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The Way Humans Get Electricity Is About to Change Forever

The renewable-energy boom is here. Trillions of dollars will be invested over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity. That’s according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets to 2040 1 . Here are six massive shifts coming soon to power markets near you: 1. Solar Prices Keep Crashing The price of solar power will continue to fall, until it becomes the cheapest form of power in a rapidly expanding number of national markets. By 2026, utility-scale solar will be competitive for the majority of the world, according to BNEF . The lifetime cost of a photovoltaic solar-power plant will drop by almost half over the next 25 years, even as the prices of fossil fuels creep higher. Solar power will eventually get so cheap that it will outcompete new […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Troubled Delta System Is California’s Water Battleground

Photo The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, anchored by the convergence of two rivers, is a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals that is the hub of California’s water system. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times BYRON, Calif. — Fighting over water is a tradition in California, but nowhere are the lines of dispute more sharply drawn than here in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta , a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals that is the hub of the state’s water system. Giant pumps pull in water flowing to the delta from the mountainous north of the state, where the majority of precipitation falls, and send it to farms, towns and cities in the Central Valley and Southern California, where the demand for water is greatest. For decades, the shortcomings of this water transportation system, among the most ambitious and complex ever constructed, have been a source of conflict and complaint. But […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Greek Debt Blueprint Gets a Cold Reception in Athens

Photo Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece in Athens on Saturday. He returns to Brussels Wednesday for more talks with creditors. Credit Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters ATHENS — Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced anger and resistance on Tuesday from members of his own radical left political party, complicating his efforts to strike a deal this week with Greece ’s creditors, as some lawmakers and party officials criticized concessions by the Greek side and expressed doubts about voting for a deal in Parliament. Mr. Tsipras returned to Athens on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations in Brussels brought predictions that a deal would be completed by the end of the week, in which creditors would unlock bailout funding so that Greece can stave off default in exchange for concessions on tax increases and pension changes. Less clear, if critical in the eyes of Greek leaders, is a potential European promise for future debt relief. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia Pips Saudi Arabia in Race to Grab China Oil Market Share

Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s top crude supplier as the fight for market share in the world’s second-largest oil consumer intensifies. China imported a record 3.92 million metric tons from its northern neighbor in May, according to data emailed by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs on Tuesday. That’s equivalent to 927,000 barrels a day, a 20 percent increase from the previous month. Saudi sales slumped 42 percent from April to 3.05 million tons. China is becoming a key market for global oil exporters as surging output from shale fields from Texas to North Dakota allows the U.S., the biggest crude consumer, to rely less on overseas supplies. The Asian nation will account for more than 11 percent of world demand this year, the Paris-based International Energy Agency predicted this month. “This is a clear sign of how spoilt Asia is for choice these days, with Middle […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ruble Slides as Tax Boost Damped by Debt, Bank of Russia Sales

The ruble headed for the lowest level in a week as support from monthly tax deadlines subsided and investors turned their attention to the Bank of Russia’s dollar purchases and companies’ foreign debt payments. The Russian currency weakened 1.3 percent to 54.6350 per dollar by 4:21 p.m. in Moscow, extending its drop this month to 4.2 percent, the most among 24 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg. Government bonds fell, lifting the yield on five-year ruble debt four basis points to 11.16 percent. Companies have accumulated the rubles they need to pay the equivalent of about $10 billion in local tax this week, bringing concern over looming external debt redemptions and dividend payments to foreigners to the fore, according to VTB Capital. The Bank of Russia has bought almost $5 billion on the market since May 13 as it seeks to gradually boost its foreign currency reserves to $500 billion […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.K. Panel to Decide on Fracking

PRESTON, England—A bare patch of land amid the wheat and barley fields and cow pastures of northwest England’s countryside has become the focus of a question vexing Europe: to frack or not to frack? This week, the hub of the debate is the Lancashire County Council, which heard from both sides Tuesday, and is expected to decide Wednesday whether to allow the first onshore hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in Western Europe since 2011. The controversial drilling technique has unleashed an oil and gas boom in the U.S. in the past decade, but it has proved politically toxic in Europe , where lawmakers have blocked it. Fracking, which uses a mixture of sand, chemicals and water at high pressure to crack open energy reserves buried deep in shale formations, has been on hold in the U.K. after a series of minor earth tremors followed the first well fracked here […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Dutch Government to Cut Groningen Gas-Field Output

Production at the Groningen gas field will be slashed to 13.5 billion cubic meters in the second half of 2015, the government said, resulting in total output of 30 billion cubic meters this year, substantially lower than the previous target of 39.4 billion cubic meters. The move is the latest in a series of production cutbacks by the Dutch government in recent years after a study by The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute linked gas extraction to a rise in earthquakes in the northern province of Groningen, where the field is located. The tremors have damaged many homes in the area. “The safety of the people of Groningen is the most important,” said Henk Kamp, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs. “Gas production from Groningen will be reduced as far as feasible.” Discovered in 1959, the Groningen field is one of the world’s biggest natural gas reserves and is a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pressure mounts against British fracking

Din growing louder as debate over fledgling British shale natural gas industry moving closer to crucial phase. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock PRESTON, England, June 23 (UPI) — British advocacy group Friends of the Earth said that, with the nation’s fracking debate in full swing, the interests of local communities should prevail. A local council in Lancashire is reviewing two separate proposals by energy company Cuadrilla Resources to explore for natural gas in regional shale deposits. The council in mid June recommended approval for a campaign with as many as four drilling sites and hydraulic fracturing. The recommendation was subject to restrictions ranging from hours of work to noise pollution. A second application was recommended for refusal because of the potential for an increase in traffic on the rural highway network. "Fracking could have a hugely damaging impact on Lancashire residents and their environment and cause more climate-changing pollution to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple