Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Brazil Might Have Discovered Third Biggest Oil Reserve in the World
April 16th, 2008UPDATE: Petrobras Needs Three Months to Assess Carioca Field Via: Bloomberg: Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, needs at least three months to determine how much oil can be pumped from Carioca, an offshore field that a regulator said has reserves of 33 billion barrels. The estimate yesterday by Haroldo Lima, head of Brazil’s […]
Oil: New High Above $113
April 15th, 2008Oil prices flat since 2001… if priced in gold. HA Via: AP: Oil prices rose to new heights Tuesday, surging to almost $114 a barrel after the U.S. dollar fell and worries mounted about the global oil supply. A report from the International Energy Agency said Russian oil production dropped this year for the first […]
May 2005 Wasn’t Peak, New Record for Crude + Condensate is January 2008
April 12th, 2008I really thought that the Peak was in already. Nope. Via: The Oil Drum: The EIA’s newest International Petroleum Monthly shows World C+C production for January was 74,466,000 barrels per day, eclipsing the heretofore peak of May 2005 by 168,000 barrels per day.
Record Power Prices in Europe, Consumers May Pay the Price
April 10th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Power prices rose to records across Europe, potentially increasing costs for consumers and industry on the continent as economic growth slows. Power for 2009 in Germany, Europe’s biggest electricity market, climbed to a record 65.50 euros ($105) a megawatt hour, gaining 1.2 percent, according to broker GFI Group Inc. The contract traded at […]
Wind Power That Floats
April 7th, 2008Look at the effort that’s going into keeping the platforms in place. It seems absolutely stupid. Why not focus on harnessing the awesome power of the waves instead? Investors understand “wind power.” They don’t yet understand “wave power.” So it goes… Via: MIT Technology Review: Offshore wind-farm developers would love to build in deep water […]
Proposal to Use Massive, Undersea Air Bladders to Store Energy from Intermittent Sources
April 4th, 2008This is weirdly simple, in theory. Via: CNN: The prospects for wind power could be greatly enhanced if cost-effective storage could be implemented. Some, like Minnesota based Xcel Energy, are putting their faith in new battery technology. But a UK professor, Seamus Garvey thinks he might have found another solution — storing energy in flexible […]
PG&E Signs Contracts with BrightSource Energy for up to 900 Megawatts of Solar Thermal Power
April 4th, 2008Via: BusinessWire: Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced today that it has entered into a series of contracts with BrightSource Energy, Inc. for renewable solar power. The first three contracts are for a total of 500 megawatts (MW) of power to be supplied from three solar thermal electric generating projects. PG&E also signed two contracts […]
New Zealand Building World’s Largest Geothermal Powerstation
April 3rd, 2008Via: TV3: A new 450 million dollar geothermal powerstation to be built at Rotokawa, near Taupo, will be the biggest in the world – and will help manage New Zealand’s carbon footprint. The Nga Awa Purua station is a joint venture between a local iwi land trust, and the Mighty River Power Company. Building is […]
Solar Thermal Power
April 3rd, 2008Mmm hmm. Via: The Oil Drum: An area of desert around 250 km by 250 km covered with CSP power generation could supply all the world’s current electricity demand. Solar thermal plants can be built in their entirety within a few years – much faster than many conventional power projects. Solar thermal plants are built […]
Analyst Predicts Corn Rationing in 2008
April 1st, 2008In 2008, food could become an out front national security issue in the developed world. My top concerns are wheat and corn. —Some Guesses About 2008 Mmm hmm. Via: Houston Chronicle: A BB&T Capital Markets analyst said Monday corn rationing may be necessary this year, following a U.S. Department of Agriculture report predicting farmers would […]
