Biden Admin Vows to Avoid Russia Oil Sanctions

The Biden administration won’t sanction Russian crude oil because that would harm U.S. consumers and not Vladimir Putin, a U.S. State Department official said Friday. “The sanctions will not target the oil flows as we go forward,” Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior energy security adviser, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. The remarks […]

The Mars obsession: Are two planets better than one to ensure human survival?

One of the rationales suggested for going to Mars is that given all the vagaries of the universe, human culture would have a better chance of surviving far into the future if humans settled on two (or more) planets. In the abstract, this statement seems axiomatic. Before accepting this proposal, however, it might be worthwhile […]

US doesn’t have ‘many good options’ to fight energy inflation

President Joe Biden ordered “profound” new sanctions targeting Russia Thursday after its invasion of Ukraine, saying Russian leader Vladimir Putin “chose this war” and his country will bear the consequences. The sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors, but they stop short of imposing restrictions on energy supplies from Russia, the world’s third largest […]

Russia’s Energy Dominance Ties West’s Hands in Ukraine War

Europe gets about 40% of its natural-gas imports from Russia, making it hard to sanction a vital revenue stream for Moscow Western countries weighing how to sanction Russia over the invasion of Ukraine are up against the reality of its grip over Europe’s energy supply. Even as sanctions are being imposed, the same countries doing […]

The lifestyle of the rich is driving climate change faster than you think

The top 10% of the world produce nearly half (48%) of global GHG emissions. On the other side of the coin, 50% of the world population, sitting at the bottom of the pyramid, contributes to merely 7% of global GHG emissions Shafiqul Alam. Sketch/TBS The technical responses, i.e., clean and efficient technologies, appear to be […]

Kunstler: The Party of Chaos Blows Its Cover

The Ukraine blow-up is more a humiliation for “Joe Biden” and his faction than for the US per se, for the truth is that we have scant interest in that corner of the world and what goes on there is none of our business, and never was…. It is fair to say that the “Joe […]

Ukrainian foreign minister calls for Russian oil embargo

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Saturday for a full isolation of Russia, including an embargo on the purchases of Russian crude. “I demand the world: fully isolate Russia, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, ruin its economy,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. reuters

The Risk of Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine

Of all the obvious dangers that come with war, one of the most far-reaching in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict has been woefully underappreciated. Even if commanders took pains to avoid striking Ukraine’s 15 nuclear power reactors, that might not be enough to avoid a catastrophe. LOS ANGELES – Russia’s large-scale military mobilization on Ukraine’s border […]

Germany freezes Nord Stream 2 gas project as Ukraine crisis deepens

Germany on Tuesday halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, designed to double the flow of Russian gas direct to Germany, after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Europe’s most divisive energy project, worth $11 billion, was finished in September, but has stood idle pending certification by Germany and […]

EU and U.K. Propose Sanctions to Confront Putin

The European Union and the U.K. set out initial packages of sanctions targeting Moscow after Russia’s lower house of parliament ratified treaties recognizing two self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine, marking a dramatic escalation in the crisis. The moves follow weeks of warnings from the U.S. and its partners that President Vladimir Putin could be planning […]

The power of water

A great river encircles the world. It rises in the heartland of the United States and carries more water than the Mississippi and Yangtze rivers combined. One branch, its oldest, streams over the Atlantic, heading for Europe and the Middle East. Another crosses the Pacific, flowing towards China. Countless tributaries join along the way, draining […]

Are Oil Prices Headed Back Above $100 A Barrel?

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) opened 2022 at about $75 a barrel (bbl). Last week, the price rose above $90/bbl for the first time since 2014. That was also the last year the price of WTI was above $100/bbl. To recap, in the first half of 2014, oil prices spent most of the […]

The Cost Of Living In The US Is Rising To Absolutely Absurd Levels

Most of the time, the vast majority of Americans simply do not care about economics.  And it pains me to say that, because I have been running a website about economics for more than a decade.  But it is true.  Under normal circumstances, most hard working Americans don’t have the time or the energy to […]

U.S. Is Exporting Every Molecule of LNG Possible

Tankers were docked or loading at all seven U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminals for the first time Saturday, marking a small piece of industry history and setting up record flows to the plants amid high prices and tensions in Europe. The Greek-flagged tanker Yiannis is docked at Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass plant in […]

America Is Running Out of Everything

The global supply chain is slowing down at the very moment when Americans are demanding that it go into overdrive. Is it just me, or does it feel like America is running out of everything? I visited CVS last week to pick up some at-home COVID-19 tests. They’d been sold out for a week, an […]

Saudi Arabia transfers 4% of Aramco shares to sovereign wealth fund

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has transferred 4% of Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) shares worth $80 billion to the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the government said on Sunday. The shares will bolster the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) strong financial position and high credit ratings in the medium term, the crown prince said in a […]

US nuclear power plants contain dangerous counterfeit parts, report finds

At least some nuclear power plants in the US contain counterfeit parts that could pose significant risks, an investigation by the inspector general’s office of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found. Those parts “present nuclear safety and security concerns that could have serious consequences,” says the resulting report published on February 9th. While concerns about […]

The Return of Global Inflation

Inflation has come back faster, spiked more markedly, and proved to be more stubborn and persistent than major central banks initially thought possible. After initially dominating headlines in the United States, the problem has become a centerpiece of policy discussions in many other advanced economies. In 15 of the 34 countries classified as AEs by […]

IEA Says Oil Prices Are Rising to `Uncomfortable’ Levels

Toril Bosoni, head of the International Energy Agency’s markets and industry division, says oil prices could climb further because of the OPEC+ coalition’s “chronic” struggle to revive production. “It’s not in the interest of consumers, but not in the interest of producers either,” Bosoni said on Bloomberg Television Friday. (Source: Bloomberg)

Biden Sees Halt to Nord Stream 2 If Russia Invades Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden said the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany would be stopped if President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion of Ukraine. “We will bring an end to it,” Biden said at a joint news conference at the White House on Monday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in […]

Economic growth is destroying the planet – here’s an alternative

Politicians and economists who chant the growth mantra are violating fundamental laws of physics. Perpetual growth on a finite planet with finite resources is an impossibility that has plunged us all into environmental disaster — climate change, crashing wildlife populations, plastic waste, and more. A protest sign with a picture of the planet and the […]

The End of Growth. No more cheap energy, no more growth

The energy crunch, of which I have started to write about in September, 2021 doesn’t want to ease its grip on us. The price of natural gas is still near record highs along with coal — both costing three times as much as the last ten years’ average. Oil is also climbing steadily upwards, now […]

As Energy Prices Soar In Europe, U.S. LNG Keeps the Lights and Heat On

Winter in the global north did not spare the United States, United Kingdom or the European Union from record snowfalls and extended cold fronts. And while the United States has been fortunate to rely on its abundant natural gas resources to mitigation reliability and price concerns, our friends across the pond have not been so […]

As gas pump prices jump, pressure rises on politicians

With a winter storm gripping the United States, geopolitical tensions continuing to haunt the markets and oil-producing nations unable to meet their output targets, crude oil prices reached a seven-year peak last week. Brent crude rose US$1.71, or 1.9 per cent, to US$92.82 a barrel on Friday afternoon, having earlier touched its highest level since […]

New ‘game-changing’ technology removes 99% of carbon dioxide from the air

Engineers from the University of Delaware developed a method for effectively capturing 99 percent of carbon dioxide from the air using an electrochemical system powered by hydrogen, a press statement reveals. Aside from boosting the overall performance of carbon capture technology, the new method could also enable the commercial production of more sustainable fuel cells. […]

What if We Blotted Out the Sun to Fight Global Warming?

We like to think we cover the Big Stories around here, so today’s newsletter is leading with the one question on everyone’s mind: What is Tom Brady going to do in retirement? What can be done to stop or slow climate change? One of the great hopes is something called solar geoengineering, notes Clara Ferreira […]

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