Archive for the 'Energy' Category
CITE: The $1 Billion City That Nobody Calls Home
October 7th, 2015Via: CNN: In the arid plains of the southern New Mexico desert, between the site of the first atomic bomb test and the U.S.-Mexico border, a new city is rising from the sand. Planned for a population of 35,000, the city will showcase a modern business district downtown, and neat rows of terraced housing in […]
U.S. Says BP to Pay $20 Billion in Fines for 2010 Oil Spill
October 6th, 2015Via: Reuters: BP Plc will pay more than $20 billion in fines to resolve nearly all claims from its deadly Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago, marking the largest corporate settlement of its kind in U.S. history, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday. The agreement, first outlined in July, adds to the […]
Australia: Electricity Networks Propose Connection Fees for All Homes – Including Off-Gridders
September 28th, 2015The mask comes off. Behold… Via: SolarChoice: Australia’s major power networks are calling for compulsory connection fees for all homes and businesses – even if they are not connected to the grid – and penalties for those who disconnect, as part of a last-ditch effort to protect their declining revenue streams. The Energy Networks Association […]
New Zealand: Fair Go for Solar Initiative
September 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — For people in New Zealand: Please consider getting the word out about the Fair Go for Solar Initiative by the Greens.
Low Profile Solar Panels for People Living in Vans
September 21st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Cops are the biggest problem for people who live in vehicles. Normal solar panels on a van would be a dead giveaway that someone doesn’t have a mortgage or a landlord. Check out this couple’s almost invisible installation of three Renogy 100 watt flexible solar […]
Artificial Leaf Harnesses Sunlight for Efficient Fuel Production
September 20th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — I like reading the artificial leaf news, even though there are always tall hurdles ahead of the technology becoming practical. In this iteration of the artificial leaf, for example, the system only works for about 40 hours. I wondered how much money was being spent […]
Flying Robots Replace Oil Roughnecks
September 20th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Oil rig inspection is a dangerous business. Traditionally roughnecks dangled from a wire, in gale-force winds if needed, to manually log wear and tear on the girders. Assessments include giant chimneys — called flare stacks — that belch fire during million-dollar-a-day shutdowns. Increasingly the industry has found that swapping abseiling humans for small […]
Russian Gas Stations Ordered To Install Electric Chargers by November 1, 2016 [???]
September 15th, 2015This is absolutely bizarre. Via: Gas2: Let’s get a little perspective on the electric car market in Russia at the moment. First, there are no government incentives that encourage a person to buy an electric or plug-in car. Second, there are fewer than 500 such cars in the entire country. … If previously the number […]
The Oil-Sands Glut Is About to Get a Lot Bigger
September 4th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: The last place oil producers want to be when prices plummet to profit-demolishing lows is midstream on a billion-dollar project in one of the costliest parts of the planet to extract crude. Yet that’s exactly where half a dozen oil sands operators from Suncor Energy Inc. to Brion Energy Corp. find themselves with […]
U.S. Crude Hits 6.5 Year Low on Surprise Stock Build
August 19th, 2015Down nearly 5% right now. Via: Reuters: Oil prices fell about 4 percent on Wednesday, with U.S. crude hitting 6-1/2 year lows and threatening to break below $40, after a huge unexpected stockpile build in the United States reinforced concerns about a growing global oil glut. U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels last […]
