Ph. Cubans are trying to carry on with daily life amid ongoing blackouts and economic uncertainty, as shown in this photo of Havana from March 2026. Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images Luisa Blanco, Pepperdine University; Institute for Humane Studies and Isabella Elias, Pepperdine University Cuba has run out of oil, the country’s energy
Ph. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Stuart Mills, University of Leeds; Farooq Sher, Nottingham Trent University; Jonquil Lowe, The Open University; Stuart Walker, University of Sheffield, and Yvonne Ryan, University of Limerick Rising prices are putting pressure on people to try and use less energy. But what are the most effective ways of cutting bills?
Ph. Boat strikes can harm or kill whales and are one concern about the oil industry’s environmental impact. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images Dan Salas, University of Illinois Chicago There’s a well-worn debate in U.S. politics that goes something like this: Would you rather have abundant and affordable energy or a clean, healthy
Ph. A view of the liquefied natural gas production at the Ras Laffan facility in Qatar. Stringer/picture alliance via Getty Images Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University The U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran took a dangerous turn on March 18, 2026, with tit-for-tat strikes on critical energy infrastructure that amount to the most serious
A school in Madrid is now powered by solar panels on its roof thanks to investments from local residents. People could put in as little as €20, yet together they raised almost €150 000. The crowdfunding campaign for the Palomeras school was part of AURORA, an EU-funded initiative that uses a simple smartphone app to
Michael Klein, Tufts University The “fog of war” refers to confusion and uncertainty on the battlefield and the attendant possibility of fatal error. This principle has a parallel when it comes to the economic consequences of wars as well, especially when they occur in a region that is a chokepoint for the production
Thousands of kilometres of cables and pipelines criss-cross Europe’s sea floors, carrying the gas, electricity and data that keep modern life running. Yet these critical links lie mostly unprotected. A series of recent incidents, such as the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions, has raised fears that Europe’s underwater infrastructure is becoming a target,
Ph. IRENA/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND Isabela del Alcázar, IE University If I had to sum up COP29 in a single word, it would be entropy. Borrowed from thermodynamics, this concept describes the delicate balance between order and disorder, a principle that governs both natural and human systems. An ecosystem, much like the climate negotiations,
Dr Marika Rošā, an expert on energy efficiency from the Technical University in Riga, wishes that everyone would just stop talking about it. “I think the term energy efficiency shouldn’t be used anymore because people don’t care about it.” Her colleague Nicholas Stancioff, the founder of NGO Ēkubirojs, which is behind the so-called deep
In the past decade, cyber-attacks on Europe’s power infrastructure have intensified so much that energy companies, experts and politicians called for help. Researchers came together to boost the resilience of European energy networks. The International Energy Agency warned in a November 2023 report that the average number of cyber-attacks against utilities worldwide more than