As Mitt Romney and Barack Obama intensify the showdown over tax breaks for wind energy, the US state of Iowa, home to a significant proportion of US energy jobs, is the key battle venue.The heart of the issue is the wind production tax credit, the aim of which is to strengthen the market for turbines and towers. The credit will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts to extend it.The black-and-white breakdown of the issue is that proponents of the tax breaks fear that in the absence of these breaks, the jobs will disappear, while critics…

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Oil demand in the United States was stronger in May compared with the same time last year. The U.S. Energy Department, in its monthly report, found consumption rose for the first time in more than a year. Meanwhile, onshore activity in the United States increased in terms of drilling activity, though field production in Alaska continued to decline. With political debates stirring over the direction of U.S. energy policy, the numbers suggests a general expansion in the domestic energy sector is underway despite the rhetoric. House leaders in…

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The Q2:2012 economic reports are in and—to use a technical term—the results suck!  GDP growth has slowed to 1.5%, unemployment rates remain stubbornly high at 8.2% over average nationwide but the damage to youth, black and Hispanic and those with less than college educations are horrible.  Clearly we need an economic shot in the arm.How could there possibly be any good news on the horizon?The good news is the big shift in energy is a complete reversal of fortunes for North America and the US economy in particular. Less than…

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Engineers have used inexpensive materials to create a solar cell certified at a world-record 7.0 percent efficiency.The research paves the way for solar cells that can be fabricated on flexible substrates in the same way newspapers are rapidly printed in mass quantities. (Credit: University of Toronto)The solar cell represents a 37 percent increase in efficiency over the previous certified record.A breakthrough in the development of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films allowed the researchers from the University of Toronto and King Abdullah University…

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It is not proper to speak of “climate skeptics,” since all scientists (including we social scientists) are skeptical of all data and theories every day, all the time, and are willing to change our position if enough information and analysis emerges to challenge the old paradigms. But beyond just skeptics, there are always in any debate “contrarians,” people who challenge a theory with little more on their side than radical doubt and deep suspicion, and who unsystematically latch on to every little thing that the theory hasn’t…

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In accordance with President Obama’s Executive Order, all Federal Agencies must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the year 2020, this includes National Parks, such as Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay.In order to achieve this target, and also to reduce the $700,000 a year fuel bill that resulted from running the existing pair of diesel generators to power the island, a two year old plan has finally been realized to install a solar farm at the prison to provide all its electricity.Alcatraz now boasts its own 307kW photovoltaic…

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For a variety of reasons there still exist many untapped oil fields in the world. Those reasons may be political, technological, geological, or economical; but as time goes on they are being resolved to the extent that some huge fields are now becoming available for exploration and production.The Jubilee Field in Ghana is estimated to contain 1.8 billion barrels of crude. Tullow oil discovered the field in 2007 and is now working to develop its potential. In 2011 it produced 66,000 barrels a day.The Chicontepec Basin in Mexico is estimated to contain…

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After years of delays the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) looks as though it will finally go ahead with plans to build the Middle East’s largest oil refinery.Five international engineering firms have submitted tenders to win the project management and consultancy contract for the Al-Zour refinery, including US-based Foster Wheeler and Fluor Corp, Australia’s WorleyParsons, France’s Technip, and Britain’s Amec. The government is expected to announce the results next month, a senior executive from KNPC told Reuters.“The…

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Many countries in South America are located in global hotspots, and with the continents population expected to grow 72% by 2035, climate change is set to have a significant impact on the region. For their part they in the battle against climate change they are developing large amounts of renewable energy capacity.Hydropower was generally the renewable energy of choice, and there is a large capacity installed through South America, however although there still remains a large amount of untapped potential, it is mostly located in remote regions with…

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Australia’s Foregin Minister, Bob Carr, has announced that Australia recently signed an agreement with the UAE to supply the Gulf state with uranium for the forseeable future. The deal states that Australia do not have to take the radioactive waste back once the uranium has been used.Carr explained that the agreement “is a commitment by the Australian government” which “sets up a framework under which we will become a reliable supplier of uranium to the UAE.”This agreement has been signed just two weeks after the Federal…

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