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Saudi wary of “green” policies to reduce oil consumption
AFP via Khaleej Times
RIYADH – OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has expressed concern that oil could become a victim of “selective” environment policies and called for striking a balance between a cleaner environment and development.
The kingdom, whose economy heavily relies on oil income, said the use of advanced technology to carry out environment-friendly projects is the best solution to achieve economic development without harming the climate.
“We are concerned that some environment-related decisions, which some countries are trying to impose, could reduce global consumption of oil,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said.
(20 Sep 2006)
Alaska astir over plan to tap its big ‘tank’ of natural gas
Yereth Rosen, The Christian Science Monitor
The terms of a proposal to develop and ship North Slope gas have Alaskans up in arms.
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…Alaskans may be pro-development, but they seem fed up with what they perceive to be corporate control of their state, says Jim Sampson, president of the AFL-CIO of Alaska. “There’s been a push-back here,” he said at an AFL-CIO state convention Aug. 24, where delegates wore buttons demanding: “Show us the JOBS.”
Natural-gas potential has long been the subject of high hopes and crushed dreams in Alaska, a state heavily dependent on production from its dwindling oil reserves.
Within the oil fields on state-owned land on the North Slope, there are about 35 trillion cubic feet of proven natural-gas reserves – the nation’s largest known but untapped conventional supply – that have been languishing since they were discovered decades ago. Geologists believe two to three times as much could be discovered if companies bothered exploring for natural gas rather than for oil.
Lack of a way to transport the gas has kept it stranded on the North Slope. There, 8 billion cubic feet a day – enough to supply California’s or Great Britain’s daily needs – is pumped up, in conjunction with the oil production, and then reinjected into the reservoir for storage and to build pressure to assist in future oil recovery.
Detailed plans to build a gas-pipeline system date back to the 1970s. They never moved off the drawing board because of prohibitive costs.
High energy prices and an impending shortage of natural gas have finally made the huge project feasible, according to state officials.
But even as Murkowski touted his gas-pipeline deal as a milestone achievement in state history, critics saw it as a sweetheart deal for the three major oil producers: BP, Exxon Mobil, and ConocoPhillips.
(20 Sep 2006)
The continuing theme — tension between residents and energy companies. -BA
Bangladesh faces energy dilemma
Afsan Chowdhury, BBC
Dhaka – This year has seen large-scale and often violent demonstrations in different parts of Bangladesh over the thorny issue of power and energy supply.
Across the country, the picture appears to be the same.
At Kansat, a village in northern Bangladesh, hundreds of demonstrators agitating over power shortages fought pitched battles with the police. Several people were killed in the violence.
In Shonir Akhra, a suburb of the capital Dhaka, thousands took to the streets, fought law enforcers and attacked the local MP to demand improved electricity and water supplies.
In Phulbari, a small town in northern Bangladesh, police fired on protesters worried that that an open pit coal project would eat up their land and destroy their homes and livelihood.
…the government faces a dilemma.
The country has acute energy shortages, with hardly any office or factory not being affected by power cuts, sometimes lasting several hours.
The benefits of more energy are obvious: offices with air conditioning, homes with lights for children, and farms with irrigation pumps.
But on the other hand, open pit coal projects – and other forms of energy development – are not environmentally friendly. They eat up scarce land resources and destroy homes.
(19 Sept 2006)
Contributor Alfred Nassim writes:
“Bangladesh, a country of 150 million is an area less than Iowa, is also threatened by rising sea-level.”
Fuel Diversification: Coal to liquids
Luke Burgess, Americans for Energy Independence
..There are several different technologies currently being developed with the goal of breaking our oil addiction. One such technology is a process of turning solid coal into synthetic, liquid fuels.
Did I say coal? It used to be the energy industry’s four-letter word. But today, thanks to modern technology, that’s all changing. Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) technology is able to convert the black rocky fuel into valuable, high-quality synthetic fuels. These fuels include clean, sulfur-free synthetic diesel and jet fuel. The most common way to convert coal into liquid fuels is the Fischer-Tropsch process, named after two German scientists who developed the technique back in 1925.
To create the synthetic fuel, coal is mixed with oxygen and steam at high temperature. Pressure is then added to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The second step, called Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, uses a catalyst to transform the gas into a synthetic liquid, which is further refined into diesel or jet fuel. Along the way, mercury, sulfur, ammonia and other compounds are extracted and can be sold on the commodities market. Now, the diesel that’s produced using the Fischer-Tropsch process is a lot different than what you’d buy at a gas station today — it’s much better. ..
About Americans for Energy Independence.
(15 Sept 2006)
Article overlooks the total emissions of the coal to liquids system, which could never be less than those of crude oil, and provides a remarkably low (and unreferenced) figure for cost per barrel – $10! Richard Brawn on FSU calculates $37, Rep. Boucher of Virginia $40. -LJ
