Shell's discounted bid for Arrow reflects the present world oversupply of gas

The bid and Arrow's decision to take it seriously despite the price discount reflect the much more complicated outlook for gas in the wake of the global financial crisis, and after the development of technology that is capable of doubling the world's gas reserves.

There is an awful lot of gas in the ground, enough perhaps to break the nexus between gas prices and oil prices. The peak oil argument that oil prices will rise inexorably as producers fail to bring new production on stream fast enough and cheaply enough to replace diminishing reserves simply does not apply. That knowledge both impels the $3.2 billion offer Shell and PetroChina have launched, and dictates that Arrow take it seriously.

Saudi Aramco chief warns of 'green bubbles'

Saudi Aramco chief Khalid Al-Falih warned today of "green bubbles" and expressed worry about "assumptions" in the political realm that alternative energy sources could "transform the face of energy overnight".

Gazprom Neft Says Russian Taxes Tripping Up Deals, Expansion

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s gas export monopoly, said Russian taxes are hindering ventures with international oil companies and are the main obstacle for its expansion at home and abroad.

“The main problem is the tax regime,” Alexander Pankratov, head of business development at the St. Petersburg- based company, said yesterday in an interview at the CERAWeek conference organized by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Houston.

US Crude Outlook - Improving crack spreads give lift

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Improving refinery crack spreads could boost feedstock demand and lift cash crude differentials, especially if oil futures back away from the $81 level as many analysts expect,

Chevron Drives Upstream Growth with LNG Projects

Chevron enters the decade with an upstream portfolio of major capital projects that uniquely positions the company for future growth, executives said today at a meeting with financial analysts in New York. In the downstream business, executives highlighted plans to improve returns by aggressively lowering costs, exiting markets and streamlining the organization.

Gabrielli: pre-salt supply chain tight

While operating in Brazil's pre-salt region does require an array of technologies, Petrobras CEO Jose Gabrielli told a Houston lunch that a bigger challenge lies in meeting logistical demands for operating in deep waters offshore. During the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce event on 9 March 2010, Gabrielli said it is important to focus on 'the hubs that we must develop for our people and goods 300km from our coastline.' For the pre-salt, he elaborated, 'the main challenge that we have is much more on logistics, on the optimization of the knowledge we have.'

The opportunities in pre-salt, he said, are big, but they also require a new hub for suppliers. 'We believe the most important constraint that we may have is in the supply chain,' Gabrielli said.

Nigeria May Push for Higher OPEC Oil Quota, NNPC Says

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria may seek to increase its OPEC oil production quota if output remains free from militant disruption, an official from state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. said today.

Chevron cutting 2,000 jobs in refining restructuring

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Chevron Corp. said Tuesday it plans to cut 2,000 jobs this year as part of an effort to realize savings in its refining operations, as the oil major signals that recent woes in the business of making gasoline and diesel fuel will persist well beyond 2010.

Sinopec Shanghai Says China Should Raise Fuel Prices

(Bloomberg) -- China should increase fuel prices to prevent domestic refiners from incurring losses in March and April, said a unit of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country’s biggest refiner.

Egypt: Petroleum ministry denies diesel shortage

Sufficient amounts of diesel are available on the local market as planned, said the Ministry of Petroleum, despite recent overcrowding at gas stations and reports of shortages.

Clashes at gas stations as diesel crisis escalates

Diesel fuel shortages continued in Cairo and the governorates on Monday, leading to clashes between frustrated drivers lining up outside gas stations. The Petroleum Ministry, however, has denied the existence of any shortfalls in the quantities of diesel fuel supplied to gas stations.

Shortages of both 80-octane and 90-octane gasoline have also been reported in a number of governorates.

U.S. Sitting on Mother Lode of Rare Tech-Crucial Minerals

China supplies most of the rare earth minerals found in technologies such as hybrid cars, wind turbines, computer hard drives and cell phones, but the U.S. has its own largely untapped reserves that could safeguard future tech innovation.

Those reserves include deposits of both "light" and "heavy" rare earths — families of minerals that help make everything from TV displays to magnets in hybrid electric motors. A company called U.S. Rare Earths holds the only known U.S. deposit of heavy rare earths with a concentration worth mining, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

S.Korea unveils 'recharging road' for eco-friendly buses

South Korean researchers Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a "recharging road" -- with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips.

The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital.

Short-staffed agency overseeing high-speed-rail effort draws fire

WASHINGTON — The federal agency in charge of $8 billion in economic stimulus spending on high-speed-rail projects doesn't have the staff or expertise to properly oversee the money, government investigators and congressional critics say.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), whose main job until now had been keeping freight and passenger railroads safe, awarded the high-speed-rail grants in January — months later than planned.

Libraries

Even more useful than the books or activities, though, is the principle behind libraries, that we and our neighbours can pool our resources and hold things in common that all of us occasionally need. Most of the Western World, however, adopted this principle for books and then stopped, never extending it to other obvious areas of life.

In fact, the trend of the last few decades has been the opposite – people bought more and more of their own private stocks of anything, no matter how expensive or little-used: a row of ten family homes might have ten rakes, ten chainsaws, ten barbecue pits and ten Dora the Explorer videos, each of which is used for only a few hours a year.

More urbanites have their pick of fresh fruit

Last fall, Eric Alperin, a San Francisco artist, heard about blackberries, plums and loquats growing on public property in his city and free for the picking.

Armed with bags and a pole device for picking fruit from tall branches, Alperin and his wife went foraging.

"It was great," he said. "We picked as much as we could carry and had beautiful, fresh, free city fruit," Alperin said. "I'll definitely go (picking) again." Fruit-picking opportunities like that are becoming more common, as volunteers in cities including Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and Madison, Wis., mobilize behind a goal of planting fruit trees on public land in city parks and neighborhoods.

Agritourism helps Tennessee farms stay in business

NASHVILLE — In a tough year for Tennessee's state budget, the departments of tourism and agriculture have found a mutual silver lining: a boomlet in agricultural tourism.

Milking cows (sort of), wandering through corn and cotton mazes, watching chicks hatch, having a country wedding and picking melons are among the activities drawing city folks and their pocketbooks to farms around Tennessee.

CERAWeek panel: Developing nations key to future

A shifting center of gravity from the developed to the developing world will redefine the energy landscape over the next two decades.

That's the theme that emerged from the first panel discussion of this year's IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates' IHS CERAWeek conference in downtown Houston. The discussion kicked off five days of panels and lectures featuring top energy executives, policy makers and analysts.

Growing economies in Asia, particularly China, and the Middle East, will shape the supply and demand dynamic of everything from oil and gas demand to electricity to the development of renewable energy sources.

“What will fill the demand?” asked Xizhou Zhou, a China expert with IHS CERA.

“The answer to that question is, really, everything.”

Energy takes stage: CERAWeek offers wealth of information

If you’re into energy, this week is Christmas in March in Houston. It’s CERAWeek, the five-day confab covering all things energy-related. For the cognoscenti, it’s brimful of gifts of information and informed opinion.

CERAWeek is the brainchild of Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power and chairman of IHS-Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a leading think tank/consultant on energy topics.

CERAWeek offers something for everyone interested in energy — oil, alternatives, the environment, coal, utilities and on and on for a full five days. But this year our attention will be focused on Wednesday’s daylong session on natural gas. And T. Boone Pickens is why.

CERAWEEK - FACTBOX: What are the big issues for CERAWeek?

(Reuters) - The symbiotic link between oil and the economy will dominate CERAWeek, the CERA consultancy's annual go-to gathering of elite energy and economic figures and thinkers that begins on Monday in Houston.

CFTC official wants more energy market transparency

Energy commodities regulators worldwide will need to move carefully and cooperatively if they expect to make global oil markets more transparent, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Scott D. O'Malia said in Tokyo on Feb. 26.

"We have to acknowledge that we've witnessed a paradigm shift in the global oil market over the past decade," he said in remarks to the International Energy Agency and Institute of Energy Economics Japan's Forum on Global Oil Market Challenges. "The paradigm has shifted in two significant ways…. First, oil is now a financial asset and its price movements are correlated to economic growth. Second, the growth in oil demand is being led by developing nations."

2010 energy prospects promising, U.K. firm says

Oil and gas services company Petrofac said it was confident for 2010 as it expects further investment in oil and gas projects, after it doubled its order backlog and posted net profit above forecasts in 2009.

Pakistan: Power tariff-hike to destroy economy

FAISALABAD - Proposed increase of Rs1.2 per unit in electricity tariff would push the cost of exportable items, making Pakistani textiles costly and inflicting loss of millions of dollars. It will also cause closure of more industries as industrial sector will not be able to absorb this shock; leading to more unemployment & poverty in the country.

Plans to increase consumption of fuel by 31 percent due to electricity crisis

The Venezuelan government plans to increase its fuel consumption by a third in 2010 to fuel thermoelectric plants with which President Hugo Chávez hopes to overcome energy crisis.

Officials expect a total consumption of 104 million barrels in 2010, about 285,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) of fuel oil, diesel and gas, which will be used to increase thermoelectric capacity by 4,000 megawatts (Mw).

'Energy crisis just artificial'

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Richard Gordon said the power crisis in Mindanao is artificial and may be part of a sinister plot, and demanded an explanation from the Arroyo administration.

“They should explain why there is a power shortage. From what I have heard – and I have just been to Mindanao – the water level in Lanao lake is normal. They just opened up a power plant in Cebu and they will open up a couple more. I don’t know what they are talking about,” Gordon, Bagumbayan party presidential candidate, told editors and reporters of The STAR yesterday.

“They have a lot of explaining to do.”

East Kalimantan Demand Higher Coal and Gas Supply

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: East Kalimantan administration pleaded to the central government for more allocation of gas and coal for to meet regional demand for energy. Governor Awang Faroek said on Tuesday (9/3) the province accounts for 54 percent of total national gas production and produces 50 million metric tonnes of coal every year, and “Its not funny if East Kalimantan should experience energy crisis.”

Green energy revolution expected in Kingdom

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and the Gulf signalled their intention to kick-start a renewable energy revolution in the region on Monday.

A panel of experts at the ongoing Gulf Environment Forum in Jeddah, chaired by Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, said measures were in place to improve the energy mix and finally reduce Middle East dependence on oil.

Sarkozy: ‘Help poor countries go nuclear in energy crisis’

POOR countries should be helped to build their own nuclear power stations to help fight climate change, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday.

His vision won over international energy officials from India to Brussels, and French executives eager to market their expertise abroad, at a Paris conference. But some experts said Mr Sarkozy’s push was opening the door to risks of deadly technology getting into the wrong hands, and warned consumers to pay attention to the staggering price tag of potential nuclear energy growth – up to £2.6 trillion worldwide by 2050.

"We need nuclear energy" to meet international goals set for slowing global warming, Mr Sarkozy said.

A reactor to make nuclear affordable

One of nuclear's biggest drawbacks, though, is the multi-billion-dollar price tag for all those new reactors. From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Sarah Gardner reports now on a way to make nuclear affordable.

Schools' New Math: the Four-Day Week

Four-day weeks have been in place for decades in states like New Mexico, Idaho and Wyoming and initially came about as states were looking to combat growing energy prices. Last week, Pueblo School District 70 in Colorado said it would adopt the schedule next school year for its roughly 8,000 students.

The shift has drawn scrutiny from some education and parents groups who say the shorter week hurts students academically and complicates child-care efforts.

Mexico Oil Politics Keeps Riches Just Out of Reach

VENUSTIANO CARRANZA, Mexico — To the Mexican people, one of the great achievements in their history was the day their president kicked out foreign oil companies in 1938. Thus, they celebrate March 18 as a civic holiday.

Yet today, that 72-year-old act has put Mexico in a straitjacket, one that threatens both the welfare of the country and the oil supply of the United States.

The national oil company created after the 1938 seizure, Pemex, is entering a period of turmoil. Oil production in its aging fields is sagging so rapidly that Mexico, long one of the world’s top oil-exporting countries, could begin importing oil within the decade.

Mexico is among the three leading foreign suppliers of oil to the United States, along with Canada and Saudi Arabia. Mexican barrels can be replaced, but at a cost. It means greater American dependence on unfriendly countries like Venezuela, unstable countries like Nigeria and Iraq, and on the oil sands of Canada, an environmentally destructive form of oil production.

“As you lose Mexican oil, you lose a critical supply,” said Jeremy M. Martin, director of the energy program at the Institute of the Americas at the University of California, San Diego. “It’s not just about energy security but national security, because our neighbor’s economic and political well-being is largely linked to its capacity to produce and export oil.”

Oil drops below $81 after monthlong rally

Oil prices dropped sharply to below $81 a barrel Tuesday, due to a stronger dollar and profit taking on a monthlong run fueled by growing investor optimism about global economic growth.

Gasoline prices at high for the year

Motorists are well down the road to higher pump prices as warmer weather and the driving season approach.

Average retail gasoline prices, continuing a surge that started last month, have now matched their 2010 high on the way to prices that many analysts believe will top $3 per gallon this spring.

Exxon Lowers Bar, Buys Assets Previously Deemed Unattractive

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Total SA are investing in assets that previously weren’t worth their time or money after oil-rich nations reduced access to reserves and exploration drilling faltered.

Efforts to find new sources of crude and natural gas are failing more often, with San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp.’s exploration failure rate jumping to 35 percent last year from 10 percent in 2008. Countries such as Venezuela are making it more expensive for companies to develop their resources, if they’re allowed in at all. And previously developed fields are drying up, reducing oil companies’ future supplies, or reserves.

Samsung Heavy Wins Order From Shell for Floating LNG

(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Heavy Industries Co. won an order to build a floating natural-gas facility for Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the first deal between the two under a 15-year supply contract signed last year.

INTERVIEW - Algeria sees global LNG recovery in 2-3 years

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The global slump in demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is temporary and demand will recover within the next two to three years, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said in an interview on Monday.

"If we look at the long term, definitely from the environmental point of view and from the point of view of satisfying global demand, there is going to be a big need for natural gas," Khelil told Reuters.

A conventional fuel, an unconventional future

The recent announcement that Korea Gas Corp. would invest $1.1-billion to participate in the development of EnCana's huge gas shale holdings in northeastern British Columbia is another signal that Canada's natural gas industry has entered a profoundly important new stage that, at earlier times, government policies made impossible.

Shell’s Arrow Bid May Spur Coal-Bed Gas Takeovers

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co.’s A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) bid for Arrow Energy Ltd. may spur more takeovers of Australian producers of coal-bed gas, a growing source of supply for Asian energy importers.

Sasol may abandon fuel liquids plant if no govt funding - paper

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Petrochemical group Sasol (SOLJ.J) may abandon its planned 80,000 barrel-a-day South African coal-to-liquid Mafutha plant if the government does not help finance it, the Business Day newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Sasol Chief Executive Officer Pat Davies as saying the world's top maker of motor fuel from coal would let the government determine its funding component for the project, while the company proceeds with its preparatory works currently in feasibility stage.

Mitsui Said to Consider Returning to Singapore Oil Trading

(Bloomberg) -- Mitsui & Co., the Japanese trading group that earns half its profit from energy, may restart oil product trading in Singapore after withdrawing from the city- state in 2007, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Tokyo-based company pulled out from Asia’s biggest oil- trading center when it shut its Singapore unit Mitsui Oil (Asia) Pte in 2007 after losing $81 million from naphtha transactions hidden by a trader. The cover-up resulted in the imprisonment of three former employees by Singapore courts last year.

Time for ‘bold action’ to reduce oil use in Greater Sudbury

Canada’s economy is highly dependent on oil. Many Canadians believe western Canada’s oil sands deposits will be our salvation. The oil sands, however, are a major atmospheric carbon emitter, which will exacerbate global climate change significantly, while also fouling the region’s water supply.

Should we all be driving hybrids to prepare for the impending high oil prices and volatility? Perhaps, but the report asserts, “There is real danger that the focus on technological advances in cars is making consumers and governments complacent.”

EPA probes whether shale gas drilling contaminates water supplies

The top U.S. environmental regulator said she was "very concerned" about fluids blamed by some for polluting water supplies near sites where drillers use them to extract natural gas from shale deposits. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson said she hopes her agency will launch a study this year into the nature of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process of natural gas drilling.

Fracking Fluids Part I: A controversy coming to an energy investment near you

The controversy surrounding fracking fluids is getting louder. Websites and media savvy organizations are getting more press on this issue, using a very simple and powerful pitch – are the chemicals used in fracking fluids in oil and gas wells contaminating our drinking water?

North American investors have not been directly hit by this issue yet, meaning that a company’s stock hasn’t plummeted because they had to stop drilling over these concerns – yet.

Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy's limits

In making the case for a rapid conversion away from heavily polluting energy sources like coal and nuclear power to cleaner generation, renewable energy advocates often confront the argument that their scheme is impossible due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind.

But a groundbreaking study out of North Carolina challenges that conventional wisdom: It suggests that backup generation requirements would be modest for a system based largely on solar and wind power, combined with efficiency, hydroelectric power, and other renewable sources like landfill gas.

Tuning the energy innovation engine at MIT

BOSTON--The MIT Energy Conference here on Saturday covered a little bit of everything--"China speed," climate change, financing gaps, government policy, nuclear and natural gas, and, of course, science experiments--as entrepreneurs, business people, and academics tried to get their arms around big-picture energy challenges.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has become a hotbed for clean-energy innovation over the past four years, attracting students and faculty to the field, some of whom have spun out promising companies.

I.B.M. Opens Energy Lab in Beijing

In another sign of China’s emergence as an epicenter of green technology, I.B.M. has opened a lab in Beijing to develop smart grid software for the global market.

IEA: safety, non-proliferation key premises for nuclear development

Safety and non-proliferation are two key premises for global expansion of nuclear power and countries seeking nuclear use must adhere to these principles, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Nobuo Tanaka stressed here Monday.

UAE believes in responsible use of nuclear power

The United Arab Emirates’ interest in developing nuclear energy is motivated by the need to develop additional sources of electricity.

This is to meet future demand projections and to ensure the continued rapid development of the country's economy, UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan affirmed here today.

Israel 'to unveil plans to build nuclear power plant'

Israel is expected to unveil plans this week to build a nuclear power plant, reports say.

They say an announcement will be made by Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau at an energy forum in Paris.

Israel is facing a crisis over electricity supplies, but environmental objections have blocked efforts to build a new coal-fired plant.

Don't buy Obama's greenwashing of nuclear power

Last month, inspectors found dangerous chemicals in the groundwater near the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The situation demonstrates that from the mining of uranium ore to the storage of radioactive waste, nuclear reactors remain as dirty, risky, and as costly as they ever were. If President Obama's recent enthusiasm for nuclear reactors has led you to believe otherwise, you've bought in to the administration's greenwashing of nuclear.

Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun

Farmers sold land for solar plants. Boutiques opened. And people from all over the world, seeing business opportunities, moved to the city, which had suffered from 20 percent unemployment and a population exodus.

But as low-quality, poorly designed solar plants sprang up on Spain’s plateaus, Spanish officials came to realize that they would have to subsidize many of them indefinitely, and that the industry they had created might never produce efficient green energy on its own.

Lending Scheme to Bring Solar to Cambodia’s Poor

With access to solar-powered energy products for Cambodia’s rural poor extremely limited, the solar energy company Kamworks and the Cambodia Mutual Savings and Credit Network are partnering to provide low-interest loans to customers hoping to outfit their homes with solar panels, while Kamworks will provide and install the equipment.

Ethanol Making Comeback as Valero Sees Profit Where Gates Lost

(Bloomberg) -- Ethanol, the commodity that cost Bill Gates more than $44 million the last time prices collapsed, is poised to rally as much as 20 percent as the fastest drop since 2008 spurs demand.

Falling corn prices and record ethanol supplies have driven the price down 17 percent in three months to $1.634 a gallon, its worst run since 2008’s fourth quarter. It will average $1.96 a gallon at the peak of the U.S. summer driving season as refiners from Valero Energy Corp. to Sunoco Inc. mix more into gasoline made from increasingly pricey oil, according to the median of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

European Activists Sue Over Biofuels Studies

Environmental lawyers and activists on Monday sued the European Commission for failing to release studies investigating the impact of biofuels on the environment.

Whetting Singapore's thirst for rice

"To produce one bowl of rice it takes about 500 liters of water," said Dr. Bouman.

"For a city like Singapore, the question is whether the 688 billion liters of water needed to produce the country's rice will remain available."

Worldwide, water for agriculture is becoming increasingly scarce as groundwater reserves drop, water quality declines because of pollution, irrigation systems malfunction, and competition from urban and industrial users increases.

Climate change will also reduce water availability in large parts of the world. And, by 2025, 15-20 million hectares of irrigated rice will suffer some degree of water scarcity.

Cool it on efforts against new rules, EPA chief asks

WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday pushed back against lawmakers' attempts to halt the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases from power plants, refiners and other industrial facilities.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency's proposed new rules, which would take effect next year, could help ignite new demand for clean energy technology.

Instead of trying to block new rules, lawmakers should spend their energy focusing on “new legislation to do something” about climate change, Jackson told reporters after a speech at the National Press Club.

Asking “what would nature do?” leads to a way to break down a greenhouse gas

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A recent discovery in understanding how to chemically break down the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a useful form opens the doors for scientists to wonder what organism is out there – or could be created – to accomplish the task.

University of Michigan biological chemist Steve Ragsdale, along with research assistant Elizabeth Pierce and scientists led by Fraser Armstrong from the University of Oxford in the U.K., have figured out a way to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using visible light, like sunlight.

California to amend 'cool cars' rule

The state, which gave initial approval of the new rules in June, aims to sharply reduce solar energy in vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board is working to finalize the regulations in the coming weeks. The final rules must be in place by May 7.

But the California Police Chiefs Association, California State Sheriffs Association, Crime Victims United of California and other groups warn that the new standards, requiring window glazing to keep car interiors cool, could degrade signals from cell phones, and from ankle monitoring bracelets worn by felons.

Fidel Castro warns of dangers threatening humanity

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned of many dangers currently threatening the planet and the humanity such as mass destructive weapons and climate change.

"For the first time, the human species, in a globalized world full of contradictions, have created the ability to destroy themselves," Castro said in an article released on Monday.

How does America end up with such terrible national security strategies?

Last month I wrote a blog post on the appallingly, monumentally bad Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) of 2010 — the document the US Defence Department is required to produce as a basis for developing the military force structure and strategic requirements for the next four years. This document, meant to analyse the threats to the United States, failed to mention radical Islam as a threat in its over 100 pages. It also passed over the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons with only a one-sentence mention. Yet the top officials of the Defence Department did not fail to notice the REAL threat facing the United States. The QDR devoted several pages to the serious threat inherent in… climate change.

Monbiot: The trouble with trusting complex science

There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anyway.

Wild relatives of crops seen aiding climate fight

(Reuters) - Farm experts plan to track down wild relatives of crops such as rice or wheat with traits that make them able to resist global warming in a project costing perhaps $50 million, a leading expert said on Tuesday.

"The wild relatives of cultivated crops ... are largely uncollected or conserved in gene banks," said Cary Fowler, head of the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust which co-manages a "doomsday" seed vault on an Arctic island north of Norway.

Move to train truckers to be greener

The UK government has launched a new proposal to encourage more lorry drivers to take eco-driver training in a move to save up to 3m tonnes of carbon emissions.

Over five years, a saving of around £300m in fuel costs could be achieved, according to transport minister Paul Clark.

India backs Copenhagen climate deal: minister

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.

Climate forest deal in sight: Indonesia

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Wealthy and developing nations should be able to seal an agreement this year on deforestation, unlocking a key part of the next treaty on global warming, Indonesian negotiators said Monday.

Should Scientists Fight Heat or Stick to Data?

You want to know why Al Gore and his movie have proven to be such an abject failure? (And yes, failure is the right word — polling shows no net increase in public concern about global warming in the years following the movie — for two decades its been roughly a third of the public who are seriously worried about global warming.) It’s for this very reason. A very dull and dispassionate voice was chosen to deliver a supposedly dire and passionate message. It was one of the worst cases of bad casting in history. Gore is ultimately “a scientist” when it comes to communication instincts. You can see it played out in his movie and two books as he’s slowly come to the realization that you need something more than information to reach the masses. Duh.

Post Carbon

Contrary to popular belief, young people are not more politically engaged on the issue of climate change than older Americans, according to a new climate poll conducted by researchers at American, Yale and George Mason universities.

The researchers found "adults under the age of 35 are significantly less likely than their elders to say that they had thought about global warming before today, with nearly a quarter (22 percent) of under-35s saying they had never thought about the issue previously. Only 38 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 say that they had previously thought about global warming either 'a lot' (10 percent) or 'some' (28 percent), compared to 51 percent of those 35-59 and 44 percent of those 60 and older.

When the Water Rises

It’s easy to imagine an apocalyptically soggy future for New York—high waves soaking the hem of Lady Liberty’s robes, flash floods roaring through subway tunnels, kayakers paddling down Wall Street—and just as easy to dismiss it all as another end-of-days Hollywood fantasy. Global warming may be powerful and real, but so is denial, and the urge to postpone thinking about that particular item on the world’s to-do list is almost irresistible. Coastal cities, however, don’t have that luxury. For centuries, New York has been steadily expanding into its harbor; when the steroidal storms of the not-too-distant future start pummeling our shores, the waters will push back.

So Barry Bergdoll, the head of the Museum of Modern Art’s architecture and design department, divvied New York Harbor among five teams of designers and challenged them to figure out how a low-lying metropolis might deal with rising sea levels and violent storm surges. Their answers will appear (starting March 24) in the MoMA exhibit “Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront,” and they vary from spongy streets to reefs made of glass or oysters to apartment buildings dangling above the brine.

Developed countries outsource emissions: study

Developed countries are "outsourcing" more than a third of their carbon emissions associated with products and services to other countries, researchers say.

A study of trade data found that some countries in Western Europe have more than half of their total carbon dioxide emissions occurring elsewhere, especially in developing countries such as China.