Energy | Allianz Knowledge

A man walks in the "solucar" solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, September 23, 2009. The ... / Credits: Reuters

Traditional and alternative sources of engergy side by side. / Credits: Reuters

View from the higher Vieux Emosson reservoir to the Lac d'Emosson, the second-biggest reservoir in ... / Credits: Michel Martinez

Environment Renewable energies: investing against climate change more
Environment: Video What is Europe's energy future? more
Environment Energy storage: power from the Alps more

Craig Paradis (L) of Advance Drilling, operates the brake handle on a drilling rig for Crescent ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment Shale revolution part 1: US energy and economy Shale gas and oil is refashioning energy markets, but what of its broader ... more
Environment Shale revolution part 2: global impacts more
Environment Shale revolution part 3: ecological impacts more

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Allianz knowledge on environment: a wind turbine outside a Chinese city

allianz knowledge on environment: a Chinese worker cleans solar panels

Allianz knowledge on environment: Chinese workers in a wind turbine factory

allianz knowledge on environment: test tubes of enzymes used to make bioethanol in China

Allianz knowledge on environment: a Chinese worker arranges televisions for recycling

Allianz knowledge on environment: a backpack with a solar panel for charging a mobile phone

Allianz knowledge on environment: an electric bicycle factory in China

Allianz knowledge on environment: genetically enhanced rice growing in test tubes in China.

Allianz knowledge on environment: an electric taxi in Shenzhen China

Allianz knowledge on energy: China's first solar PV system integrated into a building.

Allianz knowledge on environment: lettuces grown under artificial lights in a factory outside Beijing

Allianz knowledge on environment: a Chinese worker cleans a solar thermal system

Allianz knowledge on environment: a Chinese high speed train

Environment China leads world in clean energy The world’s biggest consumer of energy is also the world’s biggest investor in clean ... more

Laser beams are projected on Dom Tower in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Could we one day send similar ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview Free power: The alternative nanoenergy network Justin Hall-Tipping’s vision of the nanoenergy future stunned the TEDGlobal ... more

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An engineer works near the Atlantis Resources AK-1000 tidal energy turbine at the port of ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview Carbon targets: Scotland the brave Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, a renowned horseracing tipster, is ... more

One generator weighs about 300 tons. Attached to the sides are two rotors of 52 feet in diameter, ... / Credits: Marine Current Turbines

Geothermal: Hot Dry Rock / Credits: Allianz

Environment Exploring geothermal energy Explore a new way to tap the enormous potential of geothermal energy, the hot ... more

Environment Geothermal energy: The power beneath us Could we harness volcano power? Geothermal energy systems tap the Earth’s inner ... more

Animation / Credits: Allianz

Environment: Animation 15 ways to green your home Turn this home into a green oasis an find out how it could consume less energy ... more

The "Solucar" solar park in Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain / Credits: Reuters

Environment Solar thermal: Renewable oasis or energy mirage? With solar power plants, less than one percent of the world’s deserts could ... more

A worker looks through a solar panel at the Gadhia solar energy systems manufacturing unit at ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview Asia driving demand for renewable power Asia is the new capital of clean power, overtaking the West in investment in ... more

The sun sets behind power-generating windmill turbines from a wind farm in Germany. / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview The highway to a German energy revolution Nina Scheer, chairwoman of the Hermann-Scheer-Foundation, wants to turn ... more

Environment: Interview Northern Africa's revolutions could help promote solar power Thiemo Gropp, director of the DESERTEC Foundation, explains how North Africa’s ... more

Power pylons designed by Erik Bystrup: On the left the Eagle-mast made of stainless steel. On the ... / Credits: Bystrup Architects

Environment: Interview Making green power more aesthetically pleasing Power masts may not be pretty, but if we want green energy, we need more of ... more

Limestone whitewashed houses on the island of Santorini in the Mediterranean.

Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi.

An Inuit igloo in the Arctic.

A traditional 'gassho-zukuri' (clasped-hands) home in Japan.

A Mongolian boy stands against a ger or yurt.

A house with a traditional grass roof in the Faroe Islands.

Children from Indonesia's Bajo tribe near their pole house.

Muslims wash in the fountain waters inside Kashmir's Jamia Masjid mosque.

Screens and lattices reduce glare from the sun, provide shade, and help ventilate buildings.

An adobe pueblo building in New Mexico.

A girl runs along a walled street in the Fez medina.

A traditional Japanese tatami room with shoji screen doors.

A five story pagoda in Miyajima, Japan.

Environment Traditional architecture adapts to climate See some classic examples of how traditional architecture has been adapted to climate and ... more

Transformator station and wind energy plants at the offshore wind energy park Alpha Ventusin the ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment On the waterfront: Developing offshore wind power Offshore wind energy is heralded as the next step towards greener power. Do we ... more

Harald Haas, Professor of Mobile Communications at Edinburgh University, demonstrates the D-Light ... / Credits: James Tulloch

Environment: Interview Green IT: Let there be light Harald Haas of Edinburgh University academic has a safer, more energy-efficient ... more

Environment: Interview London's first carbon negative homeowner Donnachadh McCarthy refurbished his 19th-century London home so efficiently ... more

A solar bottle being prepared for installation. / Credits: YouTube screenshot

Environment Plastic bottles light up slums With little more than plastic bottles of water, social entrepreneur Illac Diaz ... more

Architect Rolf Disch's "Heliotrope", located near Freiburg, is Germany's first plus energy home / Credits: Rolf Disch

Environment The Heliotrope - Germany’s first energy positive house The perfect tan demands an occasional turn. The German architect Rolf Disch put ... more

Electricity generating solar panels adorn a rooftop in the Vatican City, Rome / Credits: Reuters

Green home owner Donnachadh McCarthy in London

London homeowner Chris Mead stands in the pit he dug to house a rainwater harvesting tank.

Native plants have adapted to the local climate

Installing low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators can save lots of water

Upgrading to more energy efficient appliances helps to save energy.

Many paint manufacturers now offer low- or no-VOC paints that are just a durable as conventional paint.

There are many energy consumption calculators you can use to check your impact on the planet.

Environment Tips for a more environmentally friendly home From sustainable gardening to proper insulation - here are some tips for turning your ... more

Environment: Interview Energy efficient investing - How to get involved Looking to invest in greenhouse gas cuts? Try small-scale projects, says Martin ... more

A gun pointed at a monitor

A woman in belarus hanging frozen clothes on a clothesline

Selecting a temperature on a washing machine

Used aluminium can

A woman loading luggage into the trunk of her car

A smart power strip can be switched off easily

A pot on a gas stove

A prototype laptop powered by a hand crank

Recyclabel starch packing peanuts

A bulletin board with colored post-its

Environment Ten simple ways to save energy Households consume about a third of all energy used in Europe. Using power more ... more

Environment Saving energy through street art Changing human behavior is the key to saving energy and combating climate ... more

An Indian laborer works to recycle scrap tires.

Fuji EnviroMAX batteries.

A scrap worker at a ship demolition site in Jakarta.

A Taiwanese garbage collector sorts trash.

Women in Bangladesh incinerate polythene papers.

A Bangladeshi man sorts and dries used plastic.

Recycling plastic bottles in China.

Scrap metal being recycled in France.

Old airplanes are dismantled and materials recycled.

A recycling worker hammers an old printer.

Earthworms convert organic waste into compost.

The EcoPOd coffin made from recycled materials.

A paddle boat made from recycled materials.

A handful of metal scrap from recycled electronic waste.

Environment Recycling finds hidden resources Recycling can turn all kinds of waste into new resources and materials, and a source of ... more

A man prepares roasted meat on a charcoal stove at his stall lit with a paraffin lamp along a ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment Ending energy poverty - Providing electricity for the world Energy poverty blights the lives of billions of people across the world, but it ... more

Visitors walk inside the glass dome of the German Reichstag parliament building in Berlin.

Laborers on the construction site of the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest," in Beijing.

The Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon was awarded the U.S. LEED Gold certification for its use of environmental enhancements and energy efficiency.

A suburb in Cincinnati, Ohio. Badly planned housing with little or no public transportation increases traffic and waste of resources.

The graphic shows a map of one example, Prospect New Town in Colorado (USA), a walkable neighborhood designed to contain a diverse range of housing, jobs, and community buildings.

Prospect New Town in Colorado (USA) is an example of new urbanism.

The K2 Apartments are the most environmentally sustainable public housing development in Australia.

The Solar Decathlon in Washington in October 2005.

Solar panels function as a wall in a solar house from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.

A masonry block, made of recycled, waste-wood chips and fly ash, used in the construction of the University of Colorado’s solar-powered house.

Environment Ten great examples of green building worldwide Buildings are responsible for the biggest share of greenhouse gas emissions. See examples ... more

Oil is basically the lifeblood of all modern economies. Those numbers don’t sound very big, but ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview How the world must prepare for peak oil Energy expert Robert Hirsch says the world needs 20 years to prepare for peak ... more

The Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon was awarded the U.S. LEED Gold certification ... / Credits: Reuters

Nanotechnology in use: In 2005, the MIT’s Michael Rubner developed a permanent coating to prevent ... / Credits: proidee

Environment: Interview How far away is nanotechnology? Christine Peterson of the Foresight Institute, a non-profit dedicated to the ... more

A picture shows the nuclear fuel rod storage inside the nuclear power plant in the Swiss town of ... / Credits: Reuters

To transport electricity hundreds or even thousands of kilometers with little energy loss to ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment How smart grids can better manage renewable energy Engineers are studying the link between renewable energy production and reduced ... more

Environment: Interview Economist Fatih Birol on the world energy outlook with a gas revolution in sight, times will be tough for renewables and nuclear, ... more

A view shows boats piled next to a house, where they were washed ashore during Hurricane Sandy, ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment The risks of ignoring climate change Global economic distress means that climate change has been put on the ... more

Dairy farmer Jorgen Tranberg sits in the cockpit of his windmill on Samsø. One in ten islanders ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment Wind power reenergizes Danish island of Samsø Wind energy revolutionized Samsø, transforming it from a coal addict into one ... more

A house owner in Arizona surveys his wind turbine

Solar panels next to a residential area

Wood pellets for a biomass stove

Klaus Dohring shows the two solar thermal collectors on a roof that heats the water to his offices in Windsor, Ontario

Steam billowing from the cooling towers of Vattenfall's Jaenschwalde brown coal power station

The Svartsengi geothermal power plant near the Blue Lagoon hot springs outside the town of Grindavik, Iceland

Environment Six ways to generate energy at home True energy independence starts at home, but which renewable energy is the best for your ... more

Road energy system like this installed in Rotterdam, Netherlands can deliver enough energy to heat ... / Credits: Ooms Avenhorn Holding

Environment Road energy systems: Heat from the street Engineers are experimenting with systems that capture and use energy from the ... more

Josef Pellmeyer and some of his renewable energy sources / Credits: Allianz

Environment Power ranchers Germany is trying to reduce dependence on coal, oil, and nuclear power, but ... more

Environment Bioenergy: From the scum of the Earth Algae, one of the simplest plants on Earth, could help us out with a few ... more

An artist's impression of Masdar eco-city from the air.

An artist's view of the inside of Masdar City Hall.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush talks to UAE's Masdar Chief Executive Officer Sultan Al Jaber at the Masdar project exhibition.

A model view of an indoor hallway in Masdar City.

A sneak peek inside a model of Masdar City showing landscaped grounds.

An aerial plan of the Dongtan ecocity.

A woman cycles with her child in the Dongtan wetland area.

Environment Masdar city: A desert utopia Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City promises to be the world’s first carbon neutral city and a model ... more

An aerial view shows a coal-burning power plant on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Henan province ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview The age of easy energy is over Wondering about energy security and rising oil prices? Christopher Wheaton, ... more

Filipino protesters rally outside an oil company in Manila in August 2005. Since then oil prices ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment Peak oil and the energy remix A transition to cleaner, more secure energy is necessary, but it will not ... more

An international treaty was signed by all five polar nations, except the United States, which has ... / Credits: Reuters

Environment: Interview The battle for Arctic resources Global warming is is prompting intense competition for the Arctic's untapped ... more