As global natural gas fundamentals shift – with Asian demand expected to significantly increase, the US importing less and exporting more – European countries seek secure and reliable long-term supply from a diverse group of producers. An ambitious pipeline project dubbed the Southern Gas Corridor is part of that vision. European utilities have successfully renegotiated… Keep reading →
Here’s a mishmash of unrelated energy tidbits. Could oil head down to $70 per barrel? “Growing demand will not as easily erode spare capacity as in recent years,” says R-Squared. [EnergyTrendsInsider] The EU may have miscalculated in deciding to impose tariffs on imports of solar cells and panels from China. [Forbes] And because it’s Friday,… Keep reading →
Saudi oil output hit a record 9.51 million barrels per day in 2012, when the country lifted output to offset the impact of supply disruptions in Libya and a 1 July EU embargo on Iranian crude shipments. Saudi Arabia exported about 6.9 million bbls/d of oil last year, of which more than 50% went to… Keep reading →
North America has seen its share of oil spills of late, including an ExxonMobil pipeline leak in Arkansas and a Chevron diesel pipeline leak in Utah, both within the first few months of the year. Canadian Pacific Railway is keeping the trend going. A Canadian Pacific-operated train carrying crude oil from Saskatchewan derailed on Tuesday,… Keep reading →
One of the primary concerns about electric cars among vehicle buyers remains the question of where they can plug it in. IBM, which has made a specialty in recent years of using its experience with data platforms to enable shifts in energy usage and monitoring, is now working in a slate of European countries to “allow energy providers, car manufacturers and charging point owners to share integrate services on one common IT platform.”
IBM says the concept is similar to mobile phone roaming, with drivers able to charge and pay in any location across borders. The demonstration project, launching this week in Europe and called B2B Marketplace, builds on efforts to improve EV production and distribution in a number of European countries, including Ireland, Spain, Germany and Denmark among others. Keep reading →
It might at first glance look like a good omen that the EU has shown up at the current United Nations climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, with its carbon emission reduction goals for 2020 already met.
Eight years ahead of time, Europe’s emissions are below its longstanding goal of a 20% reduction by 2020 compared to a 1990 baseline. In theory, Europe is a clean energy model for other countries striving to achieve the Kyoto-set targets and begin to reign in global warming. Keep reading →
The European Union (EU) has the reputation of a bureaucracy awash in red tape. Yet when it comes to wind power, and above all onshore wind, its policies over the last decade have proven enormously effective getting this precocious branch of business in Europe on its feet – and even booming.
Despite an ongoing economic crisis, Europe’s wind power industry has flourished as few others, not least as a consequence of the EU targets, national action plans, and other framework regulation including carbon pricing. Keep reading →
France’s Socialist Party (PS) newly-elected President Francois Hollande (R) reacts on stage, flanked by (from L, 1st row) socialist Arnaud Montebourg, socialist President of the Poitou-Charentes region Segolene Royal, Hollande’s campaign political advisor Jean-Michel Baylet, Hollande’s campaign manager Pierre Moscovici, Hollande’s campaign political advisor Harlem Desir, Hollande’s campaign chief of staff Faouzi Lamdaoui, Hollande’s campaign political advisor Martine Aubry and Hollande’s companion Valerie Trierweiler, at the Place de la Bastille in Paris on May 7, 2012, after the announcement of the first official results of the French presidential second round. Hollande had won with 51.62 percent of the vote to 48.38 percent for Sarkozy on May 6, 2012, becoming France’s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFE
The last 48 hours shifted the political landscape across Europe, and with it, the debate over energy policy. Keep reading →
With global talks on climate change just inching along, governments can move forward on some climate goals through trade agreements to cut tariffs and facilitate commerce in “green” goods like wind turbines and solar panels, experts told a Brookings Institution session this week.
For years, the US and European Union have avoided negotiating bilateral trade deals because they might undercut the Doha Round, the tariff reduction talks the World Trade Organization begun in 2001. Keep reading →
Review for EU confirms that EDF Energy’s nuclear fleet is robust and safe even under extreme conditions http://bit.ly/vf0Pu7 edfenergycomms
