“America is too dependent on foreign oil” is a frequent refrain of American politicians and policymakers with an agenda. Now, it seems possible that the immense new discoveries of American shale gas and its liquid twin “tight oil” may be able to displace these imports. But is this realistic?[read more]

Abandoned Oil Rig via Shutterstock

While climate concerns may dominate for some, it seems fair to say that the most contentious aspect of the shale gas revolution is related to fears over high water demands and contamination risks posed by hydraulic fracturing, i.e. “fracking”. I want to concentrate on two intertwined issues here, namely water pollution risks and property rights.[read more]

Over the last five years, the rise of shale gas has been the single major event in the world of energy to have a lasting impression for years to come. In recent years new studies and discoveries in other parts of the world have been changing the global energy landscape.[read more]

Climate Pollution via Shutterstock

Can natural gas provide a "bridge" towards a low-carbon economy? Some climate activists claim that fugitive methane leaks undermine gas's climate credentials. However, I think that they are making a mistake by demonizing the one fuel source that has provably shaken coal's hold on the global energy system.[read more]

New Energy Sources via Shutterstock

When The Energy Collective asked me to write a series of posts about ‘new energy sources’, the term gave me pause. The more I thought about the concept of ‘new energy sources’, the more complex it became. What exactly is a new energy source, and what in particularly makes an new energy source ‘new’?[read more]

Shale Gas Drilling via Shutterstock

There is widespread agreement that shale gas played a major role in bringing U.S. carbon emissions to a historic twenty-year low in 2012. This should not come as a surprise given that gas-fired power plants emit about half the CO2 per MWh compared to their coal-based cousins. However, some worry that these climate gains are being undermined by increased coal exports to Europe. How justified are these fears?[read more]

West Africa, a region larger than Western Europe, and covering a population of almost 300M people, is one of the most power-deficient parts of the world. To what extent could Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) play a role in helping West Africa overcome its power issues?[read more]

Gas majors Anadarko Petroleum, ENI and BG Group have discovered over 100 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas reserves off the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania. Could these discoveries make East Africa as big of an energy exporter as Nigeria?[read more]

There’s no use talking about new energy sources without assessing the social, political, and economic contexts into which they might emerge. For unless a nascent technology can command broad stakeholder assent within a given socio-political context, the technology is likely to remain marginal within it. The Canadian oil sands, which I discussed here previously, provide a case in point. And, perhaps, a harbinger of things to come.[read more]

Harvesting for Biofuels via Shutterstock

 

The majority of biofuel development to date has been driven by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in the United States and the ethanol program in Brazil, Proálcool. These programs have created a burgeoning ethanol industry, and the RFS program has gone slightly further to provide additional support for biodiesel and to lay the groundwork for next generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol.[read more]

Biofuels via Shutterstock

While gasoline drives consumer mobility, it’s diesel that we turn to for the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) fleet. Diesel fuel use accounts for roughly 20 percent of U.S. petroleum use and has an even greater share in European markets. Although ethanol is the primary biofuel used to displace gasoline, biofuel development for HDVs is centered on renewable diesel and biodiesel, two distinctly different technologies with unique production pathways.[read more]

www.abc.net.au

Floating liquid natural gas, the notion of performing gas liquefaction offshore on a floating vessel near the point of extraction, has seen a growth in interest since around 2006. Several companies prepared a Floating LNG concept and performed research to develop some non-existing, though indispensable, technological components. During...[read more]

Canada’s vast quantities of oil sands have been described variously as the world's third largest proven crude oil reserve, Canada’s path to energy superpowerdom, ‘game over for the climate’, and ‘the most destructive project on earth’.[read more]

Tidal Energy via Shutterstock

The small French island of Mont Saint-Michel, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is famous for its fast and forcefully rising tides. The famous writer Victor Hugo once claimed them to be as fast as galloping horses. Tidal energy is all about capturing this energy of the sea. While large tidal projects have been proposed for centuries, actual...[read more]

Biofuels + Transportation via Shutterstock

In terms of energy use, light-duty vehicles account for over 58 percent of the 27,600 trillion BTU used for transportation in the U.S. each year. This is a huge market, representing roughly 5 times the annual output from U.S. Nuclear energy plants; the global market is even larger. There will need to be a large amount of biofuels technologies and political support for these technologies to achieve our carbon reduction and energy security goals.[read more]

Wave Energy via Shutterstock

While going for a stroll along the seaside, many enjoy the magnificent sight of waves hitting the shore. Few will realize the unique opportunity to visualize the enormous amount of energy that waves carry. Is this the next big source of renewable energy?[read more]

Offshore Wind Energy via Shutterstock

With rows of wind turbines following the curvy shapes of the mountains that hold them in many parts of the world, today wind energy has become an integral part of our global environment. While most people are familiar with onshore wind generation, its offshore variant is often less known. This is especially true for floating offshore...[read more]

Biofuels via Shutterstock

Unlike other alternative fuels, biofuels already experience substantial use in the market and are likely to remain the dominant alternative fuel for the conceivable future. With modern advances in biofuel technology coming online and with policy incentives in place to create the market for adoption, it’s important to take some time to...[read more]

Energy transition is not just an imperative: it’s a certainty. But while it’s certain that we’ll continue to transition towards a new energy mix, far less certain are the nature of this mix and the speed of our transition. Also uncertain, though certain to be profound, are the impacts of this transition on human societies and the economies and earth systems that sustain them.[read more]

We at The Energy Collective are pleased to announce the launch of the Future Energy Fellows program, which is sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell and will provide the rising stars of the global energy industry and policy worlds with an online presence, means to connect and collaborate, and a forum to contribute their thoughts and ideas on the future of energy generation, fuel extraction, and other resources to The Energy Collective.[read more]