Energy Security posts, articles, and infographics

Black Swan theory and the anti-nuclear sentiment

February 1, 2012 by Barry Brook
with 503 views

Black Swan Theory, as explained by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007/2010 book, The Black Swan, describes an event which is a disproportionally-rare occurrence, is unpredictable, but has a high-impact when it does occur. According to Taleb, Black Swan events include the September 11 attacks, the rise of the Internet, World War I and the... [read more]

Keystone Rejection Highlights Need for Improved Safety in Energy Production

January 30, 2012 by Peter Lehner
with 158 views

On the day that President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have brought corrosive Canadian tar sands oil through America largely for export, I was at an energy conference in Houston, listening to a tar sands representative talk about what the industry had done, and would do in the future, to reduce the impacts of tar... [read more]

How to manage the nations nuclear waste

January 26, 2012 by Dan Yurman
with 195 views

It calls for leadership by Congress and the White House to resolve the current impasse Spent fuel in wet storageThe Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future released its final report on Jan 26 to the U.S. Energy Secretary, detailing comprehensive recommendations for creating a safe, long- term solution for managing and... [read more]

NRC’s Waste Confidence Update

January 25, 2012 by Dan Yurman
with 358 views

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced in early January it is starting work on an update to the Waste Confidence decision. With the Obama administration’s successful bid to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository project, one of the agency’s key assumptions for the update is that interim storage of spent fuel will be the norm... [read more]

Global Warning

November 17, 2011 by Karen Street
with 254 views

People hear climate change through different concerns. Some hear threats to the environment, others to people, and others still to national security. (Of course, there is overlap.) For those in the national security category, the National Security Journalism Initiative has created Global Warning. Water shortages in Yemen Go to A... [read more]

Government Support for Electric Drive Must Continue

November 13, 2011 by James Greenberger
with 559 views

Vehicle electrification is simply a hedge against a petroleum crisis that we know to a certainty is coming. Within the transportation sector, electrification is the most complete, technologically feasible and cost effective hedge that we know of. More efficient ICE’s may offer improved fuel efficiency, but they offer no such hedge. The Chinese government, which is estimated to have spent about three times what the U.S. government has spent on vehicle electrification technology, has made the same calculation. The Chinese interest in vehicle electrification has less to do with its desire to compete with the West than with its concern for economic survival in a post-peak oil world. [read more]

Do LNG Exports Threaten the Shift to Gas?

November 4, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 423 views

Last week US liquefied natural gas provider Cheniere signed a long-term agreement to sell BG (formerly British Gas) LNG exported from the Gulf Coast. The governor of Alaska was also recently quoted suggesting that his state's surplus natural gas might find a better market in Asia than if sent to the lower-48 via a new pipeline. Both... [read more]

Algae Away! US Navy Invests In Alternative Fuels

September 27, 2011 by Scott Edward Anderson
with 916 views

For every 50 fuel convoys deployed by the US military, one soldier dies or get injured. An astounding figure shared by Thomas Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the US Navy for energy, at the Clinton Global Initiative meetings in New York Tuesday on a panel about innovations in green technology. The Navy, along with other branches of the military, recognizes the need to switch to alternative fuels both to reduce the risks in getting fuel into theaters of war and to reduce its exposure to price volatility. [read more]

Operation 'Use The Sun': The U.S. Military’s Sustainability Strategy

September 24, 2011 by Sheila Oliva
with 474 views

For those of you who did not know, our military spends a lot of money to support itself. One of its biggest expenses is its huge appetite for energy. Specifically, according to Colonel Dan Nolan, “The DOD is the world’s largest oil consumer,” accounting for 25% of the globe’s consumption. Due to that need for oil, Colonel Nolan says that... [read more]

Chu: Oil Demand, Prices Make Keystone XL “A Trade Off”

September 23, 2011 by Silvio Marcacci
with 373 views

The Keystone XL pipeline proposal is one of the most controversial energy issues facing America today, roiling the energy industry and bringing protests to the White House’s front step. Supporters say it would provide a secure source of energy and jobs, but opponents say oil-sands crude will threaten fragile ecosystems and worsen global warming. The Obama Administration hasn’t yet made its decision, but comments by cabinet members, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, hint at an approval. [read more]

Smart Grid: Meeting the Challenges of our Times

September 9, 2011 by Anto Budiardjo
with 305 views

I was inspired by an email I read today from one of our GridWeek sponsors. A Cleveland-resident, he has chosen to cancel his plane ticket to D.C. next week and instead hop on his motorcycle in a personal memorial ride for those who died on September 11. His first stop, the 9/11 memorial in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, where... [read more]

America’s Resource Renaissance

August 19, 2011 by Amy Myers Jaffe
with 215 views

American oil industry leadership groups such as the National Petroleum Council and the American Petroleum Institute have been meeting in recent months to fashion new frameworks for the industry to ensure best practices for oil and natural gas drilling. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the task at hand is proving highly complex, and so far, the industry seems to lack consensus on how to move forward, especially on the topic of how far it can go in policing itself. [read more]

Guarding the Grid

August 17, 2011 by Silvio Marcacci
with 234 views

In 2003, an overheated power line near Cleveland, Ohio sagged into a tree and shorted out. It started a cascade of power line failures across the Midwest, Northeast and parts of Canada, and causing the worst blackout in U.S. history. Since then, utilities and grid operators have used new technology and procedures to prevent another major blackout – but can they compete with an aging grid and estimated $1 trillion in required new investment? [read more]

Do EV's and CAFE's Mix?

August 6, 2011 by James Greenberger
with 511 views

The structure of CAFE standards needs to be rethought. CAFE standards should address separately the two energy policy goals that they were designed to achieve: energy efficiency and energy diversity. One goal should not be a trade-off for the other. As CAFE standards and other mandates become increasingly important policy tools in a budget-constrained environment, energy security and electrification supporters must be careful that their interests not be forgotten and subordinated in the battle against greenhouse gas emissions. [read more]

Distributed Power Is The Best Way To Relieve Energy Poverty

July 29, 2011 by Alex Trembath
with 490 views

I just attended a presentation by Marlene Grundstrom, who works with the Stockholm Environment Institute on energy access and energy poverty.Often left out of both discussions of climate change and global development, energy poverty turns out to be a key driver of both, and a considerable source of suffering and mortality in less-... [read more]