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26 04 08 - 03:03
Soaring energy prices, who's to blame?
By Alan Fein
New York - Wednesday, oil futures dipped after the Energy Department reported an unexpected rise in supply levels last week, though with record oil and gasoline prices global consumption remains high while OPEC continues to hold down production.
Soaring energy prices, who's to blame?
New York - Wednesday, oil futures dipped after the Energy Department reported an unexpected rise in supply levels last week, though with record oil and gasoline prices global consumption remains high while OPEC continues to hold down production.
Crude oil futures finished the trading session in New York up 23 cents a barrel at $118.30 after having dropped to an intra-day low of nearly $116 following the government's weekly supply report that indicated that U.S. stocks of crude oil rose 2.4 million barrels for the week ending April 18. Energy pundits were looking for oil supplies to have only risen 1.8 million barrels.
Gasoline futures topped a record-setting $3.05 a gallon on the Mercantile Exchange, closing up 3 cents on May contracts. The EIA reported that gasoline stocks fell 3.2 million barrels, far more than the 2.1 million barrel consensus decline.
This morning, AAA reports that consumers are paying $3.556 a gallon at the pump on a national average, up more than 2 cents a gallon from yesterday and 30 cents more than month-ago average prices.
Voice of America's Michael Bowman points at growing global demand for crude oil and an unwillingness by OPEC members to increase production as to blame for the high cost of energy. "The trend has inflicted pain on consumers and petroleum-dependent industries while massively boosting the fortunes of oil-producing nations and petroleum companies," writes Bowman.
Bowman's story echoes the Bush administration's sentiment, as VOA pieces typically are written in a fashion supporting the U.S. government's position on global topics. Yet OPEC has ignored President Bush and Vice President Cheney who have both visited the Middle East to ask members of the Cartel to increase production levels with the same response - "no".
OPEC says speculators are to blame for the run up in crude oil prices, insisting that current production levels are more than adequate to meet global demand. But as countries like China and India develop, consumption levels are increasing and that has strained supplies to the point where speculation in a dollar-based commodity such as crude oil can push prices up.
With the United States in an unofficial recession, the greenback has fallen to such an extent that dollar denominated commodities such as oil are seen as a 'safe haven' against inflation and to that extent it is a better bet than the dollar.
Here in the U.S., Democrats on Capitol Hill have fought 'big oil' from exploring offshore and resisted pleas for trying to expand refineries. Democrats have also pushed for these same oil companies to pay 'windfall' taxes on their profits, yet through their efforts they've curbed domestic exploration and development levels during an unprecedented point in our nation's history where demand is outpacing supplies.
Earlier this week, OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri said the cartel plans to boost its oil production targets by five million barrels a day - in four years, which does little to quell consumer demand that by then will be on equal ground where it is now against growing consumption globally. Yet turning on the tap currently could be done, though at risk is a fallback in prices at the wellhead which would cut into the price-gouging run on profits the Cartel's members are enjoying as they buy up lucrative U.S. assets thanks to the housing debacle that has all but crashed the major U.S. investment banks to pieces while antiquated federal regulatory actions come too late to curve the financial crisis that hit Wall Street.
In all, a complex situation of finger-pointing, blame and guilt.
Yet do we blame OPEC for being greedy or take it on the chin? The answer it seems is to pass it through to consumers during an election year and blame it on a Republican administration, a tactic that so far has voters questioning government action.
"No one thread makes a quilt", says I, and in the case of rising global demand for energy and an economic fall-back in the United States during an election year it's surprising that there's any rational logic left on Wall Street or Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, you consumers out there can continue to suck it up and pay the cost of higher gasoline, home heating and yes, food, until such time as the market settles back into a normal posture and the vacancy sign on the White House is taken down in November - no matter who moves in.
Used tags: energy_costs, energy_crisis, price_of_oil, soaring_gas_prices
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Monday 28 January 2019 at 03:31 am
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Saturday 16 July 2011 at 06:07 am
Raging wildfires: Climate changes to blame for record season?
By Pete Spotts
The images are stark: soot-grimed firefighters steering bulldozers or wielding shovels to clear underbrush; curtains of orange flame tracing the contours of summits; aircraft dumping chemicals to slow a fire's progress.
Between Jan. 1 and early July of 2011, slightly more than 38,000 wildfires charred the landscape in the United States at a record pace. So far this year, wildfires have consumed just under 4.9 million acres of forest and grassland, a cumulative expanse the size of New Jersey.
That's 1 million more acres than fires consumed during the same period in 2006, which saw a record 9.9 million acres burned for the entire year.
Beyond the numbers, this year's fires may provide the first large-scale tests of the effectiveness of projects undertaken over the past decade to help forests survive wildfires, several specialists say.
The West's forests are adapted to deal with certain types of wildfires, researchers note. But since the mid-1980s, they add, some of these forests have experienced an increasing number of fires to which they are not well adapted.
Many researchers trace this shift in part to climate change.
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Sunday 22 May 2011 at 01:14 am
Hybrid Moves Into Housing
By Brenda Krueger Huffman
(Chicago) – Recycling - Check. Conserving energy - Check. Hybrid car - Next car, check. Hybrid home system - What? Yes, it’s here. Hybrid has seamlessly, successfully moved into housing.
Safety Power, Inc. was initially started to provide homes with back up power. The company quickly grew to include renewable energy options and advising commercial and industrial clients with electrical conservation. Recently the company has come full circle and began marketing a new more capable type of renewable energy system for homes.
The award winning firm was voted one of the “Top 5 Sustainable Product Companies in Illinois” and continues to grow its residential client base in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Safety Power also serves larger firms on the national level.
Robert Brazzale, President of Safety Power, a master electrician turned entrepreneur, began Safety Power in 2007. An avid member of Local First Chicago, Rob believes in assisting sustaining local economies with green collar jobs and belongs to many green orientated groups in Chicago and around the country.
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Tuesday 29 March 2011 at 11:12 am
Are electric car makers missing the trick?
by Martin Ott
I believe that electric car makers may be driving us all down the road that may result in the same sort of technology failures that we have seen in the past.
I'm not referring to the Sinclair scooter here but cast your mind back to the débâcle of Betamax v VHS home recording systems. The eventual winner was the technically inferior VHS but the battle was not resolved until innumerable consumers had paid out for worthless Betamax systems. Back in the 70's a similar conflict occurred over audio systems when America fell in love with the 8 track tape system that moved magnetic tape in a loop over the player head at a high speed resulting in a better sound. The world market finally dictated that the audio cassette was the way to go but not until millions of consumers had been lumbered with home and in-car systems that went down the technological cul de sac.
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Tuesday 29 March 2011 at 10:57 am
by Suresh Varma
The Theni Wind Farm project was developed by CLP India Pvt. Ltd., one of the major wind farm project developers in India. Located in the south western part of Tamilnadu, a southern state of the country, the facility consists of 60 Vestas V82 geared wind turbines. As recognition of its contribution towards the successful execution of this wind power project SGS received Vestas award.
Each turbine at the wind farm has a capacity of 1.65 MW IEC Class IIB machine with a blade diameter of 82 m. After a six-month long completion period, the Theni Wind Farm was officially opened in May, 2010.
Acting as contract engineer during project execution, SGS was responsible for ensuring that all activities were carried out at the site by the contractor in line with the final agreement. In doing so, SGS supervised the quality of construction works, the fulfillment of the technical parameters and kept the project within the scheduled time and contracted price.
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Tuesday 29 March 2011 at 10:37 am
E.ON uses PPC's Broadband Powerline technology in smart grid project
by Power Plus Communications
Mannheim - Power Plus Communications AG (PPC), the leading provider of Broadband Powerline Communication systems (BPL) for smart grids has taken on a key role within an E.ON smart grid project to facilitate an extension of Cisco's Connected Grid Solution.
E.ON Westfalen Weser AG is currently trialing smart grid technology within its network of 1.3 million inhabitants and PPC's proven medium voltage BPL solution has connected substations in the project using the existing power grid.
Using BPL technology, standard compliant and IP-based data transfer rates of 5-30 Mbit/s can easily be achieved via the medium voltage cable itself. Within E.ON’s smart grid project, PPC's medium voltage technology facilitated the extension of Cisco's Connected Grid Solution. The Cisco smart grid Router and Switches used in the project are highly compatible with BPL networks, providing a real cost advantage over fiber optic networks – which can be much more expensive where cables are not pre-existing.
By combining their technology at Westfalen Weser, PPC and Cisco have ensured the evolution of fast and efficient smart grids which are controlled on an IP basis. This increases the reliability of the power grid, fulfills regulations and drives down costs. At the same time this modern smart grids communications technology makes it possible to effectively integrate renewable energy into the grid.
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Saturday 19 February 2011 at 09:02 am
By Brenda Krueger Huffman
Chicago – Perhaps moving to the center is where we all need to be politically on the environment and effective spending compatibility. Not all green technology is crazy, and not all business profit or government expenditure is evil.
Even if you do not believe in man caused climate change, we can all agree leaving a cleaner planet and a more fiscally responsible government for the next generation is preferable to not doing so.
Perhaps green technology can be cost effective, and government fiscal responsibility may realistically include affordable green initiatives. Honest “life cycle analysis” and “life cycle cost analysis” study considerations should be a political compromise starting point both the left and the right can embrace.
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Thursday 27 January 2011 at 11:05 am
Global warming: Impact of receding snow and ice surprises scientists
By Pete Spotts
Washington - A long-term retreat in snow and ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere is weakening the ability of these seasonal cloaks of white to reflect sunlight back into space and cool global climate, according to a study published this week.
Indeed, over the past 30 years, the cooling effect from this so-called cryosphere – essentially areas covered by snow and ice at least part of the year – appears to have weakened at more than twice the pace projected by global climate models, the research team conducting the work estimates.
The study, which appeared online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience, represents a first cut at trying to calculate from direct measurements the impact of climate change on the Northern Hemisphere's cryosphere. The study was conducted by a team of federal and university scientists who examined data gathered between 1979 and 2008.
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Wednesday 05 January 2011 at 10:38 pm
By Mark Clayton
Washington - Setting the stage for a New Year battle royal between Congress and the White House over greenhouse gas emissions, the US Environmental Protection Agency Thursday laid out a timetable for the nation's largest carbon emitters – power plants and refineries – to begin curbing those pollutants.
Republicans have said all year that they plan to pull out all the stops to keep the EPA from phasing in greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations beginning in 2011, saying they would damage the energy industry, raise prices, and cost jobs.
Rep. Fred Upton (R) of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has said he opposes the regulations on greenhouse gases and indicated he would lead efforts to revoke EPA regulations in the next Congress. The new regulations, he says, will likely lead to the shut down of coal-fired power plants.
"To protect jobs and fortify our energy security, we should be working to bring more power online, not shutting plants down," Mr. Upton said in a statement. "We are woefully unprepared to meet our nation's growing energy demands, yet this administration's 'none of the above' energy policy will do nothing but cost jobs, make energy more expensive, and increase our dependence on foreign sources of energy."
Environmentalists lauded the EPA's move.
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Monday 13 December 2010 at 03:21 am
By Warren Richey,
Washington - The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a major environmental lawsuit that seeks to force six electric power companies to cap and reduce their carbon-dioxide emissions to fight global warming.
The lawsuit - filed in 2004 by eight states, the City of New York, and three land trusts - targets what it claims are the largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the United States and among the largest in the world.
It seeks a judicial order declaring that the fossil-fueled power plants are a "public nuisance." It also seeks a judicial order capping the plants' greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the plants to adopt a schedule of reduced emissions in future years.
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