Institutional Investor (July 30)
“As the planet becomes more crowded and as many of its inhabitants enjoy ever higher standards of living, the stresses on our economy and environment will deepen. The global consumer class is forecast to grow by 3 billion in the next 30 years. To stave off unwanted outcomes affecting global stability, we will have to make fundamental changes in the ways we approach energy, infrastructure, development, agriculture, health care and social safety nets.”
Tags: Agriculture, Consumers, Crowded, Development, Economy, Energy, Environment, Health care, Infrastructure, Planet, Safety nets, Stability, Standard of living, Stresses
Washington Post (July 18)
“Energy politics underlie the explosive Ukraine crisis, as Europeans weigh U.S. calls for tougher sanctions against the ability of Russia to disrupt gas supplies this winter.” Despite the roll out of stronger penalties by Washington, the Europeans were dragging their feet, “a sign that many of its governments fear Moscow’s energy leverage more than U.S. displeasure.” With the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight, Europe may finally be forced to react and Europeans “may be facing a cold winter.”
Tags: Crisis, Downing, Energy, Europe, Gas supplies, Leverage, Malaysian Airlines, Penalties, Politics, Russia, Sanctions, U.S., Ukraine, Washington, Winter
Euromoney (April Issue)
“Blackouts have become so widespread on the island of Mindanao that social-media users have taken to calling the energy secretary the secretary of darkness.” This highlights the need for infrastructure, not just in the Philippines, but throughout much of ASEAN where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates “infrastructure projects will require sustained annual investment of approximately $60 billion a year to 2020.” Banking giant HSBC believes “demand in Asia as a whole might reach $11.5 trillion by 2030.”
Tags: ADB, Asean, Asia, Blackouts, Energy, Infrastructure, Investment, Mindanao, Philippines, Social media, Widespread
The Economist (April 12)
Rising energy demand, is leading “two of the world’s rising industrial powers, India and China,… to look at the idea of building reactors that run on thorium.” More abundant than uranium, thorium is also less conducive to weapons use, minimizing the threat that it could be misused by rogue bomb makers. China already has over 400 people working on this, with plans for a working prototype reactor by 2015.
Tags: Abundant, Bomb, China, Demand, Energy, India, Industrial, Prototype, Reactor, Reactors, Thorium, Threat, Uranium, Weapons
Washington Post (March 25)
Supplying Europe with nearly a third of its natural gas, Russia seems to give incredible leverage. This is misleading. In 2013, “natural gas represented only 22 percent of Europe’s total energy consumption.” Moreover, Europe currently has significant stores, substitute sources and substitute fuels. “The message here is simpler: The dangers of a cutoff should not intimidate the West. They’re overrated.”
Tags: Cutoff, Energy, Europe, Leverage, Natural gas, Russia, Substitutes
Washington Post (March 6)
Russia’s energy stranglehold around Europe, which imports about a third of its fuel from Russia, must be loosened. “In the long term, Europe and Ukraine should continue to make their energy markets more flexible. Ukraine should consider building an LNG import terminal on the Black Sea, and the country must clean up its notoriously corrupt energy production sector.” Abundant supply in the U.S., Norway, Qatar and Eastern Europe can also play a role in freeing Europe “from Gazprom’s grip.”
Tags: Black Sea, Eastern Europe, Energy, Europe, Gazprom, Imports, LNG terminal, Norway, Qatar, Russia, U.S., Ukraine
Washington Post (June 12)
“The world is wildly off-target in its effort—if you can call it that—to limit global temperature rise to only 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels. Last year saw the highest level of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions ever, and the Earth is on a path to warm between 3.6 and 5.3 degrees, an outcome the World Bank recently warned would be very disruptive to human civilization.”
Tags: CO2, Earth, Emissions, Energy, Global warming, Temperature, World Bank
Institutional Investor (February Issue)
“Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is releasing huge new supplies of natural gas and promising to revive the American economy with cheap energy. The U.S. energy boom may “create 3 million jobs and boost economic growth by 1 to 1.5 percentage points a year between now and 2020.” Chemical and agricultural companies are also poised to benefit from the lower cost of raw materials and energy.
Barrons (January 30)
“Fracking is creating a new source of cheap energy. By 2020, the U.S. is expected to become the world’s largest energy producer. And the falling cost of natural gas (now about a third of Europe’s and less than a quarter of Japan’s) is attracting corporate attention. “After decades of outsourcing… companies like Apple, Caterpillar, Ford Motor, General Electric, and Whirlpool are making more of their goods on American soil again. It isn’t just U.S. companies that are drawn to our cheap energy, weak dollar, and stagnant wages. Samsung Electronics plans a $4 billion semiconductor plant in Texas, Airbus SAS is building a factory in Alabama, and Toyota wants to export minivans made in Indiana to Asia.”
Tags: Airbus, Apple, Caterpillar, Energy, Ford Motor, Fracking, General electric, Samsung, Toyota, U.S., Whirlpool
Washington Post (March 8)
Oil again crossed the $100 per barrel threshold. The price hike isn’t entirely bad. It may “spur conservation and stimulate domestic oil production, thus rendering the country less vulnerable to future oil shocks.” The 1973 oil crisis certainly did. The U.S. economy now “consumes less than half as much petroleum and natural gas per dollar of economic output as it did.” In fact, the Post would welcome higher gasoline taxes to encourage “sensible long-term conservation measures.”
Tags: Conservation, Energy, Oil, Tax
