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Britain faces storm chaos and outages

Gales and Heavy Rain Threaten Festive Getaway Britain has been hit by a fresh band of stormy weather, with more than 17,500 homes thought to be without power and rail services across the south of England disrupted. Winds of 102mph hit parts of Britain on Thursday night, adding to the difficulties caused by storms on Christmas Eve which brought chaos to the train networks and left hundreds of flights grounded at Gatwick airport. Gusts of 102mph were recorded in the Welsh village of Aberdaron, while wind speeds of more than 70mph hit parts of Yorkshire and Scotland, the Met Office said. Tony Glover, of the Energy Networks Association, said conditions for those without power were “horrendous”, but that network companies were working “incredibly hard, around the clock” to get them reconnected. He added: “The flooding is a major issue for us and getting a cherry picker out into a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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NASA Glenn develops automated flywheel pulse-and-glide system; improving fuel economy up to 40-100%

26 December 2013 Schematic drawing showing the experimental setup of the existing open-cell approach using (a) ionic liquid as electrolyte and (b) using Li metal as lithium source and Li 2 O as solid electrolyte; (c) schematic drawing showing the setup of the new liquid cell battery. Credit: ACS, Gu et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have led a multi-institutional effort to develop a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique that can provide insights into the structural and chemical evolution of electrode materials of real batteries in real time. In a paper published in the ACS journal Nano Letters , the authors note that TEM studies of lithium-ion batteries over the past few years have used an open-cell configuration in which the electrolyte is either solid lithium oxide or an ionic liquid, which is point-contacted with the electrode. This cell design is inherently different […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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How Economic Arguments Against Nuclear Highlight Environmentalist Delusions

Two weeks ago, four of the world’s most respected climate scientists took the extraordinary step of sending an open letter to their long-time friends and colleagues in the environmental movement, urging them to reverse their longstanding opposition to nuclear power. The scientists told AP and CNN they felt the need to make public their displeasure after years of trying and failing to reason privately with green leaders, who believe solar, wind, and efficiency are enough to power the planet. The letter came at a time when mainstream environmental groups like Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and Center for American Progress (CAP) were at pains to differentiate themselves from shrill antinuclear activists, like Helen Caldicott and Greenpeace. In a debate over Pandora’s Promise , moderated by the New York Times ’s Andrew Revkin, Bobby Kennedy Jr. chose not to repeat the claim he made a year earlier – that Chernobyl had killed a million […]

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Will Russia frack for oil?

One of my stranger speaker invitations recently was earlier this month in Moscow to an Adam Smith conference on Russia EOR (enhanced oil recovery), where I found myself in the ironic position of giving a presentation to reassure the audience that fracking,for oil was safe. Skip to next paragraph Recent posts Fracking is fracking and there is little or no difference between the methods used for gas or oil. Oil fracking in it’s modern form of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing using less chemicals than before was introduced by Harold Hamm in the North Dakota Bakken about ten years ago and the impact on US oil is now well known. The Bakken turned around the idea that US oil had peaked, and the technology rippled out to the Eagle Ford, Permian and Niobrara formations. One of the nails in the Peak Oil coffin has been the realisation by even […]

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Brent Crude Drops in Thin Trade After Unsuccessful Run at $112 a Barrel

-Brent crude-oil was trading lower Friday in thin holiday trade, after making an unsuccessful run at early-December highs above $112 a barrel. Low volumes are likely to continue until after New Year, with many traders away from their desks. Brent crude for February delivery fell 18 cents to $111.80 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, having briefly traded above $112 a barrel. U.S. crude-oil futures were down just one cent at $99.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Strikes at Total SA (TOT) refineries in France have had a small downward effect on the price of Brent crude, but resolution to the disputes appeared to have been reached over recent days. Brent remains supported by the effects of ethnic violence in South Sudan, an east African oil producer. The effect on the country’s output is putting some upward pressure on international prices, say analysts. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Crude oil prices extend rise on South Sudan worry

Oil prices rose further above $99 on Friday as violence in South Sudan stoked concerns about the African nation’s oil production. Benchmark U.S. oil for February delivery gained 27 cents to $99.82 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices gained nearly 3 percent last week as optimism about the U.S. economic recovery lifted expectations for the country’s energy demand. Worries over instability in South Sudan have led some analysts to predict the contract may top $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-October. On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council voted to increase U.N. peacekeeping forces in South Sudan by nearly 80 percent. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was off 20 cents at $111.78 per barrel in London. In other energy futures trading on Nymex: – Wholesale gasoline shed 1 cent to $2.81 a gallon. – Heating oil was down […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Swings on U.S. Jobless Claims as Supply Seen Falling

West Texas Intermediate swung between gains and losses after fewer Americans than projected filed for unemployment benefits and before data forecast to show crude inventories declined. Futures were little changed in New York and are poised for a second weekly increase. U.S. jobless claims dropped by 42,000 to 338,000 last week, Labor Department data showed yesterday. Crude stockpiles slid by 2.65 million barrels, a fourth weekly decline, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a report from the Energy Information Administration today. “The jobless claims data are better than expected and the U.S. is doing fine,” Olivier Jakob , managing director of Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland , said today by phone. “The volume is so light that it is difficult to trade.” WTI for February delivery gained 2 cents to $99.57 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 11:09 a.m. London time. […]

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Worst Fuel Oil Loss Since 2011 Seen Easing on Import Cut: Energy

Refining losses from producing fuel oil in Asia are poised to narrow as imports from western countries and Iran decline while global economic growth boosts demand for transportation fuels. Cargoes of the ship and power-station fuel cost an average $10.20 a barrel below Dubai crude this month, the largest monthly discount since April 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That gap , known as the crack spread, will narrow to minus $8 a barrel in the first quarter of 2014, according to the median estimate in a survey of five analysts and traders. A recovery in fuel oil, which refiners typically produce at a loss after making gasoline and diesel, will help boost margins at companies including South Korea ’s S-Oil Corp. (010950) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA) Iran, once the second-biggest supplier to China , has cut exports by 67 percent compared with […]

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Gasoline Futures Jump to Three-Month High on Refinery Shutdowns

son. Delta Air Lines Inc.’s (DAL) Pennsylvania refinery, which serves the New York Harbor area, delivery point for futures contracts, plans to shut units next week for work. AAA, the biggest U.S. motoring club, said the number of automobile travelers from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1 will increase to a record 85.8 million. “Delta is a contributing factor and demand has been fairly good,” said Andrew Lebow , a senior vice president at Jefferies Bache LLC in New York. Gasoline for January delivery rose 0.58 cent to $2.82 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange , the highest settlement since Sept. 6. Trading volume was 43 percent below the 100-day average as of 3:25 p.m. The futures […]

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Natural Gas Rises on Expectations For Continued Robust Demand

Natural gas prices inched up 0.4% Thursday as colder-than-average weather forecasts are seen keeping demand high for gas-powered heating. Natural gas for January delivery, which expires Friday, settled 1.7 cents higher at $4.433 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more-actively traded February contract climbed 0.7 cent, or 0.2%, at $4.476/mmBtu. The eastern two-thirds of the U.S. will see a bout of below-normal temperatures in the next six to 10 days, according to Andover, Mass.-based weather forecaster WSI Corp. "In the first two weeks of the new year, it looks like we’ll see some cold across the east," said Gene McGillian, trader and broker for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn. "Supportive weather fundamentals are the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple