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ENERGY NEWS
Critics claim deception in California energy measures Californians will vote on two ballot initiatives this fall that at first glance would seem shoo-ins for approval in a state long associated with environmental activism. The first would require utilities to generate half their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. The second would provide rebates of up to $50,000 for the purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles through a $5 billion bond. Opponents say they actually would undermine state efforts to promote alternative energy, add to California's already bloated budget deficit, saddle taxpayers with billions in debt and potentially benefit a handful of companies, including one linked to Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. Experts on California's initiative process say the propositions are the latest examples of special interest groups seeking to pass laws or authorize state bonds through the ballot. Anyone can place questions before voters if they collect enough valid signatures. Full Story AP/Forbes_ 9/14/08 India wins approval to end 34-year ban on nuclear trade India won the right to buy atomic- energy equipment after a suppliers' group lifted a three-decade ban on exports to the country, swayed by promises that the nation will keep its moratorium on nuclear-bomb tests. The U.S. made the proposal to the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group to give the south Asian country access to atomic fuels and technologies. The NSG, founded in 1974 to prevent countries from copying India's use of imported technology to make its first atomic bomb, needed a unanimous vote to pass the deal. The waiver means that companies including France's Areva SA, Russia's Rosatom Corp. and Japan's Toshiba Corp. will be able to export nuclear equipment to India. General Electric Co. and other U.S. companies will have to wait until Congress ratifies a 2006 trade pact backed by President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. General Electric, the world's biggest maker of energy- generation equipment, said Aug. 25 that it may lose contracts in India to French, Russian and Japanese rivals if the U.S. Congress doesn't ratify a U.S.-India nuclear deal soon after the agreement wins approval from the Suppliers Group. Full Story Bloomberg_ 9/6/08 Solar powered desalination farm to bring life to the Sahara The ingenious plan, known as the Sahara Forest Project is simple: combine huge greenhouses with concentrated solar power (CSP) and plain old seawater. The solar power provides electricity for the farm of greenhouses, the desalination of the seawater provides both the freshwater and cooling required to grow a wide variety of crops. One of the benefits of using the Seawater Greenhouse, invented by Chris Paton, is that it doesn't draw water from the ever diminishing freshwater table and since we have an abundance of seawater across the globe it could potentially turn the most arid, inhospitable and usually poor regions of the planet into rich farming areas. There is already interest in funding demonstration projects from across the Middle East, including UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. The cost is estimated at approximately $118 million for a 20 hectare site of greenhouses and a 10MW concentrated solar power farm. The initiative to harness the sun's power with the North Africa solar plan has already gained support in Europe from both the UK's Gordon Brown and French premier Nikolas Sarkozy and though expensive to set up, $150 billion, investing in the infrastructure, as government's have previously for oil, coal and nuclear could be more than worthwhile in the long term. According to the International Energy Agency $45 trillion will be needed in investment to develop new energy systems over the next 30 years. Full Story Red Herring_ 9/2/08 Two large solar plants planned in California Companies will build two solar power plants in California that together will put out more than 12 times as much electricity as the largest such plant today, the latest indication that solar energy is starting to achieve significant scale. The plants will cover 12.5 square miles of central California with solar panels, and in the middle of a sunny day will generate about 800 megawatts of power, roughly equal to the size of a large coal-burning power plant or a small nuclear plant. A megawatt is enough power to run a large Wal-Mart store. The power will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric, which is under a state mandate to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010. OptiSolar, a company that has just begun making a type of solar panel with a thin film of active material, will install 550 megawatts in San Luis Obispo County. The SunPower Corporation, which uses silicon-crystal technology, will build about 250 megawatts at a different location in the same county. The largest photovoltaic installation in the United States, at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, uses SunPower panels. Full Story New York Times_ 8/14/08 (logon required) Suez and Gaz de France form giant global energy firm Shareholders in publicly-held GDF and the private Suez group Wednesday approved a merger, despite opposition from the EU and groups in France. The French government has said it hopes the new corporation will become a national energy giant. Suez has major water and waste treatment operations in addition to its energy arm. The deal amounts to the privatisation of GDF and it triggered strong objections from the French left and consternation on the part of unions. It also means that the state enters Suez as the biggest shareholder. Full Story AFP_ 7/16/08 US and EU urged at G8 summit to cut biofuels World Bank President Robert Zoellick has called for reform of biofuel policies in rich countries, urging them to grow more food to feed the hungry. He was speaking at the G8 summit in Japan, where soaring food and fuel prices are top of the agenda. UN chief Ban Ki-moon - also at the summit - urged the group to tackle the "interconnected" challenges of climate change, food prices and development. Speaking on the sidelines of the summit on Hokkaido island, Mr Zoellick said biofuels - transport fuels made from crops - have contributed to food price rises. and he laid particular blame on fuels made from rapeseed and corn produced in the United States and the EU. Full Story BBC News_ 7/7/08 Forbes Special Report: Utilities and regulators scare off energy efficient projects In your standard fossil-fuel power plant, the inefficiency begins when the coal or gas ignites. In some plants, as little as 30% of the energy created ends up in the power grid. The rest, in the form of heat, blows out the smokestacks. If one could build power plants that used 80% of the energy instead, everyone would be rushing to do so, right? Not so fast. Yes, such plants exist, but advocates say potential customers are staying away. Why? Utilities and regulators are scaring them off. "It's not uncommon for utilities, when they hear 'cogeneration,' to bring out the white blood cells to inoculate it from happening," says Rob Thornton, president of the International District Energy Association. Full Story Forbes_ 7/7/08 Nuclear agreement signed by Jordan and Canada The official Petra news agency reported that Jordan signed a cooperation memorandum on nuclear energy Saturday with Canada. The plan is to help Jordan develop alternate power sources by possibly bringing in the CANDU nuclear energy reactor. The reactor uses non-enriched uranium as fuel and is a pressurised heavy water reactor. Jordan hopes to produce nuclear power by 2016 Full Story AFP_ 6/28/08 Carlsbad, California pushes to get power plant moved The city of Carlsbad faces a challenge in trying to persuade NRG Energy to move a proposed new power station away from the coast. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose NRG Energy's application to build a new gas-powered plant on its ocean-view property west of Interstate 5, on the south shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Council members say the coastal land is too valuable to remain an industrial site and should be developed for some other purpose. The new plant would be built just east of the Encina Power Station, which NRG owns. The California Energy Commission, not the city, has authority over a new plant, so Carlsbad can only offer its input. Council members say there's no longer a reason to put a power plant on the coast, because unlike Encina, a new plant won't use ocean water to cool its generators. NRG's proposed 540-megawatt plant would be air-cooled. Full Story San Diego Union-Tribune_ 5/17/08 Jordan to sign agreements with uranium extraction companies by year-end Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Thursday said the government will sign cooperative agreements with international companies specialised in uranium extraction by the end of this year in order to develop the Kingdom's nuclear energy programme. During a meeting with Senate President Zeid Rifai and Upper House members yesterday, the premier said the Kingdom's estimated uranium reserves amount to around 70,000 tonnes and are worth $7 billion. Meanwhile, Jordan Nuclear Energy Commission (JNEC) President Khalid Touqan announced on Thursday that the JNEC will float an international tender to invite bids for the design and construction of the country's first uranium mine by the end of this year, to be operational by 2012. Touqan added that the government intends to form a strategic partnership with leading international companies in the fields of uranium extraction and utilisation. He indicated that the government will sign cooperative agreements with several countries, including the US, France, Canada, Russia and China to develop a nuclear energy programme for peaceful purposes as a necessary alternative energy source to generate electricity and desalinate water. At a meeting with Touqan on Tuesday, a South Korean delegation said their country is prepared to provide the Kingdom with a nuclear reactor to generate electric power. Touqan, who is expected to visit South Korea on May 24 to look into the possibility of signing an agreement in the area of nuclear energy between the two countries, also met with a Canadian delegation last week and announced that Jordan and Canada will sign an agreement by the end of this summer to set the framework for nuclear cooperation. Full Story MENAFN/Jordan Times_ 5/16/08 U.S. Congress votes to stop stockpiling oil The House and Senate demanded on Tuesday that President Bush halt the shipment of oil to the country’s strategic petroleum reserve as long as oil prices remain high. The Senate voted, 97 to 1, to tell President Bush to halt the shipments to the strategic reserve, the supply of just over 700 million barrels that is stored in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. The reserve is meant to protect the United States against a disastrous sudden cutoff of oil supplies, like the Arab embargo of the 1970s. Tuesday evening, by a vote of 385 to 25, the House passed legislation that would suspend deliveries to the stockpile while the price of oil was above $75 a barrel, a measure that is similar to the Senate’s. The Bush administration has opposed the measures. Given the sentiment in the two legislative chambers, any veto of the measure by President Bush would probably be overridden. Full Story New York Times_ 5/13/08 (logon required) Nuclear accidents 'can destroy entire Gulf' Gulf countries have again been warned that a nuclear accident in any one state could render the entire region uninhabitable. It would also hit global oil supplies because the extraction of hydrocarbon fuels would be impossible, the concluding session of the International Conference on Nuclear Technologies in the Service of Arab Society heard yesterday. "The states of the region are thus asked to be extra cautious and ensure they are not negligent in case they go for the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes," said Gulf Council for Foreign Relations president Dr Mansoor Al Arayedh. He was quoting from conclusions and final recommendations agreed by participants of the event, which was organised by the council. The two-day conference was held under the patronage of the Oil and Gas Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza at the Crowne Plaza's Bahrain Conference Centre. Full Story Bahrain Daily News_ 5/7/08 Duke Energy nuclear plant causes Carolina water concerns Water will be a likely font of controversy as Duke Energy moves toward building a new nuclear plant, its first in two decades, 40 miles southwest of Charlotte. The William States Lee III plant near Gaffney would be Duke's first nuclear plant not built on a large reservoir, as McGuire is on Lake Norman and Catawba is on Lake Wylie. It would instead draw 50 million gallons a day from the Broad River, which also supplies Duke's Cliffside coal-fired plant just above the N.C. line. About 35 million gallons a day will evaporate from the plant's cooling towers, with the rest returned to the river. Anti-nuclear groups that will try to stop the plant's construction say the Broad can't afford to give up that much water. S.C. officials and Duke say the Broad should be able to supply the nuclear plant -- except during severe drought. About once every 12 years, a Duke report says, the plant might have to shut down because the Broad and small on-site ponds can't cool it. The utility says it needs the plant to help supply electricity to 40,000 to 60,000 new Carolinas customers a year. State legislation that would require permits for South Carolina's largest water users, including utilities, went nowhere this year. Duke and business groups fought for versions that conservationists said would allow rivers to be drawn down to unhealthy levels for fish and wildlife. Full Story Charlotte Observer_ 5/4/08 Era of cheap energy in United Arab Emirates is over The UAE's electricity demand projections are staggering. Based on future development plans, the current installed capacity of energy will need to double by 2015. The amount of energy the UAE consumes is set to treble by 2020 - a reflection of a very energy-intensive lifestyle. Even as the energy-producing Middle East sells its wares in lucrative global markets, the UAE looks set to suffer from the resulting demand and price rise. The UAE has one of the highest per capita gas consumption rates in the world. Until recently, the assumption was that demand growth would be met by creating additional generation capacity, fed by limitless gas resources. Governments in the region acted in line, seeking to locate energy intensive industries such as aluminium smelting and sponsoring the building boom. However, a significant shift occurred in the past year. Although gas, the principal fuel for power generation and desalination, is abundant in the region, the assumption that it would flow as a cheap resource to underpin the UAE's growth no longer makes sense. Full Story Gulf News_ 4/19/08 New York governor rejects floating gas plant in Long Island Sound In his first major policy decision on the environment, Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday blocked the nation’s first floating liquefied natural gas plant, which had been proposed for Long Island Sound. Moving ahead on the $700 million plant, he said, would put a large section of the Sound off limits to boaters and would not guarantee low-cost gas for Long Island. A broad range of environmental groups, community activists and elected officials from New York and Connecticut have strongly opposed the Broadwater Energy plan to build a 1,200-foot-long floating platform that looks like a ship and can hold up to 8 billion cubic feet of imported natural gas. The proposed terminal, rising eight stories over the water line, would be moored in the widest part of Long Island Sound, nine miles north of Long Island and 10 miles from the Connecticut shoreline. Mr. Paterson’s decision now makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the project to move forward. Broadwater executives said they would consider their legal and regulatory options. Full Story New York Times_ 4/11/08 (logon required) Salt could shake up world energy supply Only up to powering light bulbs so far, "salt power" is a tantalising if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical. Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water -- one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake -- are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from the Mississippi to the Yangtze. The experiments, which seek to capture the energy released when fresh and salt water are mixed, build on knowledge that has been around for centuries -- in one case imitating the process of osmosis used by trees to suck water from their roots. Although they are far from being economically viable, if eventually successful they might help a long-term quest to diversify away from fossil fuels such as coal and oil, widely blamed for stoking global warming. The science at the heart of the projects is the fact that when salt and fresh water mix at river mouths, they are typically warmed by 0.1 degree Celsius (0.2 Fahrenheit). Dutch scientists say such energy at all the world's estuaries is equivalent to 20 percent of world electricity demand. The plants may support hopes the technology can overcome hurdles, the most significant of which is poor cost-effectiveness of the membranes used in the process. In Norway, power group Statkraft, which says it is Europe's top producer of hydro and wind energy alongside Electricite de France, is building a test plant costing $20 million. Full Story Reuters/Guardian_ 3/19/08 Hawaii may become first U.S. state to mandate solar water heaters Two House committees yesterday advanced a bill (Senate Bill 644) that would require the installation of solar thermal water heaters in single-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2010. It also would restrict the current state solar thermal energy system tax credit to homes built before 2010. If the legislation becomes law, Hawai'i would be the first state with such a mandate, according to the Sierra Club Hawai'i chapter. The proposal is opposed by Hawaiian Electric Co. and the building and solar industry, which say in part that the mandate would unfairly drive up costs for home buyers. Opponents also say such a mandate is unnecessary because many developers are offering solar water-heating systems as a standard feature or as an option. But supporters of the bill said most new homes in Hawai'i do not use solar and that most solar water-heating systems pay for themselves in energy savings within three to seven years. House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee Chairwoman Hermina Morita said electric water-heating tanks account for 30 percent to 35 percent of a home's electric bill. She said if the cost of installing a solar water heater is included in the mortgage for a new home, the savings from the lowered electricity costs — given the high price of oil — could surpass the added monthly cost for the system. Full Story Honolulu Advertiser_ 3/14/08 California cows begin passing gas to the grid Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California's most alternative new energy. On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy. The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of life- long dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the facility's inauguration ceremony. In addition to being a partner in the 5,000-head Vintage Dairy, Albers is also president of BioEnergy Solutions, the company that funded and built the facility which cost millions of dollars. PG&E is simply a customer and the companies declined to give details of project finances. Full Story Reuters_ 3/4/08 UK designers set to launch green sports car A "zero-emission" sports car with a top speed of nearly 100mph is set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The hydrogen-powered Lifecar, based on the design of the Morgan Aero-8 roadster, produces little noise and only water vapour from its exhaust. The lightweight model packs advanced fuel cells and an energy storage system that gives the car a range of 250 miles (400km) per tank of hydrogen. It has been developed by a consortium of UK companies and universities. The £1.9m project to build the Lifecar, part funded by the UK government, has taken nearly three years. The car is powered by a bank of lightweight hydrogen fuel-cells developed by UK defence firm Qinetiq. Full Story BBC News_ 3/3/08 Too few farmers in US to harvest the winds Wind power officials see a large obstacle coming from its workforce, a highly specialized group of technicians that combines working knowledge of mechanics, hydraulics, computers and meteorology with the willingness to climb 200 feet in the air in all kinds of weather. That workforce isn't keeping up with the future demand, partly because the industry is so new that the oldest independent training programs are less than 5 years old. The American Wind Energy Assn., a Washington-based trade group, estimates the industry employs about 20,000 people, not including those making turbines or other equipment. With two-man teams generally responsible for seven to 10 turbines, the industry would need as many as 800 technicians to serve the turbines expected to be installed this year. Park developers, turbine manufacturers and utilities are investing in training programs, attempting to lure workers with wages of as much as $25 an hour, or teaming up with the growing number of training programs being offered at community and technical colleges. The industry tends to draw heavily from the military and from agricultural areas, which put a heavy emphasis on machinery and technical training. Full Story AP/Los Angeles Times_ 2/9/08 (logon required) China begins restoring power to millions cut off by snow Chenzhou, a city in the central province of Hunan and the worst hit, was getting its power back after being blacked out for 11 days, Xinhua news agency said. About 1,000 pylons and poles in the region had collapsed under the weight of ice and snow, which means the local grid, that took decades to build, had effectively been destroyed, Xinhua said. Whole cities had had their power and water cut off for more than a week and 11 electricians have been killed trying to reconnect lines or break ice encasing poles and cables. Livestock and crops have been destroyed. The remote township of Wengxiang in the snowy mountains of Guizhou province hadn't had electricity since January 14. Residents also have to negotiate steep, icy paths to fetch water in buckets because pipes are frozen or cracked. Across the country, 170 of more than 2,000 counties had suffered outages. By Wednesday, 169 counties had had their power restored, or partially restored. Full Story Reuters_ 2/6/08 CIA says hackers have cut power grid Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities outside the United States, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst said this week. Speaking at a conference of security professionals on Wednesday, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks while offering few specifics on what actually went wrong. The goal of the attacks was extortion, he said. Hacking the power grid made front-page headlines in September when CNN aired a video showing an Idaho National Laboratory demonstration of a software attack on the computer system used to control a power generator. In the demonstration, the smoking generator was rendered inoperable. The U.S. is taking steps to lock down the computers that manage its power systems, however. On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved new mandatory standards designed to improve cybersecurity. Full Story IDG News Service/PCWorld_ 1/19/08 In the U.S., coal is no longer on the front burner America's headlong rush to tap its enormous coal reserves for electricity has slowed abruptly, with more than 50 proposed coal-fired power plants in 20 states canceled or delayed in 2007 because of concerns about climate change, construction costs and transportation problems. Coal, touted as cheap and plentiful, has been a cornerstone of President Bush's plans to meet America's energy needs with dozens of new power plants. Burned in about 600 facilities, coal produces more than half of the nation's electricity. But urgent questions are emerging about a fuel once thought to be the most reliable of all. Utilities are confronting rising costs and a lack of transportation routes from coal fields to generators, opposition from state regulators and environmental groups, and uncertainty over climate-change policies in Washington. The setbacks have energy regulators jittery about the prospects for meeting America's ever-increasing hunger for electricity. They say that any delays in building new capacity -- coal-fired or otherwise -- add pressure to an already strained electricity infrastructure, raising the prospect of shortages or sharply higher prices. Energy planners say coal needs to be in the mix because the other mainstay fuels for generating electricity also have serious drawbacks. Natural gas has proved volatile in both price and supply. Nuclear power plants are costly and take much longer to build -- and the problem of radioactive-waste disposal remains unsolved. Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 1/18/08 (logon required) December, 2007 Nigeria’s corruption fighter reassigned Nigeria’s top anticorruption official, whose investigations have ensnared some of the country’s wealthiest politicians, is being sent to a year-long course at a remote training institute, according to senior law enforcement officials, provoking criticism from many who described the move as an attempt to sideline him. The official, Nuhu Ribadu, is a police investigator who has risen to become one of the most powerful and feared figures in Nigeria. Late Thursday, the top police official, Mike Okiro, said the decision to send him to study for a year was not an effort to push him aside but part of a routine training exercise for senior officers. But the reassignment inspired outrage in Nigeria and abroad from advocates of greater transparency in a country where hundreds of billions of dollars in oil money have disappeared from the public treasury since independence in 1960. The move comes as Nigeria enters a turbulent period. Earlier this month Mr. Ribadu’s commission arrested James Ibori, a powerful former governor from an oil-rich state who is accused of stealing more than $85 million. Mr. Ibori was a crucial part of the team that helped the country’s new president, Umaru Yar’Adua, win an election in April that international observers said was too deeply flawed to be credible. An independent tribunal is expected to rule next month on the legitimacy of the presidential election, and some analysts and diplomats say that the chances of Mr. Yar’Adua’s victory being annulled are increasing. But to Nigerians, the most serious form of corruption is the malfeasance of government officials that has left Africa’s most populous nation one of the poorest countries on earth despite exporting billions of dollars in oil each year. Full Story New York Times_ 12/28/07 (logon required) U.S. House passes energy bill; Bush to sign it The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved an energy bill to increase the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks for the first time since 1975, boost production of ethanol and cut energy use in light bulbs and appliances. The legislation will do little in the short term to help consumers deal with high gasoline and heating-oil prices, but the future policy changes aim to reduce U.S. oil imports and save consumers up to $1,000 a year at the pump. The Senate approved the same bill last week and President George W. Bush will sign the measure into law on Wednesday, the White House said. But to win the backing of Bush and many Republican lawmakers, Democratic congressional leaders dropped provisions that would have imposed about $13 billion in taxes on big oil and gas companies and required utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Full Story Reuters_ 12/18/07 U.S. agrees to Bali climate change compromise The United States made a dramatic reversal Saturday, first rejecting and then accepting a compromise to set the stage for intense negotiations in the next two years aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. The U.N. climate change conference in Bali was filled with emotion and cliff-hanging anticipation on Saturday, an extra day added because of a failure to reach agreement during the scheduled sessions. The final result was a global warming pact that provides for negotiating rounds to conclude in 2009. The head of the U.S. delegation -- Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky -- was booed Saturday afternoon when she announced that the United States was rejecting the plan as then written because they were "not prepared to accept this formulation." She said developing countries needed to carry more of the responsibility. While rhetoric at such conferences is often just words, a short speech by a delegate from the small developing country of Papua New Guinea appeared to carry weight with the Americans. The delegate challenged the United States to "either lead, follow or get out of the way." Just five minutes later, when it appeared the conference was on the brink of collapse, Dobriansky took to the floor again to announce the United States was willing to accept the arrangement. Applause erupted in the hall and a relative level of success for the conference appeared certain. Full Story CNN_ 12/15/07 U.S. Senate passes energy bill without tax breaks to encourage wind and solar projects; Bush expected to sign it The Senate passed an energy bill with overwhelming bipartisan support last night but only after a Republican filibuster threat forced Democratic leaders to ditch the bill's tax package, which would have extended tax breaks for wind and solar projects while reducing breaks for the biggest oil and gas companies. The revised bill, approved by a 86 to 8 vote, would boost fuel efficiency standards for new automobile fleets to 35 miles a gallon by 2020, increase energy efficiency standards for appliances and buildings, and set a mandate for the vastly expanded use of ethanol and other biofuels. The measure will go back to the House and, if approved, to President Bush, who said last night that he would sign it. Full Story Washington Post_ 12/14/07 (logon required) U.S. Senate rejects far-reaching energy bill But there's still hope the nation may get a nice green-energy law for Christmas – not the big fat one environmentalists wanted, but a slimmed-down version that probably includes fuel economy and biofuel provisions. That scenario emerged Friday, observers say, after the Senate failed to approve a more far-reaching House energy bill that promised to cut US dependence on imported oil and global warming emissions. Congress still has the possibility to pass two measures with wide bipartisan support: the first major hike in vehicle fuel-economy standards since the 1970s and an enormous boost for US-made biofuels. But House provisions for a $21 billion repeal of tax cuts for the oil and gas industry and a mandate for electric utilities to begin using renewable fuels to generate some of their electricity now appear dead. Full Story Christian Science Monitor_ 12/8/07 Bosses detained as death toll rises in China coal mine explosion Police have detained managers and officials at a north China coal mine where a gas blast killed more than 100 people, state media reported on Friday. The bodies of 105 miners have so far been recovered from the Xinyao mine in coal-rich Shanxi province, which was hit by an explosion late on Wednesday. Managers did not report the blast until five hours later and instead tried to launch their own rescue operation, which Chinese media said probably increased casualties. The village-run mine was licensed, but initial investigations showed the explosion was caused by mining along a coal seam that had not been authorised for production, Chinese media said. Police have arrested the mine's head and legal representative, suspended its licence and frozen its bank accounts, while top safety officials had rushed to the site from Beijing, Xinhua news agency said. By Friday afternoon, police had placed 33 people "under control" over the accident, Xinhua said. China has been trying to tighten safety regulations but its coal industry is still the world's deadliest, claiming close to 5,000 lives last year. Full Story Reuters_ 12/7/07 French nuclear power giant Areva signs largest deal in idustry's history with China's leading nuclear power company The agreement will bring both technology and much-needed energy to China, which has the world’s fastest-growing appetite for energy. But the deal could prove an even greater boon to Anne Lauvergeon, Areva’s chief executive, whose strategies — and optimism — have been questioned by critics. The reasons for skepticism are clear. In recent years, nuclear-powered countries — like the United States, Germany and Japan — have refrained from building more plants, and countries like Italy and Poland, who had none, have refused to plunge into the nuclear age. But as today’s deal illustrates, the business of nuclear energy has come alive again, and it is people like Ms. Lauvergeon, her steely temper softened by a lively manner and a captivating laugh, that are bringing it back to life. Full Story New York Times_ 11/26/07 (logon required) Los Angeles Times Q&A: Master decoder J. Craig Venter sees the future of energy in genomes J. Craig Venter, the founder of Celera Genomics, has spent much of the last decade decoding the world. Now president of the nonprofit J. Craig Venter Institute, he visited The Times to discuss these projects and his new book, "A Life Decoded." What is this new field of synthetic biology that you're working on now? We're designing genomes to do what we want. I've described these as the design components of the future. If you liken that to the electronics industry in the 1950s, there were a handful of components -- resistors, transistors, capacitors. We will have tens of millions of design components for biology. What sort of things do you imagine could be built? We're trying to design cells that produce unique renewable fuels. We have one of those in extensive testing now that could be one of the first green jet fuels. Hopefully there'll be hundreds of these. With this breadth of biology, we have the capability of probably making any chemical out there. It's not hard even to imagine gasoline or octane that we put into our tanks. Bacteria can make that. Would this be produced on farms? I'm thinking a country of this size could have 100,000 to 1 million mini-refineries. Just bacterial vats, hopefully not as big as barn silos. The notion I have is: You get rid of the distribution system and produce it where you need it. Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 11/24/07 (logon required) Could nuclear power be the answer to desalination? Research results presented at the Trombay Symposium on Desalination and Water Reuse offer a new perspective on desalination and describe alternatives to the current expensive and inefficient methods. Meenakshi Jain of CDM & Environmental Services and Positive Climate Care Pvt Ltd in Jaipur, India highlights the energy problem facing regions with little fresh water. "Desalination is an energy-intensive process. Over the long term, desalination with fossil energy sources would not be compatible with sustainable development ...." "Nuclear energy seawater desalination has a tremendous potential for the production of freshwater," Jain adds. The development of a floating nuclear plant is one of the more surprising solutions to the desalination problem. S.S. Verma of the Department of Physics at SLIET in Punjab, points out that small floating nuclear power plants represent a way to produce electrical energy with minimal environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Such plants could be sited offshore anywhere there is dense coastal population and not only provide cheap electricity but be used to power a desalination plant with their excess heat. A. Raha and colleagues at the Desalination Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, in Trombay, point out that Low-Temperature Evaporation (LTE) desalination technology utilizing low-quality waste heat in the form of hot water (as low as 50 Celsius) or low-pressure steam from a nuclear power plant has been developed to produce high-purity water directly from seawater. Full Story Science Daily_ 11/20/07 Wind powers Sydney, Australia's desalination plant Sydney's controversial desalination plant will be supplied with power from 75 wind turbines from as many as six wind farms to be built across the state. The $1.7 billion project will demand almost one-fifth of the country's wind-generated energy, providing the biggest ever boost to the state's green energy industry. Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees will today issue a request for proposals from energy suppliers to power the 400,000MwH plant. Mr Rees said proposals would be accepted from any provider accredited to supply clean, green energy to the national energy market: "As I have said repeatedly, Sydney's desalination plant will not produce a single kilogram of CO2 emissions. Concerns were previously raised that the desalination plant would absorb almost all of the country's green power supply. It has since emerged that it will take only a sizeable chunk - and with renewable energy now a federal hot topic the industry is expected to grow rapidly enough to feed the plant. Full Story Daily Telegraph_ 10/15/07 Orbiting solar panels may be economically competitive Beam it down, Scotty. A new federal study released Wednesday concluded that continued increases in oil prices may finally make the generation of solar power in orbit economically competitive. The report urged the government to sponsor a demonstration of the technology to spur private investment in the concept. The orbiting power plants would reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil and help reduce the production of carbon dioxide that is contributing to global warming, according to the report led by the National Security Space Office, part of the U.S. Department of Defense. The report estimated that in a single year, satellites in a continuously sunlit orbit could generate an amount of energy nearly equivalent to all of the energy available in the world's oil reserves. Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 10/11/07 (logon required) Study: U.S. ethanol production brings water risk As attention turns more and more toward using corn and other products to produce ethanol for fuel, experts warn that increased production of these crops could pose a threat to the nation's water supplies. Both water quality and the availability of water could be threatened by sharply increasing crops such as corn, said Jerald L. Schnoor, professor of environmental engineering and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa. Schnoor is chairman of a National Research Council panel that studied the potential impact of increased use of biofuels on water supplies. The committee report was released Wednesday. Water supplies are already stressed in some areas of the country, including a large region where water is drawn from the underground Ogallala aquifer, which extends from west Texas up into South Dakota and Wyoming. Full Story AP/USA Today_ 10/10/07 True or false: The U.S. produces 80% of the world's solar-powered hot water The answer is: FALSE It is actually China which can claim this fact -- it produces around 80 million cubic meters of solar hot water a year, taking 80% of the global market share. Solar-powered hot water is taking off to such an extent in China that now, around 1 in 10 househoulds have solar heaters. Full Story Worldwatch Institute/CCTV/CNN_ 10/2/07 In Atlanta, Georgia: From indie rock to biodiesel For years in this car-clogged city, the easiest way to score a tank of biodiesel -- that much-hyped fuel of the future -- involved seeking out a guy named Rob Del Bueno. Del Bueno is not an engineer or a gas station owner, but a former member of a sci-fi surf rock band called Man or Astro-man? He played bass, and spent most of the 1990s telling people he was from outer space. A few years ago, with the band on hiatus, Del Bueno developed another passion: brewing up pure biodiesel from used kitchen oil. He couldn't believe that fuel -- the source of so much war and worry -- could be so easily produced from an ingredient available in the back of a fast-food restaurant. He put his number on the Web. When customers called, he would meet them for a fill-up in his driveway. Like a number of small biodiesel producers around the country, however, Del Bueno is now pushing his product a little closer to the mainstream. Last month, he and a nonprofit, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, unveiled the first biodiesel retail station within Atlanta city limits. Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 10/1/07 (logon required)
The US conglomerate said such a move will allow for better service to its customers, and also expedite the decision-making process. According to GE, its Singapore energy team of 20 to 30 executives will be dealing with contracts totalling US$1 billion a year. GE has been expanding outside the US, spending US$15 billion acquiring other businesses in 2006. And it expects the bigger part of its revenue to come from its overseas businesses, starting this year. The US conglomerate plans to continue its acquisition drive, and is looking to tap into the growing demand for infrastructure in emerging economies. Nani Beccalli-Falco, president and CEO of GE International, said: "They need power generators; they need transportation, water purification, desalination and so on. And we're a company that provides these kinds of products. Full Story ChannelNewsAsia_ 10/1/07 NRG Energy to seek permit for nuclear reactors in Texas, first U.S. plants since the 1970s An independent power producer expects to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday for permission to build two nuclear reactors at a site 90 miles southwest of Houston, the first time since the mid-1970’s that a company has sought approval to build for a new nuclear power plant in the United States. The company, NRG Energy, based in Princeton, N.J., is seeking to build a General Electric model now used in Japan and under construction in Taiwan but untried in the United States. The announcement Tuesday will be a decision to seek a combined construction and operating license under a new process designed to avoid the long delays and cost overruns in the last round of nuclear construction, but the company has not yet ordered the reactors. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates the cost of obtaining a license at $24 million, but some industry experts say it could easily be more. The plant itself would run into the billions of dollars. Still, the application, the first of what the commission anticipates will be about two dozen in the next few months, is a milestone for the industry. More than 100 reactor projects were canceled in the 1970s and 80s, some abandoned in late stages of construction. Revived interest in nuclear power is being driven by a combination of strong growth in demand for electricity, high prices for natural gas and the potential for taxes on carbon dioxide, which would make coal use more expensive, experts said. Full Story New York Times_ 9/24/07 (logon required) U.S. signs accord with Jordan backing its nuclear development for electricity and desalination The United States has signed an accord with Jordan aimed at supporting the peaceful development of the kingdom's nascent nuclear program, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday. Arctic ice melt opens Northwest Passage Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane. The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978. The waters are exposing unexplored resources, and vessels could trim thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened up a slim summer window for ships. A U.N. panel on climate change has predicted that polar regions could be virtually free of ice by the summer of 2070 because of rising temperatures and sea ice decline, ESA noted. Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States are among countries in a race to secure rights to the Arctic that heated up last month when Russia sent two small submarines to plant its national flag under the North Pole. A U.S. study has suggested as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden in the area. Full Story AP/San Francisco Chronicle_ 9/15/07 Burn salt water for energy? Yes, really. John Kanzius of Erie, Pennsylvania, tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. Instead, it caused a flash in the test tube. Within days, he had the salt water in the test tube burning like a candle, as long as it was exposed to radio frequencies. His discovery has spawned scientific interest in using the world's most abundant substance as clean fuel, among other uses. Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, held a demonstration last week at the university's Materials Research Laboratory in State College, to confirm what he'd witnessed weeks before in an Erie lab. "It's true, it works," Dr. Roy said. He called Mr. Kanzius' discovery "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years." One immediate question is energy efficiency: The energy the RF generator uses vs. the energy output from burning hydrogen. Full Story Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_ 9/9/07 Jordan's King Abdullah II urges speeding up the nation's nuclear power program to cut energy imports Following up on his January announcement of his intentions to develop a peaceful nuclear program, the king stressed the need for an alternative energy source to generate electricity and desalinate water in the face of the rising costs of imported energy, the official Petra news agency reported. Minister for Scientific Research Khaled Toukan told the recently formed Supreme Committee for Nuclear Energy Strategy that "nuclear energy would constitute 30 percent of the total amount of energy produced in Jordan by 2030," based on studies his ministry has conducted. Other countries in the region, including U.S.-allies Egypt and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council also have announced plans to develop their own peaceful nuclear programs. The moves come against a backdrop of rising regional concern over Iran's nuclear program which it describes as being for peaceful purposes, though the U.S. alleges it is also for developing weapons. Full Story AP/International Herald Tribune_ 8/26/07 Canada uses military might in Arctic energy scramble An international scramble for the Arctic's oil and gas resources accelerated on Friday when Canada responded to Russia's recent sovereignty claims with a plan to build two military bases in the region. On a trip to the far north, the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said: "Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: use it or lose it." An army training centre for 100 troops is to be built in Resolute Bay, and a deep-water port will be built on Baffin Island, to bolster Canada's claim to ownership. The move comes a week after a Russian sub planted a flag on the Arctic seabed. Moscow claims rights to half the Arctic. The United States, Norway and Denmark also have claims. As Canada was making its move, Danish scientists were preparing to head for the Arctic on Saturday as part of their bid for a share of the region's wealth. A US coast guard icebreaker was heading to the Arctic to map the seafloor north of Alaska. No country owns the Arctic Ocean and north pole, but there are international laws governing its use. Under one UN convention, each country with a coast has sole exploitation rights in a limited "exclusive economic zone", beyond which mineral resources are controlled by the International Seabed Authority. However, upon ratification of the UN convention, each country was given a 10-year period within which to make claims to extend its zone. Norway (ratified in 1996), Russia (1997), Canada (2003) and Denmark (2004) have all launched claims that certain Arctic sectors should belong to their territories. The UN's ruling on these submissions will determine who gets the right to extract the Arctic's huge reserves of oil and gas, estimated at 10-billion tonnes. Full Story Mail & Guardian_ 8/11/07 U.S. House of Representatives passes bill to support renewable energy The House yesterday passed a far-reaching package of energy legislation that would promote conservation and the use of renewable resources at the expense of the country's oil and gas interests. The bill, which passed 241 to 172, would require more energy efficiency in appliances, buildings and power grids, which proponents of the bill say would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and electricity use. It also would provide grants for studies to promote ethanol pipelines, installation of pumps for 85 percent ethanol fuel at gas stations and production of cellulosic ethanol. The Democrats also won passage of a provision that would require that 15 percent of electricity from private utilities come from solar, wind or other renewable energy sources. It would be the first such requirement to apply to all the states. The House last night also passed, 221 to 189, a companion tax package, totaling nearly $16 billion, that targets the oil and gas industry. In a letter to Congress, however, the Bush administration said Friday that the two House measures would result in less domestic oil and gas production. The letter said President Bush's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bills. Full Story Washington Post_ 8/5/07 U.N. watchdog team to check Japan's nuclear plant A team of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors was in Japan Sunday to assess the condition of a nuclear power plant severely damaged in an earthquake last month. The July 11 magnitude-6.8 quake in Niigata province killed 11 people and injured more than 1,000. It also caused numerous malfunctions and leaks at the plant — the world's largest in terms of capacity — that raised safety concerns at the country's nuclear power stations. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, has been under fire in the wake of the powerful quake, which triggered a small fire at the plant. Though Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, plant officials said they had not foreseen such a powerful quake hitting the facility and repeatedly underreported its impact afterward. Full Story AP/USAToday_ 8/5/07 July, 2007 France, Libya sign nuclear drinking water desalination deal France and Libya have signed a memorandum of understanding to build a Libyan nuclear reactor for water desalination and clinched a raft of other deals, a senior French official said. The agreement "aims to furnish Libya with a nuclear reactor that makes it possible to meet one of its important needs - a supply of drinking water," French presidential aide Claude Gueant told reporters in Tripoli. The deal came soon after French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in for talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, a day after Tripoli’s release of six foreign medics that cleared the way for trade deals with the oil-rich state. Gueant stressed that "there is still much work to do" on the feasibility study of the desalination project and that French experts had already been in Libya for more than three weeks doing preliminary planning. Asked if the deal had been linked to the release of the medics, he replied, "No, not at all." Full Story AFP/The Times_ 7/26/07 Russia to build floating nuclear power plants Since 2006, Sevmash, the main company of the Russian State Nuclear Shipbuilding Center, has been working to complete a floating nuclear power plant in northern Russia that will be launched in 2010 and moored in a nearby harbor. The floating NPP, three to five hectares in area, will power Sevmash's production and social infrastructure, and will generate heat and desalinate seawater. In fact, the ship, like a small island with two KLT-40S reactors, could be towed anywhere. Russia plans to build many floating NPPs by 2020. These NPPs, which are a vital element of the national energy program, the G8 strategy to prevent energy crises and the current renaissance in nuclear power, were developed in order to meet growing power demand in remote Russian areas. Full Story Russian News and Information Agency_ 7/17/07 Report: Radioactive water leaked into the sea after Japan earthquake Kyodo News agency reports water containing radioactive material leaked at a nuclear power plant following the earthquake today in Japan. National broadcaster NHK says water with low levels of radioactivity leaked into the Sea of Japan. Full Story Kyodo News Agency/AP/USA Today_ 7/16/07 Dell extends commitment to develop most energy-efficient products in the industry Configurations of its OptiPlex(TM) 745 and 740 corporate desktops are designed to meet Energy Star 4.0 requirements. The company also said that it expects to be one of the first in the industry to complete its Energy Star 4.0 compliance work across multiple systems within its commercial desktops, notebooks and workstations product lines before the July 2007 deadline. In the coming weeks, Dell will offer configurations of Dell Precision(TM) workstations that meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements. Full Story News Release/Business Wire/CSR Wire_ 5/30/07 United Nations tackles sustainable bioenergy growth The United Nations unveiled guidelines on Tuesday to tackle the rapidly growing bioenergy industry, which it warned could threaten the availability of adequate food supplies. As environment and development ministers from around the world prepare to meet on Wednesday for the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, UN-Energy released its report "Sustainable Energy: A Framework for Decision Makers." The report said the development of new biofuel industries could provide clean energy services to millions of people who currently lack them, while generating income and creating jobs in poorer areas of the world. But UN-Energy, which was created to promote consistency on energy developments throughout the United Nations system, said biofuel production had already appeared to have driven up the price of maize in 2006 and 2007. But equally, UN-Energy said "modern bioenergy could make energy services more widely and cheaply available in remote rural areas, supporting productivity growth in agriculture or other sectors with positive implications for food availability and access." Full Story Reuters_ 5/8/07 Nations have the money and technology to tackle global warming, but they must act immediately: UN After five days of testy negotiations, the experts from 120 nations agreed on a report laying out proposals to fight climate change, which they said were cheap and easy enough for political leaders to act on right away. Environmental groups hailed the report as a victory for science over politics -- after fierce debate among the delegates this week -- and said the onus was now on governments to act without delay. The IPCC report presented a best-case scenario of limiting global warming to two to 2,4 degrees Celsius, generally recognised as the threshold when the most extreme ravages of climate change will begin. Ramping up use of new technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases and increasing energy efficiency and other methods to achieve this target would shave less than 0,12% off world economic growth each year, it said. Nuclear power, which was one of the points of debate, was also highlighted as one option global policymakers should consider. Another important element was making people and industry pay for using fossil fuels. This and other economic mechanisms would make using fossil fuels more expensive and renewable energies much cheaper. Full Story AFP/Mail & Guardian_ 5/4/07 Venezuela takes over refineries Venezuela has said that it has taken control of the massive Orinoco Belt oil projects as part of President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive. Many of the world's biggest oil companies agreed to transfer operational control to the government. Bolivia's President Evo Morales said his country's takeover of gas fields one year ago had been "a blessing". Mr Chavez has also said he wants to pull Venezuela out of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Full Story BBC News_ 5/2/07 Colombia hit by nationwide blackout Halliburton to move to Dubai; Members of Congress call it 'insult' to U.S. soldiers and taxpayers U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. is shifting its corporate headquarters and chief executive from Houston to Dubai in a move that immediately sparked criticism from U.S. members of Congress. Halliburton Chief Executive Dave Lesar, speaking at an energy conference in Bahrain, said he will relocate to Dubai from Texas to oversee Halliburton's intensified focus on business in the Mideast and energy-hungry Asia, home to some of the world's most important oil and gas markets. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called the decision to move "an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years." Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is already planning a hearing on Halliburton's move, Time Magazine reports online. Dubai is an Arab boomtown, where free-market capitalism has been paired with some of the world's most liberal tax, investment and residency laws. In 2006, Halliburton — once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney — earned profits of $2.3 billion on revenues of $22.6 billion. Federal investigators last month alleged Halliburton was responsible for $2.7 billion of the $10 billion in contractor waste and overcharging in Iraq. Full Story CBS/AP_ 3/12/07 International corporate groups sets plan to curb global warming More than 100 corporate heads, international organizations and experts set out a plan on Tuesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions, calling on governments to act urgently against global warming. The Global Roundtable on Climate Change includes executives from a range of industries including air transport, energy, and technology. "Of course, addressing climate change involves risks and costs. But much greater is the risk of failing to act," said Alain Belda, chairman and CEO of the world's top aluminum producer Alcoa, who signed the pact. It includes General Electric, Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor North America, investment bank Goldman Sachs, and Wal-Mart among its major corporations. Full Story Reuters_ 2/20/07 Australia pulls plug on old light bulbs; Plans to switch to fluorescent by 2010 Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the move from incandescent light to more energy efficient fluorescent bulbs could cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tonnes by 2012. The decision will make Australia the first country to ban the light bulbs, although the idea has also been proposed in the US state of California. The incandescent light bulb, which wastes energy in heat dispersed while the light is switched on, is based on a design invented in the 19th century by engineers including Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan. Full Story BBC News_ 2/20/07 Persian Gulf states to move ahead with nuclear energy plans for drinking water desalination and other power needs The six Gulf Arab states are moving ahead with plans to explore development of their first nuclear energy plants, with representatives planning to seek help from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog later this month, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said on Sunday. Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah said he and other GCC officials would travel to the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency Feb. 22 to seek help planning the six-nation Arab bloc's first foray into nuclear power. Analysts say the advance of civilian nuclear technology could spill over into military areas in the volatile region. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons and a civilian nuclear energy program. Al-Attiyah said the huge energy needs of the fast-growing Gulf countries warranted development of nuclear energy. In particular, Gulf countries expend vast amounts of oil and gas in desalination, turning sea water into drinking water. Full Story AP/International Herald Tribune_ 2/11/07 Nuclear programmes in Middle East Russian-Belarusian oil feud ripples through Europe The standoff between Belarus and the Russian pipeline monopoly, Transneft, led to oil disruptions in Poland and Germany. That triggered a shake in financial markets and an immediate jump in the stock of a Norwegian energy company that supplies the region. The crisis appeared to be resolved at the end of last week, but the unpredictability around it has pushed Europe to reexamine its options. Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic plan to import more natural gas from Norway and Qatar. Italy wants to improve solar power technology. The European Union has proposed cutting oil imports, but has yet to agree on a uniform energy bloc that would reduce Russia's strategic advantage in negotiating with individual nations. Full Story Los Angeles Times_ 1/14/07 (logon required) December, 2006 Bush signs U.S.-India nuclear deal President George W. Bush hailed a new era of strategic cooperation with India on Monday as he signed a law that is a major step toward allowing New Delhi to buy U.S. nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in 30 years. Three other approvals -- by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, the International Atomic Energy Agency and a second time by the U.S. Congress -- are still needed before U.S. nuclear transfers to India actually can take place. But some analysts say winning passage in Congress of the law that Bush signed with fanfare at the White House was the highest hurdle. Experts say India has already produced about 50 nuclear weapons and plans to reach up to 400 in a decade. Many fear selling India U.S.-origin fuel for civilian energy use will free up New Delhi's indigenous uranium stocks for weapons. Critics worry that Pakistan, which has fought three wars with India, and rising power China will both expand their arsenals against New Delhi and that Beijing will offer Islamabad nuclear assistance that Washington has refused to provide. Full Story Reuters_ 12/18/06 UK OKs two off-shore wind farms, including world's biggest, for £2 billion The government said the Thames Estuary wind farms would produce enough renewable electricity to power about one million households. The £1.5bn London Array scheme will have 341 turbines rising from the sea about 12 miles (20km) off the Kent and Essex coasts, as well as five offshore substations and four meteorological masts. The consortium behind it is made up of Shell WindEnergy Ltd, E.ON UK Renewables and Core Ltd. The smaller £450m Thanet project will be located seven miles (11km) out from North Foreland, Kent, will have 100 turbines and will be developed by Warwick Energy. Full Story BBC News_ 12/18/06 Sydney 'first to run out of water Water advocate Maude Barlow says she believes Sydney is in the running with Mexico City and Beijing to be the first city in the world to run out of water. "My guess is that Sydney is going to hit the water wall in three to five years," she told the Seven Network. "That doesn't mean there won't be any water but I think it will be reserved for drinking. "I want to say to people in Australia you have a limited amount of time before you're going to have to evacuate your country. I mean that." Ms Barlow heads the Council of Canadians, Canada's largest Public Advocacy Organisation, and is the author of Blue Gold, The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water. She is also leading a push for a United Nations convention on international water rights. FULL STORY_ The Australian 12/17/06 Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China 6 nations plus European Union sign accord for nuclear fusion project Physicists have dreamt about it for decades: harnessing the fusion that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy. A multinational pact may now bring it a step closer to reality. The accord signed Tuesday by seven partners representing half the world's population will create an experimental fusion reactor in southern France aimed at revolutionizing global energy use for future generations. Yet it is also just an experiment — a bold, long-awaited, €10 billion (US$12.8 billion) experiment — and it will be decades before scientists are even sure that it works. The ITER project by the United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea will attempt to combat global warming by offering an alternative to polluting fossil fuels. Climate change and secure energy sources are key priorities worldwide in the decades to come. French President Jacques Chirac hailed it as a victory for humanity — and for France, which touts and widely exports its nuclear energy expertise, and which beat out Japan in the bidding to house the reactor. The project's director will be Japanese, and Japan will supply the reactor's most complex parts. Full Story AP/International Herald Tribune_ 11/21/06 Jordan seeks to trade sun for cutting edge European solar energy technology Secretary General of the Higher Council for Science and Technology, Khalid Shraideh, told reporters at a press conference late last week that the problem of storing solar power has now been solved by modern technological developments, paving the way for an expansion in the use of this renewable energy source. The topic will be high on the agenda of a series of meetings organised by the council November 27-28, when senior officials and experts will gather for the 12th Scientific Week to discuss "Energy, Water and Human Environment." Cooperation with Europe falls under the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) initiative. Founded in 2003, the initiative works to develop a practical concept for energy, water and climate security in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, bringing together a network of scientists, politicians and experts in the field of renewable forms of energy and their development. Full Story MENAFN_ 11/21/06 Overhead costs smother the U.S. rebuilding of Iraq Overhead costs have consumed more than half the budget of some reconstruction projects in Iraq, a U.S. government estimate shows, leaving far less money than expected to provide the oil, water and electricity needed to improve the lives of Iraqis. The report, released Tuesday by a federal agency, provides the first official estimate that, in some cases, more money was being spent on things like housing and feeding employees, completing paperwork and providing security than on construction. In some cases, says the report by the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction, the costs have eaten up 55 percent or more of the budget. On similar projects in the United States, such costs generally run to a few percent. The inspector general points to a simple bureaucratic flaw: The United States ordered the contractors and their equipment to Iraq and then let them sit idle for months at a time. The delay between "mobilization," or assembling the teams in Iraq, and the start of actual construction was as long as nine months, the report says. Full Report New York Times/International Herald Tribune_ 10/25/06 Download the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction pdf report Chevron partners strike oil deep in Gulf of Mexico waters; Supply could rival Alaska Chevron and its partners have successfully extracted oil from a test well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, an achievement that could be the biggest breakthrough in domestic oil supplies since the opening of the Alaskan pipeline. The announcement helped dampen fears that oil supplies would be swamped by growing global demand, a concern that helped lift oil to record highs this summer, unadjusted for inflation. The three partners in the test well known as "Jack 2" are Chevron, which owns a 50 percent stake, Devon Energy and Norwegian oil company Statoil. Devon and Statoil each own 25 percent stakes. Neither Chevron nor Devon would say how long it would take for oil from the well to reach market. Experts say it will take billions of dollars to build the deepwater oil platforms and pipelines needed to extract the oil and get it into world markets. Full Story CNN.com 9/5/06 August, 2006 Texas senator supports nuclear reactor to power desalination plant U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is "completely sold" on the idea of a high temperature teaching and test reactor in the Permian Basin. It will train future scientists and engineers and help the country explore new sources of energy. "If we can desalinate more of the saltwater on Earth ... it would be a major step in the right direction. It's exactly the direction we should be going," the Republican senator said. The reactor, which probably would not be operational until 2012, would be a state-of-the-art, helium-cooled nuclear research facility, built largely underground in Andrews County. Full Story Midland Reporter-Telegram_ 8/8/06 July, 2006 Chicago Tribune Special Report: Twilight of the oil age, tracing gasoline from its source to your tank The key to unlocking the far-flung sources of gasoline lies hidden in an obscure oil industry document called a "crude slate." Every refinery in America keeps a slate, or list, of the types of oil it processes. Because the names of individual crudes on such lists often can be linked to precise oil reservoirs, they offer a remarkably accurate map of the global oil supplies pouring into the Midwest. The hitch: Such data are among the tightest-held secrets of a secretive industry. The Tribune's Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Paul Salopek cracked the code. He and photographer Kuni Takahashi dispelled a well-guarded oil industry myth, and did what had never been done before. Full Story Chicago Tribune_ 7/30/06 (logon required) How Australia got hot for solar power: A 1,600-foot tall "solar tower" that can power a small city Rattling down a red dirt road on the edge of the Australian outback, Roger Davey hits the brakes and hops out of a rented Corolla. With a sweep of his arm, he surveys his domain - 24,000 acres of emptiness stretching toward the horizon, the landscape bare but for clumps of scrubby eucalyptus trees and an occasional sheep. Davey, chief executive of Melbourne renewable-energy company EnviroMission, aims to break ground here early next year on the world's first commercial "solar tower" power station. "The tower will be over there," Davey says, pointing to a spot a mile distant where a 1,600-foot structure will rise from the ocher-colored earth. Acting as a giant greenhouse, the solar collector will superheat the air with radiation from the sun. Hot air rises, naturally, and the tower will operate as a giant vacuum. As the air is sucked into the tower, it will produce wind to power an array of turbine generators clustered around the structure. The result: enough clean, green electricity to power some 100,000 homes without producing a particle of pollution or a wisp of planet-warming gases. FULL STORY_Business2.0 8/2/06 Toy hydrogen-powered car offers glimpse of future It's a dream that's been pursued for years by governments, energy companies and automakers so far without success: Mass-producing affordable hydrogen-powered cars that spew just clean water from their tailpipes. So Shanghai's Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies decided to start small. Really small. This month, it will begin sales of a tiny hydrogen fuel-cell car, complete with its own miniature solar-powered refueling station. The $80.00 toy is a step toward introducing the technology to the public and making it commercially viable. "Public awareness and education are the first steps toward commercialization," said Horizon founder Taras Wankewycz, 32. "We want to make sure this technology gets adapted globally." FULL STORY_ CNN 7/24/06 Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton Mitsubishi Heavy to boost U.S. nuclear power business Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said on Monday it aims to take advantage of the resurgence in the U.S. nuclear power market by launching a new advanced pressurised water reactor there in 2012. The Japanese company, which lost out to Toshiba Corp. in a race to buy U.S. nuclear plant maker Westinghouse earlier this year, added that it has formed a U.S. unit to develop its nuclear business. A string of moves by Toshiba, Hitachi Ltd., General Electric and other rivals have led to greater competitiveness in the global nuclear power market, which has regained popularity due to increasing energy demands in the United States and China as well as soaring oil prices. Concern over the safety of power supplies and growing demand worldwide for energy has fuelled a surge in crude oil prices, prompting fuel-hungry countries such as China to expand investment in other energy sources such as nuclear power. Full Story Reuters_ 7/3/06 May, 2006 The great alt-fuel debate: corn, coal, oil and all It takes five barrels of crude oil to produce enough gasoline (nearly 97 gal.) to power a Honda Civic from New York to California. So how do the alternative fuels that may gradually reduce America's dependence on foreign oil stack up against the mileage and convenience of the filling-station stalwart? Popular Mechanics took up the challenge and produced a comparison chart with the results. Full Story Popular Mechanics_ 5/27/06 March, 2006 Drilling for energy in a hot volcano Geologists in Iceland are drilling directly into the heart of a hot volcano. Their $20 million project hopes to reveal more about the nature of mid-ocean ridges where new ocean floor is created. Such boreholes could ultimately yield 10 times as much geothermal power as any previous project. At depth, the groundwater is way over 100C, but the pressure keeps it liquid. Later this year, scientists will put a pressure lining into their borehole and drill on down to more than 4km deep. At that depth, they hope to encounter what is called supercritical water: water that is not simply a mixture of steam and hot water but a single phase which can carry much more energy. Full Story BBC News_ 3/26/06 January, 2006 Global warming demands urgent solutions: scientists The world must halt greenhouse gas emissions and reverse them within two decades or watch the planet spiraling toward destruction, scientists in London said Monday. Saying that evidence of catastrophic global warming from burning fossil fuels was now incontrovertible, the experts from oceanographers to economists, climatologists and politicians stressed that inaction was unacceptable. Full Story Reuters_ 1/31/06 NASA's top climate expert,
Dr. James E. Hansen, says Bush administration tried to stop him from
speaking out December, 2005 2005 warmest ever year in northern hemisphere - UK scientists It is the second warmest globally since the 1860s, when reliable records began, they say. Ocean temperatures recorded in the northern hemisphere Atlantic Ocean have also been the hottest on record. The researchers, from the UK Met Office and the University of East Anglia, say this is more evidence for the reality of human-induced global warming. The northern hemisphere is warming faster than the south, scientists believe, because a greater proportion of it is land, which responds faster to atmospheric conditions than ocean. Full Story BBC News_ 12/15/05 November, 2005 Energy boom alarms Russian Greens "Do you know what is the brightest place on Earth in satellite images?" asks Aleksey Yablokov, leader of the new Green Russia party. "Not Los Angeles, not Tokyo. It's western Siberia." The vast expanses of this sparsely populated region are lit by the flares of associated gas burned at oil wells. "I once flew there by night - the view was unforgettable. But these flares killed not millions, but billions of migrating birds", says Mr Yablokov, one of Russia's leading biologists and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Former US Vice-President Al Gore called Siberian oil flares one of the main causes of global warming, in his book Earth In The Balance. The number of oil wells where gas is being burned has fallen considerably with the arrival of modern oil extraction technology in the post-Soviet era, Mr Yablokov admits. But he estimates that about 20,000 such flares are still lighting up the taiga (virgin forest). Full Story_BBC 11/23/05 Fuel cells 'need political push' EU Takes On Pollution Strategy seeks to bring EU up to US emissions standards Wide-ranging proposals to clean up Europe's polluted air won approval from the European Commission on Wednesday after a debate over the package's multi-billion euro price tag threatened to scupper it. The measures, dubbed the "clean air strategy", will seek to bring the European Union up to par with the United States in capping emissions of particulates, or fine dust, in the air. It will also set tighter limits for emissions of pollutants like nitrogen oxide and ammonia from different sectors of the EU economy like transport, power, and agriculture. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the measures, expected to cost 7.1 billion euros ($8.7 billion) a year from 2020 when they are fully implemented, would enable Europe to have one of the most advanced air policies in the world. Full Story_Reuters9/21/05 More U.S. companies weighing climate risks World running out of time for oil alternatives China fuel shortage exposes policy contradictions Full Story_ Reuters 8/17/05 250 miles per gallon? They're doing it Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away. Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage. It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel. Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car. Full Story_CNN 8/15/05 Japan protests at China gas move Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said he had information that a Chinese consortium was laying pipes to prepare to tap the area's huge gas resources. The gas dispute stems from a long-standing disagreement over the extent of both Japan and China's claims to gas-rich areas under the East China Sea. According to a UN convention, both countries can claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) from their shores. But China claims its EEZ on the basis of its continental shelf, which extends into Japan's claimed area. Japan is worried that China is preparing to siphon off gas buried under the seabed on the Japanese side. Full Story_ BBC 8/10/05 Pakistan, Japan sign deals on water, power and tourism Pakistan and Japan have signed three agreements whereby the latter will give financial assistance for infrastructure projects and tourism promotion in Pakistan. Two agreements on water and power were signed by Hina Rabbani Khar, minister of state for economic affairs, and the chief of Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Under the two agreements, Japan will give Pakistan two soft-term loans worth $157 million for two projects - $36 million to upgrade the National Power Control Cell and $121 million for the rehabilitation of Chenab Canal in Punjab, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told a press conference after talks with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi. The loans will have to be repaid over 30 years at an interest rate of 1.3 percent, with a grace period of 10 years. Full Story_ Daily Times 8/11/05 Jump start for solar?
Car race shows potential US oil company returns to Libya U.S.-led climate plan won't supplant Kyoto -experts Report names top power plant polluters Ten power plants in the Northeast last year produced a third of the region's carbon dioxide emissions, considered a major contributor to global warming, according to a report released Tuesday by a coalition of environmental groups. Brayton Point Station, a predominantly coal-fired plant in Somerset Mass., was the top carbon dioxide emitter, the report said. The report said Brayton Point released 5.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air in 2004, representing nearly 5 percent of the total released in the nine-state region. Two other Massachusetts power plants also were included on the list, along with six plants in New Yo |
