Breakthrough in Fracking Wastewater Cleanup

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Oil Price Daily News Update


Contentious Bulgarian Pipeline Dead, Moscow Less Than Pleased

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT

Well, it’s official. The Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, intended to provide a Thracian bypass for Russian oil to avoid the increasingly congested Turkish Straits tanker traffic, is officially dead. Says who? Bulgaria’s Finance Minister, Simeon Diankov. According to Diankov, Bulgaria has paid up all of its expenses associated with contingency planning for the project – in 2009, $6.37 million, in 2010 – $1.73 million. For 2011, Bulgaria’s share was $224,000, and all expenses have been paid in full. Speaking to reporters,…

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The Strange Case of U.S. Hydropower Legislation

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:24 PM PDT

A measure is on its way to the U.S. Senate that proposes easing some regulations for hydroelectric dams in western states. The bill passed easily through the Republican House of Representatives, but faced some objection from lawmakers who complained it would skirt necessary environmental review. A legacy of partisan rancor on Capitol Hill suggests the bill might not stand a chance of seeing the light of day, however. Either the legislation contains some truly objectionable issues, or a policy of “no” is truly keeping even the smallest of energy…

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Are Americans Becoming Inured to High Gas Prices

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:21 PM PDT

With the EU’s debt crisis and the Iranian confrontation relatively quiescent, attention has turned to the incessant increase in U.S. gasoline prices. The Capitol Hill gas station, where at least some members of Congress fill up, is currently selling regular for $4.49 a gallon. If you prefer to do business at the Watergate Exxon it will set you back $5.39 for regular. For a real taste of the future, then be sure to come in a full-sized SUV with a big V-8 and a 33 gallon gas tank – a fill-up will only be $188 for premium. Before we get to what is…

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Breakthrough in Fracking Wastewater Cleanup?

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:18 PM PDT

A fortuitous laboratory accident could lead to a solution to one of the biggest problems associated with natural gas fracking. The prolific yet highly controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing involves pumping large amounts of water, chemicals and sand into underground shale rock formations in order to break up the rock and free trapped and otherwise inaccessible pockets of natural gas.  This process results in a great deal of contaminated wastewater. Up until now approaches to deal with this issue have mostly been variations of the same…

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How to Slash Domestic Gas Consumption by a Factor of Five

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:10 PM PDT

If you are on-board with the sentiment that we should strive to reduce the amount of energy we consume as a means to relieve pressure on a world suffering impending energy scarcity, then you probably want to know how one might proceed. In this post, I will describe the single-biggest energy-saving strategy I have employed in my home in the past five years, which slashed my natural gas consumption by almost a factor of five. Last week, I described how to read gas meters, in the process discovering how onerous pilots lights can be. As a result of…

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India Could Become the First Large Casualty of the US Sanctions on Iran

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:52 PM PDT

In an attempt to force economic pressure on Iran due to the conflict over its nuclear regime, the US has imposed sanctions demanding that countries significantly reduce trade of Iranian oil during the first half of 2012. Failure to comply with these sanctions by an organisation will result in them being banned from the US banking system. India has failed to reduce its purchases of Iranian oil, and has therefore failed to comply with the US sanctions. President Obama may now be forced to impose his sanctions on one of the largest economic powers…

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Chile Power Companies Trash Renewable Energy

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:51 PM PDT

Okay. Imagine your country has 2,653 miles of southern Pacific coastline, but only averages 110 miles east to west. And your Atacama desert, one of the hottest places on earth, receives one of the highest concentrations of solar energy in the world, measured in watts per square foot. Wind power? Well, along those Pacific beaches, once you shoo off the surfers, along the country’s southern coast are two sections of land buffeted by winds known by mariners for centuries as the “Roaring Forties” and “Furious Fifties,”…

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Asian Supergrid to Connect Japan, China, Russia, Korea, and Mongolia

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:47 PM PDT

The Desertec Foundation has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) to plan, promote, and implement an Asian supergrid which will be vital for the expansion of renewable energy in the continent. The Desertec Foundation is a global civil society initiative which aims to help shape a sustainable future for humanity. Its Desertec Concept plans to generate sustainable power around the globe in regions where sources of renewable energy are at their most abundant. The JREF was founded following the…

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US Economists Unite to Ask Obama to Support EU Carbon Scheme for Airlines

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:45 PM PDT

The European Union has plans to introduce legislation that will limit the amount of carbon emissions that airlines can emit. The new laws will force airlines to change the way they operate, or face paying penalties for the release of greenhouse gases. President Obama has been opposed to these plans to include airlines in the EU’s emissions trading scheme from the start. Even though the scheme is designed to reduce carbon emissions and reports have shown that it will not affect the profits of US airlines. The US has claimed that the plan is…

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FERC: Washington’s Reluctant Hero

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:43 PM PDT

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is trying to avoid being drawn into the political battle over the regulatory agenda being pursued by the US EPA against fossil fuel emissions in the wave of new environmental regulations being issued by the agency.   US EPA knows it is only a few votes away from being overturned in the US Senate where even Democrats running for re-election want desperately to avoid having to take a stand on this issue. Industry trade groups, state regulators and industry leaders that see the EPA regulatory push…

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