Energy

On October 19, seven American solar manufacturing companies asked the government to slap 100% tariffs on Chinese solar imports alleging unfair trading practices. The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing’s President Gordon Brinser said, “Chinese producers have used – and continue to use – continuous increases in production capacity and output, fueled by unprecedented levels of […]

The International Energy Agency’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, stated yesterday that the oil industry needs about $38 trillion in investment to meet global demand for energy through 2035. He was speaking at a two-day ministers’ meeting foreshadowing the contents of the World Energy Outlook, due out November 9. Breaking the figure down, $10.0 trillion is […]

Vladimir Putin was at a ceremony a few days ago at which he pressed the button that began the process of delivering natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline. According to Gazprom, Nord Stream is the first direct link between Russia and the European gas transmission system. It runs under the Baltic Sea, […]

Oil giant Exxon Mobil has secured a contract with Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft, to explore the floor of the Arctic Ocean for oil. At a surprise signing ceremony in Sochi, site of the coming Winter Olympics, Vladimir Putin stated, “The scale of the investment is very large. It’s scary to utter such huge figures.” […]

Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national train operator, currently gets about 20% of its power from wind, hydro and solar generation. It has just announced its intention to raise that to 28% in 2014 and to be carbon free by 2050. Nuclear had been the favored source of electricity in the train operators plans, but the decision […]

As if we needed more proof that the world is now a single market, 800 British workers will lose their jobs at the nuclear fuel processing plant in Sellafield, Cumbria, UK, because of the uncertain future of nuclear power in Japan. The plant takes used plutonium and mixes it with uranium to create what is […]

Hilary Clinton is in India right now. Not coincidentally, after a four-year survey of a site in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the government of India has announced that the Tumalapalli mine there could hold up to 150,000 tons of recoverable uranium. Srikumar Banerjee, secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, told the […]

In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, it seems that the Japanese government is seriously entertaining the idea of going nuclear-free. “In the future, we should aim to have a society that does not rely on nuclear power,” Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, according to a Nikkei business daily report. “When we consider the risk […]

Last year, the world investment in renewable energy rose to $211 billion according to the UN Environment Program, an increase of 32% over 2009. Using 2004 as a baseline, that is more than a five-fold increase. Not counting hydroelectric dams, renewable energy supplied 5% of global electricity, 30% of new electrical capacity overall. Thanks largely […]

Unlike its neighbors Germany, Italy and Switzerland, France is increasing investment in nuclear power. President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced 1 billion euro nuclear spending program. “There is no alternative to nuclear energy today,” he said. “We are going to devote a billion euros to the nuclear program of the future, particularly fourth-generation technology,” Mr Sarkozy […]

It seems that politicians spend most of their time trying to get elected and re-elected. After a few terms in office, though, they start to focus more on their legacy – less on what the voters think of them, and more on what historians will think of them. For some, their legacy is changing the […]

Italian voters cast ballots Sunday and yesterday in referenda on four questions: two on privatization of water services, one on criminal procedure (which would exempt the prime minister from prosecution) and one on a return to using nuclear power. More than 57% voted, surpassing the 50% +1 needed for the referenda to be binding. Of […]