Mexican lawmakers have passed an energy reform bill that will open up the country’s oil and gas resources to foreign investment, ending a 75-year monopoly by state-controlled Pemex. According to the Wall Street Journal, the voting process involved both fistfights and accusations of treason. [Wall Street Journal] Plans for the 99-story Pertamina Energy Tower, to… Keep reading →
In October 2013, exactly 40 years after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that the US produced more crude oil than it imported. According to EIA, estimated domestic crude oil output averaged 7.7 million barrels per day in October – the highest in 25 years – while oil imports were 7.6.… Keep reading →
Renewable energy sources and natural gas should be considered as complements and not rivals. A hybrid gas-electric clean energy provides a workable engineering solution while 100% Renewables models based heavily on wind, solar and efficiency fall short of the meeting the functional needs of a modern technology intensive society. Natural gas and renewables are already… Keep reading →
The March 2011 Fukushima accident destroyed four and shuttered most (currently all) of Japan’s 54 nuclear plants. Japan replaced nuclear energy with discomfort, sacrifice, and costly fossil fuels, because utility oligopolies suppressed renewable competitors and national energy efficiency languished. Two and a half years later, power reserves, though easing, remain tight, fuel bills exorbitant, and… Keep reading →
President Obama today signed a Memorandum directing the Federal Government to consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 – more than double the current level. This comes as the latest move in the president’s Climate Action Plan announced in June 2013. “As part of the President’s commitment to expanding renewable energy production… Keep reading →
Yesterday the US Department of Energy hosted a debate on the subject of Nikola Tesla versus Thomas Edison – who was more important and more inventive? The results are now in and the winner is… Well, it may not be that cut and dry. They both played integral parts in developing one of the most… Keep reading →
Tesla and Edison are one of energy history’s great duos. Both have granted their names and legacies to companies and entire fields of study, employment and business. But unlike some more distant figures of the past, people are still arguing about which was more important and which more inventive. At a time when innovation is… Keep reading →
Half empty in the West, half full in a handful of centrally planned economies Nuclear power’s prospects appears to be doomed in the West where markets and private investors tend to make the decisions and assume the risks, that is, if they can get the public’s support and regulator’s approval. In other parts of the… Keep reading →
A defining moment in the ongoing shift in the US’ energy landscape occurred in April 2012, when natural gas accounted for as big a share of electricity generation as coal for the first time since the Energy Information Administration began collecting that data. Abundant, cheap natural gas had edged a good deal of coal out… Keep reading →
“You’d think the thrill might wear off this whole renewable energy investing thing after a while. Nope—we’re still as into it as ever.” This week, Google announced an $80 million equity investment in six solar photovoltaic projects being developed by Recurrent Energy in Arizona and California. The deal marks the company’s 14th investment since it started eyeing project-level… Keep reading →
