Monthly Archives: March 2011
Less than 50 Years of Oil Left, HSBC Warns
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF/NYT The world may have no more than half a century of oil left at current rates of consumption, while surging demand from the developing world threatens to create “very significant price rises” before substitutes like biofuels can serve as viable alternatives, the British bank HSBC warns in a new report. […]
Obama Sets Goal of One-Third Cut in Oil Imports
By JACKIE CALMES and JOHN M. BRODER/NYT That explains why, with pump prices nationwide at or approaching that record level, President Obama was at Georgetown University on Wednesday to demonstrate his concern and resolve. In a speech that repackaged his existing policies with some new incentives for renewable energy sources as well as domestic […]
U.S. reactors have weaker back-up batteries than Fukushima Daiichi had
Almost all American nuclear power plants have backup batteries that would last only half as long as those at Japan’s troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant did after a tsunami knocked out power there; just eleven of the U.S. 104 plants had eight-hour batteries, and 93 had four-hour batteries; the batteries are not powerful enough to run […]
GE moves deeper into energy with $3.2 billion deal
A GE logo is seen in a store in Santa Monica, California, October 11, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) – General Electric Co (GE.N) reached a $3.2 billion cash deal to acquire a French maker of high-efficiency motors used in the oil and gas sector, pouring more money into its most […]
Department of Energy Launches “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator”
As part of the Obama Administration’s Startup America Initiative, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator” challenge, which will give start-up companies the opportunity to license groundbreaking technologies developed by the national laboratories for $1,000 and build successful businesses. As part of this effort, the Department is reducing both […]
California Judge Calls Time Out for Climate Change Law
By FELICITY BARRINGER/NYT Ric Francis/Associated Press Steam rising from a refinery in Wilmington, Calif. In analyzing how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, state regulators examined the potential impact on this industrial suburb of Los Angeles. Irony usually speaks for itself, so I’ll tread lightly here. But what is one to make of a climate-change law […]
On Our Radar: Brazil May Import Ethanol From U.S.
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF Brazil may import ethanol from the United States in April, Brazil’s oil regulator says. The move comes as a growing number of Brazilian cane farmers choose to produce sugar, which has surged in price over the last year, rather than ethanol, leading to a spike in fuel costs. Earlier this month, […]
Clean Energy Investment Is Up, but U.S. Lags
By TOM ZELLER JR. Pew Environment Group A study released Tuesday by the Pew Environment Group suggests that investment in clean energy among the world’s 20 leading economies, a k a the G-20, is generally on the rebound after a grinding global recession. It also suggests that the narrative in the United States, which has […]
Zion’s nuclear dry-cask storage solution
In Illinois, 28,588 fuel assemblies, each containing a bundle of 200 rods and weighing about 600 pounds, are cooling in pools on the ground or above reactors — as in Japan; experts say they are “very inviting targets for terrorists”; moreover, “No one has come up with a solution to safely store this waste […]
NRC: Not all equipment failures at U.S. nuclear plants are reported
Companies that operate U.S. nuclear power plants are not reporting some equipment defects that could create safety risks, according to a new report; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) inspectors found at least twenty-four instances where possible equipment defects were identified but not reported to the agency from December 2009 through September 2010; the NRC inspector […]
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