The election of new governors in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and an independent study commissioned by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources provides the impetus to resume discussions on much-needed pipeline infrastructure. Strengthening New England’s pipeline system will help ensure that clean, affordable abundant natural gas is reliably delivered to the region’s consumers.… Keep reading →
Intermodal transport – where goods arrive at major seaports and are transferred to trucks and trains – presents numerous economic and carbon emissions mitigation opportunities across the value chain. High-horsepower transport like tractor trailers and railroad locomotives currently utilize diesel as their primary liquid fuel, but switching to liquefied natural gas can in many cases… Keep reading →
The promise of remarkably abundant natural gas in the US appears to be as real as the industry has claimed, with the latest estimates from the country’s scientific body charged with evaluating recoverable gas reserves issuing a blockbuster upgrade.
The new recoverable reserves number is the highest in the 48 years the Potential Gas Committee, a nonprofit organization of sector experts hosted by the Colorado School of Mines, has been issuing its evaluations. The last record number was issued in 2010 as the full scale of the impact of hydraulic fracturing technology was just making itself felt across the entire economy, and the Committee’s perceived uncertainty about how accessible reserves would actually be following the issuance of that record number caused consternation that industry had been overselling the potential of the fuel. Keep reading →
Enthusiasm over the US natural gas production renaissance has been steadily building over the past few years and increasing production of both gas and oil from shale deposits came up numerous times during the 2012 US presidential election cycle. However, not everyone views shale gas as a supply panacea, which is the thrust of a book due out next spring written by Bill Powers with a forward by Arthur Berman.
This is the second article in a two-part Breaking Energy series – read part one here. Keep reading →
Domestic energy development and a wide swath of regulatory issues associated with energy production should be addressed more emphatically during the presidential campaign, officials at several industry associations believe.
“Energy hasn’t been absent from the campaign, but I think it deserves a higher profile,” Brendan Williams, vice president, advocacy, at the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →
A deep Arctic freeze socks in the Northeast, and every home’s furnace is working overtime. The surge of natural gas use for furnaces means power plants can’t get enough fuel. Power fails, and furnaces can’t start. Gas pipeline compressors lose power, and natural gas flow stops.
What then? Keep reading →
The abundant supply of North American natural gas has resulted in increased attention to one part of the development process, hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is an advanced technology that has brought energy production into areas that are less familiar with this work, including the heavily populated Northeast. That people want to have a conversation about their questions is admirable. And those entrusted with developing this natural resource safely and responsibly must be committed to answering those questions.
What we are seeing, however, are people with good-faith questions and concerns being overwhelmed by misrepresentations, innuendo and just plain false information. Celebrities from Alec Baldwin to David Letterman to Mark Ruffalo, having no expertise, claim natural gas development is “poisoning our drinking water and air.” Deliberately false “documentaries” meant to inspire fear are being distributed in libraries and schools. And natural gas is being cast as the villain in Hollywood, from episodes of CSI to SyFy’s original movie, Arachnoquake, in which giant fire-breathing albino spiders come out of the earth’s core because of hydraulic fracturing. These characterizations would grab the attention and scare anyone who hears or sees them. Keep reading →
Ten major natural gas export terminal projects are sparking a debate over the complicated balance between low domestic prices and the health of natural gas producers facing contracting returns on their investment in new production.
Would US exports of liquefied natural gas support an industry that’s struggling to produce the fuel at record-low prices, or would they deprive gas users of the benefits of those super-low rates? Keep reading →
Alternative energy sources and technologies have been the beneficiaries of steadily rising prices for most forms of fossil fuels over the last 30 years, with political interference and technology innovations warping markets and price signals along the way.
But with massive oil and gas finds currently under development, the future looks distinctly choppy for the host of renewable and cleantech companies that have emerged in response to high prices and supply-side shocks like the Arab Spring. How the markets respond to the potential for falling prices and huge expansions in availability from Brazil, Iraq and smaller players as well as shale gas development was the subject of this panel at the US Association for Energy Economics Summit in Washington, DC, earlier this year. Keep reading →
Celebrities: Constructive Addition to the Fracking Conversation?
By Jared AndersonThe noise level created by the debate over fracking in the US is reaching unprecedented levels. It seems everyone has a view on the controversial oil and gas development technology, some informed and many less so. A new video series features celebrities asking President Obama and several state leaders to ban the practice outright, but… Keep reading →