US power station emissions up 3 per cent

Carbon dioxide emissions from American power plants leapt by nearly three per cent last year, the biggest annual increase in nearly a decade, according to analysis of government figures by an environmental watchdog. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a Washington DC-based non-profit advocacy group, reviewed data collected by the US Environmental Protection Agency from more […]

Material turns waste heat into power

A major boost in the effectiveness of a material that transforms waste heat into electricity could significantly boost energy efficiency in anything from air conditioners to car engines. It is the first major improvement in such “thermoelectric” materials in 50 years, say researchers. Thermoelectric materials can also work in reverse to convert electricity into differences […]

Melting glaciers will trigger food shortages

The irrigation water vital for the grain crops that feed China and India is at risk of drying up, as global warming melts the glaciers that feed Asia’s biggest rivers. “The world has never faced such a predictably massive threat to food production as that posed by the melting mountain glaciers of Asia,” says Lester […]

Feds OK LNG terminal between N.Y., Conn.

WASHINGTON – Federal energy regulators on Thursday approved a $700 million liquefied natural gas terminal proposed for Long Island Sound, a facility opposed by the state of Connecticut and other critics who say it would damage the environment and be vulnerable to a terrorist attack. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 5-0 to approve the […]

A thirsty planet looks for solutions to water shortage

A world without fresh water would be a world bereft of humans, and yet one in five people lacks regular access to this most basic of life-sustaining substances. By 2025, fully a third of the planet’s growing population could find itself scavenging for safe drinking water, the United Nations has warned ahead of World Water […]

Russia’s uranium output jumps 7 percent in 2007

Russia mined 7 percent more uranium last year and it plans to spend $400 million raising 2008 output by another 5 percent, state-controlled uranium miner Atomredmedzoloto said in a statement on Wednesday. The firm plans to triple output by 2015 and it says Russia produced 3,413 tonnes of uranium last year. This year it will […]

Coal Can’t Fill World’s Burning Appetite

Long considered an abundant, reliable and relatively cheap source of energy, coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide. An untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia’s appetite has driven international spot prices of coal up by 50 percent or more in the past five […]

Dutch Minister Sees No Need For Biofuels Moratorium

A national moratorium on the use of biofuels would not stop other countries producing unsustainably and a better strategy would be to develop industry standards, the Dutch environment minister said on Wednesday. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food called for a five-year moratorium on biofuels last year, saying it was a […]

Reserves don’t matter as much as the cost of getting the oil out the ground

Oil and gas reserves don’t much matter any more. You arrive at that conclusion after listening to Royal Dutch Shell’s strategy presentation in which the company this week finally allowed investors to have a look at the gauge on its fuel tank.Reserves on their own don’t matter. What matters is the cost of getting the […]

Oil Falls Below $100 on Concern U.S. Slowdown May Limit Demand

Crude oil fell below $100 a barrel in New York on growing concern a U.S. economic slowdown will hurt commodity demand. Oil has fallen 11 percent from a record this week, tracking declines in gold, wheat and metals, as the dollar strengthened, reducing the need for hedges against inflation. U.S. gasoline demand in the past […]

Police raid BP offices in Russia

Russian police have raided the Moscow offices of the oil giant BP and its joint venture TNK-BP. The searches have renewed fears that the Russian government wants greater control of foreign-owned energy assets. There is market speculation that the Kremlin would like the state-owned gas firm Gazprom to buy the stakes of BP’s Russian partners […]

Oil shares drag down Wall Street

Wall Street’s main share indexes fell on Wednesday, dragged down by weaker US oil stocks. Exxon Mobil fell 1.8% and Chevron lost 2% after crude oil fell by $5 a barrel, on worries over the outlook for the US economy, the world’s biggest oil user. But bank shares were higher, lifted by better-than-expected results from […]

Forget Iraq: Pentagon Mulls Drilling on Bases

The U.S. Department of Defense is like a lot of other big energy consumers: over-budget and under the gun. Energy prices are so high, the DoD is mulling opening up some U.S. military installations to outside exploration for traditional energy sources like oil and natural gas as way to install even more renewable energy, reports […]

How the blurring of the seasons is a harbinger of climate calamity

Spring, which officially starts today, is starting to dissolve as a distinct season as climate change takes hold. According to documented observations throughout 2007 and 2008, events in the natural world that used to be key spring indicators, from the blooming of flowers to the appearance of insects, are now increasingly happening in what used […]

Analysis: Petraeus makes Iraq energy calls

Gen. David Petraeus is calling on “large Western corporations” to invest in Iraq’s energy sector as Iraq looks outside to boost oil, gas and power production. Petraeus, who as commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq overseas all coalition troops there, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked him to convey the message to companies. “The prime minister is […]

OPEC Needs to Meet Less of Oil Demand Growth By 2012, Firm Says

March 19 (Bloomberg) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil, needs to meet less than half of the forecast gain in demand by 2012, Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd. said. OPEC will probably have to increase production “not much more than 2 or 3 million barrels […]

Government officials want more time to discuss oil shale plan

DENVER The BLM released a draft plan in December to mine the oil locked in rocks on federal land in the three states and gave the public 90 days to comment. Government officials in western Colorado and eight water providers along the Front Range, including Denver Water, have asked for an extension, saying they needed […]

CERA: Black Gold, Indeed

Daniel Yergin

Easyjet warns about fuel prices

Budget airline Easyjet has warned that the “significantly” higher cost of aviation fuel will cut its profits for the second half of its financial year. The news saw Easyjet’s shares fall as much as 13% in Thursday trading. If fuel prices remain at current levels, Easyjet said they will add an extra

Venezuela Suspends Oil Shipments to Chalmette Refinery in U.S.

(Bloomberg) — Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of foreign crude oil to the U.S., suspended oil shipments to the Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery, which is jointly owned by Venezuela’s state oil company. “Right now we’re not sending anything,” Venezuela’s Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters today in Caracas. “This isn’t sustainable.” The Chalmette refinery, which […]

Latest underwater cable cut less mysterious

There’s been another underwater cable cut — in Maine, not the Middle East — and it looks conspiracy theorists will be unable to blame terrorists or U.S. military preparations for invading Iran. This time they’ll have to blame the price of copper. (Although vandalism remains an option as the police continue their investigation — the […]

Indonesia plays power catch-up

Indonesia, one of Asia’s largest fuel exporters, now faces dire power shortages, threatening to hold back an economic recovery which at 6.3 % reached its fastest pace in a decade last year. Chronic underinvestment and fast-rising industrial and consumer power demand means Indonesia is facing undercapacity constraints, which the government warns could reach crisis levels […]

China’s pollution nightmare is now everyone’s pollution nightmare

The emergence of China as a dominant economic power is an epochal event, occasioning the most massive and rapid redistribution of the earth’s resources in human history. The country has also become a ravenous consumer. Its appetite for raw materials drives up international commodity prices and shipping rates while its middle class, projected to jump […]

Are high crude oil prices here to stay?

A DebateRaju Lal, Ernst & Young: While oil demand is projected to increase significantly, supply may struggle to keep pace. The production from the existing fields is declining by 4 per cent per annum which means that that around three mbpd of new capacity needs to be added every year just to offset the decline […]

Australia plans carbon storage under ocean

Australia plans to allow greenhouse gas emissions to be stored in the ocean floor around the island continent, with exploration for suitable sites possibly starting in 2008. Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the government would amend the Offshore Petroleum Act this year to allow for seabed storage of carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations.“Australia has […]

Kenya: A Revolution in Energy Awaits, Who Will Tap It?

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is so far the best we’ve achieved. To be honest, not much to speak of. Limitations of this technology are legion, hardly going beyond 12 volts, grid connections are uneconomic as PV technology is far too expensive and the system isn’t suited for highly-intensive energy uses. Search no more. A solution at […]

Salt could shake up world energy supply

Only up to powering light bulbs so far, “salt power” is a tantalising if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical. Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water — one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake — are due on […]

Chinese biofuel ‘could endanger biodiversity’

Using China’’s forests and ‘idle land’ to produce biofuels could pose a threat to biodiversity, warned experts at an international meeting. Spike Millington, chief technical advisor to the European Union-China Biodiversity Programme, raised the problem earlier this month (7 March) at the International Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Change, held in Beijing, China. In July […]

Why We Can

Even at $100 a barrel, oil is still cheaper than a Starbucks latte. At the age of 7, when most kids are climbing trees, John Hess was surveying foreign oilfields. The son of Leon Hess, a forceful entrepreneur who built a small home-heating business in New Jersey into a global oil company, the younger Hess […]

Arctic losing long-term ice cover

The Arctic is losing its old, thick ice faster than in previous years, according to satellite data. The loss has continued since the end of the Arctic summer, despite cold weather across the northern hemisphere. Older floes are thicker and less saline than newly-formed ice, meaning they can survive warm spells better. Ice more than […]

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