s BP forecast Thursday. “The demand for energy is set to increase significantly driven by increases in prosperity in the developing world,” BP said in its Energy Outlook 2019 for the industry. “This improvement in living standards causes energy demand to increase by […]

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Storage of nuclear waste a ‘global crisis’: report

PARIS, France (AFP) — Nuclear waste is piling up around the world even as countries struggle to dispose of spent fuel that will remain highly toxic for many thousands of years, Greenpeace detailed in a report Wednesday. Analysis of waste storage facilities in seven countries with nuclear power revealed that several were near saturation, the anti-nuclear NGO said. All these nations also confronted other problems that have yet to be fully contained: fire risk, venting […]

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World to miss 2020 climate ‘turning point’: analysis

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The world is on course to miss its “best chance” of preventing runaway climate change by ensuring global greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2020, researchers warned Tuesday. Even as Earth is buffeted by super-storms, droughts and flooding made worse by rising seas, and as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise globally, an analysis by the World Resources Institute showed that current efforts to limit temperature increases […]

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Rise of renewables creating ‘new world’: report

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The rapid growth of renewable energy sources and the demise of fossil fuels are causing major changes in global politics, a special commission said in a report Friday. The shift “will alter the global distribution of power, relations between states, the risk of conflict, and the social, economic and environmental drivers of geopolitical instability,” said a the commission set up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Solar, […]

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