Back in March it was first reported by the major German TV network ARD (Tagesschau.de) that German utility E.ON was contemplating mothballing one of the most efficient power plants in Europe, a gas-fired high-efficiency combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant called ‘Irsching 4 and 5’ in the southern state of Bavaria – which only went… Keep reading →
Natural gas is a common power generation fuel, but it’s also used for heating. In Pumerend, a city of 80,000 residents in the Netherlands located about an hour from Amsterdam, a biomass heating facility was recently constructed to replace natural gas-fired heating. Breaking Energy toured the plant last spring before it officially went online to… Keep reading →
What are US oil and gas producers most concerned about in the current oil price environment and over the longer term? Financial advisory and consulting firm BDO took a stab at answering that question in their annual BDO Oil and Gas RiskFactor Report, which analyzes the risks listed in the most recent 10-K filings of the… Keep reading →
Biomethane is a drop in the ocean of fuel used in the U.S. shipping industry now, but its prospects improved a bit on Tuesday with the announcement of an agreement by UPS to buy “renewable natural gas” (RNG) from Clean Energy Fuels, the natural-gas-for-transport company co-founded by T. Boone Pickens. UPS said that beginning this month, tractors and delivery… Keep reading →
President Barack Obama’s assertion last month that climate change will bring more asthma and worse allergies drew a skeptical response in some quarters, but it turns out the president’s signature climate solution – the Clean Power Plan – could come with significant health “co-benefits.” That’s the conclusion of a new study in the journal Nature… Keep reading →
The state of Hawaii: remote, tropical and a haven for tourists. But for locals the remoteness of the islands poses a problem. Since the state producers no hydrocarbon resources of its own, it has to import all of its energy needs, resulting in electricity prices as much as three to five times the national average.… Keep reading →
Egyptian energy production and distribution company TAQA Arabia is working to help tackle the country’s acute energy shortages. Egypt is struggling with electricity generation and delivery issues – among other energy-related problems – that require flexible solutions. Egypt’s growing population and power generation needs have bumped up against domestic energy production capacity, with demand exceeding… Keep reading →
Republicans have been pummeling President Barack Obama for waging what they call a “war on coal,” but you’ve got to wonder how politically useful that tactic is when one of the nation’s biggest corporations is suggesting that it wants nothing to do with comparatively dirty fuel. General Motors this week put out a press release boasting… Keep reading →
Political infighting is taking place in Alaska over the state’s hydrocarbon future. This time, however, it’s not over its oil production which has been steadily declining since reaching a peak of over 2 million barrels per day (b/d) in 1988 to a current average of just over 500,000 b/d. Its over the state’s plans to… Keep reading →
It’s going to take a while – until 2030 for full implementation – but nine countries, ten oil companies and six development institutions have joined a World Bank effort to end the practice of routine gas flaring at oil production sites. “Gas flaring is a visual reminder that we are wastefully sending CO2 into the atmosphere,” said World Bank President… Keep reading →
