Energy articles from March 2002

Energy archives from March 2002

Intentional ignorance (again).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 22, 2002... Although not an oft-used term "intentional ignorance" has some explanatory power in many situations. It's probably not oft-used because it's a "loaded" term and thus just too politically incorrect. So you ask, what have we seen during this...

The life cycle of oil: a new report analyzes health and environmental impacts. (Petroleum).(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2002... A new report published by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School captures the full spectrum of human health and environmental damages associated with our dependence on oil. "Oil: A Life Cycle Analysis of its...

EPRI comments on JAMA article on particulates.(Electric Power Research Institute and Journal of the American Medical Association published findings)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Recently, a major study on the effects of particulate air pollution (much of which originates from utilization of fossil fuels) was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI...

Rocky mountain oil: a RAND study looks at "viable" hydrocarbon resources in the Intermountain West. (Exploration).(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2002... A RAND study team (including Debra Knopman, Tom LaTourrette, Mark Bernstein, Paul Holtberg, Chris Pernin, Ben Vollaard, Mark Hanson, and Kathryn Anderson) recently released an interim report entitled, "Assessing Gas and Oil Resources in the...

Rate plots: M. King Hubbert said it would require an infinite amount of oil to keep up with fixed-percentage annual increases. Turns out he was right. (Supply).
March 22, 2002... Up through 1955, there was a widespread assumption that the U.S. oil industry would always be able to keep up with a consumption increase of 5 percent per year. In 1956, geophysicist M. King Hubbert pointed out that it would require an infinite...

Marketing greenhouse gases: trading emissions could become a thriving business. (Environment).
March 22, 2002... A new study we completed for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change evaluates the emerging market for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This market is driven in large part by ongoing negotiations of an international global climate change treaty...

Case study--TransAlta--HEW a hint of things to come. (Environment).(Company Profile)
March 22, 2002... TransAlta, Canada's largest non-regulated electricity generation company and second-largest single GHG emitter, plans to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases from its Canadian operations to zero by 2024. However, it did not commit to...

Case study--PG&E--Ontario Power Generation: the value of third-party review processes. (Environment).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Participation in the GHG market has been mostly voluntary to date. It is clear that market participants perceive some benefits from engaging in pre-compliance transactions. However, in the absence of clear rules governing trading, one should...

Cooling on conservation: relatively cheap prices make saving energy less attractive. (Efficiency).
March 22, 2002... Over the past three decades, since the first Arab oil embargo of 1973, there has been an unprecedented effort in this nation to conserve energy. This has been shown by laws and regulations designed to increase energy efficiency, and great...

End of "free ride" on C[O.sub.2] absorption. (Outlook).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... According to a new study, the world may soon see the end of the "free ride," in which carbon absorption by natural ecosystems ameliorates the rise in atmospheric C[O.sub.2] due to fossil fuel burning and loss of forest. The precise ecosystem...

Why are utilites pulling out of Europe? (Outlook).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... An ICF Consulting (www.icfconsulting. com) analysis (the European Wholesale Power Outlook 2002) has shown that the European power markets are about to experience a major upswing, just as a number of U.S.-owned power companies pack up and leave....

Power prices in 2000 a mixed bag. (Electricity).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... According to the latest available data from an Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA, 1401 New York Ave., NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005-2110; Tel: 202/628-8200; Fax: 202/ 628-8260) survey, power prices across the country in 2000 proved...

Urgent changes needed for U.S. power markets. (Electricity).
March 22, 2002... A series of twelve policy and structural changes are the minimum steps needed to move the U.S. electric power industry beyond its current crisis of confidence into a workable, deregulated industry, according to Energy Restructuring at a...

Model lowers pollutant emissions. (Electricity).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Engineers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a unique combustion method that results in lower power plant pollutant emissions by combining stage-combustion with nitrogen-enriched air. The new technology, dubbed...

Technology targets vast gas supplies. (Petroleum and Gas).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... "Deeper" and "smarter" will likely be the watchwords of America's natural gas industry in the coming years. Already, more than 70 percent of gas produced in the continental United States comes from wells deeper than 5,000 feet. But in the...

USGS revises estimates of Alaska oil, gas. (Petroleum and Gas).[United States. Geological Survey].(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, MS119 National Center, Reston, VA 20192) scientists have completed a four-year reassessment of the undiscovered oil and gas resources of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA). The re-assessment includes...

Group says PACS effect nuclear policy. (Energy Policy). [Political action committees].(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... According to a new report from Public Citizen (see Hot Waste, Cold Cash: Nuclear Industry PAC Contributions and the Senators Who Love Them posted on the Internet at http:// www.citizen.org/documents/ hotwastecoldcash.PDF), U.S. Senators and...

Fly ash for potting mixes, turf production. (Coal).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... A recent field study (EPRI report #1004058) from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) indicates that fly ash and bottom ash from fossil power plants can be blended with biosolids to provide superior soil amendments for the horticulture...

Appalachian coal reserves studied. (Coal).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Of the 93 billion short tons of original coal reserves in the Appalachian Basin Coal Region, about 66 billion short tons remain according to a new digitized mapping assessment compiled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and just...

MTBE clean-up cost: 22 cents per gallon. (Environment).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... A jury in San Francisco has found that three oil companies are liable for the MTBE contamination of Lake Tahoe in California. Several other companies had settled with the South Tahoe Public Utility District prior to trial. The Tahoe district...

Transit systems get the sulfur out. (Environment).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated that sulfur content in diesel fuel be reduced from 500 to 15 parts per million (ppm) nationwide by 2006. Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel contains 95 percent less sulfur...

Most pollution from runoff, small watercraft. (Environment).
March 22, 2002... According to Oil In The Sea: Inputs, Fates, and Effects (on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu) just published by the National Academies' National Research Council, nearly 85 percent of the 29 million gallons of petroleum that enter North...

Allowance cap and trade program working. (Economics).(nitrogen oxides)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have jointly released the "2001 OTC N[O.sub.x] Budget Compliance Report." The report, describing the third season of the nitrogen oxides (N[O.sub.x])...

EPRI develops economical N[O.sub.x] reduction process. (Economics).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... A new N[O.sub.x] reduction process developed by EPRI provides coal-fired generating units with a cost-effective means of complying with N[O.sub.x] regulations. The process, called Rich Reagent Injection (RRI), reduces N[O.sub.x] formation by...

Market in greenhouse gas trading opens. (Economics).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Britain's emissions trading scheme is being hailed as the world's first spot market in the trading of greenhouse gas allowances. Carbon emissions trading is expected to be a growing business as it is considered by economists to be an effective...

Research spearheads waste storage. (Nuclear).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2002... Researchers armed with a laser are closer to knowing how to prepare millions of gallons of highly radioactive nuclear waste for permanent storage. Their study is the first to describe the chemistry of waste formed by aluminum and alkaline, or...

Going three phase: new converter technology has implications for distribution system. (Utilities).
March 22, 2002... Electric equipment operated on three phase power frequently benefits the consumer through lower cost and energy conservation. For example, three phase AC motors are generally less expensive, more reliable and more efficient than single phase AC...

It's not all about derivatives: there's need for trade risk and credit management in electricity trading. (Utilities).
March 22, 2002... Few us working in the industry today were about when Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in the depression-era thirties and certainly none of us was working for an energy company. By the mid-1930s, about 150 holding companies...

Solving energy "non problems"; are we spending to solve problems, or to convince ourselves that solutions are in sight? (Contrarian's View on Energy).
March 22, 2002... bild der wissenschaft (bdw) for February 2002 reminded me of several insoluble non-problems, on which the world is spending big money. Funds are expended not in the hope of solving the problems, of course, but rather to fool people into...