www.enreport.com

Ref:
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24023/?nlid=2294
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23839/#comment-212835
http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.1827
http://www.er.ethz.ch/fco/

Two discussions

1. Very classic discussion topic but quite a debate mainly about world's carrying capacity.
There are two main arguments.
a.The collapse of civilisation will bring us a saner world, Paul Kingsnorth. (Collapse )
b.No, counters George Monbiot – we can't let billions perish (Human wisdom will save us)

2. Alternative to banking systems?: Web based lending and borrowing services such as Zopa described as

"a website that describes itself as a place "where people meet to lend and borrow money … sidestepping the banks". The idea is pretty simple. Someone who has money to spare goes online, says how much he's ready to lend and at what rate of interest – and waits for would-be borrowers to take him up on his offer. If both sides are happy – and Zopa stands for the negotiating term "zone of possible agreement" – then the deal goes ahead. Quite a few of them, as it happens: Zopa has now facilitated £50m worth of loans, from one ordinary Briton to another"

Reason? Quite simple according to article : " it turns out that nine of those banks who between them trousered $175bn of the American public's money in bailout funds – have fallen back into their old habits: last year they paid their top staff $32.6bn in bonuses."

According the Wall Street Journal,

• 4.4% electricity demand drop in the largest US power market (consisting of13 states east of Mississippi)
• Average spot price in the same region drops by 40%. ($61.72/ MWh from $129.48/Mwh)

"Generally, the declines in demand and prices are the most precipitous and most sustained seen in the United States since the 1950s."

Ref:

IEEE Spectrum, 12 August 2009

• Energy demand forecasts are down from 1.3% to 1.2% in this study


• Fossil fuels will provide 80% of global energy demand by 2030


• Power generation will see the fastest growth


• Energy for transportation: Flat in developed countries, doubles in developing ones


• CO2 emissions rise 30% from 2005 to 2030

Also new section, called “The Energy Imperative,” outlines the need for an integrated set of solutions that includes improved energy efficiency, development of all economically viable energy sources, and cost-effective steps to curb emissions

New Scientist wrote about Clathrate Hydrates, when "carbon dioxide is pumped into the hydrate, it spontaneously takes the methane's place" and releases the methane locked inside it. The cage like structure formed by water molecules are key to these structures. US Energy Department is working with ConocoPhilips for a field trial.

"The deposits on the North Slope of Alaska are among the richest. A 2008 USGS study showed that there are 2.4 trillion cubic metres "

Worth a look!




Ref:


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16848-ice-that-burns-could-be-a-green-fossil-fuel.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news


http://www.conocophillips.com/NR/rdonlyres/700222AB-5BB1-4006-82D5-95E4CB5F254F/0/MethaneHydratesDataSheet.pdf


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_hydrate

A brief info about Chinese involvement as a global player in oil sector

• Russia : $10 billion loan the Chinese government extended to Russia's Rosneft in exchange for a guaranteed cut of that company's production
• Brazil: With Petrobras, arranging a similar deal with the firm that is developing a huge new offshore field - one of the biggest new discoveries in decades.
• Argentina: China National Petroleum Corporation is interested in buying all or a part of Argentina's YPF for $14.5 billion, although a deal is far from certain
• Angola: CNOOC and Sinopec are buying a $1.3 billion stake in offshore Angolan development rights from American oil firm Marathon.
• Iraq: China National Petroleum Corporation will take the majority stake in Iraq's Rumaila oilfield from BP (BP). Rumaila produces over 1 million barrels a day, and is Iraq's biggest oil field.

Also some comparisons "China National Petroleum Corporation's daily oil production is already roughly equivalent to Exxon's. And PetroChina at one point had a market capitalization twice Exxon's" but "Complex operations - like deep water drilling or liquefying natural gas, are still the domain of the Western oil firms." however : "given their need to develop those deep-water leases off Angola, the Chinese are bound to gain the technical know-how that will put them on-par with the best western firms"

Ref:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/17/news/international/china_oil/index.htm

NPR has this web page for visualizing the US Electric Grid, power plants, wind, solar maps.

Sadad Al-Husseini a veteran Saudi Aramco exexcutive has came up with a series of suggestions. These may not be new, but can be alarming bell for the next oil price rally in 2010. Some interesting notes:

The oil price surge that started in 2003 and collapsed in 2008 had its
roots in 1998. ....
What action is required?

• A regularly updated listing of all future oil and natural-gas-liquids (NGL)
  projects.
• Future capacity costs.
• Proven reserves categorization.

Creating an institution to house such a process is
the best way to begin to deal with the oil-supply challenges that must surely
lie ahead.

Ref: JPT Online, http://www.spe.org/jpt/print/2009/08/7GuestEditorial.pdf

A very interesting page for general energy models. You can download and use them for policy analysis. Check the elibrary for useful papers.

Check:

http://www.millennium-institute.org/resources/elibrary/index.html#models

• 7% of the passengers are using rail systems


• Rail mass transport system is 55 km and consumes 70 million kWh
  
• By 2012, Istanbul rail system will reach 230 km, consuming 450 million kWh

London Metro is consuming 1.17 TWh (Billion kWh) per annum

References:

Some very useful info from Dr. Michael Dittmar @ The Oil Drum:

• Commercial nuclear reactors are operated in 31 out of the 200 countries on our planet. In 2009, 436 nuclear power plants, with a net installed capacity of 370.2 GW electric power, are in operation. These reactors provide about 14% of the electric energy produced world-wide
• 2008 was the first year since at least 40 years, when not even one new reactor was connected to the electric grid.
• [...] 2005, 2007, and 2008 when, 2626 TWhe, 2608 TWhe, and 2601 TWhe were generated
• 48 reactors are under construction today
• reactors would require roughly 500 tons of natural uranium per GWe for the first load and 170 tons/year during the following years
• the yearly uranium demand will increase from 65,000 tons in 2008 to about 90,000 tons by 2015.

Also:

assume that each nuclear weapon contains on average just the critical mass or at
least 50 kg of U235. Using this assumption, we find that the U235 of one nuclear
bomb corresponds to 7 tons of natural uranium equivalent on average, and that
the uranium from about 25 such bombs is sufficient to operate a 1 GWe reactor for one year

World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements