What if the economy doesn’t recover?

In 2008 the U.S. economy tripped down a steep, rocky slope. Employment levels plummeted; so did purchases of autos and other consumer goods. Property values crashed; foreclosure and bankruptcy rates bled. For states, counties, cities, and towns; for manufacturers, retailers, and middle- and low-income families, the consequences were—and continue to be—catastrophic. Other nations were soon caught up in the undertow.

In late 2009, the economy showed some signs of renewed vigor. Understandably, everyone wants it to get “back to normal.” But here’s a disturbing thought: What if that is not possible? What if the goalposts have been moved, the rules rewritten, the game changed? What if the decades-long era of economic growth based on ever-increasing rates of resource extraction, manufacturing, and consumption is over, finished, and done? What if the economic conditions that all of us grew up expecting to continue practically forever were merely a blip on history’s timeline?

It’s an uncomfortable idea, but one that cannot be ignored: The “normal” late-20^th century economy of seemingly endless growth actually emerged from an aberrant set of conditions that cannot be perpetuated.

That “normal” is gone. One way or another, a “new normal” will emerge to replace it. Can we build a different, more sustainable economy to replace the one now in tatters?

Let’s be clear: I believe we are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion.

Four Propositions

The following summary statements are fundamental both to grasping our current situation and managing our way toward a desirable future:

1. We have reached the end of economic growth as we have known it. The “growth” we are talking about consists of the expansion of the overall size of the economy (with more people being served and more money changing hands) and of the quantities of energy and material goods flowing through it. The economic crisis that began in 2008 was both foreseeable and inevitable, and it marks a permanent, fundamental break from past decades—a period in which economists adopted the unrealistic view that perpetual economic growth is necessary and also possible to achieve.

As we will see, there are fundamental constraints to ongoing economic expansion, and the world is beginning to encounter those constraints. This is not to say the U.S. or the world will never see another quarter or year of growth relative to the previous year. Rather, the point is that when the bumps are averaged out, the general trend-line of the economy (measured in terms of production and consumption of real goods) will be level or downward rather than upward from now on.

2. The basic factors that will inevitably shape whatever replaces the growth economy are knowable. To survive and thrive for long, societies have to operate within the planet’s budget of sustainably extractable resources. This means that even if we don’t know exactly what a desirable post-growth economy and lifestyle will look like, we know enough to begin working toward them.

3. It is possible for economies to persist for centuries or millennia with no or minimal growth. That is how most economies operated until recent times. If billions of people (cumulatively) through countless generations lived without economic growth, we can do so as well—now and far into the future. The end of growth does not mean the end of the world.

4. Life in a non-growing economy can be fulfilling, interesting, and secure. The absence of growth does not imply a lack of change or improvement. Within a non-growing or equilibrium economy, there can still be a continuous development of practical skills, artistic expression, and technology.

In fact, some historians and social scientists argue that life in an equilibrium economy can be superior to life in a fast-growing economy: while growth creates opportunities for some, it also typically intensifies competition—there are big winners and big losers, and (as in most boom towns) the quality of relations within the community can suffer as a result. Within a non-growing economy it is possible to maximize benefits and reduce factors leading to decay, but doing so will require pursuing appropriate goals: instead of more, we must strive for better; rather than promoting increased economic activity for its own sake, we must emphasize whatever increases quality of life without stoking consumption. One way to do this is to reinvent and redefine growth itself.

The transition to a no-growth economy (or one in which growth is defined in a fundamentally different way) is inevitable, but it will go much better if we plan for it rather than simply watching in dismay as institutions we have come to rely upon fail, and then try to improvise a survival strategy in their absence.

In effect, we have to create a desirable “new normal” that fits the constraints imposed by depleting natural resources. Maintaining the “old normal” is not an option; if we do not find new goals for ourselves and plan our transition from a growth-based economy to a healthy equilibrium economy, we will by default create a much less desirable “new normal” whose emergence we are already beginning to see in the forms of persistent high unemployment, a widening gap between rich and poor, and ever more frequent and worsening financial and environmental crises—all of which translate to profound distress for individuals, families, and communities.

Journey to a New Economy

The propositions described above are the starting points for a search that can be summarized in a single question: What are the guideposts toward a livable, inviting post-growth society?

This search has in many instances entailed a literal, geographic journey. During the past few years, as I traveled the lecture circuit, I met thousands of people who had already concluded on their own that the global stage was being set for an economic crash of epic proportions. They had passed through the psychological stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. They were thinking creatively, building new lives, and experimenting with a wide range of strategies for meeting basic human needs while using much less of just about everything.

Some of these folks, like me, had been thinking along these lines for a long time—since the 1970s. Many were much younger, though, had learned about Peak Oil or climate change just within the past few years, and had recently decided to devote their lives to building a post-hydrocarbon world. Some were clearly members of what was known in the 1970s as the “counterculture.” Others were mainstream citizens—investment bankers, real estate sellers, high school teachers, small business owners, corporate middle managers—who had chanced upon information that awakened them forcibly from their routines. Many of these folks lived in large cities, but others in small towns or on farms; some were rich, some poor (a few by choice); some were devout, others agnostic or atheist; some were working alone on survivalist projects, while others were building community organizations; some saw the transition as a business opportunity while others were working through non-profit organizations. Here are just three examples that stand out.

In 2005, while on a lecture tour in Ireland, I met a young college teacher named Rob Hopkins who believed that life could be better without fossil fuels. He had led his students in developing an “Energy Descent Action Plan” for their town, and believed he had the seed for something larger and more significant. He soon moved back to his native England to earn his Ph.D., and designed his thesis project around helping the village of Totnes begin a cooperative, phased process of transitioning away from its dependence on fossil fuels. This project in turn led to the start of a series of Transition Initiatives in villages, towns, and neighborhoods throughout the U.K. In 2007, a version of Rob’s written Ph.D. thesis was published as a book (The Transition Handbook) that quickly began inspiring others to take up this strategy. Today there are hundreds of Transition Initiatives at various stages of development in a dozen countries (including about 60 in the U.S.).

While in Montana for a speaking engagement at the University of Montana in Helena in spring 2009, some local Peak Oil activists drove me to the town of Ronan and introduced me to Billie Lee, who had helped start Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center. The Center is housed in a fairly small, non-descript building and features medium-scale food processing equipment that local small food producers can rent at reasonable rates. This enables small farmers to produce value-added products (everything from canned soups to herbal tea bags) that are profitable and are price-competitive with those made by industrial food companies located hundreds or thousands of miles from Ronan. Local food has become an obsession for the sustainability-minded during the past few years, and local food systems will be a necessary pillar of post-growth economies. Yet aspiring small-scale farmers often have a hard time getting started because they cannot afford the equipment to enable them to produce profitable value-added products. Here in the tiny hamlet of Ronan was an ingenious solution to the problem, and one that deserves to be replicated in every agricultural county in the nation.

On a trip to New England in 2007, I met Lynn Benander, a community energy activist and entrepreneur who had started a project called Co-op Power to bring renewable energy to low-income and multi-ethnic communities throughout the Northeast. Typically, renewable energy projects cost more to get going than conventional coal or gas power projects, and so they tend to be found in wealthier communities and regions. Conversely, the most polluting energy projects tend to be sited in or near poor neighborhoods or regions. Co-op Power aims to change that imbalance of power—in a way that any community can copy. A typical project: You help four people put up a solar hot water system and everyone comes to help you put up yours; you save 40 to 50 percent off your total system price, get to know your neighbors, and learn how your system works. Co-op Power had also pioneered a cooperative financing method that cuts through the usual roadblocks to renewable energy projects in poorer neighborhoods by leveraging member equity.

Individually, these initiatives and projects may seem to be on too small a scale to make much of a difference. But multiplied by thousands, with examples in nearly every community, they represent a quiet yet powerful movement.

Few of these efforts have gained national media attention. Most media commentators who address economic issues are focused on the prospects—positive or negative—of the existing growth-based economy. These projects don’t seem all that important within that framework of thinking. But in the new context of the no-growth economy, they may mean the difference between ruinous poverty and happy sufficiency.

The trends are already in evidence: as the financial crisis worsens, more people are planting gardens, and seed companies working hard to keep up with the demand. More young people are taking up farming now than in any recent decade. In 2008, more bicycles were sold in the U.S. than automobiles (not good news for the struggling car companies, but great news for the climate). And since the crisis started, Americans have been spending much less on non-essentials—repairing and re-using rather than replacing and adding.

Many economists assume these trends are short-term and that Americans will return to consumerism as economic crisis shifts into recovery. But if there is no “recovery” in the usual sense, then these trends will only grow.

This is what the early adopters are assuming. They believe that the nation and the world have turned a corner. They understand something the media either ignore or deny. They’re betting on a future of local food systems, not global agribusiness; of community credit co-ops rather than too-big-to-fail Wall Street megabanks; of small-scale renewable energy projects, not a world-spanning system of fossil-fuel extraction, trade, and consumption. A future in which we do for ourselves, share, and cooperate.

They’re embarking on a life after growth.

* * *

The realization that growth is at an end raises many questions. Will the financial impact be inflationary or deflationary? Will some nations fare better than others, leading to protectionist trade wars? Will the “down-sizing” of social and economic complexity lead also to a substantial die-off of the human species? How quickly will all of this happen?

There simply are no hard and fast answers to such questions. The financial, energy, food, transport, and political systems on which we rely are complex, so it is almost impossible to reliably model their response to a shock such as a resource limits-imposed end to economic growth. The only reasonable response, it seems to me, is to act as if survival is possible, and to build resilience throughout society as quickly as can be, acting locally wherever there are individuals or groups with the understanding and wherewithal. We must assume that a satisfactory, sustainable way of life is achievable in the absence of fossil fuels and conventional economic growth, and go about building it.

World crude oil production may peak a decade earlier than some predict

In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil and intensify the search for alternative fuel sources, scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014 — almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS’ Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.

Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues point out that rapid growth in global oil consumption has sparked a growing interest in predicting “peak oil” — the point where oil production reaches a maximum and then declines. Scientists have developed several models to forecast this point, and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models, called the Hubbert model, accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United States in 1970. The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide. However, recent studies show that the model is insufficient to account for more complex oil production cycles of some countries. Those cycles can be heavily influenced by technology changes, politics, and other factors, the scientists say.

The new study describe development of a new version of the Hubbert model that accounts for these individual production trends to provide a more realistic and accurate oil production forecast.

Shale Gas Can Transform U.S. Power Generation, IHS CERA Says

(Bloomberg) — Technology to develop natural gas from hard-to-access rock formations can expand U.S. supplies, shift the price outlook for gas and realign choices for fueling power generation, according to a study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Gas locked in shale formations is expected to account for 50 percent of U.S. supply by 2035, up from 20 percent today, according to the report released today at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston. Shale gas is produced by a technique known as hydraulic fracturing in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water are forced into wells to break up rock and allow gas to flow

Skepticism Over OPEC’s Demand Forecast

One analyst is skeptical about reports of consumption increases in China. While the OPEC report states that oil demand in China is expected to grow 4.7% year-over-year in 2010, Mark Gilman, an oil analyst with The Benchmark Company, thinks that is an overstatement.

While many reports have pointed to China as the center of spiking oil consumption, Gilman contends that the increased demand is actually a factor of inventory building rather than increased consumption. Moreover, he points out that OPEC has an interest in increasing supply in the market.

How a 22-year-old student uncovered peak oil fraud

Lionel Badal was working on his undergraduate dissertation when he suddenly found himself privy to information that he knew must be made public.

The Three most IMMINENT Economic Disasters. How to survive…

Disaster #2: Peak Oil Is Rushing Toward Us Like a Runaway Train. The only reason oil prices aren’t higher right now is because of weakness in the U.S. and European economies.

Meanwhile, however, the two most populous countries in the world — China and India — are adding to their fuel demand at a rip-roaring pace.

The Myth of Energy Breakthroughs

Renewed belief in the concept of Energy Breakthrough seems resurgent these days, as a versatile scientist now helms the Department of Energy, and famous people such as Bill Gates invoke the need (and thus our quest) for energy miracles. The notion of a technological breakthrough was also, unsurprisingly, at play this weekend when I attended the MIT Energy Conference. And of course, in February, the world was treated to the roll out of Bloom Energy’s Bloom Box.

The problem with energy breakthroughs is that they actually require a Built Environment breakthrough. Energy transition, or the notion of disruptive energy technologies, are affairs that occur at the interface between an energy-source, energy-tools, and the built environment. I suppose coal was a kind of breakthrough for early 18th century (and wood-based) England but the barrier to coal adoption was that alot of England’s built environment was running on wood. You see, new energy sources or new energy technologies don’t distribute easily, or quickly, through the built environment.

How to Reduce Foreign Oil Imports

It makes no sense for Americans to have to ditch their $30-40K SUVs in order to purchase an electric car. What we should be doing is converting these vehicles to run on natural gas. These conversion kits would cost much less than buying a new electric car and the cost of the kits would be drastically reduced were the volume to go up with prudent government policy changes.

Norway Oil Output Falls, May Signal Lower Statoil Production

(Bloomberg) — Norway’s crude production fell for a second consecutive month in February from a year earlier, possibly signaling lower-than-estimated output at Statoil ASA in the first three months of the year.

Norway’s oil production dropped 7.4 percent to 2.007 million barrels a day in February from a year earlier, after a 5.7 percent annual decline in January, according to preliminary figures published today by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Stavanger-based Statoil operates about 80 percent of the Scandinavian nation’s petroleum production.

Argentina May Limit Fuel Exports to Ensure Supply

(Bloomberg) — Argentina may limit fuel exports and force refineries to step up production to ensure domestic supplies after Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc cut output.

Petrobras and Shell pared refinery output in Argentina to push up gasoline prices, Planning Minister Julio de Vido said today in a statement.

“There’s been a decision by these companies to refine less oil to cause this shortage situation,” de Vido said in the statement. The government may “regulate fuel exports so that local markets may be properly supplied” and “intervene so that these refineries utilize their maximum capacity.”

Where Policy Starts for Right Now

Here in the United States, consumers expect to have a reliable and affordable supply of energy that helps them heat their homes and fuel their transportation needs. Consumers today also are grappling with a serious economic environment. Job losses and uncertainty make it difficult to plan for the future. Having a stable source of energy can help. In fact, expanding energy exploration and production can have a positive impact on the U.S. economy and the lives of all Americans.

Google Maps now features bike lanes

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Google Inc. is adding a bike lane with its latest online mapping option.

The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps starting Wednesday supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians. The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.

Oil King Warns Of ‘Green Bubble’

It’s Ghawar that is of utmost interest to the industry. The biggest oilfield ever found, it has been producing for five decades, often putting out more than 5 million bpd, a level that Aramco has been able to maintain by injecting millions of barrels a day of water into the field to push up the oil. Cynics in the Peak Oil crowd say that an ulterior motive of Aramco adding so much unneeded capacity is to prepare for the pending collapse of Ghawar.

Al-Khalid says that couldn’t be further from the truth. Ghawar is currently producing above 5 million bpd, and he says it will be able to do 4 million bpd for more than a decade. “Ghawar still has recoverable reserves equivalent to 55 billion barrels. As we improve our technology we will add to Ghawar’s reserves.” This is not a homogeneous field, he says. “There are reservoirs in the north that are in gentle decline. While some areas of the field like Haradh are nearly virgin.”

Official: Saudis have plenty of oil capacity as demand returns

Arabia’s 4 million barrels a day of spare capacity can easily be absorbed into the market when global energy demand recovers after the recession, the head of the kingdom’s state-owned oil company said today.

“Oil supply will decline if there is no investment, so that 4 million could be absorbed by demand alone,” said Khalid al-Falih, chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., in a speech today at a Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference in Houston.

CERAWEEK – Oil companies take more risks with price rebound

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A rebound in oil prices has encouraged oil and gas companies to take more risks in their quest for reserves, drilling deeper in more remote waters or finding new sources of energy, top executives said on Tuesday.

After the trauma of oil’s 2008 collapse and tentative recovery last year, oil executives at the CERAWeek annual conference brimmed with confidence in the future of oil, particularly in the wake of high-profile successes in the ultradeep waters in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and offshore Brazil.

CERAWEEK 2010: On ‘Oil Day,’ most see a future in fossil fuels

On one side was the oil and gas industry, which said fossil fuels will be the dominant energy source for decades and that improving technology and abundant natural gas supplies hold the potential to extend that life further.

Vastly outnumbered on the other was Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who said the U.S. must accelerate efforts to wean itself from oil in what will amount to a “new industrial revolution,” or risk losing the clean technology race to other countries and doing further damage to the environment.

Top oil user, producer agree on oil dominance

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The world’s top oil producer and consumer agreed on one thing when they took the podium at a high-profile energy conference on Tuesday: The world is unlikely to kick its oil habit anytime soon.

Jeff Rubin: Looking for oil demand in all the wrong places

It certainly wasn’t U.S. fuel demand that took oil prices over $100 (U.S.) in the first place, and it won’t be U.S. fuel demand that will push them back into that range any time soon. U.S. oil consumption is almost 3 million barrels per day short of its pre-recession peak — a level never to be regained, just as U.S. motor vehicle sales will never again see the levels that prevailed before the recession. Ditto for oil consumption in Canada, Western Europe, Japan, or, for that matter, anywhere in the OECD economies.

Back in the 1990s, that kind of demand contraction in the OECD would have foretold a big decline in oil prices, since those countries accounted for almost three quarters of global oil demand. Today, they account for barely half, and tomorrow they will account for even less.

Is East Africa the Next Frontier for Oil?

According to local lore, Portuguese travelers as far back as the late 19th century suspected oil might lie beneath parts of East Africa after noticing a thick, greasy sediment wash up on the shores of Mozambique. More interested in finding cheap labor, though, the explorers had little use for oil.

A century on, it turns out the Portuguese were right. Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance. Early data compiled by industry consultants also suggest the presence of massive offshore oil deposits. Those finds have spurred oil explorers to start dropping more wells in East Africa, a region they say is an oil and gas bonanza just waiting to be tapped, one of the last great frontiers in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

Gazprom Neft Posts $638 Million Quarterly Net, Reversing Loss

(Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s state gas producer, posted profit in the fourth quarter as crude prices and output rose.

Net income increased to $638 million after a net loss of $543 million in the year earlier period, the St. Petersburg- based oil producer said today in an e-mailed statement. Adjusted for a loss on asset sales, net came to $861 million. The result missed the $955 million median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Europe Needs to Push Gas Infrastructure Spending, Scaroni Says

(Bloomberg) — Europe should promote spending on infrastructure to deliver natural gas to consumers from new sources of the fuel from Africa, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni said.

FACTBOX – Facts about Venezuela’s energy crisis

(Reuters) – Venezuela’s worsening electricity crisis, caused in part by a drought linked to the El Nino climate phenomenon, puts its $300 billion economy at risk of contraction and may cut the OPEC country’s oil product exports.

Report: Egypt imports 47% of its diesel fuel

A recent report issued by the state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Authority (EGPA) revealed that Egypt imported 5.6 million tons of diesel fuel in the 2008/2009 fiscal year at a total cost of LE9.5 billon, accounting for 47 percent of total domestic consumption. The figures suggest that the country is suffering from a serious shortage of petroleum resources.

Diesel shortage claims first fatality

Shortages of diesel fuel and gasoline continued for the third consecutive day in Cairo and the governorates. The crisis claimed its first fatality on Tuesday in Sharqiya, where a local resident was reportedly killed in a fight with his relatives over who would be first to fill up their tractors.

Argentina to import gasoline for first time in 30 years

Argentine oil company YPF has said that it plans to import 50 million litres of gasoline as demand outstrips supply in the South American nation.

Argentina, an oil-producing country where fuel is subject to government price controls, has not imported gasoline in 30 years.

Indonesia: Natural gas supply to see 23.3 percent deficit this year

Natural gas supply and demand in 2010 will see a deficit of 23.3 percent based on demand specified in contracts and commitments combined in relation to available supply. The shortage equals to 2,554 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), an official says.

Monbiot vs. Leggett duking it out over solar panels and feed-in tariffs

Those who hate environmentalism have spent years looking for the definitive example of a great green rip-off. Finally it arrives, and nobody notices. The government is about to shift £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes. It expects a loss on this scheme of £8.2bn, or 95%. Yet the media is silent. The opposition urges only that the scam should be expanded.

North Korea Trying to Reverse Urbanization

The North Korean authorities are reportedly offering an incentive to city dwellers, cadres of the party apparatus and the People’s Security Agency in an attempt to encourage them to move to rural areas.

…In the lectures, the authorities explained that a severe shortage of manpower in agricultural areas needed to be made up, and asked cadres to step forward and help.

Korea faces a long road in resources race

Korea’s state-run energy companies, such as the KNOC, are now struggling to secure independent supplies, but the country lacks China’s financial resources. Government officials who toured oil-rich nations in Africa said they now realize how aggressive China has become.

“I was puzzled after hearing from Angolan government officials that there was no point in talking unless we were going to invest billions of dollars,” Lee Jae-hoon, a former vice minister of knowledge economy, said at a seminar, discussing a trip to explore and acquire rights to African oil fields. “China was easily offering billions of dollars, while we only suggested hundreds of millions maximum. We were simply no competition for China.”

China’s Feb copper, oil imports surprisingly strong

BEIJING – Copper and oil were in surprisingly strong demand in China in February, with imports rising despite a week-long Lunar New Year holiday and a crippling winter freeze that iced up many of the country’s northern ports.

Trade in other commodities, such as iron ore, steel, and soybeans, slowed or remained close to sluggish January levels.

World Bank Gives South Africa Lumps of Coal

In case you didn’t catch it, the World Bank’s top official for Africa just thumbed her nose at the dozens of renewable energy companies lining up to build clean energy in Africa’s dirtiest economy.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Bank’s Vice President for Africa, defended a controversial $3.75-billion loan to build a massive coal plant in South Africa with this head-in-the-sand statement: “There is no viable alternative to safeguard South Africa’s energy security at this particular time.”

Alternative energy ‘needs to be proven’

Australia will struggle to reduce its contribution to global greenhouse emissions unless a viable alternative energy source can be developed within the next decade, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says.

The federal government is investing in biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) research, but beyond that, it insists it does not want to pick winners in the alternative energy sector.

German fishing boat flies giant kite to save fuel

Germany’s largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third.

The 15,000 tonne ‘Maartje Theadora’ is the first fishing vessel to use the system, in which a 160 square metre blue and white kite similar to a paraglider pulls the ship on a 300 metre rope, assisting its main engine.

Impact of ‘Cash for Clunkers’ was underestimated, researchers say

Search online for “Cash for Clunkers,” and here’s one thing you’ll find: stories about its negligible overall impact on the economy.

Wrong, says Maritz Automotive Research Group. The Toledo, Ohio, independent automotive research company recently surveyed participants in last summer’s federal program designed to stimulate new-car sales and get gas-guzzlers off the road. On Tuesday, the company shared its results.

One key finding: 90 percent of those participating in Cash for Clunkers said they would not otherwise have bought a new car.

Increased Solar Radiation Requires Additional CO2 Reduction of 50 Million Tonnes, Analysis Finds

ScienceDaily — The recently observed reduction in air pollution implies that more solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface. This could lead to a far more rapid increase in the Earth’s temperature in the coming decades than has previously been expected based on calculations of CO2 emissions alone.

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Looming Fiscal Storm

All this says that despite the incessant media repetition that the economic situation is getting better, there is growing evidence that the economy is in fact growing worse. Federal Reserve support of the Treasury security market and purchases of mortgage backed securities is supposed to end in the next few months. Many fear that this action will send interest rates much higher before the year is out.

Where all this leaves oil prices is not yet clear. Gasoline has been rising in recent weeks and now averages $2.75 nationwide. If normal patterns pertain this year, we could see $3 gasoline by summer, but these are not normal times. Two years ago high gas prices are believed to have done much damage to the economy. Asian and Middle Eastern demand for oil appears to be on track to remain strong. But even China’s leaders are becoming concerned about too much pointless growth. Geopolitical dangers ranging from the Venezuelan drought to Iran and political stagnation in Iraq remain.

Oil drifts near $81 amid mixed US inventory data

Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

However, inventories of gasoline and distillates fell more than analysts expected, the API said.

Gas prices’ run likely won’t top $3

As the economy recovers, energy prices are rising and that is placing extra strain on families’ budgets.

Each spring brings a familiar ritual in gasoline markets — rising prices — and this year won’t be an exception. But motorists aren’t likely to pay much more than $3 a gallon, on average, during the peak summer driving season.

OPEC Raises Forecast for Oil Demand on Lower NGL Estimate

(Bloomberg) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will need to pump more crude than previously forecast this year after cutting its outlook for production of natural gas liquids.

OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s oil, predicts members will need to produce 28.94 million barrels a day to satisfy demand in 2010. That’s about 190,000 barrels a day more than last month’s projection. Still, OPEC expects demand for its crude this year to be lower than last year after it increased its estimate for 2009 by 200,000 barrels a day.

Saudi Aramco to Invest $90B in O&G Projects to 2015

The development and deployment of viable alternatives to fossil fuels “does remain an open question,” Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Khalid Al-Falih said Tuesday.

Speaking at an IHS CERA conference in Houston, Al-Falih said that oil still underpins the global economy and is likely to remain at the core of the world’s energy needs in the future. The conference, known as CERAWeek, reunites some of the world’s top oil and gas executives.

OPEC President Vows to Reduce Oil-Price Speculation, Volatility

(Bloomberg) — OPEC President Germanico Pinto said he will seek to reduce price speculation and volatility during his term as leader of the oil cartel, adding to calls from the U.S. to Europe for measures to minimize market swings.

“The fact that there’s volatility produces difficulties in the markets and in defining a long-term strategy for public investment in the oil industry,” Pinto, who is also Ecuador’s minister of natural non-renewable resources, said yesterday in a statement.

Natural gas focus of oil conference, pointing to source of future

For years, the so-called Oil Day of the annual IHS CERA energy conference, which draws thousands of industry executives to Houston, has been the highlight of this weeklong event. It comes first – before Gas Day and Power Day. The biggest names are keynote speakers that day (This year, for example, Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, was among the keynote speakers). And attendence is at its highest.

But the irony of how natural gas is beginning to overtake oil in importance to the industry was underscored by the lunchtime keynote speaker Jim Mulva, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, the third biggest US oil and gas company. Even though Conoco is an oil company first and foremost, and Mr Mulva was speaking on Oil Day to a room filled with oil executives, his speech was called Natural Gas – The Gift.

Musings: Gas Shales May Change More Than U.S. Energy Markets

The U.S. natural gas industry has been focused on the effect the commerciality of gas shale formations is having on the domestic industry. One result is that after years of declining gas production, the U.S. has experienced a rise in domestic supplies. Secondly, the Potential Gas Committee has suggested, based on its study, the country has huge gas resources that can be developed with today’s drilling and completion technologies. They did not, however, suggest that all the potential natural gas resources identified are commercial at current gas prices, and especially at the sub-$5 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) prices being experienced now. One of the key new basins that will supply this growth in natural gas production is the Marcellus Shale that extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania and Ohio and into New York. Reportedly this is the largest basin in areal extent (95,000 square miles vs. 5,000 square miles for the Barnett Shale) and possibly in the amount of gas potential with an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of reserves.

Royal Dutch Shell stops gasoline sales to Iran – trade

DUBAI (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has stopped gasoline sales to Iran, oil traders said on Wednesday, the latest addition to a growing list of firms that have halted supplies under threat of future U.S. sanctions.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm will join the likes of BP, Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), and independent Swiss trader Glencore, among suppliers that have either stopped fuel sales to Iran or have made a decision not to enter into new trading agreements with the world’s fifth largest oil exporter.

“Shell has stopped selling gasoline to Iran, we have not seen them there for a while now,” a gasoline trader said.

Russia lowers oil export tariff

The Russian government said it had lowered its oil export tariff from the current 270.7 U.S. dollars per ton to 253.6 dollars, starting March 1.

Tullow Says Total, Cnooc to Help Ramp Up Ugandan Oil Production

(Bloomberg) — Tullow Oil Plc said the addition of China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Total SA as its partners in Uganda will allow the U.K. explorer to ramp up production from the African nation.

Ugandan oil output may exceed 200,000 barrels a day beyond 2014 after starting next year, Chief Operating Officer Paul McDade said today. Tullow expects Cnooc and Total to each take a one-third stake in its three blocks in the Lake Albert region, subject to government approval.

Land Rig Review: Land Rig Utilization Trends

Although the recent land rig hiring spree has gone a long way towards improving utilization, total land rig utilization still has room for improvement. With the 2005-2009 construction cycle helping to increase available land rig supply by over 1,000 net units, a rig surplus remains despite the ongoing recovery. It is also worth noting that today’s hottest onshore plays require higher spec rigs, thus some of the more marginal capacity has been left out of the recovery in demand and overall supply should be discounted to some extent due to legacy equipment.

OPEC’s Oil Output on the Rise – Platts Survey

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ crude oil production rose to 29.31 million barrels per day (b/d) in February, an increase of 60,000 (b/d) from an estimated January level of 29.25 million b/d, according to a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in the oil producing group’s production agreements, output from the 11 members bound by quotas (OPEC-11) — under a 24.845 million b/d collective target — dipped by 10,000 b/d to 26.75 million b/d in February.

Increases totaling 170,000 b/d from Angola, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Venezuela were partly offset by decreases totaling 110,000 b/d from Libya and Nigeria, the latter’s production dropping by 100,000 b/d to 1.98 million b/d in February.

PREVIEW – Arms, energy to dominate Russia’s Putin India trip

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Premier Vladimir Putin will offer a traditional cocktail of arms and oil deals when he travels to India on Thursday to persuade a Cold War ally to buy new weapons amid rising competition with the United States.

The Russian economy shrank by 7.9 percent last year after a decade of oil-fuelled boom and Putin sees the defence sector as key to reviving growth. But Moscow often needs to offer incentives to sell its usually outdated military equipment.

India Is Seeking Coal Deals in Australia, ANZ Says

(Bloomberg) — Indian companies are stepping up interest to secure coal resources in Indonesia and Australia to meet the power needs of the world’s second-most populous country, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said.

Natural gas crystals: Energy under the sea

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — It looks like ice — but this ice could one day be used to heat your home.

It’s actually not ice at all, but crystallized natural gas, and if scientists can figure out how to harvest it cheaply enough, it could become a vast new source of energy available in just about every country in the world.

Offshore wind farm a no-go in Jefferson County

The head of the New York Power Authority addressed the Jefferson County Legislature Tuesday night to clear up misconceptions and encourage the board to entertain the idea of an offshore wind farm, but legislators were not swayed on their opposition.

A Rough Rollout for Smart Meters in Texas

So-called “smart” electric meters, heralded as vital for an energy-conscious era, are having a rough rollout in Texas.

The devices, which enable utilities to vary their rates according to the time of day, allow consumers to save money — in theory. But according to The Dallas Morning News, hundreds of Texas customers have called to complain that the meters, which are being installed by a Dallas-based electric company called Oncor, are inaccurately raising their electric bills.

Japan, New Mexico collaborate on smart grid tech

SANTA FE, N.M. – Two national laboratories, the state of New Mexico and a Japanese agency are developing smart grid technology to give homeowners and businesses more access to renewable energy sources by controlling the supply and demand of electric power.

US Department of Energy to grant $40m for development of next generation nuclear plant

The award has been made to Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric and San Diego-based General Atomics.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed selections for the award of approximately $40m in total to two teams led by Westinghouse Electric and General Atomics for conceptual design and planning work for the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP).

Debating the Nuclear Waste Problem

With Nevada’s Yucca Mountain facility apparently out of the picture as a nuclear waste repository, government nuclear experts say interim measures might be needed for a very long time.

Drought Has Venezuela Looking at Alternatives to Hydropower

A severe drought in Venezuela appears to be pushing the country’s president, Hugo Chávez, to ramp up efforts to diversify the country’s energy portfolio.

Up to now, hydropower has been the major energy source in Venezuela — providing residents and industry with up to two-thirds of the total electricity produced. But a record lack of rainfall has resulted in low water flows and several power interruptions — as well as angry recriminations of the government from some Venezuelans ahead of upcoming legislative elections scheduled for September.

New Zealand: Govt’s $21 Billion Bet On Cheap Petrol

This week, Shell CEO Peter Voser joined a growing chorus of voices announcing the end to cheap oil. When asked about whether the theory of “peak oil” was dead the theory that oil production will no longer be able to keep up with demand Mr Voser said “I think what is dead is cheap oil.”

“This Government is placing all their bets on electric car technology to keep us moving in the future. But the new cars are expensive, their uptake will be slow, and they don’t solve the problem of congestion or where the power will come from,” said Dr Norman.

Rail summit rallies support

Mark Robynowitz, was one of two attendees to frame the projects through the lens of peak oil projections, said he believed the federal money would probably only be enough to fix up existing wear and tear, and less highway- and automobile-related expenditures to fund the project should be considered.

“One of the ways that we could afford to improve the trains is to transfer funds from widening (Interstate 5), which the state has to spend billions on, towards fixing the rail … The Amtrak Cascade is capable of going a 120 miles per hour, but it can barely go half that on most of the routes because the rail network is decrepit.”

Future of public transit in Orillia is now

There are many reasons why limiting automobile useage is considered important — in large cities gridlock is a multimillion-dollar problem; air pollution is far worse than many people believe (5,800 premature deaths due to smog in southern Ontario, according to the Ontario Medical Association in 2005); climate change; inactive lifestyles leading to fantastically spiking diabetes and obesity rates; parking problems; and recurrent “peak oil” concerns regarding how much petroleum is actually left in the earth to fuel our cars.

All of these problems were considered in a 2007 report titledHealthy Communities, Sustainable Communities: The 21st Century Planning Challenge.

Write a sequel to Ridge author’s book

“GETI’s main objective in promoting the writing contest is to create awareness that peak oil and climate change are issues that will force change upon us,” said CEED director, Gerry Pinel.

“To prepare for those changes, GETI’s mandate is to build resiliency into our area through grassroots-driven, community-based initiatives. We have a positive vision of our community’s future and this writing contest is a great start in that direction.”

Athamas Hedge Fund Will Sell More Wood, Fewer Carbon Credits

(Bloomberg) — A forestry and carbon hedge fund proposed by Athamas SA will focus on wood rather than carbon credits after United Nations climate talks in December failed to set international targets after 2012.

First Climate Seeks $136 Million for Carbon Credits After 2012

(Bloomberg) — First Climate AG said it signed letters of intent with major European utilities to invest in projects that may generate emission credits good after 2012.

Sun Activity Reaches Century Low, May Slow Warming ‘Slightly’

(Bloomberg) — Solar activity is at its lowest level in almost 100 years and should that continue may slow the pace of global warming “slightly,” Potsdam Institute for Climate Research scientists said today in a study.

Climate Myths and Questions, Part II

In Part One of our series, we looked at polar bears, hockey sticks, Medieval Warm Periods and Little Ice Ages, among other topics. Today our list includes water vapor, volcanoes, and CO2.

California global warming law may lead to job losses, report says

Debate over the economic effects of California’s first-in-the-nation global warming law flared this week, with a report saying short-term job losses can be expected.

China unsure on warming cause, to stick with CO2 cuts

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top climate negotiator said on Wednesday that the cause of global warming was still not clear but the problems it was creating were so serious that the world must anyway act to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

China urges greater US commitments on climate change, technical and financial support

BEIJING – China told the United States on Wednesday to make stronger commitments on climate change and provide environmental expertise and financing to developing nations.

At the same time, China said its own efforts to reduce energy intensity have been hampered by its economic recovery in the latter part of last year, which brought growth in heavy energy-consuming industries.

At White House: 14 senators discuss climate-energy legislation

The fate of President Obama’s plan to shift America toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels may depend on the outcome of a crucial White House meeting Tuesday with 14 key senators, many from coal- and oil-producing states, who have long opposed curbs on carbon emissions.

Mr. Obama – often criticized for being too hands off on complex and controversial climate-energy legislation after it became stalled in the Senate last year – now appears to be making a full-court press to win the 60 votes he needs for Senate passage of revamped climate-energy legislation, several observers agree.

Shell’s discounted bid for Arrow reflects the present world oversupply of gas

The bid and Arrow’s decision to take it seriously despite the price discount reflect the much more complicated outlook for gas in the wake of the global financial crisis, and after the development of technology that is capable of doubling the world’s gas reserves.

There is an awful lot of gas in the ground, enough perhaps to break the nexus between gas prices and oil prices. The peak oil argument that oil prices will rise inexorably as producers fail to bring new production on stream fast enough and cheaply enough to replace diminishing reserves simply does not apply. That knowledge both impels the $3.2 billion offer Shell and PetroChina have launched, and dictates that Arrow take it seriously.

Saudi Aramco chief warns of ‘green bubbles’

Saudi Aramco chief Khalid Al-Falih warned today of “green bubbles” and expressed worry about “assumptions” in the political realm that alternative energy sources could “transform the face of energy overnight”.

Gazprom Neft Says Russian Taxes Tripping Up Deals, Expansion

(Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s gas export monopoly, said Russian taxes are hindering ventures with international oil companies and are the main obstacle for its expansion at home and abroad.

“The main problem is the tax regime,” Alexander Pankratov, head of business development at the St. Petersburg- based company, said yesterday in an interview at the CERAWeek conference organized by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Houston.

US Crude Outlook – Improving crack spreads give lift

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Improving refinery crack spreads could boost feedstock demand and lift cash crude differentials, especially if oil futures back away from the $81 level as many analysts expect,

Chevron Drives Upstream Growth with LNG Projects

Chevron enters the decade with an upstream portfolio of major capital projects that uniquely positions the company for future growth, executives said today at a meeting with financial analysts in New York. In the downstream business, executives highlighted plans to improve returns by aggressively lowering costs, exiting markets and streamlining the organization.

Gabrielli: pre-salt supply chain tight

While operating in Brazil’s pre-salt region does require an array of technologies, Petrobras CEO Jose Gabrielli told a Houston lunch that a bigger challenge lies in meeting logistical demands for operating in deep waters offshore. During the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce event on 9 March 2010, Gabrielli said it is important to focus on ‘the hubs that we must develop for our people and goods 300km from our coastline.’ For the pre-salt, he elaborated, ‘the main challenge that we have is much more on logistics, on the optimization of the knowledge we have.’

The opportunities in pre-salt, he said, are big, but they also require a new hub for suppliers. ‘We believe the most important constraint that we may have is in the supply chain,’ Gabrielli said.

Nigeria May Push for Higher OPEC Oil Quota, NNPC Says

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria may seek to increase its OPEC oil production quota if output remains free from militant disruption, an official from state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. said today.

Chevron cutting 2,000 jobs in refining restructuring

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Chevron Corp. said Tuesday it plans to cut 2,000 jobs this year as part of an effort to realize savings in its refining operations, as the oil major signals that recent woes in the business of making gasoline and diesel fuel will persist well beyond 2010.

Sinopec Shanghai Says China Should Raise Fuel Prices

(Bloomberg) — China should increase fuel prices to prevent domestic refiners from incurring losses in March and April, said a unit of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country’s biggest refiner.

Egypt: Petroleum ministry denies diesel shortage

Sufficient amounts of diesel are available on the local market as planned, said the Ministry of Petroleum, despite recent overcrowding at gas stations and reports of shortages.

Clashes at gas stations as diesel crisis escalates

Diesel fuel shortages continued in Cairo and the governorates on Monday, leading to clashes between frustrated drivers lining up outside gas stations. The Petroleum Ministry, however, has denied the existence of any shortfalls in the quantities of diesel fuel supplied to gas stations.

Shortages of both 80-octane and 90-octane gasoline have also been reported in a number of governorates.

U.S. Sitting on Mother Lode of Rare Tech-Crucial Minerals

China supplies most of the rare earth minerals found in technologies such as hybrid cars, wind turbines, computer hard drives and cell phones, but the U.S. has its own largely untapped reserves that could safeguard future tech innovation.

Those reserves include deposits of both “light” and “heavy” rare earths — families of minerals that help make everything from TV displays to magnets in hybrid electric motors. A company called U.S. Rare Earths holds the only known U.S. deposit of heavy rare earths with a concentration worth mining, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

S.Korea unveils ‘recharging road’ for eco-friendly buses

South Korean researchers Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a “recharging road” — with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips.

The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital.

Short-staffed agency overseeing high-speed-rail effort draws fire

WASHINGTON — The federal agency in charge of $8 billion in economic stimulus spending on high-speed-rail projects doesn’t have the staff or expertise to properly oversee the money, government investigators and congressional critics say.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), whose main job until now had been keeping freight and passenger railroads safe, awarded the high-speed-rail grants in January — months later than planned.

Libraries

Even more useful than the books or activities, though, is the principle behind libraries, that we and our neighbours can pool our resources and hold things in common that all of us occasionally need. Most of the Western World, however, adopted this principle for books and then stopped, never extending it to other obvious areas of life.

In fact, the trend of the last few decades has been the opposite – people bought more and more of their own private stocks of anything, no matter how expensive or little-used: a row of ten family homes might have ten rakes, ten chainsaws, ten barbecue pits and ten Dora the Explorer videos, each of which is used for only a few hours a year.

More urbanites have their pick of fresh fruit

Last fall, Eric Alperin, a San Francisco artist, heard about blackberries, plums and loquats growing on public property in his city and free for the picking.

Armed with bags and a pole device for picking fruit from tall branches, Alperin and his wife went foraging.

“It was great,” he said. “We picked as much as we could carry and had beautiful, fresh, free city fruit,” Alperin said. “I’ll definitely go (picking) again.” Fruit-picking opportunities like that are becoming more common, as volunteers in cities including Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and Madison, Wis., mobilize behind a goal of planting fruit trees on public land in city parks and neighborhoods.

Agritourism helps Tennessee farms stay in business

NASHVILLE — In a tough year for Tennessee’s state budget, the departments of tourism and agriculture have found a mutual silver lining: a boomlet in agricultural tourism.

Milking cows (sort of), wandering through corn and cotton mazes, watching chicks hatch, having a country wedding and picking melons are among the activities drawing city folks and their pocketbooks to farms around Tennessee.

CERAWeek panel: Developing nations key to future

A shifting center of gravity from the developed to the developing world will redefine the energy landscape over the next two decades.

That’s the theme that emerged from the first panel discussion of this year’s IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ IHS CERAWeek conference in downtown Houston. The discussion kicked off five days of panels and lectures featuring top energy executives, policy makers and analysts.

Growing economies in Asia, particularly China, and the Middle East, will shape the supply and demand dynamic of everything from oil and gas demand to electricity to the development of renewable energy sources.

“What will fill the demand?” asked Xizhou Zhou, a China expert with IHS CERA.

“The answer to that question is, really, everything.”

Energy takes stage: CERAWeek offers wealth of information

If you’re into energy, this week is Christmas in March in Houston. It’s CERAWeek, the five-day confab covering all things energy-related. For the cognoscenti, it’s brimful of gifts of information and informed opinion.

CERAWeek is the brainchild of Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power and chairman of IHS-Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a leading think tank/consultant on energy topics.

CERAWeek offers something for everyone interested in energy — oil, alternatives, the environment, coal, utilities and on and on for a full five days. But this year our attention will be focused on Wednesday’s daylong session on natural gas. And T. Boone Pickens is why.

CERAWEEK – FACTBOX: What are the big issues for CERAWeek?

(Reuters) – The symbiotic link between oil and the economy will dominate CERAWeek, the CERA consultancy’s annual go-to gathering of elite energy and economic figures and thinkers that begins on Monday in Houston.

CFTC official wants more energy market transparency

Energy commodities regulators worldwide will need to move carefully and cooperatively if they expect to make global oil markets more transparent, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Scott D. O’Malia said in Tokyo on Feb. 26.

“We have to acknowledge that we’ve witnessed a paradigm shift in the global oil market over the past decade,” he said in remarks to the International Energy Agency and Institute of Energy Economics Japan’s Forum on Global Oil Market Challenges. “The paradigm has shifted in two significant ways…. First, oil is now a financial asset and its price movements are correlated to economic growth. Second, the growth in oil demand is being led by developing nations.”

2010 energy prospects promising, U.K. firm says

Oil and gas services company Petrofac said it was confident for 2010 as it expects further investment in oil and gas projects, after it doubled its order backlog and posted net profit above forecasts in 2009.

Pakistan: Power tariff-hike to destroy economy

FAISALABAD – Proposed increase of Rs1.2 per unit in electricity tariff would push the cost of exportable items, making Pakistani textiles costly and inflicting loss of millions of dollars. It will also cause closure of more industries as industrial sector will not be able to absorb this shock; leading to more unemployment & poverty in the country.

Plans to increase consumption of fuel by 31 percent due to electricity crisis

The Venezuelan government plans to increase its fuel consumption by a third in 2010 to fuel thermoelectric plants with which President Hugo Chávez hopes to overcome energy crisis.

Officials expect a total consumption of 104 million barrels in 2010, about 285,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) of fuel oil, diesel and gas, which will be used to increase thermoelectric capacity by 4,000 megawatts (Mw).

‘Energy crisis just artificial’

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Richard Gordon said the power crisis in Mindanao is artificial and may be part of a sinister plot, and demanded an explanation from the Arroyo administration.

“They should explain why there is a power shortage. From what I have heard – and I have just been to Mindanao – the water level in Lanao lake is normal. They just opened up a power plant in Cebu and they will open up a couple more. I don’t know what they are talking about,” Gordon, Bagumbayan party presidential candidate, told editors and reporters of The STAR yesterday.

“They have a lot of explaining to do.”

East Kalimantan Demand Higher Coal and Gas Supply

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: East Kalimantan administration pleaded to the central government for more allocation of gas and coal for to meet regional demand for energy. Governor Awang Faroek said on Tuesday (9/3) the province accounts for 54 percent of total national gas production and produces 50 million metric tonnes of coal every year, and “Its not funny if East Kalimantan should experience energy crisis.”

Green energy revolution expected in Kingdom

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and the Gulf signalled their intention to kick-start a renewable energy revolution in the region on Monday.

A panel of experts at the ongoing Gulf Environment Forum in Jeddah, chaired by Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, said measures were in place to improve the energy mix and finally reduce Middle East dependence on oil.

Sarkozy: ‘Help poor countries go nuclear in energy crisis’

POOR countries should be helped to build their own nuclear power stations to help fight climate change, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday.

His vision won over international energy officials from India to Brussels, and French executives eager to market their expertise abroad, at a Paris conference. But some experts said Mr Sarkozy’s push was opening the door to risks of deadly technology getting into the wrong hands, and warned consumers to pay attention to the staggering price tag of potential nuclear energy growth – up to £2.6 trillion worldwide by 2050.

“We need nuclear energy” to meet international goals set for slowing global warming, Mr Sarkozy said.

A reactor to make nuclear affordable

One of nuclear’s biggest drawbacks, though, is the multi-billion-dollar price tag for all those new reactors. From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Sarah Gardner reports now on a way to make nuclear affordable.

Schools’ New Math: the Four-Day Week

Four-day weeks have been in place for decades in states like New Mexico, Idaho and Wyoming and initially came about as states were looking to combat growing energy prices. Last week, Pueblo School District 70 in Colorado said it would adopt the schedule next school year for its roughly 8,000 students.

The shift has drawn scrutiny from some education and parents groups who say the shorter week hurts students academically and complicates child-care efforts.

Mexico Oil Politics Keeps Riches Just Out of Reach

VENUSTIANO CARRANZA, Mexico — To the Mexican people, one of the great achievements in their history was the day their president kicked out foreign oil companies in 1938. Thus, they celebrate March 18 as a civic holiday.

Yet today, that 72-year-old act has put Mexico in a straitjacket, one that threatens both the welfare of the country and the oil supply of the United States.

The national oil company created after the 1938 seizure, Pemex, is entering a period of turmoil. Oil production in its aging fields is sagging so rapidly that Mexico, long one of the world’s top oil-exporting countries, could begin importing oil within the decade.

Mexico is among the three leading foreign suppliers of oil to the United States, along with Canada and Saudi Arabia. Mexican barrels can be replaced, but at a cost. It means greater American dependence on unfriendly countries like Venezuela, unstable countries like Nigeria and Iraq, and on the oil sands of Canada, an environmentally destructive form of oil production.

“As you lose Mexican oil, you lose a critical supply,” said Jeremy M. Martin, director of the energy program at the Institute of the Americas at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s not just about energy security but national security, because our neighbor’s economic and political well-being is largely linked to its capacity to produce and export oil.”

Oil drops below $81 after monthlong rally

Oil prices dropped sharply to below $81 a barrel Tuesday, due to a stronger dollar and profit taking on a monthlong run fueled by growing investor optimism about global economic growth.

Gasoline prices at high for the year

Motorists are well down the road to higher pump prices as warmer weather and the driving season approach.

Average retail gasoline prices, continuing a surge that started last month, have now matched their 2010 high on the way to prices that many analysts believe will top $3 per gallon this spring.

Exxon Lowers Bar, Buys Assets Previously Deemed Unattractive

(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Total SA are investing in assets that previously weren’t worth their time or money after oil-rich nations reduced access to reserves and exploration drilling faltered.

Efforts to find new sources of crude and natural gas are failing more often, with San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp.’s exploration failure rate jumping to 35 percent last year from 10 percent in 2008. Countries such as Venezuela are making it more expensive for companies to develop their resources, if they’re allowed in at all. And previously developed fields are drying up, reducing oil companies’ future supplies, or reserves.

Samsung Heavy Wins Order From Shell for Floating LNG

(Bloomberg) — Samsung Heavy Industries Co. won an order to build a floating natural-gas facility for Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the first deal between the two under a 15-year supply contract signed last year.

INTERVIEW – Algeria sees global LNG recovery in 2-3 years

ALGIERS (Reuters) – The global slump in demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is temporary and demand will recover within the next two to three years, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said in an interview on Monday.

“If we look at the long term, definitely from the environmental point of view and from the point of view of satisfying global demand, there is going to be a big need for natural gas,” Khelil told Reuters.

A conventional fuel, an unconventional future

The recent announcement that Korea Gas Corp. would invest $1.1-billion to participate in the development of EnCana’s huge gas shale holdings in northeastern British Columbia is another signal that Canada’s natural gas industry has entered a profoundly important new stage that, at earlier times, government policies made impossible.

Shell’s Arrow Bid May Spur Coal-Bed Gas Takeovers

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co.’s A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) bid for Arrow Energy Ltd. may spur more takeovers of Australian producers of coal-bed gas, a growing source of supply for Asian energy importers.

Sasol may abandon fuel liquids plant if no govt funding – paper

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Petrochemical group Sasol (SOLJ.J) may abandon its planned 80,000 barrel-a-day South African coal-to-liquid Mafutha plant if the government does not help finance it, the Business Day newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Sasol Chief Executive Officer Pat Davies as saying the world’s top maker of motor fuel from coal would let the government determine its funding component for the project, while the company proceeds with its preparatory works currently in feasibility stage.

Mitsui Said to Consider Returning to Singapore Oil Trading

(Bloomberg) — Mitsui & Co., the Japanese trading group that earns half its profit from energy, may restart oil product trading in Singapore after withdrawing from the city- state in 2007, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Tokyo-based company pulled out from Asia’s biggest oil- trading center when it shut its Singapore unit Mitsui Oil (Asia) Pte in 2007 after losing $81 million from naphtha transactions hidden by a trader. The cover-up resulted in the imprisonment of three former employees by Singapore courts last year.

Time for ‘bold action’ to reduce oil use in Greater Sudbury

Canada’s economy is highly dependent on oil. Many Canadians believe western Canada’s oil sands deposits will be our salvation. The oil sands, however, are a major atmospheric carbon emitter, which will exacerbate global climate change significantly, while also fouling the region’s water supply.

Should we all be driving hybrids to prepare for the impending high oil prices and volatility? Perhaps, but the report asserts, “There is real danger that the focus on technological advances in cars is making consumers and governments complacent.”

EPA probes whether shale gas drilling contaminates water supplies

The top U.S. environmental regulator said she was “very concerned” about fluids blamed by some for polluting water supplies near sites where drillers use them to extract natural gas from shale deposits. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson said she hopes her agency will launch a study this year into the nature of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process of natural gas drilling.

Fracking Fluids Part I: A controversy coming to an energy investment near you

The controversy surrounding fracking fluids is getting louder. Websites and media savvy organizations are getting more press on this issue, using a very simple and powerful pitch – are the chemicals used in fracking fluids in oil and gas wells contaminating our drinking water?

North American investors have not been directly hit by this issue yet, meaning that a company’s stock hasn’t plummeted because they had to stop drilling over these concerns – yet.

Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy’s limits

In making the case for a rapid conversion away from heavily polluting energy sources like coal and nuclear power to cleaner generation, renewable energy advocates often confront the argument that their scheme is impossible due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind.

But a groundbreaking study out of North Carolina challenges that conventional wisdom: It suggests that backup generation requirements would be modest for a system based largely on solar and wind power, combined with efficiency, hydroelectric power, and other renewable sources like landfill gas.

Tuning the energy innovation engine at MIT

BOSTON–The MIT Energy Conference here on Saturday covered a little bit of everything–”China speed,” climate change, financing gaps, government policy, nuclear and natural gas, and, of course, science experiments–as entrepreneurs, business people, and academics tried to get their arms around big-picture energy challenges.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has become a hotbed for clean-energy innovation over the past four years, attracting students and faculty to the field, some of whom have spun out promising companies.

I.B.M. Opens Energy Lab in Beijing

In another sign of China’s emergence as an epicenter of green technology, I.B.M. has opened a lab in Beijing to develop smart grid software for the global market.

IEA: safety, non-proliferation key premises for nuclear development

Safety and non-proliferation are two key premises for global expansion of nuclear power and countries seeking nuclear use must adhere to these principles, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Nobuo Tanaka stressed here Monday.

UAE believes in responsible use of nuclear power

The United Arab Emirates’ interest in developing nuclear energy is motivated by the need to develop additional sources of electricity.

This is to meet future demand projections and to ensure the continued rapid development of the country’s economy, UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan affirmed here today.

Israel ‘to unveil plans to build nuclear power plant’

Israel is expected to unveil plans this week to build a nuclear power plant, reports say.

They say an announcement will be made by Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau at an energy forum in Paris.

Israel is facing a crisis over electricity supplies, but environmental objections have blocked efforts to build a new coal-fired plant.

Don’t buy Obama’s greenwashing of nuclear power

Last month, inspectors found dangerous chemicals in the groundwater near the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The situation demonstrates that from the mining of uranium ore to the storage of radioactive waste, nuclear reactors remain as dirty, risky, and as costly as they ever were. If President Obama’s recent enthusiasm for nuclear reactors has led you to believe otherwise, you’ve bought in to the administration’s greenwashing of nuclear.

Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun

Farmers sold land for solar plants. Boutiques opened. And people from all over the world, seeing business opportunities, moved to the city, which had suffered from 20 percent unemployment and a population exodus.

But as low-quality, poorly designed solar plants sprang up on Spain’s plateaus, Spanish officials came to realize that they would have to subsidize many of them indefinitely, and that the industry they had created might never produce efficient green energy on its own.

Lending Scheme to Bring Solar to Cambodia’s Poor

With access to solar-powered energy products for Cambodia’s rural poor extremely limited, the solar energy company Kamworks and the Cambodia Mutual Savings and Credit Network are partnering to provide low-interest loans to customers hoping to outfit their homes with solar panels, while Kamworks will provide and install the equipment.

Ethanol Making Comeback as Valero Sees Profit Where Gates Lost

(Bloomberg) — Ethanol, the commodity that cost Bill Gates more than $44 million the last time prices collapsed, is poised to rally as much as 20 percent as the fastest drop since 2008 spurs demand.

Falling corn prices and record ethanol supplies have driven the price down 17 percent in three months to $1.634 a gallon, its worst run since 2008’s fourth quarter. It will average $1.96 a gallon at the peak of the U.S. summer driving season as refiners from Valero Energy Corp. to Sunoco Inc. mix more into gasoline made from increasingly pricey oil, according to the median of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

European Activists Sue Over Biofuels Studies

Environmental lawyers and activists on Monday sued the European Commission for failing to release studies investigating the impact of biofuels on the environment.

Whetting Singapore’s thirst for rice

“To produce one bowl of rice it takes about 500 liters of water,” said Dr. Bouman.

“For a city like Singapore, the question is whether the 688 billion liters of water needed to produce the country’s rice will remain available.”

Worldwide, water for agriculture is becoming increasingly scarce as groundwater reserves drop, water quality declines because of pollution, irrigation systems malfunction, and competition from urban and industrial users increases.

Climate change will also reduce water availability in large parts of the world. And, by 2025, 15-20 million hectares of irrigated rice will suffer some degree of water scarcity.

Cool it on efforts against new rules, EPA chief asks

WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday pushed back against lawmakers’ attempts to halt the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases from power plants, refiners and other industrial facilities.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency’s proposed new rules, which would take effect next year, could help ignite new demand for clean energy technology.

Instead of trying to block new rules, lawmakers should spend their energy focusing on “new legislation to do something” about climate change, Jackson told reporters after a speech at the National Press Club.

Asking “what would nature do?” leads to a way to break down a greenhouse gas

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A recent discovery in understanding how to chemically break down the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a useful form opens the doors for scientists to wonder what organism is out there – or could be created – to accomplish the task.

University of Michigan biological chemist Steve Ragsdale, along with research assistant Elizabeth Pierce and scientists led by Fraser Armstrong from the University of Oxford in the U.K., have figured out a way to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using visible light, like sunlight.

California to amend ‘cool cars’ rule

The state, which gave initial approval of the new rules in June, aims to sharply reduce solar energy in vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board is working to finalize the regulations in the coming weeks. The final rules must be in place by May 7.

But the California Police Chiefs Association, California State Sheriffs Association, Crime Victims United of California and other groups warn that the new standards, requiring window glazing to keep car interiors cool, could degrade signals from cell phones, and from ankle monitoring bracelets worn by felons.

Fidel Castro warns of dangers threatening humanity

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned of many dangers currently threatening the planet and the humanity such as mass destructive weapons and climate change.

“For the first time, the human species, in a globalized world full of contradictions, have created the ability to destroy themselves,” Castro said in an article released on Monday.

How does America end up with such terrible national security strategies?

Last month I wrote a blog post on the appallingly, monumentally bad Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) of 2010 — the document the US Defence Department is required to produce as a basis for developing the military force structure and strategic requirements for the next four years. This document, meant to analyse the threats to the United States, failed to mention radical Islam as a threat in its over 100 pages. It also passed over the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons with only a one-sentence mention. Yet the top officials of the Defence Department did not fail to notice the REAL threat facing the United States. The QDR devoted several pages to the serious threat inherent in… climate change.

Monbiot: The trouble with trusting complex science

There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anyway.

Wild relatives of crops seen aiding climate fight

(Reuters) – Farm experts plan to track down wild relatives of crops such as rice or wheat with traits that make them able to resist global warming in a project costing perhaps $50 million, a leading expert said on Tuesday.

“The wild relatives of cultivated crops … are largely uncollected or conserved in gene banks,” said Cary Fowler, head of the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust which co-manages a “doomsday” seed vault on an Arctic island north of Norway.

Move to train truckers to be greener

The UK government has launched a new proposal to encourage more lorry drivers to take eco-driver training in a move to save up to 3m tonnes of carbon emissions.

Over five years, a saving of around £300m in fuel costs could be achieved, according to transport minister Paul Clark.

India backs Copenhagen climate deal: minister

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.

Climate forest deal in sight: Indonesia

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Wealthy and developing nations should be able to seal an agreement this year on deforestation, unlocking a key part of the next treaty on global warming, Indonesian negotiators said Monday.

Should Scientists Fight Heat or Stick to Data?

You want to know why Al Gore and his movie have proven to be such an abject failure? (And yes, failure is the right word — polling shows no net increase in public concern about global warming in the years following the movie — for two decades its been roughly a third of the public who are seriously worried about global warming.) It’s for this very reason. A very dull and dispassionate voice was chosen to deliver a supposedly dire and passionate message. It was one of the worst cases of bad casting in history. Gore is ultimately “a scientist” when it comes to communication instincts. You can see it played out in his movie and two books as he’s slowly come to the realization that you need something more than information to reach the masses. Duh.

Post Carbon

Contrary to popular belief, young people are not more politically engaged on the issue of climate change than older Americans, according to a new climate poll conducted by researchers at American, Yale and George Mason universities.

The researchers found “adults under the age of 35 are significantly less likely than their elders to say that they had thought about global warming before today, with nearly a quarter (22 percent) of under-35s saying they had never thought about the issue previously. Only 38 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 say that they had previously thought about global warming either ‘a lot’ (10 percent) or ’some’ (28 percent), compared to 51 percent of those 35-59 and 44 percent of those 60 and older.

When the Water Rises

It’s easy to imagine an apocalyptically soggy future for New York—high waves soaking the hem of Lady Liberty’s robes, flash floods roaring through subway tunnels, kayakers paddling down Wall Street—and just as easy to dismiss it all as another end-of-days Hollywood fantasy. Global warming may be powerful and real, but so is denial, and the urge to postpone thinking about that particular item on the world’s to-do list is almost irresistible. Coastal cities, however, don’t have that luxury. For centuries, New York has been steadily expanding into its harbor; when the steroidal storms of the not-too-distant future start pummeling our shores, the waters will push back.

So Barry Bergdoll, the head of the Museum of Modern Art’s architecture and design department, divvied New York Harbor among five teams of designers and challenged them to figure out how a low-lying metropolis might deal with rising sea levels and violent storm surges. Their answers will appear (starting March 24) in the MoMA exhibit “Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront,” and they vary from spongy streets to reefs made of glass or oysters to apartment buildings dangling above the brine.

Developed countries outsource emissions: study

Developed countries are “outsourcing” more than a third of their carbon emissions associated with products and services to other countries, researchers say.

A study of trade data found that some countries in Western Europe have more than half of their total carbon dioxide emissions occurring elsewhere, especially in developing countries such as China.

Left: nacelles with the hubs being installed
Right: blades (45m long) stacked

Part of the Wind power series. More below:

If you remember, there were ovality issues with one foundation last time round – well, that was solved and that foundation has now been corrected and installed at sea. The foundation site has just one big item remaining:

the transition piece for the offshore high voltage transformer station

This transition piece is heavier than the others, and required a re-fit of the jackup barge to be installed. That refit was being done when we visited:

Left: two of the legs that go down in water to lift the platform above the water when it needs to work
Right: the jackup is in the “raised” position in order for the re-fit work to be done in perfectly stable conditions, even in the port

After installing the foundation for the transformer, the vessel will be refitted a second time to begin in a few weeks’ time the installation of the towers and turbines, which are arriving at a nearby site:

the nacelles (Vestas V90 – 3MW)

the hubs

the blades

the first part of the tower

The installation method chosen for this project is to install the turbines with the hub (but not the blades) on top of the towers (which are brought in two parts and are assembled on site) onshore, and transport the full unit to the site at sea in one piece, in a vertical position. Thus, other than the installation of that unit on top of the foundations, the only work offshore will be the installation of the blades, one by one, on the hub.

On the port site, various bits of assembly are happening now: the towers are being erected:

The fully erected towers stand at above 100 meters

The hubs are being attached to the nacelles:

The hubs are first positioned alongside the nacelles

after having being raised into position (something I did not witness), the hubs are bolted to the nacelle

a complete nacelle + hub set in front, with one to be installed behind it

I hope to be able to post more installments in the future – but joining the installation work at sea is usually more difficult as the safety requirements are absolutely stringent and the boats can be mobilised for more than a few days… to be continued.

China lawmakers call for more crude, fuel reserves

BEIJING (Reuters) – China should step up efforts to build up state reserves of crude oil and refined fuel to enhance the country’s energy security, state media cited lawmakers as saying.

National crude demand would exceed 550 million tonnes by 2020, compared with about 400 million tonnes in 2009, National People’s Congress member Chen Geng told the China Energy News in an interview published on Monday.

Chen, also a former general manager of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s top oil producer, said it was unlikely China would increase domestic oil production above 200 million tonnes in the next 10 years.

“That means we have to import about 350 million tonnes of oil by then,” he told the newspaper.

Oil Advances to Two-Month High Above $82 on Economic Optimism

(Bloomberg) — Oil rose to a two-month high above $82 a barrel in New York amid growing confidence that the economic recovery is proceeding and set to bolster fuel demand.

Crude advanced for a second day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the group of nations using the euro is ready to rescue Greece should the government struggle to fund its deficit. Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their bets on oil prices rising for a third week, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

India’s ONGC May Borrow $10 Billion to Buy Assets

(Bloomberg) — Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India’s biggest energy explorer, may borrow $10 billion over the next decade as it competes with rivals from China and South Korea to buy oil assets overseas to meet domestic fuel demand.

Essar Group Said to Plan $3 Billion Debt, Equity Sale

(Bloomberg) — Essar Group, owned by Indian billionaires Shashi and Ravi Ruia, plans to raise $3 billion overseas to fund acquisitions and expand its oil, power and steel businesses, two people familiar with the matter said.

CNPC sees China oil output up 1-2% in 2010

China’s crude oil output will rise by 1-2 percent this year, Yu Baocai, vice president of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), said on Sunday.

The forecast is slightly below a previous estimate of 2 percent given in a CNPC research report but above the 0.5 percent growth target issued by China’s planning ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission, in its 2010 economic plan.

Saudi Arabia to promote private sector: Saudi king

RIYADH – Top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia has been largely unaffected by a global financial crisis and will continue to encourage private sector growth and pursue a moderate oil policy, King Abdullah said on Sunday.

Total to Invest in EDF LNG Terminal Near Site of Shut Refinery

(Bloomberg) — Total SA, under fire from unions for the planned closure of its Dunkirk refinery in northern France, will invest in a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) liquefied natural gas terminal nearby that’s being spearheaded by Electricite de France SA.

Basra has a ‘good feeling’ about vote

Turnout is 60% in the southern Iraqi city. Many voters express optimism about the nation’s fifth post-Hussein elections. But some fear rivalries could spill into violence.

Shell, PetroChina Offer $3 Billion for Australia’s Arrow Energy

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co. made an offer worth more than A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) to acquire Arrow Energy Ltd., the holder of Australia’s biggest coal-seam gas acreage, triggering a record gain in the shares.

Queensland Coal Producers to Bid for QR Coal Network

(Bloomberg) — Queensland coal producers will bid for the state government’s rail network and counter a planned A$3 billion ($2.7 billion) initial share sale of the assets, the local resources council says.

Goldman Sachs partner Jeffrey Currie goes against the flow

The Goldman Sachs oil research team, which reports to Currie, who is global head of commodities research, consistently tops forecasting league tables. But in early 2008 it made an uncharacteristically poor call. Oil analyst Arjun Murti forecast oil could spike to $200 a barrel in two years if spurred by a 1970s-style oil crisis event. Murti’s claim carried weight as he correctly predicted oil’s rise to over $100 a year earlier.

Sasol’s First-Half Profit Falls 52% as Oil Declines

(Bloomberg) — Sasol Ltd., the largest producer of motor fuel made from coal, said first-half profit fell 52 percent as the rand strengthened against the dollar and as the price of competing crude oil declined.

Kairiki Energy Seeks Partners for 600 Million-Barrel Oil Field

(Bloomberg) — Kairiki Energy Ltd., an Australian oil explorer whose shares have tripled in the past year, is seeking partners to develop a crude field in the Philippines with potential reserves of 600 million barrels.

China positive toward resolving gas field dispute

BEIJING — China has a positive attitude toward addressing a dispute with Japan over gas field development in the East China Sea, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday. ‘‘The attitude of China is positive, not negative,’’ Yang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament.

What’s wrong with exploiting nature?

The filmmakers interview local indigenous people whose lives have been disrupted by the works. Where once this was an isolated, tranquil landscape, it is now scarred by strip mining and the air in some areas reeks of ‘stink bomb’ fumes from the extraction process. But this is just the latest instance of the industrialisation of wilderness. What gives these indigenous inhabitants the right to the unfettered use of this land? While it is right that oil companies should leave the land in a state where it can be used for other purposes afterwards, there is nothing wrong with making use of natural resources.

Energy Group Proposes North Sea Electricity Super-Grid, FT Says

(Bloomberg) — A group of 10 companies including Areva SA and Siemens AG will propose a plan today for a North Sea electricity “super-grid” connecting the U.K., Germany and Norway, the Financial Times reported, citing the group.

ANALYSIS – Smart grid spending powers ahead in Asia

SEOUL/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Japan, South Korea and China are investing about $9 billion this year in infrastructure and information technology to make electricity networks more efficient, creating lucrative opportunities for niche technology and equipment providers.

The “smart grid” system, through computerised monitoring of electricity flowing through a power grid, allows utilities to automatically manage electricity usage in a way that is more reliable and flexible.

Asia’s spending on smart grids is expected to outpace the United States, with China alone seen investing $7.3 billion in the sector this year, according to Zpryme, a market research firm based in Austin, Texas.

Will smart meters help reduce energy bills?

Smart meters that monitor exact energy usage multiple times a day, resulting in accurate bills, have to be in all households by 2020, the government said last year. It is hoped they will also cut carbon levels by encouraging householders to pay more attention to energy usage and make more effort to control it. So should you switch to a smart meter now, and will it really save you money?

EBay Highlights Conservation as a Benefit of Buying Used

On the site, green.ebay.com, and in the ads, eBay makes the case that buying something used is as environmentally correct as conservation and recycling.

“Most people think you have to make a product in a certain way with a certain set of ingredients for it to be green,” said Amy Skoczlas Cole, director of eBay’s green team. “What we’re saying is you don’t have to make this new product at all.”

Australia: Why didn’t I get my personal financial ‘stuff’ sorted earlier?

The age pension makes up a third of the annual Federal Budget and is set to increase at double the inflation rate to reach $45 billion in four years.

Future governments will look to scale down this commitment as the number of future taxpayers declines.

It is clearly obvious that managing this expectation gap of future retirees is an understatement. With rising inflation and living costs and fundamental changes such as a reaching “peak oil” and the question of who knows whether the age pension will be around in 10 to 20 years from now, only add to challenges in managing the expectation of these future retirees.

A social conscience

Steve Earnshaw is talking the talk and walking the walk as the spokesman for Transition Timaru. Feature writer Claire Allison met the environmentally aware orthopaedic surgeon.

The painful limits of localism

Every field of endeavour produces its classic conundrums, the tough nuts it never quite cracks. For centuries, engineering sought the secret of perpetual motion. Applied physics keeps looking for an efficient means of storing electrical power. In democratic politics our age is not the first to struggle to devolve decision-making without throwing sand into the wheels of big national plans: to reconcile bottom-up with top-down.

Solon Shares Jump After Report Says State Aid May Be Approved

(Bloomberg) — Shares of Solon SE, the German maker of solar panels, jumped as much as 21 percent following a report that the unprofitable company may get state aid guarantees.

Small biofuel farm bears fruit

If the vision of father and son farmers Christian and James Twigg-Smith becomes reality, acres of now-fallow sugar cane land will be growing crops again.

But rather than producing food, the land would be used to grow fuel oil.

About two years ago they planted jatropha, an oil-rich nut native to South America, on 250 acres in Keaau on Hawaii island. They have leased another 750 acres that could be put into production if the crop is successful.

Deal to Save Everglades May Help Sugar Firm

When Gov. Charlie Crist announced Florida’s $1.75 billion plan to save the Everglades by buying out a major landowner, United States Sugar, he declared that the deal would be remembered as a public acquisition “as monumental as the creation of the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

Standing amid the marshes at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in June 2008, Mr. Crist said, “I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, the people of Florida and the people of America — as well as our planet — than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration.”

Nearly two years later, the governor’s ambitious plan to reclaim the river of grass, as the famed wetlands are known, is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar.

Asia seen as growth driver for voluntary CO2 market

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Fear of Western-imposed carbon tariffs on goods and services from Asia is likely to drive growth in offsetting emissions by large firms in the region, a voluntary carbon market executive said.

The market, worth $705 million in 2008 and likely much less in 2009, relies on businesses to voluntarily manage their carbon emissions, for example from the energy they use to produce and transport goods around the globe.

The Maldives Buys a New Island – That Floats

Sea level rise creates new business opportunity and “green jobs” that we’ll see more of, borne from the effects of climate change, as sea levels rise. The first floating island has just been commissioned this week by the sinking island nation of the Maldives, from Dutch Docklands, whose past work includes part of the artificial islands comprising The World off the coast of Dubai.

As tstreet noted after the original post, there is an article in the Colorado Constitution (article XXVI) that he helped put in there.

Section 1. Nuclear detonations prohibited exceptions. No nuclear explosive device may be detonated or placed in the ground for the purpose of detonation in this state except in accordance with this article. (Adopted by the People, November 5, 1974. Effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 20, 1974.)

Section 2. Election required. Before the emplacement of any nuclear explosive device in the ground in this state, the detonation of that device shall first have been approved by the voters through enactment of an initiated or referred measure authorizing that detonation, such measure having been ordered, proposed, submitted to the voters, and approved as provided in section 1 of article V of this constitution. (Adopted by the People, November 5, 1974 Effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 20, 1974.)

While I did not know about that as I initially planned this series, I had intended just to point out that the unhappiness of just one Senator with a nuclear program (and I was thinking of Senator Reid and Yucca Mountain) can delay and ultimately kill its implementation. In this case it is likely that there would be at least eight senators opposing, and I think the point is made. However, since I do think it is useful for folk to know these things, I thought I would continue with the rest of the story from a technical point of view. Particularly since the use of nuclear energy for excavation has recently been revisited by WIRED magazine.

Following the debates about the potential benefits that might occur from the use of nuclear explosives, it was decided to see if it would work in three test detonations, that were given the names Gasbuggy, Rulison and Rio Blanco.

The Gasbuggy shot, in 1967, used a 29 KT device at a depth of a 4,240 ft deep shaft, and created a cavity that was 80 ft wide and 335 ft tall, when one included the chimney. It also fractured the light shale around the opening. Anticipated dimensions were 165 ft with a 350 ft chimney.

The Rulison shot, in 1969, used a 43 KT device at a depth of 8,426 ft. It produced a cavity that was 152 ft wide, with a fracture zone that extends some 200 ft into the surrounding sandstone. (Predicted size was 160 ft with a 300 ft chimney). It is interesting to note that contractors have sought to drill near that shot, in order to extract gas from the shale. They were initially restricted to drilling no closer than half a mile. That was back in 2004, but interest in drilling at the site has continued. In the latest development, Noble Energy Production is planning on drilling some 78 wells near the site, with DOE apparently having plans to drill closer than the half-mile imposition, though the wells planned in this case are all more than 1.5 miles from the site. The County Commissioners are not amused. And, lest there be some concern for gas released at the time, let me quote from the article.

All the gas freed by the nuclear blast was produced and burned off at the surface, Bennetts said. The radioactivity at the site wasn’t high to begin with, and since has decreased to below background levels, he said.

The blast formed a sealed cavity underground, according to state and federal authorities. “Even if you drilled a well into that cavity again, there’s very little radioactivity remaining to be produced,” Bennetts said.

There was some measure of the gas produced

Following the blast, in 1970 and 1971, the companies burned off, or “flared,” 430 million cubic feet of gas into the open sky. The commission said that the level of radioactivity in the air surrounding the site did not exceed normal background levels.

Rio Blanco, shot in 1973, was made up of a series of 3 30-KT devices stacked up the shaft, at a depth of 7,000 ft, with the devices actually at 5,840; 6,230 and 6,670 ft. Each device created a cavity that was some 120 ft in diameter, and about 250 ft high. (Against predictions of a 140 ft diameter with a 300 ft chimney.) Fractures from the explosions extended about 200 ft into the rock around the shaft.

The production of gas from the shots was reported to be less than had been anticipated and the levels of radiation higher, so that while the volume of gas that could have been collected “would have been commercially viable,” that only held true had the gas been uncontaminated. It was not.

Interestingly there have also been tests of this technology in the Former Soviet Union and when I wrote about gas fires in Turkmenistan there was a comment by Syndroma who posted pictures of devices, which I am reposting here. Also noting

As to extinguishing of gas fountains: 1 in Turkmenistan, 2 in Uzbekistan, 1 in Ukraine (objective not achieved). Also in Ukraine, there was 0.3 kt explosion to alter the geology of coal mine, to make it safer for the miners. Objective achieved. Later, coal was extracted up to 70 meters from the chamber. No excess radioactivity detected.

Of ~150 peaceful explosion only 4 turned out “nasty” (contamination of the surface).

Soviet weapons that could be used in gas and oil well stimulation (from Wonderful Russia via Syndroma)

Syndroma also posted pictures of the result of three shots to generate a trench which I am also moving here. This was the model of the crater:

And this was the resulting crater that was achieved.

Results of the excavation when 3 nuclear devices were used to excavate a trench in the Soviet Union (Syndroma) (You can see the site on Google Earth at 61 18 16.93, 56 35 55.77)

There is more information on the Soviet Program here.

However our purpose is to look at the development of reserves and their contribution to the marketplace within the foreseeable future–particularly within the next fifteen years, when we can assume that the shortages of supply will become evident, it can, I think, be realistically assumed that there can be no use of nuclear devices to enhance oil shale recovery out West.

At the same time, the toughness of the rock and its strength and behavior under mechanical attack make machine mining of the shale a likely impracticality on a sufficient scale to produce perhaps much more than 100,000 barrels a day within that time frame. That judgment on my part is based also on the need to regenerate the capital for the program, reconstruct the facilities and get through all the necessary paperwork.

There are alternate methods for mining the material, including those that are used in conventional metal mining of large-scale surface and underground deposits. However, the mining of something that can generate high levels of potentially explosive gases, if very large scale fracturing and blasting is undertaken, creates levels of risk that will make development of such plans a lengthy process if carried out underground. The mining of Gilsonite for example, was only realistically achieved when the hydrocarbon was mined using high pressure waterjets. But the strength of the oil shale makes the conventional use of that technique impractical – even if it were allowable, which is conjectural.

With these prospects being diminished, the only likely potential for oil shale to have a significant impact in the next fifteen years is likely to be either through some smaller scale in-situ retorting or possibly through a surface mining approach. I will discuss these in the next two posts on the subject.

We know debt is not is not very sustainable under peak oil, so some changes are likely ahead–but we really don’t know what they are, or how they will work out. Also, we don’t know whether there will be inflation, deflation, or just difficulty buying things that are even partially imported, or made using imported goods.

I can think of a number of categories of debt:

1. Mortgage loans, which are close to being paid off, and with a little effort can be owned free and clear.

2. Mortgage loans, loans for much smaller value than house is worth, but nowhere near being paid off.

3. Mortgage loans, loans for more than the value of the house.

4. Auto loans.

5. Student loans.

6. Credit card debt.

7. Business debt.

The one category I can see a strong argument for paying off the loan ahead of time is the first category above–paying off a mortgage, when you can own the house free and clear. It is not quite as clear in the other categories.

One issue in paying off debt is whether this will this leave you short of cash if an emergency comes up. Also, what will happen if you need to move suddenly, and can’t sell the house?

Regarding student loans, I understand that there has been some recent legislation that cuts back payments (perhaps only on some loans, I don’t know) if you don’t have adequate income. This may have a bearing on loan repayment as well.

What is your view on paying off loans, given the many unknowns of the situation?

Is this your view of peak oil? Or do your see things differently?

Expensive oil to shorten supply chains: Top economist

Rubin said the price of energy will ultimately decide which modes of shipping will be used by supply chains in the future, but he disagrees with the PwC survey’s focus on only gas and diesel as possible fuel sources in the future. This is unlikely, Rubin believes, especially if price for a barrel of oil hits triple digits within the next two years as he predicts.

“Unlike in the 1970s and 1980s, there no longer are undiscovered fields of cheap, conventional oil,” Rubin says. “That oil has long been burned. So yes, we can get more (oil). But that new supply is going to come at an ever-increasing price tag on it.”

Land Rig Review: Accelerating Rig Count Underscores a Strong Recovery

Since the last Rigzone Land Rig Review was published, the recovery has gained steam with E&P companies continuing to increase their land rig contract portfolios. The optimistic outlook we highlighted late-last year may have actually been on the conservative side given the pace of the recovery so far. In fact, over the last four months, the U.S. land rig count has increased more rapidly on an absolute basis than in any other four-month period over the past decade.

Somali pirates demand $20m for hijacked tanker

Somali pirates have demanded a $20m ransom for a Saudi product tanker hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on Monday.

Arab News reported that a spokesman for the owner of the vessel, International Bunkering had confirmed that a ransom had been offered, although he was unaware of the progress of negotiations.

4 Tips to Beat the NEXT Crisis

After over 18 months of recession, world oil consumption is roaring back to its pre-crash peak. The International Energy Agency says oil demand will probably hit 86.5 million barrels a day this year. That is equal to a thousand barrels a second. The growth in demand isn’t in the U.S. — we’re using oil at 2005 levels. Instead, it’s the growth in China, India and other emerging markets that is driving global demand now.

Poorly maintained ships in Marshall Islands lead to fuel shortage

The second largest urban centre in the Marshall Islands, Ebeye, has been short of gasoline and kerosine for several weeks because poorly maintained ships are out of action.

Venezuelan businesses consider 1-day shutdown to curb energy consumption amid crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan industries and retailers may close their doors one day a week in an effort to curb electricity consumption and help the government cope with an energy crisis.

Consumer group doubts power supply crisis in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines – EmPower Consumers Alliance has raised doubts on government‘s pronouncements of a power supply crisis in Mindanao, saying it could be a play to force the use of nuclear energy and raise power rates.

Several towns in state of calamity due to drought

MANILA, Philippines – Local officials of several towns in Luzon and the Visayas plan to declare a state of calamity in their areas after agricultural crops and livestock were wiped out by the current dry spell brought by the El Niño phenomenon.

Ghana: Water Shortage Hits Takoradi

Mark Teiko Codjoe, Production Manager of GWC, attributed the acute water shortage in the Twin-City to the fact that the Pra River at Daboase and the Anankwa River at Inchaban, which served as the sources of raw water supply in the metropolis, were drying up.

He said as a result, the GWC treatment plants at Daboase and Inchaban could no longer supply the stipulated quantity of water to consumers in the metropolis.

Homeowners will ‘foot the bill’ for energy efficiency

People with an energy efficient home will save less than those with very inefficient ones, according to one expert.

Gareth Kloet, head of utilities at Confused.com suggested that the savings made by homeowners will depend on the body responsible for the installations, who ultimately want to “protect their revenue”.

He said: “We appear to be facing an energy crisis with an infrastructure that in Ofgem’s own words, is simply not fit for purpose and a government that has put us firmly on the hook for reducing our emissions.”

Exclusive: Famed NYT reporter tells Michael Moore capitalism driving humanity’s downfall

“All sorts of people who have spent their lives studying climate change, from Bill McKibben on down, have warned us that we don’t have a lot of time left,” Hedges said. “So it’s not just that capitalism has destroyed our economic system and hijacked our political system, but it literally is extinguishing the system that sustains life. If that’s not thwarted soon…then we will begin to see massive dislocations, environmental refugees, further depleting of natural resources. Overpopulation is also an issue. The UN estimates that by 2050 the size of the planet will double.”

Obama, politics and nuclear waste

President Barack Obama has pulled the plug on the entire Yucca Mountain enterprise, million-year safety study and all, by writing it out of his financial year 2011 budget, which begins in October.

Yucca Mountain’s death by budgetary axe defies logic. It coincides with Obama’s stated support for expanding nuclear power. More reactors mean more waste, now piling up above-ground at sites scattered around the country.

Setting Wind Power Records in Texas

Texas, the nation’s wind-power leader, set a new record for wind generation this morning, when — at 6:37 a.m. — about 19 percent of the electricity on the state’s main grid was supplied by turbines.

For Lighting, an Exception to ‘Buy American’

The Department of Energy has waived a “buy American” requirement for government projects receiving money from last year’s stimulus bill so that recipients can purchase energy-efficient lighting products for public buildings and roadways.

Our Toxic Waterways: Flushing Away Our Future?

Evidently, the world’s waterways are a giant toilet into which we can dump anything and everything, and then simply flush it all “away.” As if river currents and rolling waves will pull our pollution into some giant cosmic garbage disposal.

CERAWEEK – Stable oil prices shouldn’t breed complacency

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Oil company executives should not get too complacent about how oil prices settled in the $70-$80 a barrel range over the last several months as the economic recovery has yet to catch up, the head of consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates warned ahead of the CERAWeek conference next week.

While crude appears to have found a sweet spot, the global recession has eroded demand for gasoline and diesel, and Washington wants to regulate the carbon-intensive energy industry’s emissions.

And after two straight yearly declines in global oil demand took prices from their 2008 heights near $150 a barrel to about $32 in December 2008 before recovering to about $80 currently, sure signs of economic recovery that industry officials and government policy-makers crave aren’t quite there.

“One lesson we’ve learned about the oil price – never to be too confident about stability,” said Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the oil industry, “The Prize.”

The heat continues to rise on the cost of producing shale gas

I try not to get into arguments over other people’s religious convictions. Even if you win your point, you make an enemy. That’s been a conventional understanding since the Thirty Years War. Sometimes, though, you have to clear your throat and carefully offer a heretical thought, if lives or large amounts of property are at risk.

For example, I think it might not be a bad idea to examine the faith-based assumption that the US has a virtually unlimited supply of natural gas from shale formations that can be extracted at a low price for the indefinite future. Perhaps the few people who think shale gas will be produced at a higher cost, and more slowly, than generally believed should be heard out, rather than be executed or sentenced to work in the salt mines. If you disagree, I will quickly withdraw that comment.

Ukraine’s president heads to Moscow to discuss gas

Ukraine’s new president Viktor Yanukovych has arrived in Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in hopes of getting Russia to cut gas prices for his country.

Yanukovych, who was sworn in last week, is anxious to review the 2009 gas deal with Moscow that bound Ukraine to pay European gas prices, which are much higher than Ukraine previously paid.

Abu Dhabi awards $300 mln Shah gas work-paper

DUBAI (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi and ConocoPhillips have awarded a 1.1 billion dirham ($300 million) construction contract for their Shah gas project to Al Jaber Group, Emirati newspaper al-Ittihad reported on Saturday.

Power Prices May Rise in Second Half, China Power’s Lu Says

(Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second biggest energy user, may increase wholesale electricity prices for coal-fired power plants in the second half, China Power Investment Corp. President Lu Qizhou said.

CNOOC, Total pitch oil plans to Ugandan government

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Global petroleum firms Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, have presented their investment plans in Uganda’s emerging petroleum industry to the government, an official said.

Why There Will Be No Recovery

When oil crossed $120 a barrel for the first time in May 2008, oil cornucopians knew they were in trouble…

Prices had quadrupled in just five years, yet had failed to bring new production online. Regular crude had flatlined around 74 million barrels per day (mbpd). The case for peak oil was looking stronger with every new uptick in crude futures.

The following month, prominent peak oil critic and cornucopian Daniel Yergin of IHS-CERA changed his stance: The peak oil threat would be neutralized by peak demand. Gasoline consumption had peaked in the U.S. and Europe, he argued, due to the combined effects of increasing efficiency, biofuels, and the recession.

Peak Oil task force

Having tried to interest people in the earthshatteringly important subject of peak oil for more than five years, I’m delighted – but also horrified – to see the likes of Richard Branson discussing the urgent need for society, businesses and individuals to take it seriously.

But when I posted about this recently I was dismayed to find that comments suggest some people don’t believe Branson is sincere. I’m at a loss to explain why somebody who runs an airline, train companies and bus fleets would pretend that there’s a problem about oil if there wasn’t.

Exxon Must Pay $1.2 Million for Workers’ Radiation Exposure

(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, must pay $1.2 million to 16 Louisiana workers who claimed they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation when they were cleaning used oil drilling pipes, a jury said.

Chesapeake swapped 25 mln shares for land in 2009

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Chesapeake Energy Corp, a natural gas producer known for a voracious appetite for land, issued 25 million shares to shore up its 2009 acquisition budget, an unusual move that was also dilutive for investors.

Low natural gas prices in 2009 hurt Chesapeake’s ability to generate cash, so the Oklahoma City company issued $429 million worth of its shares to trade for the right to drill, according to the company’s regulatory filings.

Peabody Declares Force Majeure at Australia Coal Mine

(Bloomberg) — Peabody Energy Corp., the biggest U.S. coal company, says production has halted and force majeure declared at its Wilkie Creek mine in Australia after heavy rain disrupted the rail network.

PVEV : A Match Made in the Heavens

What if you could do all your daily driving chores without ever stopping at a gas station to fill up?

What if you could provide your own fuel for such a vehicle at your own home?

What if this never contributed to pollution including noise pollution and was truly green and clean?

U.S. needs fresh look at nuclear waste issue: Chu

SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Friday that the United States needs to come up with a better system for storing or disposing of radioactive nuclear waste than a planned repository near Las Vegas.

“The president has made it very clear that we are going to go beyond Yucca mountain. You should go beyond Yucca mountain,” Chu said. “But instead of wringing my hands, let’s go forward and do something better.”

Wind Turbine Syndrome, Part Myth, Part Mystery

Now, as though no one could ever be happy with a technology that was clean, renewable, and cheap in comparison to solar energy (many utilities offer wind power at premium prices of two to three cents a kilowatt-hour), comes a report that wind turbines produce what is being called, “Wind Turbine Syndrome”, a collection of symptoms that include heart disease, insomnia, migraines, panic attacks and vertigo. Wind turbines are also said to trigger epileptic seizures.

And this is just among the humans living near wind turbines. The cows are said to stop giving milk or wander away in a fugue. In the UK, a goat farmer says wind turbines near his goat farm caused 400 of the animals to “lose sleep and die.”

Demolishing Density in Detroit: Can Farming Save the Motor City?

So it’s come to this: Unable to provide basic services for all of his constituents, Detroit mayor Dave Bing is drafting plans starve his city down to a manageable size. Using proprietary data and a survey released by Data Driven Detroit, Bing and his staff will pick “winners and losers” amongst the city’s neighborhoods and seek to resettle residents from the losers, those deemed most unlivable. With Detroit’s tax base withering from the implosion of two-thirds of the Big Three, the housing crisis, and an ongoing exodus, Bing believes he has no other choice.

…Can Detroit really shrink its way back to greatness (or at least stop the bleeding)? Part of the problem is that it’s been hollowing out for decades. A city of 1.85 million residents in 1950, Detroit had just 951,270 as of the last national census a decade ago, and the next–which is key to obtaining millions of dollars in federal funding–is expected to turn up only 800,000 this year. Some believe it might eventually slide to 700,000 before all is said and done. A quarter of the city is nothing more than vacant lots–40 square miles of “urban prairie.” Bing plans to shrink the occupied portions further by tearing down another 10,000 buildings. That should earn praise from economists like Harvard’s Ed Glaeser, who’s suggested similar policies for other Rust Belt cities. And what will Bing do with all of that empty space? Turn over as many as 10,000 acres to John Hantz to farm.

School drawing new farmers

In the room were two couples in their 50s with high-tech backgrounds, three younger women, a retired man and a fellow originally from Indonesia. Their stories had several themes in common. They didn’t want to be in a university degree program where they’d sit in a classroom for four years, or as one person put it “never get their hands muddy nor even know what a package of seeds was for.”

Issues such as climate change, peak oil, seeking meaningful life changes or alternatives to create strong urban agriculture related food systems were some of the reasons why they were there. Plus the fact that this new school provides a balance of classroom theory and an apprenticeship approach which will include working in the fields and orchard of the Sharing Farm and other farms.

Disposal of spilled coal ash a long, winding trip

While the Tennessee Valley Authority’s cleanup has removed much of the ash from the river, the arsenic- and mercury-laced muck or its watery discharge has been moving by rail and truck through three states to at least six different sites. Some of it may end up as far away as Louisiana.

At every stop along the route, new environmental concerns pop up. The coal-ash muck is laden with heavy metals linked to cancer, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering declaring coal ash hazardous.

Xcel promises to cut Colorado pollution by 2017

DENVER (AP) — Xcel Energy is promising to cut air pollution over the next seven years.

A deal announced Friday by Gov. Bill Ritter, the company and lawmakers will require Xcel to reduce pollutants by retiring or modifying Front Range coal-fired power plants by 2017.

White House replaces Bush-era cups

The last holdover from the Bush administration has officially been used up and tossed out: The White House has received its new, “green” hot beverage cups.

Capture and reuse phosphorus, think-tank urges

On Thursday, the International Institute for Sustainable Development – a Winnipeg-based environmental think tank – released a report examining how phosphorus spilling into Manitoba’s waterways doesn’t just promote the growth of ecologically devastating algae.

The failure to capture and reuse phosphorus could contribute to a global food crisis as supplies of the vital fertilizer run low, say the authors of a report that highlights ways phosphorus can be recovered from human and animal waste.

3 Questions: Hunt Alcott on behavioral economics and the energy crisis

Behavioral economics is used to examine how consumers make decisions about everything from their life savings to which brands of jam they select in a supermarket. Hunt Allcott, a behavioral economist with a two-year appointment as the Energy and Society Fellow in MIT’s Department of Economics and the MIT Energy Initiative, wants to apply his field’s insights to the realm of energy use.

Climate change debate grows heated

Less than a month after CNN proclaimed “Last Decade Was Warmest Ever,” a headline in Britain’s Daily Mail shouted that a top climate scientist had taken a “U-turn” and now “Admits: There Has Been No Global Warming Since 1995.”

Pity the poor reader, whipsawed in recent weeks by what appear to be conflicting signals on one of the most complex and momentous subjects of our time.

Regional Rainfall in a Warming World

Slowly but surely, a picture of climate change at the regional scale — where it really matters — is beginning to take shape.

Apart from the obvious warming at the high polar latitudes, which already is affecting Arctic sea ice, the rate of Greenland ice cap melting, and Antarctic ice shelves, new details are beginning to emerge about the impact of global warming in the Tropics — the boiler-room of Earth’s climate and weather.

Climate change human link evidence ’stronger’

In 2007 the IPCC’s report concluded that there was “unequivocal” evidence that the Earth was warming and it was likely that it was due to burning of fossil fuels.

Since then the evidence that human activities are responsible for a rise in temperatures has increased, according to this new assessment by Dr Peter Stott and colleagues at the UK Met Office.

John Rockefeller leads charge against EPA on greenhouse gases

To the applause of coal workers and dismay of environmentalists, lawmakers in the Senate and House led by Sen. John Rockefeller (D) introduced legislation Thursday that would delay by two years any regulation of greenhouse gases by the EPA.

Sen. John Rockefeller warned last week that he might present a delaying measure. He is part of a growing chorus of lawmakers unhappy with the EPA for its plans to start curbing emissions as soon as next year.

Cap-and-trade key to US energy reform – Exelon CEO

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. energy reform has stalled now that the Democrats have lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and Republicans drift to a more negative position, a top industry executive said on Saturday.

“What I see is a series of disjointed, piecemeal approaches that will not yield the optimal solution,” Exelon Corp Chairman John Rowe said in remarks prepared for a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Arctic melt to cost up to $24 trillion by 2050: report

(Reuters) – Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday.

“Everybody around the world is going to bear these costs,” said Eban Goodstein, a resource economist at Bard College in New York state who co-authored the report, called “Arctic Treasure, Global Assets Melting Away.”