German Nuclear Plans Reveal Deep Flaws

Ten months ago, in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) disaster two months earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany would close all of its 19 NPPs between 2015 and 2022. It was an audacious move, as Germany’s NPPs produce about 28 percent of the country’s electricity, but Merkel’s government felt it was necessary in order to forestall a similar fate overtaking one of the nation’s nuclear installations. Amid the glare of worldwide publicity, one fact largely overlooked…

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Saudi Arabia has pledged to provide Yemen with 100% of its domestic fuel needs for the months of April and May as the country descends into chaos which threatens to spill over the Saudi border; but the $1.2 million petroleum package from the House of Saud is likely to be hijacked by Yemen’s battling elite as the struggle for patronage spirals out of control. Yemen is perhaps Saudi Arabia’s greatest immediate concern as it has not been able to find a viable solution for containing a dangerous power vacuum in the wake of the deal that…

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With global warming driving down the demand for natural gas as a home heating fuel and natural gas drillers producing record amounts, an oversupply situation has developed quickly. Stocks of natural gas are rising. As a result natural gas prices have fallen way below profitability and drillers are scrambling to cut back production.The natural gas surplus that is in our underground storage facilities may be full before fall, forcing producers to slow production until a market for the gas can be found. There are only so many things we can do with…

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Few developments will have a greater impact on regional dynamics in the Western Balkans than the race to build Russia’s South Stream Pipeline as the Western Nabucco Pipeline falls flat.The countries of the Western Balkans are highly dependent on Russia for gas, with Serbia getting around 85% of its gas from Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina over 90%, and Macedonia 100%. Croatia, slated to join the EU next year, is much less reliant on Russian gas (less than 40%).  The South Stream pipeline, slated to be operational in 2015, will diversify Russia’s…

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On Thursday, once again Obama tried to push a vote for slashing the tax subsidies in the oil and gas industry, and once again the Republicans just laughed at him as they threw it out.Obama is under pressure in this election year to control the surging gas prices, and hoped that his vote to reduce oil subsidies would help. He stated that, “the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits — profits that go up every time folks pull into a gas station,” and “on top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting…

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According to Pike Research, the market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets, the global market for thermal and biological waste-to-energy technologies is set to reach at least $6.2 billion in 2012 and grow to $29.2 billion by 2022.They estimate that in 2011 the world generated over 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste, and that this figure will dramatically increase over the next 10 years. In an attempt to reduce landfill use, and solve our impending energy crisis, waste-to-energy…

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Marubeni Corp. of Japan, POSCO, and STX, both of Korea, will buy 30 percent of an Australian iron ore project for 3.6 billion Australian dollars (AUS$), adding to a long list of Asian companies that have invested in Australia’s iron ore in an attempt to secure supplies for the future when demand is expected to be strong due to rapid urbanization.They are investing in the Roy Hill project, located in the Pilbara iron belt and owned by Hancock Prospecting. Marubeni will purchase 12.5 percent for AUS$1.5 billion, POSCO will purchase 15 percent for…

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