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Federal Court Hears Feverish Arguments Over Mercury Emissions
Posted by Forbes: None Given on December 11th, 2013
Forbes: While most of the energy sector’s attention this week has centered on the Supreme Court’s review of pollution crossing state lines, a sizable portion of it has been targeted to what a federal court will decide with regard to mercury releases.
The case is about whether coal-fired power plants should be required to install pollution controls that would limit mercury releases, which all sides concur is among the most insidious pollutants there is. The disagreement is over whether the technologies...
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Shale Gas Revolution Not Coming To China Anytime Soon
Posted by Forbes: None Given on October 30th, 2013
Forbes: Shale gas has upended U.S. energy markets, cutting oil imports to their lowest level in two decades. Can China pull off the same feat? It has already passed the U.S. as the biggest buyer of oil cargoes and by far the largest burner of coal, which explains the noxious air pollution that cloaks its northern cities. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of underground reserves offers a way to cut emissions while feeding heating systems and power plants. It now accounts for around 40% of U.S. natural gas...
As China’s Largest Typhoon Strikes, Evidence Of Human-Caused Climate Change Mounts
Posted by Forbes: None Given on September 22nd, 2013
Forbes: In the South China Sea, the biggest typhoon in 30 years is bearing down on Hong Kong and southeast China’s most populous regions. Waves of 45 feet were reported with wind gusts up to 140 miles per hour. Guangdong province, home to 109 million inhabitants, most of them along the coast, will see around 10 inches of rain between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon.
And although the typhoon has lost its “super storm” status since touching ground in Taiwan Saturday, it will go down as the strongest...
What Is Wrong With The Keystone XL Pipeline?
Posted by Forbes: None Given on August 25th, 2013
Forbes: Just Greed and Politics. Pipeline defects have been identified along a 60-mile stretch of the southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, north of the Sabine River in Texas (Winnsboro, Texas). Sections of pipe have dents, faulty welds, and pin-holes in some sections enough to see daylight through.
The installers have been digging up parts of the new southern segment of the Keystone pipeline that only recently have been installed. It seems that the existing leg of the Keystone has spilled more...
China Company Buys Texas Oil & Gas Field
Posted by Forbes: None Given on February 4th, 2013
Forbes: China’s state owned petrochemical giant Sinochem (SHA: 600500) acquired a 40 percent in Wolfcamp, a well-known shale oil and gas field in the Permian Basin of Texas.
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) of Irving, Texas said this week that it sold a 40 percent stake in its Wolfcamp field for a total price of $1.7 billion. Sinochem’s U.S. subsidiary signed the deal on Wednesday.
The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013, subject to customary governmental approvals. Under...
Policy Shifts Signal Growth Ahead for Advanced Biofuels
Posted by Forbes: None Given on December 14th, 2012
Forbes: This has been a tough year for the U.S. biofuels industry: drought curtailed corn starch ethanol production and investment in the industry shrank to its lowest level in nearly a decade. Headed into 2013, though, industry momentum appears to be regaining steam. Led by advanced biofuels, the potential for expanding biofuels production has improved dramatically as Washington offers clarity on key policy issues.
Last week, in a vote on partisan lines, the U.S. Senate extended support for the military’s...
President Obama’s Alleged “War On Coal”
Posted by Forbes: None Given on August 31st, 2012
Forbes: We have long suspected that the never-ending sturm und drang surrounding climate change would have little real impact on public policy or energy markets because no politician ever got elected by promising to impose – or defending the imposition of – significant, observable costs on the present for the well-being of the future … in any policy arena. Believe what you like about the science, but the inescapable political fact is that voters – and in particular, swing voters – have the time horizons...
A Hungry World Population? Oh Well, Let Them Eat Ethanol!
Posted by Forbes: None Given on July 22nd, 2012
Forbes: …Here come the corn riots. Climate change policies--much more than the vagaries of climate–are now beginning to create the instabilities that cooler heads have been warning about for years. Corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade are now at or near record levels, around $8.30 per bushel for spot delivery. The rise in recent weeks has been dramatic, driven by the perception of declining yields caused by hot and dry conditions mainly in the upper Midwest. Much of this corn is beyond redemption...
Survey: Americans Rank Last In Green Lifestyles, Don’t Feel Guilty
Posted by Forbes: None Given on July 13th, 2012
Forbes: If the stereotype of a typical American is an obese, SUV-driving, junk food-scarfing couch potato oblivious to the outsize environmental impact of his consumerist lifestyle, a new National Geographic survey of green attitudes and actions in 17 countries is not going to change many minds.
Americans came in dead last when it comes to sustainable behavior while feeling among the least guilty about their disproportionate consumption of the world’s resources, found the survey of 17,000 consumers in...
Geek Farmers Gamble on Global Warming
Posted by Forbes: None Given on October 12th, 2011
Forbes: An alliance of data fanatics, geek farmers and high-priests of advanced computing are attempting to crack the code on the business of bad weather.
Originally established by a group of Google veterans as WeatherBill, the effort is now known the Climate Corporation and is growing by leaps and bounds. The San Francisco, CA-based company peddles a portfolio of what it calls "automated weather insurance products" for players in the $3 trillion global agriculture industry trying to reign in the risk...