Climate change and energy update

Shell Gas Plant To Be Biggest Floating Object Ever

Texas drought has farmers on the ropes. West Texas farmers and ranchers struggle to survive the worst drought in the region since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Detroit’s Rebound Is Built on Smaller Cars

Facing Up to End of 'Easy Oil'

Using steam to extract oil isn't a new idea. Chevron has been using the method to recover heavy oil at its Kern River field in Bakersfield, Calif., since the 1960s. That field yielded less than 10% of its oil using traditional methods. Using steam injection, Chevron is now on its way to pumping as much as 80% of the crude.
The Wafra project, however, is far more of a challenge than traditional steam projects. As in most of the Middle East, the oil at Wafra is trapped in a thick layer of limestone that also contains minerals that can build up inside pipes and corrode equipment.
An even bigger challenge is getting the two crucial elements for generating steam: water and a source of energy to boil it. Most successful steam projects are in places with easy access to relatively pure water and a cheap fuel source, usually natural gas. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have little of either.
With no fresh-water sources in the Arabian desert, Chevron has been forced to use salt water found in the same underground reservoirs as the oil. That water is full of contaminants that must be removed before it can be boiled and injected into the ground.
Finding the energy to boil the water will be even tougher. Chevron could use oil instead of natural gas—literally burning oil to produce oil—but that would burn profits, too. So the company likely will be forced to import natural gas from overseas, an expensive process that involves chilling it to turn it into a liquid, then shipping it thousands of miles.
Some experts are shaking their heads.
"They're in trouble," says Robert Toronyi, a retired Chevron engineer who now serves as chief operating officer for Quantum Reservoir Impact, a Houston-based consulting firm. He says the project is so challenging that it will be hard for Chevron to turn much of a profit.

Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output

Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink

Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.
The shock rise means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius – which scientists say is the threshold for potentially "dangerous climate change" – is likely to be just "a nice Utopia", according to Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA. It also shows the most serious global recession for 80 years has had only a minimal effect on emissions, contrary to some predictions.
Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009, according to estimates from the IEA regarded as the gold standard for emissions data.

The Massive Sea Change Happening In The American Energy Industry

U.S. Energy Consumption Is Well Below Peak, And That's Not A Good Thing

Germany to scrap nuclear power by 2022

The Nuclear Industry Just Took Its Second Devastating Blow This year

Ignorant fool: Sarah Palin bus tour starts, No bus, but there are motorcycles.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin rides into a motorcycle rally at the Pentagon wearing black leather and declaring, 'I love that smell of the emissions!' It's an untraditional start for such an event, which is usually highly orchestrated.