“In order to ensure that sustainable and safe technologies are developed in Israel, it’s necessary to maintain a suitable balance between the state and the market.”
In an interview with “Globes”, former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge says, “The socioeconomic and environmental needs of the 21st century require innovation and energy independence, which can be found in renewable energy. This is one of the important transitions that we can undertake from the industrial era to the green era.” Continue reading →
Tom Ridge: Israel’s renewable energy know-how among world’s best
4 Reasons to Invest in Energy Storage
I’ve said it before. Energy storage is the Holy Grail of the energy market. Batteries are already a booming market, supplying juice for everything from power tools to smart phones to Kindles. And that trend will accelerate.
But we’re also going to start using batteries — and other forms of energy storage — to power the grid and even our cars.
Here are the top four reasons you should be buying energy storage companies right now. Continue reading →
Arab States Go Nuclear to Close Power Gap, Catch Up With Iran
Historically, it has proven extremely difficult for countries in the Middle East to build nuclear power plants
The idea of commercial reactors secretly processing weapons-grade nuclear material has always alarmed Washington, which for decades has used its clout in the region to keep the Mideast as nuclear-free as possible.
Today the U.S. is leading the way in imposing sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program. Israel also remains ready to protect its interests, as it did when its air force bombed the unfinished Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981.
The situation is gradually changing, as Arab allies of the U.S. increasingly petition Washington to bless their plans for civilian nuclear programs. The U.S. is proving pliable, since the programs do not appear to have a sinister intent, at least in the medium term, and Continue reading →
The Upcoming Montana Oil Boom
Sometimes a story just doesn’t unfold the way you expect it to.
For Montana’s oil industry, the carpet was pulled out from underneath them when the media’s attention was snatched away by the state’s neighbor to the east…
It must have been painful for them to watch North Dakota’s oil industry explode, even in spite of a massive global recession. Continue reading →
The Panic Button
http://energyoutlook.blogspot.com by Geoffrey Styles
I suppose it was inevitable that we would arrive at the moment in the ongoing oil spill crisis at which the baby would be thrown out with the bath. That moment came at about 7 minutes into President Obama’s press conference on the spill yesterday. After announcing the suspension of offshore drilling in Alaska, the cancellation of planned lease sales for the Gulf of Mexico and Virginia, and the extension for six months of his administration’s moratorium on new drilling permits for deepwater wells, he ordered a halt to 33 exploration wells currently being drilled in the Gulf, excluding the two relief wells for the leaking Macondo prospect. Everything up until that point could be considered as reasonable, prudent, and expected responses by an administration faced with an unprecedented and still-unfolding environmental and economic disaster. But while stopping work on the 33 projects already underway might look like prudence to some, it could ultimately have economic consequences rivaling those of the spill. Continue reading →
Iran. Commander issues energy warning to Europeans
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ by Citizen News Services
Iran could make European countries suffer by cutting off energy supplies and can target any adversary with its missiles, a senior military official said on Sunday. “Iran is standing on 50 per cent of the world’s energy and should it so decide Europe will have to spend the winter in cold,” Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said in a meeting with veterans and volunteers, according to Fars news agency. Iran has tested a number of missiles in recent years that could be used in any war with Israel. Analysts say Israel could try a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Continue reading →
So Long, Salad Days
http://www.newsweek.com By Owen Matthews
Just two years ago, Russia’s energy reserves made it seem like a rising superpower—and a Western bogeyman that could do anything it wanted. That was then.
Five years ago, when oil prices were climbing steadily and economists were stoking fears about peak oil and gas, it seemed that major energy producers like Russia were holding all the cards. Then-president Vladimir Putin spoke of his country as an “energy superpower” and used energy supplies as a blunt instrument of Kremlin foreign policy. Gas cutoffs to Ukraine caused panic in Europe, while Western energy companies fell over each other to get a slice of Russia’s oil and gas fields. Continue reading →
Oil exploration costs rocket as risks rise
http://www.reuters.com/
By Christopher Johnson – Analysis
LONDON (Reuters) – Finding oil and gas to replace the world’s fast dwindling reserves is increasingly risky as rigs probe areas once seen as too difficult or too dangerous, and costs are rocketing, which could imperil future supply.
The cost of discovering each new barrel of oil and gas has risen three-fold over the last decade as technology has pushed the frontiers of exploration into ever more remote areas.
As old fields run dry, oil companies are drilling wells in some of the most inhospitable regions, where political, physical, geological, geographical, technical and contractual risks are high, and they have had remarkable success. Continue reading →
Peak Oil Solution: The Simmons Plan
http://blogs.forbes.com
Peak Oil Solution: The Simmons Plan by
You remember the Pickens Plan, right? T. Boone Pickens’ ill-fated attempt to change the face of the U.S. energy industry by building wind turbines across the midwest and using compressed natural gas to power a new generation of cars.
Well get ready for the Simmons Plan. This iteration has been hatched by Houston investment banker and Peak Oil worrywort Matt Simmons. The gist: 1. build the world’s biggest windfarm off the windy coast of Maine. 2. Use the electricity generated to desalinate and de-ionize sea water. 3. Use that water, plus electricity and air, to manufacture ammonia. 4. Pipe the ammonia to shore and use it to power a new generation of cars. Continue reading →
