Wind, Geothermal Are Most Efficient Renewable Energy Sources – Study

As the U.S. Congress debates an energy and climate bill, government organizations and corporations are assessing renewable energy alternatives. Which are the most efficient and improving the fastest? According to a new study from NYU’s Stern school of Business, geothermal and wind energy are more efficient, and are yielding greater returns on the R&D invested […]

Uphill Road for Europe to Kick Russian Gas Habit

Analysts say profound questions remain beyond next winter about whether Europe can ever guarantee adequate and stable supplies of natural gas from Russia, its largest supplier. Several initiatives are advancing, but officials concede many of the proposals or projects are years off, and analysts say that some may never be realized because of political sensitivities […]

A Growing India Sets Goal to Harness Renewable Energy

About 56 percent of India’s 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity. And as coal deposits dip and climate change concerns rise, it is becoming increasingly untenable for India to continue relying on coal-produced power, which accounts for 40 percent of its total greenhouse gas emissions. “We need to get our act together,” […]

Investigate Peak Oil Urgently

An online petition calling on national academy of sciences to study peak oil urgently A growing number of international geologists and analysts warn of a looming catastrophe with the onset of the decline in the global supply of oil. Likewise, reports by several federal agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers, point to the […]

Exxon Investments 'Paradigm Shift' for Big Oil

Is Big Oil warming at last to the notion of an alternative-energy future? So say some analysts who are pondering Exxon Mobil Corp.’s recent moves. Breaking from years of steadfast commitment to fossil fuels, the behemoth has announced big investments in electric cars, unconventional natural gas and algae-based biofuels (Greenwire, July 14). The Exxon announcements […]

Automakers seek battery ties as cars go electric

TOKYO (Reuters) – Rechargeable batteries could become the core technology for the auto industry if pure electric cars enter the mainstream — a prospect that has carmakers racing to team up with battery makers. Auto executives say that with fewer moving parts, easy-to-assemble electric cars may also lower the bar for entry into the cut-throat […]

Ecuador unlikely to nationalize oil sector

QUITO (Reuters) – Although Ecuador seized control of Perenco’s oil fields over a tax dispute, the OPEC nation is unlikely to nationalize petroleum companies while it seeks to renegotiate contracts in a bid to increase revenue. The leftist government of Rafael Correa, a key ally of Hugo Chavez, who has nationalized scores of energy companies […]

Oil majors seen having "ugly" second quarter

LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s largest oil companies likely had an “ugly” second quarter, with earnings hit by a halving of oil and gas prices, sharply lower refining margins and, worst of all for many, stubbornly high costs. The oil and gas sector will likely report a 62 percent drop in second-quarter earnings compared to […]

U.N. Sudan chief raises alarm over oil area troops

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The head of the United Nations in Sudan accused south Sudanese soldiers Saturday of straying into the contested oil area of Abyei, stoking tension ahead of a sensitive ruling on the region’s boundaries. The armies of north Sudan and its semi-autonomous south, which clashed in Abyei last year, had agreed to stay […]

IKEA is as bad as Wal-Mart

Everyone loves a bargain, but a new book illuminates the dangers of cheap stuff My mother still owns, and uses, the same vacuum cleaner she bought early in her marriage, just after World War II. She still lives in the house my father — not a carpenter by trade, but an electrician — built in […]

Empty Quarter holds its secrets

A scramble for gas in Saudi Arabia After four consortiums of international partners have drilled 22 wells, only one team, from the Russian giant Lukoil, said it made a commercial-scale discovery but it remains unclear how significant the find is. Experts say Saudi Arabia will need more than marginal discoveries as it faces the challenge […]

The environmental problem the world is loath to address

A quick question: What’s the biggest environmental problem facing humanity today. Is it global warming? One would certainly think so judging from the actions of various governments, which are trying to reduce those manmade greenhouse gas emissions we hear so much about. Is it dwindling energy resources, running up against the limits of agricultural technology […]

Is a Clean-Energy Economy Our 'Next Internet'?

Just as the race from mainframes to smartphones made information free, surging innovation can make energy so abundant that it becomes nearly free It’s easy to overhype the potential of the emerging clean-energy economy. When I first dipped my toe into these waters in 2000, the sector was already being hailed as “the next Internet,” […]

A New Enforcer in Buildings, the Energy Inspector

AUSTIN, Tex. But that small catch would not have been made in many American towns. Mr. Umphress is a particular kind of inspector, an energy auditor, and Austin, with one of the toughest building codes in the country, requires an energy inspection before a building can be occupied. Climate scientists and architects say that no […]

Spike, then slump, in oil rattles Middle East

Price collapse at end of 2008 For the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its key Mideast members, however, it was a question of economic survival. The price drop stunted sharp growth in Arab sheikdoms such as the United Arab Emirates, rattled deeply entrenched political systems in places like Kuwait and Iran, and endangered […]

Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy

President Obama has often described his push to fund “clean” energy technology as key to America’s drive for international competitiveness as well as a way to combat climate change. “There’s no longer a question about whether the jobs and the industries of the 21st century will be centered around clean, renewable energy,” he said on […]

Asian maritime boundary disputes driven by oil, gas demand

A subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been told that growing demand for oil and gas is one of the main drivers of increasing “friction and tension” over maritime boundaries in waters of East and Southeast Asia. “In recent years, we have observed an increase in friction and tension over these disputes,” […]

Solar Cycle and El Nino: New research points to stronger connection

New research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado shows that maximum solar activity and solar fluctuations through the complete solar cycle have impacts on Earth that mimic La Nina and El Nino events in the Pacific Ocean. This research may set the stage for more accurate predictions of weather […]

Solar Power Generation Capacity May Double in 2010

New solar power generation may double next year, recovering from low capacity utilization caused by the global financial crisis, as China and the U.S. increase demand for clean energy, a fund manager said. Asian ventures led by Suntech Power Holdings Co., Trina Solar Ltd. and Canadian Solar Inc. may benefit as 10 gigawatts of electricity […]

Mystery methane belched out by megacities

The Los Angeles metropolitan area belches far more methane into its air than scientists had previously realised. If other megacities are equally profligate, urban methane emissions may represent a surprisingly important source of this potent greenhouse gas. Atmospheric researchers have long had good estimates of global methane emissions, but less is known about exactly where […]

$100,000 per Barrel Oil

Please note that this is only an interesting thought experiment to illustrate the huge potential for oil’s price escalation.Assumptions: 1. Every percentage change of supply (while holding demand constant) or demand (while holding supply constant) results in roughly a 10 to 30 percent change in price. I heard that this tends to be the experience […]

Letter gives EnCana 3 months to leave or attacks will 'get a lot worse&#039

A letter sent to a daily newspaper and addressed simply to “EnCana” says attacks against the company will stop for three months to give it a chance to leave the area. “We can all take a summer vacation including your security personnel and the RCMP who have not helped you to date anyway,” the letter […]

World

The world Climate change blamed on greenhouse-gas emissions is contributing to warmer ocean and land temperatures and more severe storms, the United Nations said last year in a report. The impact of ocean warming on storm activity this year may be offset by El Nino conditions, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist with the private forecaster […]

It's Time To Defend Climate Change Bill

The Senate, perhaps inadvertently, has given the American public a chance to help counter a massive assault by the fossil fuel industry on our nation’s best hope to fight climate change and forge a clean energy future–the American Climate and Energy Security Act. Earthjustice’s biggest concern is a loophole that exempts coal-burning utilities from changing […]

TVA says hazard rating 'high' at 4 coal ash sites

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. On Thursday, the federal utility wrote EPA that “in the interest of taking a conservative, self-critical approach,” TVA reassessed the potential for harm as “high” for those living near the Bull Run and Cumberland coal-fired plants in Tennessee and the Colbert and Widows Creek plants in Alabama. A “high” hazard ranking under the […]

U.S. should pay for carbon content of imported goods: Locke

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to “pay” for the carbon content of goods they consume from countries around the world, a top U.S. official said on Friday. “It’s important that those who consume the products being made all around the world to the benefit of […]

Gas price record, one year later

Friday marks the one-year anniversary of $4.114 a gallon gas, the highest price ever recorded by AAA. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — It’s been one year since drivers across America were stuck paying the highest gas prices on record, and the memory is not a pleasant one for consumers. Friday marked the anniversary of $4.114-a-gallon gas. […]

The Last Straw

If you think these failed states look bad now, wait until the climate changes. Hopelessly overcrowded, crippled by poverty, teeming with Islamist militancy, careless with its nukes Until now, the two sides had been able to relegate the water issue to the back burner. In 1960, India and Pakistan agreed to divide the six tributaries […]

Interior plans offshore drilling despite questions

WASHINGTON …The department’s Minerals Management Service, which conducts lease sales, estimates the area could yield up to 423 million barrels of oil and up to 2.64 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The U.S. uses about 7.5 billion barrels of oil per year, so the estimated oil production is the equivalent of a roughly three-week […]

Clouds, seas to be targeted by U.N. climate report

OSLO (Reuters) – Cloud formation, sea level rises and extreme weather events are among areas set to get more attention in the next U.N. report on global warming due in 2014, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize winning panel said on Friday. Rajendra Pachauri also said the panel did not plan to issue more […]

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