New microbe that converts light to energy discovered

Yellowstone National Park has yielded a new marvel, an unusual bacterium that converts light to energy. The discovery was made in a hot spring at the park where colourful mats of microbes drift in the warmth. “This thing was just bizarre,” David M. Ward, a Professor of Microbial Studies at Montana State University, said of […]

Sewerage systems of the future?

The deep green reeds, yellow water lilies and gently splashing water simply look like an attractive water feature. But in fact, this Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) could be the future of sewerage management. The first drains built in Britain were Roman, and since then, engineers through the ages have tried to find the most […]

Context Affects Opinion About Novel Energy Sources

Opinions people have about innovations are influenced by the context in which they form their opinion. For example, opinions about a novel energy source like biomass are influenced by thoughts regarding other energy sources. The less knowledge, interest or time people have, the stronger this effect. Sustainable energy options must therefore be promoted in the […]

OPEC

It was the same then too, in the mid-1980s, just prior to the global oil market crash. Growing calls for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to open its taps were emanating from every quarter. The same appears to also be the case now. The pressure is once again building up. The clamor […]

China: SUVs sell faster but buyers eye gas prices

Half-year sales for sport utilities vehicles in China rose 39 percent from a year earlier, outpacing the growth for the whole industry. And models with smaller engines led the field amid high gasoline prices. Chinese auto makers sold 158,000 SUVs for the first six months, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers Tuesday. The […]

Americans

As you know, many serious problems are associated with our insatiable thirst for energy. The reason is simple: To gain the energy we must burn the fuels. The combustion, by the way quite inefficient, causes huge gaseous emissions polluting the air and forming an invisible screen responsible for the famous ” green house effect “, […]

Bombing of Mexican Pipelines Puzzles Security Experts

At first, some thought the explosions may have been caused by accidents, but investigators at the bombing sites in north-central Mexico found evidence of sophisticated explosives, and a leftist insurgent group from southern Mexico, the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) claimed responsibility. President Felipe Calderon pledged to protect the infrastructure of the state-owned energy company, Petroleos […]

Do You Live in One of the World’s 15 Greenest Cities?

Here’s the top 15 cities and few runners up who have made the most impressive strides toward eco-friendliness and sustainability. 1. Rekyjavik, Iceland Remember the grade-school memory device “Greenland is icy and Iceland is green”? It’s truer than ever thanks to progress made by Iceland and its capital city in recent years. Reykjavik has been […]

The Oil Drum: Happiness, economic growth, and oil prices

The country is getting much wealthier over the last few decades has had very limited effect on our aggregate happiness. Furthermore, oil prices are fairly uncorrelated with happiness: Conclusion: The absolute level of happiness of the US population is not very sensitive to macroeconomic variables. The approach of peak oil has not had a large […]

Mexican Company Predicts End of Oil

Mexico, Jul 27 (Prensa Latina) Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) announced that oil reserves may run out in seven years. “Supplies of this economically exploitable resource are running out,” informed a report sent by the state owned company to the United States stock market. Until December 31, 2005 the report says proven reserves were about 8.978 billion […]

Looming drought may bring water, power outages to Philippines

A prolonged dry spell in the Philippines has raised the possibility of water shortages and power cuts in the capital and surrounding areas, officials said Thursday. President Gloria Arroyo had asked the public to save water and ordered all agencies to prepare for a drought if rains do not come by August, the presidential palace […]

Roller coaster ahead for oil prices

There are only two factors driving up oil prices: supply and demand. Supply is restricted as oil becomes harder to find, and demand is growing due to the rise of China, which is now one of the world’s largest users of oil. Analysts are predicting that global demand for oil could exceed supply by as […]

China’s Domestic Exploration Costs Surge – Woodmac

Despite concerns about intensifying competition between China and the West for energy resources, China’s listed oil trio increased their spending on domestic exploration and production from 2004 to 2006 by more than their total international expenditure last year.Although their spending appears to be paying off, with discoveries such as the Nanpu oil and natural gas […]

Thin Film’s Time in the Sun

The low manufacturing costs of photovoltaics that employ thin films of cadmium-telluride semiconductor have long been seen as having the potential for lifting solar power from its niche status as a very expensive power source, delivering less than a twentieth of 1 percent of U.S. electricity. Now, after two decades in which cadmium-telluride technology was […]

Crash Homes on Brazil Infrastructure Woe

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Aviation chaos, unpaved highways and the threat of energy rationing point to perhaps Brazil’s greatest challenge in its quest to become an economic superpower: How to upgrade its overburdened infrastructure. The government is planning to spend billions of dollars in coming years to modernize and expand strained roads, power plants […]

PAUL KRUGMAN: The Sum of Some Fears

Right wing is still in denial over oil prices …I The

Transport policy needs to go off-road

Victoria’s focus on widening freeways is a long- term recipe for disaster, writes Elliot Fishman. “BE CAREFUL what you wish for” is the warning to the Victorian Government following its $8.6 billion transport wish list presented to the Federal Government recently. The list includes $2.2 billion to add an extra lane in each direction to […]

Oil holds firm above $75, eyes tight global supply

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil rose above $75 on Friday as investors focused on tightening fuel supplies and shrugged off immediate worries over corporate borrowing costs and the U.S. economy that roiled stock markets. Sharp falls in global stock markets, triggered by weak U.S. housing data and tightening credit markets, had dragged crude more than $1 […]

India: Nalco faces shortage of coal

The National Aluminium Company (Nalco) plunged into an unprecedented coal shortage crisis threatening the collapse of its sensitive smelter plant here. The crisis of coal is so serious that the authorities had to a shut down two 120 MW units of the seven units of captive power plant during the month. It has been importing […]

India: Oil prices can’t be ring-fenced

The relentless rise in the international price of crude has put the government in a tight spot. The price of the Indian crude basket (a mix of Dubai and Brent) based on which current domestic prices are fixed has gone up from $58 a barrel to an average of $72.31 a barrel. Logically, therefore, domestic […]

The unintended consequences of the ethanol quick fix

Outside the United States, the unintended consequences of ill-considered policies promoting ethanol and other biofuel crops are already in full view. The poor, of course, are hit hardest.Religious leaders who are demanding action on global warming may soon be demanding action on some of the quick fixes put in place in the name of “renewable” […]

As Cheap Oil Ends, American Standard of Living Will Decline

“Americans are delusional,” began James Howard Kunstler, speaking to the investment conference we are attending here in Vancouver. “They think they can continue living the way they’ve been living for the last 50 years. They think the key to it is to find a way to keep getting fuel. And Vice President Cheney summed up […]

Shell reports big finds in Australia

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has said it had made material finds in Australia and Malaysia in the first half of this year.

Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said the company had made the finds of gas at its Prelude and Persephone prospects off Australia’s northwest coast and of oil and gas offshore northwest Sabah in Malaysia.

The CEO singled out Prelude, in the Browse basin, for particular mention.

“We think it may be an important new resource,” he told a news conference in London.

Sydney Morning Herald

Senior Chinese official hints at raising domestic oil price

A higher domestic oil price would benefit China’s aim to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, Cao Changqing, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Thursday, in the clearest indication yet that the government is considering raising the price of oil. Despite soaring international oil prices, domestic oil prices […]

Reading Oil

A recent study from the U.S. National Petroleum Council (NPC), led by former ExxonMobil chairman Lee Raymond, asserts global energy consumption will increase as much as 60 percent by 2030 but assures The Petroleum Council recommends strengthening U.S. fuel economy standards, further developing biofuels, and increasing domestic drilling for oil and gas. It also calls […]

The World at $100 a Barrel

Oil prices have surged again, and investment bank Goldman Sachs thinks they have the potential to spike to near $100 a barrel by the end of summer unless Middle East production increases. How would a rise to, say, $95 a barrel affect the global economy? Some key take-aways from a new analysis by the bank: […]

The European Champions of Energy: Russia and France Play the Game

Last week I told you the French are beating the Brits in the pan-European battle for Russia’s gas-fueled energy affection. But what exactly are they winning? Across Europe, a new nationalism is in the air. France can take some of the blame for eroding the sense of inevitability that was once attached to European political […]

ConocoPhillips Still in Talks on Venezuela Compensation

U.S. energy major ConocoPhillips (COP) said Wednesday it still was in discussions with Venezuela over compensation for stakes in crude-oil projects it ceded to the state-owned oil company there. “We continue negotiations with the Venezuela government concerning appropriate compensation for the expropriation of the company’s oil projects and have preserved all legal rights, including international […]

BHP hit by cost of own iron

BHP Billiton is breaking production records but is still being squeezed by the rising price of one of its own products, iron ore. A sharp kick in the price of steel a year ago appears to have almost singlehandedly caused a rise of 27 per cent, or $80 million, in the cost of the Stybarrow […]

What to Say To Those Who Think Nuclear Will Save Us

Chances are good, gentle reader, that you are going to have to sit next to someone in the coming year who will assert that nuclear power is the solution to climate change. What will you tell them? Nuclear power proponents like to picture a bunch of clean plants humming away like beehives across the landscape. […]

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