Nikkei Asian Review (April 20)
“Transportation and logistics networks brought to a standstill by the recent earthquakes in Kyushu are starting to return to life, while utilities are striving to restore such crucial services as electricity and gas.” Kumamoto Airport has partially reopened and the shinkansen resumed service to Kagoshima, but nearly 100,000 households still lack running water and gas. In contrast, electricity has been restored to all but 6,500 households.
Tags: Airport, Earthquakes, Electricity, Gas, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Kyushu, Logistics, Service, Shinkansen, Transportation, Utilitie, Water
Financial Times (June 14)
“The slow pace of the shift away from fossil fuels is evidence of their compelling advantages in terms of cost and convenience. Tackling the threat of catastrophic climate change cannot rely on wind and solar power alone but requires multiple changes, including a shift within fossil fuels away from coal towards gas.”
Tags: Advantages, Climate change, Coal, Convenience, Cost, Fossil fuels, Gas, Shift, Solar, Wind power
The Economist (January 17)
“The fall in the price of oil and gas provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix bad energy policies.”Governments around the world should “seize” this chance.
Tags: Energy, Gas, Governments, Oil, Opportunity, Policies, Price
Wall Street Journal (July 8)
“Just when the Ukraine crisis makes clear that the need to diversify Europe’s gas supplies couldn’t be greater, Germany wants to ban fracking.” If Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks gets her way, “most forms of hydraulic fracking will be prohibited until 2021,” cutting Germans off from the estimated 2.3 trillion cubic meters of shale gas that lies within their border.
Forbes (June 16)
Putin’s oil deal with China should hardly rate a footnote. It amounts to “an annual average of $13 billion.” And rather than being a groundbreaking strategic alliance, “the deal with China underscores Russia’s core weakness. Despite its immense resources and highly educated population… Russia has a shockingly small economy that is amazingly dependent on the export of oil, gas and a few other natural resources.”
Tags: China, Deal, Dependent, Economy, Export, Gas, Natural resources, Oil, Putin, Resources, Strategic alliance, Weakness
The Economist (April 5)
“Reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas is possible—but it will take time, money and sustained political will.” With his belligerence and threats, Putin has indirectly done Europe’s leaders a favor by galvanizing their collective will. “They already knew what to do. They just didn’t want to do it.”
Tags: Belligerence, Dependence, Europe, Gas, Money, Putin, Russia, Threats, Time, Will
Euromoney (February Issue)
In Mexico, “cheaper electricity will lower manufacturing costs across the board, and the country could become a competitor in energy-intensive industries such as aluminum and steel production.” President Enrique Peña Nieto introduced sweeping reforms to liberalize the electricity and oil and gas sectors, prompting analysts to add “an extra 1.5% to future GDP growth rates as a direct consequence of the scope of these reforms and many say the risks are on the upside. Suppliers, contractors and a whole host of other industries will benefit.”
Tags: Aluminum, Analysts, Competitor, Contractors, Costs, Electricity, Enrique Peña Nieto, Gas, GDP, Manufacturing, Mexico, Oil, Reforms, Risks, Steel, Suppliers, Upside
Institutional Investor (August Issue)
“Investors confront the risk of a carbon bubble fueled by stranded oil and gas assets” should major governments decide to impose strict carbon legislation to combat climate change. One recent report asserts that “to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius between now and 2050, only 20 percent of the world’s fossil fuel reserves can be extracted and burned.”
Tags: Carbon, Climate change, Extraction, Fossil fuel, Gas, Global temperatures, Governments, Investors, Legislation, Oil, Reserves, Risk
Forbes (February 12, 2012)
U.S. utilities are rushing to close coal-fired plants, especially less efficient plants that are over 40 years old. “Coal now provides about half of this country’s electric generation. But the energy picture is changing with the pending environmental rules and the newfound wealth of inexpensive shale gas.” In 25 years, coal’s share could be halved and natural gas could account for about 40% of electricity needs.
Tags: Coal, Electricity, Environment, Gas, U.S.
LA Times (December 11)
Moving “back to an electric future for cars” may take a decade, but it could again spell the end of smog, which arose with gasoline-powered cars. “In 1900, more battery-powered electric cars ran on the streets of New York City than cars with internal combustion engines…. But the arrival in 1908 of Henry Ford’s Model T turned the gasoline-powered car into an affordable mass-market product and made the electric car a historical curiosity.”
Tags: Cars, Electric, Gas, Henry Ford, Smog
