Cities are laboratories of dreams and nightmares, showcases of human technology and achievement and a locus for ancient fears.
Cities are also increasingly different. Cities are no longer similar one to the other; the jammed highways of Los Angeles are fundamentally different from the packed streets of contemporary Istanbul. Keep reading →
Over the last few days, experts in fields from neuroscience to music to energy came together to share ideas at the TEDGlobal 2011 conference. With Shell one of the conference sponsors, there was extensive discussion of the energy sector and the industry’s future.
Among the speakers was Pavan Sukhdev, an energy economist who worked at Deutsche Bank for 15 years before writing a groundbreaking report, The Economies of Ecosystems and Biodiversity.” Sukhdev chairs the Global Agenda Council on Biodiversity and Ecosystems for the World Economic Forum. Keep reading →
Development of a new urban strategy is part of the World Bank’s new energy strategy as well as its performance review for this year.
The institution worried that the sheer number of requests coming from the bank on its variety of strategic updates would overburden its own staff as well as stakeholders, but in an effort to create a truly interlinked strategy the funding organization has decided to move ahead. Working with energy firms and the urban sector to be sure they leverage data and strategy synergies will be a major part of that effort, Evans said. Keep reading →
Following a spate of acquisitions and a five-year $11 billion pop in revenue growth, GE Energy is moving around its top executives and forming a new energy management business.
The new GE Energy Management business will “consist of technology solutions for the delivery, management, conversion and optimization of electrical power for customers across multiple energy-intensive industries,” the company said in announcing the changes today. Keep reading →
Chesapeake invests $155 million in #renewable #biofuels company Sundrop Fuels. Learn more at http://bit.ly/mQ4fiv @Chesapeake
Market conditions and resource availability matter more for attracting investment from major oil companies in renewable energy than government incentive programs.
As major oil companies strengthen their renewable energy portfolios, many point to government incentives as critical to advancements in renewable energy and CO2 emissions-reduction. But local market conditions and resource availability, both of which are vital for long-term viability, are also vital for attracting a share of their capital budgets. Keep reading →
The energy game took almost no break for the short holiday week following US Independence Day on July 4, with a host of new environmental regulations hitting the books just as companies completed deals for new renewable energy generating capacity.
Energy players traditionally slow down for the summer, though in recent years a series of crises and sustained, if localized, strains on summer generating capacity have limited executives’ and regulators’ capacity for relaxation. Keep reading →
After over ten months of deliberation, India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the Vedanta Resources‘ request to purchase Cairn Energy.
With its lack of experience in the oil and natural gas industry, London-based metal mining company Vendanta Resources’ purchase of Cairn Energy’s local India unit may be a bold move that illustrates what some in the industry say are lucrative potentials in the natural gas industry. Keep reading →
Southern California utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has been on a renewable energy power purchase agreement (PPA) spree of sorts over the last year or so. As with all utilities in the state of California, SDG&E has to ramp up its renewable energy portfolio such that it represents 33% of its total energy distribution by the year 2020. Recent news of more renewable PPAs indicate the utility is well on its way to that goal.
According to SDG&E, it has just signed two contracts that will net it a combined total capacity of up to 237 megawatts (MW) of solar energy. The PPA contracts will allow SDG&E to buy solar generated electricity from the Catalina solar project and Arlington Valley Solar Energy II. Keep reading →
As many in the electricity business have known for several years now, it is all about natural gas. Keep reading →
