With natural gas prices at such low levels many people are attracted to focussing on natural gas to supply the majority of US energy, believing that the domestically produced product will protect them from global oil price fluctuations, and ensure energy security in the future. However focussing on one source of energy unbalances the US energy sector and puts the economy at risk in the long term.Energy policies must take a long term view and promote fuel diversity rather than choose a favourite energy technology to support. An energy strategy that…

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Despite crude oil already trading on the world markets at a historically high level of $113 a barrel, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been warned by its internal research team that in the next decade oil prices could climb to a permanent level double that which we are experiencing at the moment.The increase could have a dramatic effect on global trade of all kinds, as the report, entitled The Future of Oil: Geology v Technology, warns that the prices will be “uncharted territory for the world economy, which has never experienced…

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Objects with piezoelectric properties can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, meaning that electricity can be cleanly produced just by thought movement. Scientists have been trying to find a way to use this phenomenon to create large amounts of electricity for decades, but most materials that can be used to create piezoelectric devices are highly toxic, somewhat limiting their widespread use.Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a method to create electricity via a piezoelectric…

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Mexico produces a large volume of greenhouse gases, and suffers from severe air pollution in its large cities, some of which, such as Mexico City,  have the worst air particle pollution in North America.In an effort to reduce the countries carbon emissions Mexico is looking to invest more to develop its renewable energy sector. At the beginning of 2012 President Calderón signed the Mexican Global Climate Change Program. The progam pledged $70 million over five years as part of an agreement to cooperate with the US on stimulating the…

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Already the largest oil exporter in the world, state-owned Saudi Aramco plans to significantly expand refining capacity and for the first time ever to venture into oil trading, which could render it the world’s largest integrated energy company; but mounting security threats pose a serious challenge to these ambitious goals. Aramco Trading, which opened in January, plans to move 1.5 million barrels per day in physical oil and gas, paper, futures and derivatives trading. The move coincides with Aramco’s goal of doubling its refining…

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To hear Carlos Pascual, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on international energy tell it, “The United States values Canada as its most important energy partner. There has never been a doubt about that. It is true now and it will continue to be true in the future.” A year ago at the Gas & Oil Expo and Conference North America 2011 the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, told his audience, “The United States and Canada have the closest energy relationship in the world. And the U.S. sees Canada as a…

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A curtain is slowly getting drawn back on the death of Shokri Ghanem, the former head of the Libyan oil industry found floating in the Danube River last month. Rumors have surfaced that Ghanem was perhaps speaking with former rebels curious about what he might’ve known about deals with foreign entities that made the Gadhafi family rich from the country’s oil reserves. While nothing is certain, talks of a global energy mafia and investigations into the various dealings of energy companies working in Libya certainly make, at the very least, a compelling…

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