China poised to seize clean tech crown

China’s position as one of the world’s pre-eminent clean tech hubs was underlined yesterday, with the release of a major new report from The Climate Group arguing that the country has already secured a lead over many of its global rivals in the race to develop and implement low-carbon technologies. The report, which updates a […]

The Afghan pipe dream

America’s convoluted, Alice-in-Wonderland interpretation of this summer’s top political show – the “free expression of the people” in the Afghanistan election – reads like an opium dream. In fact, it is actually a pipe dream – as in Pipelineistan. With the added twist that no one’s saying a word about the pipe that’s delivering the […]

Australia: Uranium mine called 'World's worst practice'

Uranium mining in the far north of South Australia at the Beverley location near Arkaroola Wilderness Resort is being openly challenged by Aboriginal Traditional Owner Mrs Enice Marsh. She is concerned that the new Beverly Four Mile uranium mine is destroying sacred sites, polluting the environment unnecessarily, and promoting a culture of bullying.“This mine offer […]

Will China light a fire under coal price?

China’s status as a coal exporter is slipping away, and with it another layer of the country’s energy security blanket. Beijing has taken heed. Plans for what is effectively a strategic coal reserve are emerging. The country’s economic planning agency has asked state-owned China Shenhua Energy to build 10 coal-storage sites across China. The trend […]

The Renewable Landscape: A Look at Clean Energy in Asia

Despite President Obama’s call for the United States to lead the clean energy technology industry, a weak climate bill (H.R. 2454) awaiting the Senate to return from recess promises limited funding for research and development of renewable clean energy technologies. Asia, however, has recognized the advantages of embracing clean energy development and the race for […]

Venezuela economy shrinks for first time in 5 years

Venezuela’s economy shrunk for the first time in over five years in the second quarter, after a government-driven consumer boom petered out and the global recession finally bit South America’s biggest oil exporter. High public spending by President Hugo Chavez during an oil bonanza meant even the poor had some money to burn, spurring a […]

Are You Prepared for Transition Time?

Our industry is in the midst of some wrenching changes, but a much deeper transition is just over the horizon. You could be forgiven for thinking the economic crash was bad enough. The next big shift will affect the way we grow our food, manage our buildings, and transport ourselves and the products we use […]

"Peak Oil" Has Gone

I don’t know about you but I am amazed that the worst global recession in decades has barely managed to shrink energy demand in the developing world. Whilst this is wonderful news for the energy investor, it is a terrible sign for society. At present, our world is using up roughly 84 million barrels of […]

UBC agricultural programs offer food for thought

What would you do if you went to the store and discovered it was clean out of imported vegetables? And not just for that day or that week, but for the foreseeable future? Thoreau, who is 34, lives near Commercial Drive and recently became a father. He and his partner use chunks of their yard […]

ND burns off natural gas due to lack of pipelines

BISMARCK, N.D. — Enough natural gas to heat every home in North Dakota through at least two brutal winters was burned off as an unmarketable byproduct in the state’s oil patch in 2008, records obtained by The Associated Press show. North Dakota produced a record 62.8 million barrels of oil last year, up nearly 18 […]

The 2008 Oil Price "Bubble"

As oil prices began to rise in 2009 from a low point of about $40 a barrel in January to around $70 a barrel in July, a key question is whether the world is in for another oil price spike in the near term similar to that witnessed in early 2008. Several hypotheses were advanced […]

World's ocean temps are warmest on record

At 62.6 degrees in July, that’s a full degree above 20th Century average It’s not just the ocean off the Northeast coast that is super-warm this summer. July was the hottest the world’s oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping. The average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees, according to the National Climatic […]

U.S. to end "clunker" rebates on August 24

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government said it will suspend its popular “Cash for Clunkers” auto rebates on Monday as the program’s $3 billion budget runs dry, a month after it was launched. The program, offering payments of up to $4,500 to people who trade in old gas guzzlers for new, fuel-efficient vehicles, will end […]

Nigeria oil militants disarm slowly

OKRIKA, Nigeria (Reuters) – Scores of Nigerian oil militants turned in weapons in the creeks of the Niger Delta on Thursday, two weeks after a 60-day amnesty period began, but the participation so far is still below authorities’ expectations. President Umaru Yar’Adua offered an unconditional pardon in June to all militants who take part in […]

U.S. CFTC tightens oversight of ICE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top regulators in London and Washington moved on Thursday to tighten oversight of global oil trading, a market criticized as prone to excessive speculation and wild price swings. Under fire from the U.S. lawmakers, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a series of steps including a new audit trail to gain a […]

Peak Oil: The Threat of Resource Nationalism

Last year on this day, oil was selling for about $115 per barrel, having fallen from a peak price of $147 a month earlier and on its way to around $35 per barrel in December, 2008. The price has been bouncing around $70 per barrel for the last few months. Earlier this month, the International […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: More Disruptive Technology?

Yet another potentially disruptive technology has been announced. This time a small company, Joule Biotechnologies, up in Cambridge MA says it has developed a process to produce hydrocarbon based fuels from carbon dioxide and water. As with any too-good-to-be-true announcement skeptics abound – just on general principles. The process is centered on a “photobioreactor” (think […]

Oil Producers Off Canada

(Bloomberg) — Suncor Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc. and other energy producers are bracing for a blast from Hurricane Bill as the storm churns on a course that may take it through oilfields off Canada Bill had maximum sustained winds of 135 miles (217 kilometers) per hour and was centered about 335 miles northeast of […]

Saudi eyeing first nuclear reactor

Saudi Arabia is working on plans for its first nuclear power plant, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh is currently working on the project, according to the Saudi minister of water and electricity, Abdullah Al Hosain. Al Hosain was speaking to Saudi daily Al Watan on […]

Crisis tests faith in oil-rouble link

The consensus that Russia’s rouble moves in lock-step with oil has begun to fray with some investors betting the economy’s underlying weakness could burst the official trading band even with commodity prices rising. Russia set the band at 26-41 against a euro/dollar basket in late January, after months of controlled rouble devaluation that cost some […]

Running Out Fossil Fuels: A Cause For Glee?

John Muir stated, Indeed, it does seem that the Earth will run out of oil, natural gas and coal much more quickly than was, originally, anticipated by researchers keeping track of overall expenditure of these resources [1]. At the same time, others warn that any expectation of nuclear power taking over as an effective substitute […]

Lester R. Brown: Throwing Out The Throwaway Economy

The stresses in our early twenty-first century civilization take many forms The throwaway economy is on a collision course with the earth

U.S. Government Seeks to Limit Federal Energy Use

The U.S. federal government is the single largest energy consumer in a nation that consumes more energy than any other in the world. Overall, federal primary energy use has decreased by 25 percent from 1985 to 2008, due largely to building retrofits throughout some of the 3 billion-square feet of offices, research centers, and military […]

Study of 16 developing countries shows climate change could deepen poverty

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Urban workers could suffer most from climate change as the cost of food drives them into poverty, according to a new study that quantifies the effects of climate on the world’s poor populations. A team led by Purdue University researchers examined the potential economic influence of adverse climate events, such as […]

Green energy hit by 'faceless Nimbys'

The closure of the Vestas plant on the Isle of Wight saw workers stage an 18-day sit-in that gained worldwide attention at the very time the government announced a new vision for energy to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint. Some workers said the government should have rescued the plant like it saved failing banks. But […]

Drilling Ordeals Said to Delay Geothermal Project

The Obama administration The bit has snapped off at least once and become repeatedly fouled in a shallow formation called cap rock, and the drillers have twice been forced to pull it out and essentially start the hole over again. Late last year, the project, undertaken by a start-up company called AltaRock Energy, received $6.25 […]

Plastics in oceans decompose, release hazardous chemicals

WASHINGTON “Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable,” said study lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido, Ph.D. “We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the […]

China Repeats U.S. Energy Policy Mistakes

China appears headed to duplicate America’s love affair with the gasoline powered automobile and its addiction to foreign oil. For a country with 1.3 billion people (1 billion more than the U.S.) the worldwide impact of Chinese automobile use is not hard to predict: Chinese oil imports will continue to surge and oil supplies around […]

Japan Power Bills to Swell as Utilities Pass on Solar Costs

(Bloomberg) — Japanese businesses stand to pay as much as 9 billion yen ($95 million) more in monthly electricity bills under a new plan to encourage solar-power generation. Starting in November, the government will compel utilities to buy surplus solar power generated by households and factories and pay twice the regular rate as an incentive […]

Canada has a tidy arrangement with the U.S. – but for how long?

Current trade relationship suits us, but there may come a day when the American appetite for our resources might exceed what we consider to be in our best interests A U.S. takeover of Canada? Most would agree, the notion is absurd. The star-spangled maple leaf scenario has for years been a perennial darling of imaginative […]

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