Dependence

To successfully reduce the United States’ dependence on fuels from outside North America the country “must encourage development” of Canadian oilsands and mitigate the additional carbon dioxide emitted during the sands’ extraction and refinement by “promoting the replacement of coal with gas in electricity generation,” according to a new study by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Germany and California’s largest cities — Berlin and Los Angeles — are eyeing two starkly different transportation alternatives, seeking different ways to displace gasoline dependence.

Given its strong dependence on natural gas, it is surprising that California has nearly 540 MW of coal-fired electric generation capacity spread over 15 facilities, all of which are under pressure in the midst of the state’s climate change mitigation efforts to stop operations or convert to clean fuels.

With much of the new administration’s energy policy focused on getting the United States off its dependence on foreign oil, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy said last week its three-and-a-half-year-old partnership on drilling technology research has metamorphosed into a “major new research consortium” set on promoting advanced technology for low-impact domestic oil and natural gas drilling.

With much of the new administration’s energy policy focused on getting the United States off its dependence on foreign oil, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy said Wednesday its three-and-a-half-year-old partnership on drilling technology research has metamorphosed into a “major new research consortium” set on promoting advanced technology for low-impact domestic oil and natural gas drilling.

A cornerstone of the much-promoted plan by oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to relieve American dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change calls for natural gas to be widely used as a transportation fuel, particularly by the long-haul trucking industry. However, cost, infrastructure and logistics challenges make such a goal highly problematic, according to trade group American Trucking Associations (ATA).

A cornerstone of the much-promoted plan by oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to relieve American dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change calls for natural gas to be widely used as a transportation fuel, particularly by the long-haul trucking industry. However, cost, infrastructure and logistics challenges make such a goal highly problematic, according to trade group American Trucking Associations (ATA).

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Friday called for an “energy revolution” worldwide to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. To halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, at least $45 trillion — three times the current size of the entire U.S. economy — needs to be invested by governments and the private sector into the energy sector, the Paris-based agency said.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Friday called for an “energy revolution” worldwide to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. To halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, at least $45 trillion — three times the current size of the entire U.S. economy — needs to be invested by governments and the private sector into the energy sector, the Paris-based agency said.