Connecticut

Connecticut But as Connecticut joins a growing list of states

In Budget Crises, States Reluctantly Halt Road Projects

…California, which has suspended nearly $4 billion in public works projects, is one of a half dozen states delaying or halting projects because of capsizing budgets, an inability to attract investors to the municipal bonds used to bankroll many projects and a reduction in gasoline tax revenues

Peak Moment: Energy Investment, Energy Return

Independent financial consultant Jim Hansen runs every investment through the “peak oil test”. In this presentation from the ASPO-USA 2008 conference, he explores traditional energy investments; opportunities in renewables, rail, and electrifying the transportation system; areas to avoid like airlines and trucking; and what to watch, like electric cars and the unwinding of globalization. In […]

Will Canada be Our Salvation?

There have been occasional claims from U.S. media sources that oil from Canada, specifically oil from the Athabasca oil sands region, can be the salvation for US oil woes in the future, assuming drilling everywhere in the US doesn In the 5-year period from 2002 through 2007, oil sands oil production increased from 660,000 b/d […]

Ford scores marketing coup with thrifty Fusion hybrid

DETROIT It’s a huge marketing gain for Ford as it attempts to green up its image and improve fuel efficiency across the board. The Fusion hybrid will cost about $27,000 vs. roughly $24,000 for the conventional Fusion model. “Our overall strategy is to ensure that with every new vehicle we introduce, we’re either the best […]

Refiner, retailer Flying J files for bankruptcy

NEW YORK (AFP) … “Even though Flying J today is a successful and historically profitable company, it faced near-term liquidity pressure from an unprecedented combination of factors: the precipitous drop in the price of oil and the lack of available financing from our traditional sources due to disrupted credit markets,” said J. Phillip Adams, president […]

The West’s Energy Boom Could Threaten Drinking Water for 1 in 12 Americans

The Colorado River, the life vein of the Southwestern United States, is in trouble. The river’s water is hoarded the moment it trickles out of the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado and begins its 1,450-mile journey to Mexico’s border. It runs south through seven states and the Grand Canyon, delivering water to Phoenix, Los Angeles […]

Serbia reaches energy deal with Russia

Serbia said Monday it has agreed on a multi-million-dollar energy deal with Russia, to be signed this week despite strong opposition within the balkan country’s government. The deal means Serbia will sell its oil monopoly, NIS, to Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom in exchange for the construction of a strategic Russian pipeline through Serbia.The plan has divided […]

The Coming Oil Train Wreck – First stop: Mexico?

The global oil depletion crisis will last much longer than the current credit crisis, severe as that may be. Credit can be created, and savings can be rebuilt over time. Sadly, oil, created over millions of years, is finite. Oil is a one-time gift that will likely be wrapping up its brief lifespan as an […]

Energy nominee is no fan of fossil fuel-based energy

With the announcement of his new energy-environmental team last week, President-elect Barack Obama has signaled a clear intention of pursuing policies that differ sharply from those of his predecessor. While some questions remain unresolved, one thing appears certain: His choice for secretary of energy, the highly respected Nobel laureate Steven Chu, is no fan of […]

Oil-Shale Waste ‘Non Hazardous,’ EPA Says

The Environmental Protection Agency issued an 11th-hour clarification on spent oil shale, declaring the byproduct of the development process not to be a hazardous waste. The ruling could limit production costs if U.S. developers move ahead with oil shale development, but the next administration under President-elect Barack Obama is expected to put the brakes on […]

Saudi Arabia to Boost Spending

Saudi Arabia said Monday that it plans to ramp up government spending next year — despite a sharp downturn in oil prices — and incur its first budget deficit in six years to keep its economy growing. The kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, said revenue next year is forecast at 410 billion riyals, or […]

New Battery Might Make Wind Power More Reliable

Xcel Energy, Inc., has become one of the first utilities in the U.S. to install a giant battery system in an attempt to store some of that wind power for later. “Energy storage might help us get to the point where we can integrate wind better,” says Frank Novachek, director of corporate planning for the […]

Fatih Birol interview on Youtube for the film ‘PetroApocalypse Now?’

In this 40 minute exclusive interview for my film “PetroApocalypse Now?” I interviewed Fatih Birol, Chief Economist of the IEA about reserves, the USGS, technology, demand and recession, solutions and peak oil. The interview is in 5 clips at youtube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bA_F5j97z7E – Reserves, discovery and new technology http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXZzNaVLJw – Decline rates, and whether OPEC will […]

Obama team plans biggest boost in history to save American economy

Barack Obama’s administration in waiting signalled yesterday that it was preparing the biggest economic stimulus in US history to avert mass unemployment in a stuttering economy that could face the toughest recession in half a century. The Obama camp indicated that the package would be worth between $675bn and $775bn, easily eclipsing other packages unveiled […]

Solar Activity Between 1250-1850 Linked To Temperature Changes In Siberia

An ice core drilled at the Belukha glacier in the Siberian Altai by a Swiss-Russian research team under the leadership of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in 2001 has now provided new findings in climate research. Oxygen isotopes in the ice were used to reconstruct the temperatures in the Altai over the past 750 years. […]

Year-End Round Up: Top Worldwide Finds in 2008

A year most notable for its record high and low crude prices driving year-round market tension, not to mention oil majors’ annual build-up to third quarter, bank-busting profits, 2008 should also go on record for the petroleum industry’s significant oil and gas finds dotting the globe. Some of these discoveries have pinpointed specific regions as […]

Tough climate goals maybe easier than feared

Tough targets for avoiding dangerous global warming may be easier to achieve than widely believed, according to a study that could ease fears of a prohibitive long-term surge in costs. The report, by scientists in the Netherlands and Germany, indicated that initial investments needed to be high to have any impact in slowing temperature rises. […]

Peak oil review – Dec 22

1. Prices and production 2. OPEC may meet in January 3. Investment 4. The IEA sets a date 5. Briefs 1. Prices and production Crude prices started the week with the January contract touching $49 on Monday on prospects for an OPEC production cut and closed out the week trading as low as $32 a […]

Cheap Gas = Death of Green?

Caterpillar International and Toyota both brought bad news today. Oil prices are off 70% from their $147 peak in July. Eight months ago, any yegg with the ability to execute a financial transaction was a genius, but the bubble that burst in Q4 was the result of 8 years of Bush economic policy that can […]

Seawater science can help climate change forecasts

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A team of scientists has come up with a new definition of seawater which is set to boost the accuracy of projections for oceans and climate. Oceans help regulate the planet’s weather by shifting heat from the equator to the poles. Changes in salinity and temperature are major forces driving global currents […]

EPA sued over mountaintop mining rule

Industry calls it overreaction; EPA says move strengthens reviews WASHINGTON – Environmentalists sued the Bush administration on Monday, trying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from changing a rule they say keeps mining waste from entering mountain streams. “The notion that coal mining companies can dump their wastes in streams without degrading them is a […]

Financial meltdown slows wind-power

Investment funds flattened in 2008 after years of growth Doyle is paid just over $35,000 a month for the seven wind turbines in his soybean and corn fields. Those turbines and thousands others across the Midwest the past few years were part of an unprecedented build-out for the wind-power industry. That expansion is now drastically […]

A greener alternative to plastics: liquid wood

Search for substitute to petroleum-based products led to innovation Just in time for Christmas, German researchers are ramping up a manufacturing technique for making intricate Nativity figurines, toys, and even hi-fi speaker boxes from a renewable and surprisingly versatile source: liquid wood. The bio-plastic dubbed Arboform, derived from wood pulp-based lignin, can be mixed with […]

Pemex Oil Production Drops 6.5% on Cantarell Field

(Bloomberg) — Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, said crude oil output fell 6.5 percent in November from the year-earlier period as production at its Cantarell field declined at a faster-than-expected rate. Production dropped to 2.711 million barrels a day, from 2.901 million barrels a day a year earlier, the company known as Pemex said […]

Russia warns Europe it could face gas shortages

Britain was given a sharp reminder of the dangers to its energy supplies today when Gazprom warned western Europe could be hit by gas shortages. The Russian gas provider said a long-running row with Ukraine could disrupt supplies to Europe this winter. The fears were raised just 24 hours before Russia hosts a meeting of […]

Over a barrel

The plunging oil price is like a dangerously addictive painkiller: short-term relief is being provided at a cost of serious long-term harm. It took more than four years for oil to go from $35 per barrel in 2004 to over $147 in July 2008, and less than six months to fall all the way back […]

Schizophrenic Oil Market Needs Better Reserve Data, Yergin Says

(Bloomberg) — Improved data on oil reserves, investment and stockpiles would help rectify a Producing and consuming nations need to replicate the U.S. Energy Information Administration to improve market data and adopt more relevant definitions of reserves, which are 30 years out of date, said Yergin, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book

Japan Oil Imports Fall 17% as Recession Damps Demand

(Bloomberg) — Japan Japan

Public utility dike bursts, floods 8 to 10 homes

The collapse occurs at a power plant run by the Tenn. Valley Authority HARRIMAN, Tenn. – A retention pond wall collapsed early Monday morning at a power plant run by the nation’s largest public utility, releasing a frigid mix of water and ash that flooded as many as 10 homes and put hundreds of acres […]

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