News from September 2008

Oil-funded research in Palin’s campaign against protection for polar bear

The Republican Sarah Palin and her officials in the Alaskan state government drew on the work of at least six scientists known to be sceptical about the dangers and causes of global warming, to back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species, the Guardian can disclose. Some of the scientists were [...]

Farmland birds not bothered by wind turbines, study finds

Farmland birds aren’t bothered by wind turbines being built in the countryside, a new study has found. The sight and sound of ranks of whirling 100-metre high turbines had little effect on the numbers of birds in the area, scientists found.The results will disappoint conservation groups, who claim turbines pose a threat to birds but [...]

Nigeria: Experts to Meet on Energy Crisis

Experts as well as professionals in the energy sector will meet next month in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to deliberate on the ways out of the current energy crisis in the country. The discussions which would be organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Rural Electrification Agency and BAS Associates Consulting, will focus [...]

Financial crisis could hinder climate talks: Germany

Global financial turmoil will make it harder for international partners to reach important agreements on climate change in the coming months, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday. Speaking at a Berlin conference on transatlantic cooperation on climate and energy, Steinmeier said countries’ policy priorities were shifting in the wake of the market crisis.“The collapse [...]

Biodiesel breakthrough comes at

A revolutionary plan to produce green fuel from the jatropha plant has passed a major test by delivering its first shipments. D1 Oils, the British company behind the scheme, says it is well on the way to reaching its target of producing 1,000 tonnes of crude jatropha oil by December. “We are pleased to have [...]

Schlumberger CEO sees oil and gas cycle intact

The CEO of Schlumberger Ltd, the world’s largest oilfield services company, on Tuesday repeated his view that the exploration and production cycle should stay strong for years, even as a credit crisis roils world markets. “Absent a deep global recession and much greater demand reduction than we have seen so far, we consider that both [...]

CA: World’s largest uranium refinery plans $6M expansion

Cameco is celebrating 25 years in Blind River, and 20 years as a corporation. And after a quarter of a century, the company’s future is looking bright as demand for world energy continues to grow. Over the next 20 years, world demand for electricity is expected to double. Cameco’s uranium sales volume has tripled since [...]

China’s coal export volume on falling trend

China’s coal exports have been falling sharply in volume since June, and the total export volume of this year is predicted to be approximately the same as last year, according to Customs statistics. The statistics show that in the first eight months China exported 33.64 million tons of coal, up 0.3 percent over a year [...]

IRL: Revised biofuel target on transport welcome

The government’s revised biofuels obligation of 3 per cent of all transport fuel by 2010 was yesterday welcomed by the Labour Party. The party’s spokeswoman on energy Liz McManus said that the new target – which has almost halved the target set only 19 months ago – recognised that biofuels can have a very negative [...]

French biofuel tax revision threatens jobs -makers

Thousands of jobs could be lost in the French biofuel sector if the government’s proposal to scrap tax advantages for the grain-made fuels by 2012 is adopted, ethanol makers said on Tuesday. The government said in its draft 2009 budget released on Friday that it would gradually phase out tax reductions given to ethanol and [...]