Oil price surge defies forecasters
As crude-oil futures climbed above $51 a barrel this week, analysts threw up their hands and wondered why.
Lisa Sanders
World: Signs Grow Of Dollar Losing Favor As World’s Reserve Currency
For years, central banks around the world have held most of their foreign currency reserves in U.S. dollars. Now, there are signs that central banks are shifting away from dollar assets and into other currencies, such as euros.
World market could be hurt as severe coal shortage worsens in China
China’s breakneck economic growth is causing a dangerous shortage of its most important energy source coal, with potential consequences for the entire world, state media warned.
Is the US Economy Really Less Vulnerable to Oil Prices?
The energy-to-GDP ratio is a convenient catch-all for measuring energy usage. But as is the case with many aggregate measures of economic performance, the cost of simplicity is high.
The new age of sail
THE coming of steam sent the world’s great sailing fleets into decline. The internal combustion engine finally finished them off. So it would be a strange twist of fate if the age of sail was resurrected by what amounts to a child’s toy: a kite.
OPEC Member Burdened by High Oil Prices
What’s good for OPEC is no longer good for one of its smallest members and its only representative from Asia. While most oil ministers, from Saudi Arabia to Venezuela to Libya, say high prices are here to stay, one oil minister may be trying to talk prices down.
Filmmaker says rude awakening about oil is coming
Canadian filmmaker Greg Greene has oil depletion on his mind and has made it his mission to spread the news of something that he and others think may be the biggest and most under-reported story around.
Report doubts future of wind power
Wind farms are an expensive and inefficient way of generating sustainable energy, according to a study from Germany, the world’s leading producer of wind energy.
Hydroelectric power’s dirty secret revealed
Contrary to popular belief, hydroelectric power can seriously damage the climate. Proposed changes to the way countries’ climate budgets are calculated aim to take greenhouse gas emissions from hydropower reservoirs into account, but some experts worry that they will not go far enough.
Making the best of garbage gas
Methane generated by rotting rubbish in landfill dumps could make a far greater contribution to the world’s energy supply. A new way of harvesting the gas should mean that many landfill dumps that till now were thought to be too small to produce usable amounts of the gas will be able to provide a viable supply.
What will we eat as the oil runs out?
A major international conference on “Food Security in an Energy-Scarce World” is planned for June 23-25 in Dublin, Ireland. The conference will seek to answer the question: “How can the world’s population be fed without the extensive use of fossil fuels in the production, processing and distribution of food?” [updated article with full conference details]
Oil Firms Insist They Are Winning Reserves Battle
“From the shift away from exploration spending and toward development spending you can see that the supermajors in particular are focusing on getting their returns from what they have got already, rather than going out and finding more,” said IHS Energy’s Chew.
