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‘Delta Boys’: An Energy Documentary Review

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Many oil and gas analysts know Nigerian energy fundamentals like backs of their hands, effortlessly rattling off statistics like the country’s 2.4 million barrels per day of 2011 oil production accounted for about 3% of the world’s total or the fact that Nigeria was tied with Australia as the world’s fourth largest LNG exporter that same year. And the soon-to-be released documentary “Delta Boys” begins much the same way, identifying Nigeria’s place in the global oil and gas producer hierarchy.

However, few analysts truly comprehend the situation as it exists on the ground. The same goes for the millions of news consumers worldwide that follow the complex web of human rights, environmental, political, economic and energy supply issues that pulse throughout the resource-rich region. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 19, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Studies Show UK Corporations and Consumers Value Renewable Energy

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UK consumers care about price – that much is clear from the Vestas Global Consumer Wind Study 2012. And well they might. Government figures for 2011 show that the annual average electricity bill rose by £36 to £453 from the previous year.

It’s a trend that is never likely to be reversed. Electricity prices started to rise sharply from 2004 when the UK became a net importer of natural gas. Around 28% of the UK’s electricity fleet is gas-fired. This connection between fossil fuel imports and high energy prices is not lost on consumers – 77.5% of GCWS respondents expressed very high or moderately high levels of concern about dependency on fossil fuels. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 18, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Energy Venture Capital CEO Discusses M&A ‘Arms Race,’ and More

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Energy venture capital is a challenging business in the best of times, but greater competition from large non-traditional players and lingering economic weakness in many of the world’s largest economies mean that, more than ever, finding and doing successful deals requires a disciplined, yet open minded approach.

The entrance of large companies into the energy venture capital space, the US elections’ impact on investment cycles, identifying opportunities and dominant sector trends were just a few of the topics Breaking Energy recently discussed with Dr. Wal Van Lierop, CEO of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 18, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Trilliant Goes to Brazil: Leveraging Smart Grid Lessons

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New markets are the Holy Grail for businesses, but success in accessing and serving new markets is far from easy. The difficulties are multiplied when those new markets are in parts of the world where language, culture and regulation are completely different.

Brazil’s energy market is undergoing a transformation that opens up new opportunities for many businesses that might have steered clear of the tightly regulated sector in the past, despite the obvious temptations offered by the country’s broader economic growth trajectory. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 18, 2012 at 8:30 AM

UK Wind Energy: Business Leadership and Green Growth

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Fast forward to a vision of Britain in the year 2020: 30% of the UK’s electricity demand will produce zero carbon; utilities will be settling balance sheets to the satisfaction of shareholders; investors will be counting a decent return on investment; government ministers will be celebrating the success of their policies; consumers will be paying reasonable rates to power and light their homes and businesses.

If a week is a long time in politics, eight years is a very short cycle in the energy industry and without an acceleration of government action, the UK is at risk of failing on its target of sourcing 15% of its demand from renewable sources. Every aspect of the dream scenario described above could be reversed. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 17, 2012 at 11:30 AM

America’s Biggest Energy Thieves

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Every day we walk past energy vampires, sucking away on our power supply, and most of us don’t even know it.

Cars left running or huge buildings with their lights glowing all night are obvious wasteful consumers of energy, but many times it is actually smaller and less noticeable power consumers that are – when aggregated across hundreds of millions of homes and offices – adding significant strain onto the US power production and transmission system at a time when blackouts are creating real concerns for companies relying on constant power supply. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 17, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Energy Transparency Studies Released

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Global investment in renewable energy capacity hit $237 billion in 2011, outpacing the $223 billion invested in new fossil fuel capacity globally, according to new data prepared by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for Vestas.

Moves by corporations to invest in renewable energy has the support of consumers as well, says a company data set – the Global Consumer Wind Study – also collected for Vestas and published as part of its Energy Transparency 2012 effort. Breaking Energy has partnered with Vestas on the Energy Transparency campaign as well. Read more about it here. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 14, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Major Global Companies Get Aggressive on Minimizing Future Energy Risks

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The world’s biggest companies are developing concrete strategies for confronting the potential for higher energy costs in the future. In fact, 70% of the world’s billion dollar businesses are planning to put more time and money into generating their own power, growing their renewables portfolios and ramping up energy efficiency efforts, according to a new survey report from Ernst & Young.

The survey was conducted with 100 global company executives working in sectors that use a lot of electricity. Here are some of the interesting numbers set out in the survey report: Keep reading →

 /  Published September 14, 2012 at 9:15 AM

What Obama and Romney Don’t Say About Energy

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Fossil fuels and renewable energy have become touchy topics in this election, with challenger Mitt Romney painting President Barack Obama as too hard on the first and too fanciful about the second – and Obama saying Romney is out of touch with energy’s future.

But two other significant resources, nuclear power and energy efficiency, are evoking scant debate. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 13, 2012 at 11:30 AM

The Flawed US Energy Policy Discussion

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Are the energy industry and the business of politics incompatible?

It could be the simplest explanation for why the US does not have a comprehensive, efficient or constructive energy policy set. On the most basic level, two-year and four-year election cycles are problematic for an industry that needs to make decisions and investments over twenty- to thirty-year time horizons. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 12, 2012 at 3:45 PM
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