Peak oil, alternative energy, reducing carbon emissions
One perhaps unexpected casualty of the credit crunch has been the alternative energy sector.
Shares in the world’s biggest producer of wind turbines, Copenhagen-listed Vestas Wind Systems, lost about a fifth of their value yesterday.
The group reported a €119m loss for the three months to the end of June. It’s the second quarter in a row that the company has lost Continue reading →
China plans to invest $3 billion in the next 10 years to develop alternative energy fuels, combat desertification and prevent landslides.
Wu Jian, a senior engineer with State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the trees will fight climate change by absorbing carbon and will produce material for bio-diesel and ethanol fuels by 2020.
The plan aims to have 23 percent of the country covered with forests in 10 years, a 3 percent increase from the current level.
China is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and relies on coal to meet two-thirds of its energy needs. It has been under increasing pressure to take more forceful measures to curb releases of greenhouse gases.
An Israeli oil exploration company announced a potential oil field which holds 1.525 billion barrels worth of oil, Worthy News learned on August 18.
Givot Olam announced that production test drilling near Rosh Ha’Ayin at its Meged 5 site holds 1.525 billion barrels of oil according to a statement released by the company. However, it didn’t provide further details about the test results such as the site’s daily production capacity, the production cost and whether the site is economically viable. Continue reading →
Solar and wind power are booming in California, but there are times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. So California utilities are looking to smooth out those bumps by doing something rarely done on the grid today: storing electricity
The California Independent System Operator is the traffic cop of the state’s electrical grid. Its job is to forecast how much electricity the state needs — every four seconds — and to make sure it’s supplied. Inside an unmarked building outside of Sacramento, dozens Continue reading →
Simmons, 67, was found dead in his home in Maine on August 8, 2010. The medical examiner’s office is unclear about whether he had drowned in his tub after suffering a heart attack, or died from a heart attack while drowning.
Oil industry icon Matt Simmons became a household name during the BP oil spill crisis, partly because of his criticism of BP and their handling the worst oil spill in US history.
Before his unexpected death, Simmons had become a whistle blower against BP and the US government. He used his oil industry and government connections to reveal information about the BP oil spill disaster that he claimed were deliberately hidden from the Continue reading →
Driving across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, it’s impossible not to be struck by the dominance of corn cultivation in this part of the Midwest. Those “amber waves of grain” in the song look more like amber waves of corn tassels, here. My family makes this drive every few years, and my unscientific impression is that we see more and larger corn fields every time.
Given my focus on energy, I couldn’t resist spending a few minutes using the hotel Wi-Fi to check on my hunch that most of this has been driven by the explosion of ethanol production in the last decade–up an average of 22% per year since 2000. Continue reading →
I don’t normally count watching the Travel Channel as doing research, but I just might start. Last night I watched as Anthony Bourdain traveled to Dubai, the most luxurious of the United Arab Emirates.
And though the local fare looked incredible, strongly influenced by spicy Indian and Pakistani curries and biryani – an import from the laborers responsible for constructing things like man-made islands and indoor ski resorts – it was their thirst for massive amounts of energy that struck me most. Continue reading →
Battery-powered cars like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are benefiting from major government support. And that’s what may end up depriving this important technology from crucial market-driven innovation.
The electric plug-in vehicles Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf will soon hit the market, spurring hopes that “green” cars are about to go mainstream.
To the extent that consumers embrace them, they will reduce our need for foreign oil and involvement with anti-American regimes Continue reading →
According to news aggregator Energy Collective, a historic era is upon us because solar power has become affordable. More specifically, solar power has become cheaper than nuclear power.
The article sites researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, who found that the cost of “producing photovoltaic cells (PV) has been dropping for years … at the same time, estimated costs for building new nuclear power plants have ballooned.” Thus, it’s cheaper to put solar panels on houses than to build a new nuclear power plant to service them. Continue reading →
