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A paper by researchers at the University of Alberta, Edmonton found that the impact of Canadian oil sands mining, and subsequent land restoration, on carbon release has been significantly underestimated. This is due to the mining process’s destruction of peatland – bogs, swamps, etc. that host partially decayed organic matter – which, when destroyed, releases high levels of carbon. From the paper’s abstract in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science: “We quantified the wholesale transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Contrary to… [more]
View InsightOn March 5th, 68 Congressional Democrats sent a letter to regulators at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging that the agency “immediately enact strong position limits to eliminate excessive oil speculation as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.” The Dodd-Frank Act requires that the CFTC promulgate and enforce limits on oil speculation by January 17, 2011, but the CFTC has not yet done so. According to a Goldman Sachs report cited by the letter, “excessive oil speculation ‘translates out into a premium for gasoline at the pump of $.56 a gallon’”. Despite… [more]
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In a Yardeni Research blog post highlighted by an article in the New York Times, economist Ed Yardeni argued that rising oil prices “may actually be good for the best stocks and shares ISA market, up to a point.” This is due, in part, to energy sector companies like Chevron and Exxon making up more than 12% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization. Yardeni notes that since late 2008 there has been “a strong positive correlation between energy prices and the stock market.” If prices continue to rise, however, the odds of that positive effect lasting diminishes. “At some point,”… [more]
View InsightAs reported by the New York Times, Envia Systems, a California-based battery manufacturing company, announced yesterday what it calls a “major breakthrough” in battery technology that is “poised to revolutionize cost, range and safety in electric vehicles.” According to Envia’s press release, the breakthrough is a world record 400 Watt hour/kg lithium-ion battery, at a cost of $150 per kilowatt-hour, which is expected to “slash the price of a 300-mile range electric vehicle by cutting the cost of the battery pack by more than 50 percent.” Envia was awarded $4 million by DOE’s ARPA-E in 2009, and later received $7… [more]
View InsightAddressing high gasoline prices at a February 23 speech in Miami, President Obama made a case for continued investment in fuel economy and alternative fuel sources like algal biofuels and natural gas. The U.S. cannot drill its way out of high gas prices, he said, adding that anybody who says otherwise “doesn’t know what they’re talking about or just isn’t telling you the truth.” [Fox News] “It’s the easiest thing in the world to make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices,” Obama said. “What’s harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not… [more]
View InsightU.S. and Mexican negotiators on February 20th reached a deal – called The Transboundary Agreement – that would regulate oil and gas development along the countries’ maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico. The Agreement would allow each country to oversee the environmental and safety protocols of the other, and could by June open 1.5 million acres of U.S. offshore territory for oil and gas development. The U.S. Interior Department estimates that the area in question “contains as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas, relatively modest amounts by the oil-rich gulf’s… [more]
View InsightPresident Obama sent his requested FY2013 budget to Congress Monday, and requested, among other energy-related items, significant increases to energy R&D, renewable energy investments, and energy efficiency programs. From the request: “In light of the tight discretionary spending caps, this increase in funding is significant and a testament to the importance of innovation and clean energy to the country’s economic future.” Among the energy-related budget requests: $27.2 billion to the Department of Energy, a 3.2% hike over FY2012 $5 billion for DOE’s Office of Science $2.3 billion for DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office – a 29% increase –… [more]
View InsightAccording to data collected and reported by Bloomberg News, the “U.S. is the closest it has been in almost 20 years to achieving energy self-sufficiency”. In the first 10 months of 2011, 81% of U.S. energy demand was met by domestic sources, up from a record low of 70% in 2005. If the 2011 numbers are accurate, this would be the highest proportion of U.S. energy demand met by domestic sources since 1992. This upward trend in energy self-sufficiency is due in large part to increased oil and natural gas development, and low natural gas prices. “Domestic oil output is… [more]
View InsightThree House bills that would greatly expand U.S. oil and gas development – H.R. 3407, H.R. 3408, and H.R. 3410 – were approved by the Natural Resources Committee on February 1, 2012. H.R. 3407 would open up vast areas of Alaska’s coastal plain to oil leasing. H.R. 3408 would expand shale oil development in several Western states. Many Democrats opposed the bill, arguing that the environmental, social, and geologic risks of shale oil development are not yet well understood. The committee voted down a Democratic amendment that would have required the USGS to study oil shale development impacts on water… [more]
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Energy Futures Initiative
Modeling results in the MIT Future of Natural Gas Study released in June of last year suggested that the US could make major progress in the next two decades towards achieving a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 – a real reduction, no offsets or other creative and questionable mechanisms –largely through two actions: reduced energy consumption, and switching from coal to natural gas in power generation. The study also concluded that simply by utilizing surplus Natural Gas Combined Cycle capacity from existing units in lieu of coal generation, the US could achieve a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions… [more]
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