Last week we talked about the possibility that researchers have found a second and potentially useful and inexpensive way of converting hydrogen into helium accompanied by a release of significant quantities of energy. Many, of course, believe such a discovery is too good to be true, for it implies that in the long run the world might be able to abandon other more expensive ways to obtain energy including oil, coal, and natural gas. Moreover, the new "green energy" renewable technologies – solar, wind, waves, tides, and biofuels – might…

Read more…

Last week we talked about the possibility that researchers have found a second and potentially useful and inexpensive way of converting hydrogen into helium accompanied by a release of significant quantities of energy. Many, of course, believe such a discovery is too good to be true, for it implies that in the long run the world might be able to abandon other more expensive ways to obtain energy including oil, coal, and natural gas. Moreover, the new "green energy" renewable technologies – solar, wind, waves, tides, and biofuels – might…

Read more…

Faced with increasing political obstacles to oil and natural gas exploration in many countries around the world, the oil industry is focusing again on the United States. The industry is using the deceitful promise of energy independence to cajole Americans and their policymakers into relaxing environmental regulations and opening protected public lands and restricted offshore areas to drilling.The oil and gas industry would like you to believe that American energy independence is just around the corner. The question is, why do they want you to…

Read more…

A U.S. lawmaker called on the White House this week to eliminate what he said was a "disturbing connection" between U.S. energy demands and violence in the Middle East. New Englanders get about 20 percent of their liquefied natural gas from Yemen, where al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is a grave security concern. In Yemen, AQAP was blamed for a series of attacks on oil and natural gas pipelines. In the United States, it's tried at least twice to strike a major blow. With the United States emerging as a natural gas superpower, however, perhaps…

Read more…

Solar, wind and geothermal power sources accounted for only around 1.5 percent of US energy consumption last year, but a number of factors are merging to make solar a more realistic option, from the failure of the first round of high-profile projects to the redirecting of government land for renewable power programs and the emerging trend of leasing solar energy systems to make them more affordable. It was to much fanfare on 4 May that the US unveiled its first large-scale solar power project on federal land in Clark County, Nevada. The project…

Read more…