Archive for September, 2009
Solar Power Without Solar Panels
If you don’t like the aesthetics of bulky solar panels on your roof, there’s now an alternative: you can buy shingles, tiles, and other building materials that have photovoltaic cells built into them, reports the New York Times.
These “building-integrated photovoltaics” are available in a range of styles, from terra cotta tiles for the Southwest to [...]
Predicted Coldest Winter in 10 Years Could Raise Heating Oil Prices in the Northeast
Bloomberg.com reported Monday on the likelihood of an extremely cold winter ahead in the Northeast. Matt Rogers, a forecaster at Commodity Weather Group cited a weak El Niño weather pattern as the reason the Northeast may see its coldest winter in a decade. “Weak El Niños are notorious for cold and snowy weather on the [...]
Read More »Better Place Electric Vehicle Company Follows Cell Phone Buying Model for Cars and Mileage
Better Place is one of the world’s leading electric-vehicle (EV) providers. Next year the company will conduct its first cross-country road test, leading up to the launch of a new line of consumer-ready vehicles in Israel, Denmark, and Australia.
According to founder and chief executive Shai Agassi, who appeared on The Colbert Report last Tuesday (watch [...]
Could Cap and Trade Lead to the Next Financial Bubble?
The over-speculation and wild financial risks that have contributed to the current economic crisis are looming large in the minds of several senators as they weigh the new carbon cap and trade bill, reports the New York Times. The Senate is examining the proposed regulations of over-the-counter (OTC) derivative contracts, which, in the opinion of [...]
Read More »JP Morgan Increases Forecast of 2010 Crude Oil Prices
On Monday JP Morgan increased its 2010 crude oil price forecast fractionally, from $67.75 to $68.75. Though an increase, the modest change reflects the large surplus of production (supply) over consumption (demand)—OPEC alone has 5 million barrels per day of surplus capacity. Even with refineries reducing output of distillates, such as heating oil and gasoline, [...]
Read More »CEO of Saudi Aramco: Oil Demand Will Rise, But Not Soon
In an interview aired Monday, the CEO of Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, said that “it will take time to make up for the millions of barrels of lost [oil] demand that we have experienced.”
Khalid Al-Falih, who studied in the United States and has an engineering degree from Texas A&M University, is a 30-year [...]
Heating Oil Price Trend for September 30: +2¢
A weak dollar led to a rise in the price of crude and heating oil yesterday, a rise that continued this morning in spite of the API’s report of increases in the inventory of crude and heating oil. Good news from European stock markets and reports of increased demand in China pointed to a global [...]
Read More »Lower Consumption, not Technology, Will Solve Climate Problem
Last Tuesday, world leaders convened in New York City to discuss the unpleasant prospect of global warming. Much of the day was given to the US and China, the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, who vowed to improve emissions standards and promote renewable-energy technology. Implicit in this promise was the belief that implementing new [...]
Read More »Heating Oil Theft Reported in Central PA
A thief stole 20 gallons of heating oil from a home in Perry County, Pennsylvania, PennLive.com reported on Saturday. According to police, the thief snuck into the homeowner’s basement and cut into a copper pipe in order to siphon the heating oil.
While uncommon, heating oil theft does occur from time to time. Read HeatingOil.com’s [...]
Climate Summit in Copenhagen Depends on Fate of US Climate Bill
As health care reform continues to dominate the Senate’s time, energy reformers are expressing concern that the Waxman-Markey climate bill may not be dealt with in time for the year’s biggest climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December. The meeting of world leaders in Denmark aims to reach a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, [...]
Read More »Qaddafi Speaks in NYC, Backed by Libya’s Oil Reserves
He walked into the room and up onto the dais and looked expectantly at the audience for a moment. When he recognized that no one intended to stand, he made a slight wave of disgust and proceeded to sit in the wrong chair even after the interviewer gestured he was to sit in the other. [...]
Read More »Profile of an Oil Producer: Libya
Libya is located in northern Africa, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Bordered by Egypt to the east, Algeria to the west, and Niger, Chad, and Sudan to the south, Libya occupies a strategic position, near the intersection of Southern Europe, Islamic Africa, and the Middle East, and touching on non-Islamic Africa [...]
Read More »Lower Heating Oil Prices Bring Relief, but Many Still Unsure About Price-Lock Contracts
To lock in prices, or to not lock in prices….
That is the question tens of thousands of heating oil consumers are asking themselves as they begin to prepare their winter budgets. It’s only a matter of time until the price of oil starts its traditional end-of-year climb, making this the best time to lock in [...]
Heating Oil Price Trend for September 29: +2¢
After last week’s $8 drop in the price of crude oil, both crude and heating oil made small recoveries in yesterday’s trading. The rise could be short-lived, though, as the API’s inventory report comes out this afternoon and will be followed by the EIA’s report tomorrow. Analysts are predicting increases in the stockpiles of both [...]
Read More »Nigerian Tensions Cool, Oil Production Climbs
Reuters reported Sunday on the latest thaw in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. More than 80 percent of rebels who have disrupted Nigerian oil production over the last three years have accepted amnesty, according to a former rebel commander. President Umaru Yar’Adua offered an unconditional pardon back in June to all militants in the Niger Delta [...]
Read More »Texas Governor Rick Perry Leads Stiff Opposition to Climate Bill
The Waxman-Markey climate change and energy bill has certainly garnered its share of dissenters. But none are as fiery as a vocal group of Texans.
On Sept. 22 – the same day that President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China pledged to take action against climate change at a UN conference in New York – [...]
NPR’s Marketplace Covers Debate Over Pre-Buy Heating Oil Contracts
If anyone is keeping score, those who pre-buy heating oil before the winter starts to save money are winning: for 13 out of the last 15 years, the price of heating oil has risen during the cold season. Matt Cota, who heads the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, asserted this fact during an interview on National [...]
Read More »New Investment Fund Allows Short Selling of Oil
Seeking Alpha reported on September 24 that a new “short oil” investment fund had been launched: United States Short Oil Fund. This fund, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange, is intended to “deliver a return inverse to that of near-term crude oil futures,” which means that the fund looks to make a [...]
Read More »Profile of an Oil Producer: Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, tucked up in Africa’s western curve, is the continent’s leading oil producer. It is here – in the Niger delta where a web of shallow waterways spills into the Gulf of Guinea – where international oil companies have set up shop, despite being generally ill-received by local tribes [...]
Read More »US Grants $550 Million to Renewable Energy Projects
On September 22, in an ongoing effort to use stimulus money to support the creation and production of alternative energy, the US federal government awarded $550 million in grants to develop renewable energy projects, according to a Reuters report. The goal of the grants is to help fulfill President Barack Obama’s commitment to double US [...]
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