Re: C&T bill, eagerly awaiting the final bill

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:16 GMT

C&T- abbreviation I made up for the cap and trade bill. If it emerges, it evidently may have requirements for energy efficiency in any house to be sold.

DrumBeat: July 5, 2009

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:30 GMT

Thomas L. Friedman: Can I Clean Your Clock?

Over the past decade, whenever I went to China and engaged Chinese on their pollution and energy problems, inevitably some young Chinese would say: “Hey, you Americans got to grow dirty for 150 years, using cheap coal and oil. Now it is our turn.”
It’s a hard argument to refute. Eventually, I decided that the only way to respond was with some variation of the following: “You’re right. It’s your turn. Grow as dirty as you want. Take your time. Because I think America just needs five years to invent all the clean-power technologies you Chinese are going to need as you choke to death on pollution. Then we’re going to come over here and sell them all to you, and we are going to clean your clock — how do you say ‘clean your clock’ in Chinese? — in the next great global industry: clean power technologies. So if you all want to give us a five-year lead, that would be great. I’d prefer 10. So take your time. Grow as dirty as you want.”
Whenever you frame it that way, Chinese are quizzical at first, and then they totally get it: Wow, this energy thing isn’t just about global warming! In a world that is adding one billion people every 15 years or so — more and more of whom will be able to live high-energy-consuming lifestyles — the demands for energy and natural resources are going to go through the roof. Therefore, E.T. — energy technologies that produce clean power and energy efficiency — is going to be the next great global industry, and China needs to be on board.

T. Boone Pickens fueling dialogue on clean-energy efforts

In July of last year, Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens began a $60 million advertising campaign and speaking tour designed to persuade Americans to stop using foreign oil.
The oilman-turned-environmentalist proposed a seemingly simple plan: Convert cars, especially big fleets operated by companies and municipalities, from gasoline to domestic natural gas. And start generating more electricity from wind.
By the end of this year, Pickens predicts, Congress will finish passing laws to implement his plan. And within two years, oil imports will drop.

Kuwait needs oil majors to hit targets - minister

OPEC member Kuwait will need help from oil majors to reach its oil and gas production targets, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs said on Thursday.
"Not only for the oil (sector) but also for the gas," Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, also a former oil minister, said when asked about a possible role for international oil companies in the country's state-run energy sector.
"Now we have the gas production (issue) for which we will mainly need international companies," he told reporters without being more specific about the envisaged role of foreign firms.

Kuwait wants oil price to remain above $60

Kuwait wants to see the price of oil stay above $60 a barrel, the OPEC member's oil minister said on Sunday.
"We will be watching the market very closely," Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters at parliament. "We would not like to see the price go below a certain level so it at least meets our budgetary requirements."

Total Expects to Get Oil Projects in Iraq, De Margerie Says

(Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, said it will continue to bid for business in Iraq after the government there said it may allow competitor BP Plc to develop the Rumaila oil field.

RCMP confirms sixth pipeline blast in B.C.

POUCE COUPE, B.C. — There has been a sixth bombing of natural gas infrastructure in northeastern British Columbia, police say.
Officials said the explosion occurred early Saturday morning at an EnCana Corp. site, in the immediate vicinity of a blast that took place Wednesday.
"This is very frustrating," said Rhona DelFrari, EnCana's spokeswoman. "We're angry and we're getting very frustrated."

Nigeria militants attack Shell, amnesty hopes fade

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian militants said on Sunday they had launched their third attack against Royal Dutch Shell since President Umaru Yar'Adua made an amnesty offer and warned their campaign of sabotage would intensify.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an emailed statement it had attacked a Shell oil well head in the Cawthorne Channel at about 0200 GMT, again dashing hopes that the amnesty offer would buy a period of calm.

David Strahan: Thirty contestants, only one winner in the Iraqi oil licence gameshow

The auction of Iraqi oil production licences last week was truly historic – not least because it was the first such exercise ever to be broadcast live on TV.
More than 30 companies were expected to compete for eight contracts, all in front of the cameras. In effect, the Iraqis had set up a high-stakes reality TV show, with Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's minister of oil, in the role of Sir Alan Sugar, and company executives as the desperate wannabes. Some bidders feared it would degenerate into an unseemly scramble, and with good reason.

Pakistan: City shuts to protest outages, raise in fuel prices

LAHORE - City witnessed complete shutterdown on Saturday as the traders and shopkeepers closed down their business and took to streets to protest against the worst power outages and increase in fuel and electricity tariff.
All the major political parties in the Opposition supported the strike call and urged the masses to took to the streets to force the government to withdraw steep increase in the fuel and electricity prices.

Saudi spending to surge 24 per cent in 2009, says Samba

Saudi Arabia will likely be tempted by the recent improvement in crude oil prices and increase public spending by nearly 24 per cent through 2009 as an expanded deficit could be easily covered, a leading Saudi bank said yesterday.
Although actual revenues are projected to be higher than budget forecasts, the surge in expenditure will sharply widen the shortfall but the world's dominant oil powerhouse need not borrow again given its massive financial reserves, the Saudi American Bank Group (Samba) said in a mid-year review of the economy of Saudi Arabia.

The food rush: Rising demand in China and west sparks African land grab

A million Chinese farmers have joined the rush to Africa, according to one estimate, underlining concerns that an unchecked "land grab" not seen since the 19th century is under way.
Some of the world's richest countries are buying or leasing land in some of the world's poorest to satisfy insatiable appetites for food and fuel. In the new scramble for Africa, nearly 2.5m hectares (6.2m acres) of farmland in just five sub-Saharan countries have been bought or rented in the past five years at a total cost of $920m (£563m), research shows.
"Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares," said a recent report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). It described the huge deals reported to date as "the tip of the iceberg".
The report said farmland purchases are being driven by food security concerns, rising demand and changing dietary habits, expanded biofuel production and interest in what is, in theory, an improved investment climate in some African countries.

What the future of the auto industry will look like

Surging demand for cars in rapidly growing nations will mean a robust car industry in 20 years. The US will have a piece of it – though smaller than today – and the models it turns out will be much greener as the iconic industry reinvents itself.

'Green revolution' could create 400,000 jobs, claim ministers

A "green revolution" that should create 400,000 jobs is to be launched by ministers later this month in the most ambitious ever bid to transform the British economy, industry and sources of energy.

Energy-pioneering Austrian town exports its model

GUESSING, Austria (AFP) — After 20 years investing in renewable energy, the small Austrian town of Guessing, a model of energy self-sufficiency, is spreading its pioneering technology far and wide.
A town of 4,300 inhabitants near the Hungarian border, Guessing launched into renewable energy in the early 1990s and now produces more than it can consume.

Jordan - Mining company expands uranium exploration

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) A Jordanian-French company has expanded its exploration of uranium in the central region, after recent studies confirmed the presence of commercially viable amounts of the resource.

Extraordinary climate solutions presented in Manchester

Under a vaulted ceiling decorated with the arms of the countries and cities with which Manchester once traded, now lit by low-energy chandeliers, a panel of experts heard pitches for ideas ranging from a fleet of remote-controlled sailing ships that would spray seawater into the air to make whiter clouds to livestock farming methods modelled on the great migrations of the Serengeti.
Today it will hear a proposal to increase the carbon absorbing capacity of the ocean by adding limestone to it, a plan for generating energy from a 'big underwater stomach' digesting algae, and new ideas about harnessing tidal energy.

Global Warming Is Fake. What Matters Is Why This Fakery Is Being Promoted

The global warming movement is not about global warming. It is about the creation of an international political control arrangement by which bureaucrats who favor socialism can gain control over the international economy.

Prince Charles wants pension funds to take lead on climate change

Prince Charles is to convene a meeting of some of the world’s largest pension funds to discuss how best to invest their trillions of dollars to help reduce climate change.
The meeting, likely to be held at Clarence House in October, will bring together senior executives from 12 funds including Calpers, America’s largest public pension fund. Known as the P8 Group, after the number of founder funds, they control $3 trillion (£1.8 trillion) in total.

Re: Solarized gas turbines, One for Every Village

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:38 GMT

thanks pedro, its OK for the time being. i ll work on the available data. cheers abisel

Re: The control exerted by natural forces

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:37 GMT

... Not sure about former posts; however, I'll offer this: I have come to believe, via observation & research that as humans we are obsessed

The control exerted by natural forces

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:56 GMT

I now understand that everything that happens is under the control of natural forces, even if we have not identified some of them. That is a revelation to me

PeakOil

Re: C&T bill, eagerly awaiting the final bill

DrumBeat: July 5, 2009

Re: Solarized gas turbines, One for Every Village

Re: The control exerted by natural forces

The control exerted by natural forces