Energy roadmap backs renewables

Half of the world’s energy needs in 2050 could be met by renewables and improved efficiency, a study claims. It said alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, could provide nearly 70% of the world’s electricity and 65% of global heat demand. Following a “business as usual” scenario would see demand for energy double […]

OIL-MEXICO: Severe Withdrawal Symptoms Ahead

MEXICO CITY, Jan 25 (IPS) – Mexico is as addicted to oil as heroin addicts are to their next fix: the country depends on oil for a large proportion of its energy needs, consumes it at an unsustainable rate and goes into debt to obtain it. Unless it changes its behaviour or finds a therapy […]

Nuclear energy’s French connection

Ambitious Areva is second to none at American-style power politics With help from the allies it funds in Congress and legions of highly paid lobbyists, the U.S. nuclear power industry won billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for its promised With 59,000 employees, facilities in 40 countries, operations in more than 100 and […]

Picking Poison over Petroleum

As President Bush delivers the State of the Union address this week, he opens the door to a new stage of energy diversification for the nation. Some of the answers may yet come from places he hasn’t looked. The jatropha plant (known more commonly in English as physic nut) is abundant, if overlooked. Like so […]

Developing nations dig in heels on climate change

GENEVA (Reuters) – Developing countries stand to suffer the worst effects of global warming, and should not have to pay for a problem created mainly by the rich, executives and experts said on Thursday. At a gathering of 2,400 of the world’s most powerful people at Davos, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, leaders […]

ConocoPhillips’ Woes Mount in Venezuela; ‘A Difficult Situation’

U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips (COP) is licking its wounds in Venezuela as President Hugo Chavez tightens the noose on two of the firm’s showboat projects. In the 1990s, Conoco invested heavily in Venezuela when a previous, business-friendly administration opened the oil industry to foreigners. The Houston, Texas-based firm took equity stakes in two multi-billion-dollar tar […]

Bodman: U.S. Needs More Ethanol Imports

DAVOS, Switzerland “The idea is that at some point in the future all these technologies need to stand the test of the free market,” he said. “This president is serious about climate change and he has been for some time,” Bodman said. AP

Creating Myths About Oil Production is Easy, Too Easy

On 18th Jan 2007, the news agency the Associated Press issued a story which stated that Saudi Arabia intends to increase its oil production capacity by 40% by 2009. In fact, it intends to do no such thing. Saudi Arabia is one of only a few countries (all members of OPEC), for much of 2006 […]

Calif. agency sues over air pollution

LOS ANGELES – The South Coast Air Quality Management District sued California public utility officials, claiming the liquefied natural gas that officials approved for use in the state could worsen air pollution. Energy providers plan to spend about $3 billion on the construction of seven natural gas terminals on the coast of California and Baja […]

Nigeria militants seize more oil workers

LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil company in southern Nigeria on Thursday, abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large amount of cash, police said. One of the assailants died in the raid on the finance offices of the government-owned Chinese National Petroleum Co. in the Nigerian state […]

Texas Governor rebukes Global Warming; Storms ahead with New Coal Plants

AUSTIN — Despite warnings from President Bush about global warming — and in the face of what many experts and even industry leaders describe as overwhelming scientific consensus on the issue — top leaders in Texas have continued to question the validity of man-made climate change. “Absolutely,” Gov. Rick Perry replied when asked recently by […]

Is there enough corn for Bush ethanol plan?

Booming demand is straining production, pushing prices higher Of all the proposals in President Bush The Great Corn Rush was already sweeping the Midwest before the White House set its ambitious new targets. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided generous subsidies for ethanol production along with increased mandates for its use to replace the […]

Stern favours world carbon tax

Sir Nicholas Stern has spoken out in favour of a global carbon tax, warning that global warming represents “the biggest market failure the world has ever seen”. The former World Bank chief economist and author of the Government-commissioned report on the economic effects of climate change, said environmental taxes should play an essential role in […]

Climate change ‘fanning conflict, terror’

Global warming could exacerbate the world’s rich-poor divide and help to radicalise populations and fan terrorism in the countries worst affected, security and climate experts said today. “We have to reckon with the human propensity for violence,” Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain’s former ambassador to the United Nations, told a London conference on “Climate Change: the […]

Canada won’t follow Bush on reducing oil consumption: Harper

Canada won’t follow the Bush administration’s lead in setting hard targets for reducing oil consumption, but will instead impose tougher emissions standards on the auto sector and other industries, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper. However, any regulations intended to protect the environment won’t come at the expense of the economy, Harper said Wednesday. “The government […]

EU seeks lower airport charges

The Commission has presented plans which aim to put an end to years of disputes between airlines and airports over the cost and quality of services they provide.Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said: “Everything we’ve done here is designed to bring down the costs of airport fees and, hence, the costs of travelling by air for […]

South Africa: Biofuel Demand Good for Farmers

South Africa’s maize production could more than double over the next five years to meet an expected surge in global demand for cleaner grain-based energy sources, said Agri SA president Lourie Bosman yesterday. Biodiesel and ethanol are eco-friendly by-products of crops like sugar and maize and, in countries, are used in cars. South Africa is […]

Russia’s oil habit keeps hampers economy

Oil prices have been falling and western European customers, rattled by disruptions of Russian supplies, are looking for other sources of oil and natural gas. That might be a wakeup call for Russia to stop relying almost exclusively on hydrocarbon exports as the backbone of its economy. Yet Russia is doing little to diversify — […]

Merkel calls for challenging emissions controls

The twin demands of action to prevent climate change and enhance energy security requires Europe to commit to challenging mandatory controls on greenhouse gasses after 2012, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Wednesday. In a marked contrast to George Bush’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, when he set an ambition to reduce […]

Nigerian Oil: Curse of the Black Gold

The Niger Delta holds some of the world’s richest oil deposits, yet Nigerians living there are poorer than ever, violence is rampant, and the land and water are fouled. What went wrong? Oil fouls everything in southern Nigeria. It spills from the pipelines, poisoning soil and water. It stains the hands of politicians and generals, […]

Is the sun setting on oil sector’s heyday?

Global pledges to slash use may put long-term pressure on pricesU.S. President George W. Bush is not alone in promising policies that would slash oil demand — the European Union and China have also set ambitious efficiency targets. “If I was a producer, I would be really, really concerned,” said Paul Ting, a long-time Wall […]

Switching to snake oil

The plan that President Bush unveiled in his State of the Union Address to cut gasoline consumption by 20% over the next 10 years is so shot through with loopholes, exceptions, and escape clauses that it’s impossible to say what would happen to gasoline consumption were Congress to vote his plan into law. That’s probably […]

Blindness on Biofuels

…The politics are simple enough. Americans dislike high fuel prices; auto companies dislike tougher fuel economy standards. By contrast, everyone seems to win with biofuels: farmers, consumers, capitalists. American technology triumphs. Biofuels create rural jobs and drain money from foreign oil producers. What’s not to like? Unfortunately, this enticing vision is dramatically overdrawn. Let’s do […]

The state of our energy is dangerous

WASHINGTON – Gas prices may be coming down to earth, but for how long? Unfortunately, America A new refinery hasn

Power & Energy

There is an assumption made here that we have never fully defended, but simply taken for granted, and I have noted it n some of the criticism we’ve recently recieved, so it’s high time to address the topic in a straight-forward fashion. The assumption is: Political power is a type of complexity, and thus it […]

Efforts to lower Hawaii gas prices snarl

HONOLULU – More than eight months after Hawaii suspended its first-in-the-nation cap on gas prices, the latest attempt to lower motorists’ bills is stuck in neutral. Under the law passed in the waning hours of the 2006 legislative session, Hawaii’s two oil refiners are required to periodically disclose the number of gallons sold, the wholesale […]

The Oil Drum: Key Questions on Energy Options

A question was recently posed here: What is the most important question concerning ethanol production? That got me to thinking about important questions regarding not only ethanol, but all of our energy sources. There are a number of issues that we must carefully consider for any of our potential energy sources.Much more after the jump […]

Oil chief emerges with climate warning

FORMER fossil fuel mogul John Schubert says the nation has reached a “tipping point” on climate change, with overwhelming public acceptance of the problem making it impossible for business and government to ignore it any longer. The Commonwealth Bank chairman credits the drought, extreme weather disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in the US and Cyclone […]

If Tesco and Wal-Mart are friends of the earth, are there any enemies left?

The superstores compete to convince us they are greener than their rivals, but they are locked into unsustainable growth You batter your head against the door until you begin to wonder whether it is a door at all. Suddenly it opens, and you find yourself flying through space. The superstores’ green conversion is astonishing, wonderful, […]

Put the brakes on anti-car drive

Let’s hope Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk summon the good sense to take the report they have received from the Peak Oil Task Force and file it under “T.” For twaddle. The Peak Oil Task Force is part of a national network of groups obsessed with the catastrophe they believe will […]

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