The tides are an enormous and consistent renewable energy resource, but taking advantage of them has proven frustrating. Newfangled minimal-impact in-stream devices have been slow to demonstrate their commercial viability; earlier “barrage” projects – dams on estuaries, essentially – have delivered energy as promised, but at the cost of degraded ecosystems. Now a potential solution… Keep reading →
Many of the things that arguably make wind and solar less than perfect energy sources don’t seem to trouble geothermal energy. Bird kills, intermittent output, low capacity factors, lack of dispatchability – no issues there with geothermal. Yet while wind and solar have sprinted forward in the past decade in the United States, geothermal has by comparison stood still.… Keep reading →
A novel approach to generating wave energy moved forward in Oregon on Thursday with the launch of the M3 Wave APEX, an experimental device that hopes to beat the bobbers – devices that generate power through mechanical action at the ocean surface – by sitting stationary at the bottom of the sea. Essentially, it hopes… Keep reading →
On August 11, 2014, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto enacted secondary energy reform legislation, thus concluding a legislative process to overhaul Mexico’s energy sector that stems from a December 20, 2013 decree modifying several energy-related provisions contemplated under the Mexican constitution, a topic about which Nexant has blogged in the past. While the press has focused its… Keep reading →
Out of hundreds of submitted applications the World Economic Forum selects each year about 30 companies in what is a rigorous process. “Since 2000, around 600 innovative companies [see here] from five continents have been selected as Technology Pioneers,” the Forum notes. What makes those selected few so unique? According to the World Economic Forum,… Keep reading →
Several major US oil producers are opening their wallets to lobby for policy changes that would allow crude oil – or minimally-processed condensate – to be exported. Refiners, democrats and the environmental community are generally opposed and a major sticking point remains the question of whether exporting US oil would increase domestic gasoline prices, despite… Keep reading →
Morgan Stanley analysts floated the idea that Russia’s President Putin could order state-controlled natural gas export monopoly Gazprom to cut supplies to European firms in retaliation for western-imposed economic sanctions. It appears the incremental damage such a move would cause to Russia’s economy makes using the “gas weapon” unlikely, but the Putin regime is not… Keep reading →
While other economic segments struggled during the past decade’s downturn, green marketing grew, according to the 2013 Big Green Opportunity survey. The organic food market surged 238 percent, and the National Association of Home Builders projects green homebuilding to expand from $36 billion in 2013 to $85 to $105 billion by 2016. GM and Ford… Keep reading →
A U.S.-backed effort in Florida to explore the energy-producing potential of ocean currents has reeled in a private player – the Swedish startup Minesto, which uses a winged, turbine-tipped device that gathers energy by darting around underwater, kite-like, in a figure-eight pattern. Is there any real hope for it? There might be – but it… Keep reading →
Last week, the 2nd New York Energy Week (NYEW) concluded. At its closing ceremony, the esteemed Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York State, Office of the Governor of New York, offered his thinking on a new energy system. There is no better person to explain the thinking behind the policy than… Keep reading →
