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Renminbi use surges in home of US dollar

It is the monetary equivalent of what Chairman Mao called “bombarding the headquarters”. China’s renminbi is rapidly displacing the US dollar as a trading currency not only in Asia and Europe but now also in the US home market. The value of renminbi payments between the US and the rest of the world rose by 327 per cent in April this year from the same month a year ago (see chart) as more US corporations switched to using the Chinese currency to pay for imports from China, according to data from SWIFT, the international currency settlement firm. The reasons driving the upsurge are structural and long-term, said Debra Lodge, a managing director at HSBC in New York. First, US importers can slash the cost of imports from China by agreeing to trade in renminbi rather than US dollars, Lodge said. Second, a recent surge in the popularity of a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Hydrogen Fuel Finally Graduating From Lab to City Streets

Once relegated to the realm of science projects, hydrogen fuel cells are starting to displace fossil fuels as a means of powering cars, homes and businesses. On June 10, in the latest addition to mainstream fuel-cell use, Hyundai Motor Co. will begin deliveries of a consumer SUV in Southern California . The technology is already producing electricity for the grid in Connecticut. AT&T Inc. is using fuel cells to power server farms, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. uses hydrogen-powered fork lifts. Later this, summer FedEx Corp. will begin using hydrogen cargo tractors at its Memphis air hub. “This is the most exciting time for fuel cells in my career,” said Daniel Dedrick, head of hydrogen and combustion technologies at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California. The hydrogen market “is starting to accelerate.” Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen in a process that dates back to the 1830s, yet high costs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shale offsets many U.S. hurricane issues

Strong growth in onshore U.S. oil and gas production means fewer problems from hurricanes, the analytical arm of the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday. Sunday marked the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. As of Wednesday, there are no cyclones reported in the Atlantic Ocean, though Tropical Storm Boris is headed north from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico at a rate of 5 miles per hour. Though offshore oil and gas installations may be shut in by any major storm in the Atlantic, EIA said inland production could make up for any shortfall. "The effect of hurricanes on oil and natural gas production has been reduced in part by an increasing portion of U.S. production coming from inland basins such as the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota, the Williston Basin in Montana, and the Marcellus Shale play in the Appalachian Basin," it said Wednesday. Oil and gas production […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. gas production setting records

U.S. natural gas production from the Lower 48 states in May beat a monthly high set in April by 0.6 percent, analysis shows. Bentek Energy, the forecasting division of energy website Platts, said May production reached 67.7 billion cubic feet per day on average. That beat the previous monthly record set in April. Production peaked May 26 at 68.2 billion cubic feet per day and May’s average was 4.6 percent higher year-on-year. "With power utilities clearly anxious about relying on coal as a fuel source now that the Environmental Protection Agency has released its latest carbon emissions reduction program, natural gas producers have stepped up and see a clear signal to deliver as much as the market can bear," Jack Weixel, Bentek Energy director of energy analysis, said in a statement Tuesday. The EPA proposed Monday to cut emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Florida to host 'paradigm-shifting' ocean energy project

The U.S. government announced plans to work with Florida Atlantic University to test a system to get energy from ocean currents, the first of its kind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a lease to the university to test a turbine system driven by ocean currents. "This is the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in federal waters," acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said in a statement Tuesday. The demonstration project envisions hydrokinetic turbines deployed about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. BOEM said "multiple" test devices, anchored to the sea floor, could generate as much as 100 kilowatts of power from wave energy. The university’s president, John Kelly , said the project is "paradigm-shifting development" in the race for new renewable sources of energy. A small-scale research project was conducted in 2013. An […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Florida to host ‘paradigm-shifting’ ocean energy project

The U.S. government announced plans to work with Florida Atlantic University to test a system to get energy from ocean currents, the first of its kind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a lease to the university to test a turbine system driven by ocean currents. "This is the first time a lease has been issued to test ocean current energy equipment in federal waters," acting BOEM Director Walter Cruickshank said in a statement Tuesday. The demonstration project envisions hydrokinetic turbines deployed about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. BOEM said "multiple" test devices, anchored to the sea floor, could generate as much as 100 kilowatts of power from wave energy. The university’s president, John Kelly , said the project is "paradigm-shifting development" in the race for new renewable sources of energy. A small-scale research project was conducted in 2013. An […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Fracking Fight's New Front Line

North Dakota is reconsidering some drilling permits.As the U.S. oil-and-gas boom rolls into its second decade, a new idea is starting to resonate with regulators and communities: Certain places should simply be off-limits to drilling. That is not how it has worked up until now. Over the past decade, oil and gas wells have been drilled for hydraulic fracturing in suburban subdivisions, airports, public parks and golf courses. As long as energy companies leased the mineral rights, they could drill almost anywhere. Now this all-or-nothing approach is starting to weaken as the fracking juggernaut, which has created jobs and lowered the U.S. trade deficit, has left some communities feeling trampled. Some cities have used their zoning authority to keep fracking far from schools and set back from homes. Fort Worth, Texas, has a drilling ordinance that runs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Fracking Fight’s New Front Line

North Dakota is reconsidering some drilling permits.As the U.S. oil-and-gas boom rolls into its second decade, a new idea is starting to resonate with regulators and communities: Certain places should simply be off-limits to drilling. That is not how it has worked up until now. Over the past decade, oil and gas wells have been drilled for hydraulic fracturing in suburban subdivisions, airports, public parks and golf courses. As long as energy companies leased the mineral rights, they could drill almost anywhere. Now this all-or-nothing approach is starting to weaken as the fracking juggernaut, which has created jobs and lowered the U.S. trade deficit, has left some communities feeling trampled. Some cities have used their zoning authority to keep fracking far from schools and set back from homes. Fort Worth, Texas, has a drilling ordinance that runs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Atlanta's Incentives Lift Electric Car Sales

Atlanta became the nation’s second-largest market for electric cars, and the top market for Nissan’s Leaf, thanks to incentives and lobbying campaigns by owners like Tim Goudie, who connects his Leaf each workday at recharging stations provided by employer Coca-Cola. Chris Aluka Berry for The Wall Street Journal Atlanta has become a surprise success for electric car makers and the reasons—state subsidies and unfettered access to carpool lanes—offer a telling lesson in what it takes to lift demand for the vehicles. Georgia provides more than $4,000 in income-tax credits on average for an electric-car purchase, cut-rate electricity, employer support of recharging stations and, in Atlanta, access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the city’s congested roadways. Atlanta’s emergence as the No. 2 metropolitan market in the U.S. after San Francisco for electric-vehicle sales, according to researcher IHS Automotive, illustrates how public subsidies remain key to luring buyers away from gasoline-powered […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Atlanta’s Incentives Lift Electric Car Sales

Atlanta became the nation’s second-largest market for electric cars, and the top market for Nissan’s Leaf, thanks to incentives and lobbying campaigns by owners like Tim Goudie, who connects his Leaf each workday at recharging stations provided by employer Coca-Cola. Chris Aluka Berry for The Wall Street Journal Atlanta has become a surprise success for electric car makers and the reasons—state subsidies and unfettered access to carpool lanes—offer a telling lesson in what it takes to lift demand for the vehicles. Georgia provides more than $4,000 in income-tax credits on average for an electric-car purchase, cut-rate electricity, employer support of recharging stations and, in Atlanta, access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the city’s congested roadways. Atlanta’s emergence as the No. 2 metropolitan market in the U.S. after San Francisco for electric-vehicle sales, according to researcher IHS Automotive, illustrates how public subsidies remain key to luring buyers away from gasoline-powered […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple