Good Articles 9/24

OPEC oil output expected to drop

LONDON–OPEC's oil supply is expected to fall sharply in September because of lower output from members including Saudi Arabia and Iran, industry consultant Petrologistics said on Wednesday.

The estimate boosted oil prices and indicates that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was starting to cut supplies even before it agreed on Sept. 10 to trim output back to official targets.

OPEC's 13 members are expected to pump 32.6 million barrels per day in September, down from a revised 33.4 million bpd in August when output was unusually high, Conrad Gerber, head of Petrologistics, told Reuters.

"Things have come back to normal," Gerber said. "This has nothing to do with the OPEC decision. That reduction will come later on."

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Investigation Widens Into Unusual Oil Price Rise

Federal regulators have subpoenaed recent trading records from several Nymex traders as part of a widening investigation into the sharp rise in oil prices on Monday.

Dmitry Orlov: Adieu, stage 1 collapse!

So far so good. In terms of mental milestones, we can tease apart financial collapse into a number of psychological levees that are being breached one by one. The first one to go was people's faith in home equity: that the value of their homes will serve as a nest egg to sustain them in retirement. What we have been witnessing for the past week or so is the demise of people's faith that their investment portfolio will sustain them. It is still easy to find investment advisers who will tell you to "go long on equities" because, you see, "eventually the economy will recover," but their reassuring words are starting to sound like a death rattle to all those whose retirement savings suddenly look laughably inadequate.

LaBruzzo: Sterilization plan fights poverty

Worried that welfare costs are rising as the number of taxpayers declines, state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, said Tuesday he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.

"We're on a train headed to the future and there's a bridge out," LaBruzzo said of what he suspects are dangerous demographic trends. "And nobody wants to talk about it."

LaBruzzo said he worries that people receiving government aid such as food stamps and publicly subsidized housing are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated people who presumably pay more tax revenue to the government. He said he is gathering statistics now.

Power From the Restless Sea Stirs the Imagination

For years, technological visionaries have painted a seductive vision of using ocean tides and waves to produce power. They foresee large installations off the coast and in tidal estuaries that could provide as much as 10 percent of the nation’s electricity.

But the technical difficulties of making such systems work are proving formidable. Last year, a wave-power machine sank off the Oregon coast. Blades have broken off experimental tidal turbines in New York’s turbulent East River. Problems with offshore moorings have slowed the deployment of snakelike generating machines in the ocean off Portugal.

B.C.'s ethanol standards for gasoline a mistake: scientists

B.C. is taking the wrong approach by mandating that gasoline sold in the province contain five per cent ethanol by 2010, according to some scientific experts.

Spain eases plan to slash subsidy for solar power

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain has decided to ease proposed sharp cuts in a generous subsidy scheme to solar power producers in one of the world's hottest markets, Energy Secretary Pedro Marin said on Tuesday.

BHP wants to sell uranium to China for decades

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, is positioning itself to supply China with uranium for "decades'' as the country ramps up its nuclear plant program in a carbon conscious world.

Green idealists fail to make grade, says study

People who believe they have the greenest lifestyles can be seen as some of the main culprits behind global warming, says a team of researchers, who claim that many ideas about sustainable living are a myth.

According to the researchers, people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad. The carbon emissions from such flights can swamp the green savings made at home, the researchers claim.

The burning issue: Few now dispute that coal is key to a clean energy future

AS the climate change debate moves from the abstract to the concrete, the clean coal sceptics are slowly being mugged by reality. The facts are that almost a quarter of world energy demand is fuelled by coal and 39 per cent of the world's electricity is generated in coal-fired power stations. It is impossible to imagine a smooth international transition to a carbon-constrained economy without finding cleaner ways to burn coal.

EU lawmakers set to halt carbon curbs

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers are set to slam the brakes on plans to curb carbon dioxide emissions from cars, easing the burden on the auto industry in the fight against climate change, documents circulated on Tuesday showed.

A draft European Parliament resolution would delay and soften the mandatory emissions limits proposed by the executive European Commission, reduce the fines for non-compliance and give carmakers a freer hand on how they achieve the cuts.

Senate approves bill with energy trade-offs

WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies could soon be helping fund renewable energy projects, via the Internal Revenue Service.

But the industry also may be one step closer to gaining access to more areas offshore as Democratic leaders agreed Tuesday to drop a quarter-century ban on drilling off the East and West coasts.

"The White House made it clear any new drilling provision was a nonstarter," said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The future resolution of offshore drilling will have to be addressed with a new president."

In what could prove to be a pivotal day on Capitol Hill for the oil and gas industry, the Democratic-led Senate — in its ninth attempt — finally, and overwhelmingly, approved a measure that would provide $17 billion in tax credits for renewable energy sources, largely by hitting up the oil and gas companies for higher taxes.

Oil rises $2 on U.S. fuel supply concerns

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose more than $2 to over $109 a barrel on Wednesday as concerns about U.S. fuel supply outweighed anxiety about the U.S. government's $700 billion plan to rescue the finance industry.

Chavez sees 1 million-barrel oil exports to China

In comments broadcast Tuesday on state television in Venezuela, Chavez said Venezuela's oil exports to China would increase to almost 500,000 barrels a day next year. That figure could reach 1 million barrels a day within four years, he said.

The sides also plan to construct three oil refineries in China capable of processing Venezuela's heavy sulfer-laden crude and build four oil tankers.

"While the world enters an energy crisis, we are investing," Chavez said.

Jordan gets first subsidised Iraqi oil under new deal

AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan received 11,000 barrels of Iraqi oil by road on Wednesday, the first delivery under a new agreement which revises the subsidy the kingdom receives in the light of spiralling world prices, Energy Minister Khaldun Qteishat said.

"Forty-one tankers laden with 11,000 barrels of crude oil from Iraq crossed the border today," Qteishat told AFP.

The road less travelled: a sceptic’s view of the commodities boom

While arguments on ‘peak oil’ have been around for decades (and yet to be realised), the inability to add supply quickly in many commodities due to infra structure and labour supply bottlenecks has fuelled con cerns over the ability to add supply in the longer term.

The ability of these argu ments to elicit an enthusiastic reaction among a large number of investors is obvi ous. The opposing case for sceptics is perhaps more complex.

Saudi central bank says no scarcity in bank liquidity

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's central bank governor said on Wednesday there was no scarcity in liquidity in the world's top oil exporter and Saudi banks were in a good position to weather a global downturn.

"Figures point to strong growth in loans, money supply, banks have liquidity, additional deposits. There is no scarcity in liquidity," Hamad Saud al-Sayyari told reporters.

"Banks want to expand. This conflicts with our policy in limiting the increase in liquidity and the rise in inflation."

Scooter sales skyrocket 66%

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The scooter is becoming the new must-have set of wheels in a lot of American cities.

While auto sales have continued to sink, scooter sales were up 66% in the first half of 2008 compared to a year ago, while motorcycle sales overall only ticked up 0.5%, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.

Green energy’s big win in Congress

After a year of stalemate that threatened to strangle the nascent United States solar industry, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed energy legislation that extends a key investment tax credit until 2016.

Review: Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford

Can you imagine a world without cars? No honking horns, snarled traffic, and no cloying pollution. J.H. Crawford, author of Carfree Cities, not only asks us to consider this possibility, but he outlines in his book the steps to turn the carfree dream into a reality. “Venice, Italy is certainly the best advertisement for carfree cities that I have ever seen,” explains Crawford.

Jeremy Leggett: Independence from the street up

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is warning of an oil crunch by 2012, so we have to act immediately if we aren't to add peak oil to our credit-crunch woes. There is also a grave risk of major shortfalls in gas supply in the next few years. North Sea oil and gas production is plunging 7.5% a year at the same time as liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are being cancelled around the world. Meanwhile, Moscow dangles the prospect of sending most of its gas exports east to China, rather than west to Europe.

Double-dose of Kunstler on Community Learning Day

"A list of the things you said that I disagree with would be very long," Kunstler said.

"Compelling in its compassion but a little strange," Kunstler said of Bates' standpoint. "It raises the basic question: so what? My answer to that question, to all of the displays of compassion (is that we)are going to be overridden by our own problems."

He emphasized the idea that people should focus on environmental problems as a nation and let other countries handle their own problems without U.S. assistance.

Getting on track

And the corn looked strange. After 15 years away, I expected changes, but I had to look closely to understand what I was seeing. While childhood scenes usually appear smaller when revisited in adulthood, these fields looked larger.

It wasn’t just because I’d been urbanized — these fields really were bigger! What had shrunk was the space in between the cornstalks, in between the corn and the bean fields, and in between the fields and any roads or farmhouses. Fortunately, I’d watched the documentary “King Corn” (click here for more information) and read Michael Pollan’s writings on modern corn cultivation, so I had some idea of how to account for these seemingly endless vistas of corn and soybeans.

Evidently, hybrid strains of corn have been developed that can produce even while planted pretty much toe to toe. Unless you look at them from above, say from the observation car on the second story of the train, you can’t even see that there are rows. Back when I lived in Iowa City, my friend’s beagle used to periodically take off between the rows in the cornfield near the park, and stay in there for hours. Now, you couldn’t shove a beagle between those stalks. A guinea pig, maybe.

Crisis no reason to dilute climate plan - EU

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The global financial crisis is no reason to water down the European Union's flagship plan to fight climate change, the bloc's environment chief said on Wednesday.

Arctic 'methane chimneys' raise fears of runaway climate change

Scientists claim to have discovered evidence for large releases of methane into the atmosphere from frozen seabed stores off the northern coast of Siberia.

A large injection of the gas - which is 21 times more potent as an atmospheric heat trap than carbon dioxide - has long been cited by climate scientists as the potential trigger for runaway global warming. The warming caused by the gas could destabilise permafrost further, they fear, leading to yet more methane release.

But climate experts have expressed caution at the claims, which have yet to be published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. Methane release from stores of so-called gas hydrates, that can form on land or under the sea, is not new to researchers. Huge quantities are known to exist in the Arctic, but special circumstances would need to exist for significant releases to occur.

Met Office: Global warming sceptics 'have heads in sand'

The UK Met Office climate change bureau has issued a stinging attack on the idea that recent falls in global temperature might mean that global warming is over or has been exaggerated.

"Anyone who thinks global warming has stopped has their head in the sand," said an unnamed Met Office spokesman in a statement released online today.

Vegetarian shift seen helping climate, not poor

OSLO (Reuters) - Eating less meat can help rich nations to combat global warming but may not work for poor countries where people depend on livestock for survival, a leading expert said on Wednesday.

Western cap and trade initiative faces obstacles

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - A new Western regional plan to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions faces a tough road in state legislatures, where the details still must be worked out.

The Western Climate Initiative would establish a regional market to trade carbon emissions credits, allowing industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy and sell credits for their emissions. The goal is to cut the region's carbon emissions to below 2005 levels by 2020, a roughly 15 percent reduction.

The initiative, proposed Tuesday by seven western states and four Canadian provinces, covers more polluters than other regional plans adopted in the United States, Canada and Europe.