With oil reaching $135 / barrel, Oil Drum readership exceeding 30,000 unique visitors per day and many wild stories circulating in the MSM as to why oil prices are so high this post strives to explain why oil prices are rising exponentially.

Some researchers are looking beyond our planet to the night sky. It turns out, there's a way that we can generate electricity from the moon -- thanks to the tides created by the gravitational pull the moon exerts on Earth's oceans. The Earth is tugged by the sun and moon. The sun dwarfs the moon in size, but the moon is much closer to Earth -- around 239,000 miles away, compared to the distance of 93 million miles between the sun and the Earth. Proximity trumps size when it comes to tidal movement here on Earth: The moon exerts more than twice as much gravitational force on Earth than the sun does

These groups have spent a combined $50 million lobbying lawmakers, probably more, according to their own reports to Congress.

Nuclear energy is often touted by its supporters as being cheap, clean and plentiful. It's often stated in articles on the subject that Patrick Moore, purported co-founder of Greenpeace, is in favor of increased nuclear plants. In fact, there are about 30 new American nuclear plants currently on the drawing board. So, does nuclear live up to the claims of its supporters? Well, for one, it might not be as cheap as we've been told. Two reactors planned for Levy County, Florida may clock in at more than twice their original estimate at $10 billion. You can install a lot of distributed solar capacity for that kind of money. In fact Moody's Investor Services gave an estimate in October of $6,000 per kilowatt that Jim Hempstead (a senior credit officer at Moody's) stated in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal has been "blown by" after reviewing recent estimates from a handful of "experienced different nuclear operators".

Now there are some new twists and turns—essentially, three very positive developments that would not have been generally anticipated a decade ago. First, silicon-based solar technology has decoupled from the semiconductor industry and is achieving steady cost reductions, so that those following PV discern a kind of Moore’s law at work. In 2005, production of silicon for solar cells already surpassed production of silicon for semiconductors.

The need for large scale renewable energy sources is underlined by the global warming due to increasing CO2 levels. CO2 is an unavoidable by-product of the energy generation process using any kind of fossil fuel.

Leading stakeholders from across the EU met today with Consumer Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, and Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to reinforce and promote the rights of EU energy consumers. Stakeholders gave their support to the process launched by the Commission to better implement these rights and better inform consumers. The basis for this process will be the Citizens' Energy Forum, building on the measures proposed in the "Third Energy Package".

IN WONKISH circles, energy efficiency used to be known as “the fifth fuel”: it can help to satisfy growing demand for energy just as surely as coal, gas, oil or uranium can. But in these environmentally conscious times it has been climbing the rankings. Whereas the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, and nuclear plants generate life-threatening waste, the only by-product of energy efficiency is wealth, in the form of lower fuel bills and less spending on power stations, pipelines and so forth. No wonder that wonks now tend to prefer “negawatts” to megawatts as the best method of slaking the world's growing thirst for energy.

When a market opening takes place, experts focus their analysis on its macroeconomic consequences: new business framework, economies of scale, investment opportunities, you name it. However, like any other measure of the European Energy Policy, opening of the markets should also deliver environmental benefits, creating a more sustainable energy. I believe that this is the case, and I would like to share with you how, but also hear your comments. 

In summary, the Committee voted overwhelmingly 31-17 yesterday evening to approve the Commission's proposed electricity Directive, but has proposed amendments on the following key issues

Quite a few people believe that if there is a decline in oil production, we can make up much of the difference by increasing our use of electricity--more nuclear, wind, solar voltaic, geothermal or even coal. The problem with this model is that it assumes that our electric grid will be working well enough for this to happen. It seems to me that there is substantial doubt that this will be the case.

John McCain and more than a score of fellow Republicans called on the Environmental Protection Agency to scupper, or at least reconsider, the ethanol mandates passed in the last energy bill. The bill calls for a five-fold increase in U.S. ethanol production through 2022. President Bush reiterated the need for more “renewable fuels” in his Rose Garden climate speech last month.

All industrial activities have considerable impact on the environment. Emision, wastes and use of energy result in pollution and depletion of natural resources. Thus, sustainable development  stands for progress.Maintenance is an important part for improving life cycle, energy, safety and envionmental management. Maintenance to-day goes together with Quality Management, Environmental Management, Occupational Health and Safety Management and Social Responsibility. We have to develop Maintenance for energ-saving issues!

In October, Sawyer paid US $25 000 for a brand-new black 2008 Toyota Prius. But compared with his RAV4 EV, it was a gas guzzler, going only 1 or 2 km electrically before switching on its internal combustion engine. So Sawyer wrote a check for the car, then drove it directly to Hybrids Plus [see our sidebar,"Getting on the Grid"], also in Boulder, where he wrote another check, for $32 000—to have his shiny new Prius converted into a PHEV. (The radio-telemetry business has been very good to Sawyer.)

It does not happen often that I agree with the American Enterprise Institute but Steven Hayward’s analysis of the “real cost of tackling climate change” in the Wall Street Journal of 28 April is spot on: an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will have dramatic implications for our way of life. Hayward has at least the courage (which cannot be said for our politicians) to tell the public what this 80% cut will mean for citizens’ daily lives. In not one political document have I ever seen a serious impact assessment of the 80% target. The fear of being the bearer of bad news is one which characterises all policymakers (even the ones who know that the climate crisis will hit hard).

Remember when you were a kid and your parents made a big fuss about turning off the light when you left a room? Who knew that, besides adding to the monthly electric bill, keeping a single 60-watt lightbulb lit for 12 hours uses as much as 60 liters of water? According to researchers at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, in Blacksburg, Va., fossil-fuel-fired thermoelectric power plants consume more than 500 billion L of fresh water per day in the United States alone.

Only recently have we begun to realize that a renewable energy future does not inevitably mean a decentralized energy future. Indeed, right now the fastest growing part of the renewable energy industry may be the large solar central power systems being built in remote locations in the southwest to serve customers in Los Angeles, and the huge wind farms being built in the Midwest to serve customers in Chicago.

Cable company Nexans has been awarded a contract by StatoilHydro ASA to supply the submarine cables for the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm project, located around 20 kilometer (km) offshore from Sheringham, on England's north Norfolk coast. The contract scope includes engineering, procurement and construction of two 22km, 145 kilovolt (kV) XLPE submarine export cables, and a spare cable with associated equipment. An optical fiber cable will also be included.