Scientists say we’re on the cusp of a carbon dioxide–recycling revolution

Every year, the billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) we release into the atmosphere add to the growing threat of climate change. But what if we could simply recycle all that wasted CO2and turn it into something useful?By adding electricity, water, and a variety of catalysts, scientists can reduce CO2 into short molecules such […]

The Sahara Desert is expanding—world’s largest desert grew by 10 percent since 1920

The Sahara Desert has expanded by about 10 percent since 1920, according to a new study by University of Maryland scientists. The research is the first to assess century-scale changes to the boundaries of the world’s largest desert and suggests that other deserts could be expanding as well. The study was published online March 29, […]

Kunstler: Not So Happy Motoring

It hasn’t been a great month for America’s electric car fantasy. Elon Musk’s Tesla company — the symbolic beating heart of the fantasy — is whirling around the drain with its share price plummeting 22 percent, its bonds downgraded by Moody’s to junk status, a failure to produce its “affordable” ($36,000 — Ha!) Model 3 […]

How to Survive When, NOT IF, Catastrophic Climate Change Makes Earth’s Climate Unsuitable For Humans

During many periods in human history, some were doing just fine and others lived on the edge of starvation in a constant state of collapse. Abrupt changes in climate, such as that caused in France by a massive Laki volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783, have resulted in famine induced starvation. In that case, starvation […]

US Dept. Of Energy sells 5.2 mln barrels of oil from SPR

The U.S. Department of Energy sold about 5.2 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to five companies including top refiners Valero Energy Corp and Phillips 66, according to a notice on Wednesday: * Phillips 66 was sold the most amount of oil – about 2.3 million barrels – and Valero Marketing […]

The Energy Giant Taking Over Kurdistan

After the steady buildup of a burgeoning strategic partnership between the Russian national oil company and Kurdistan’s Regional Government (KRG), the year 2018 threw cold water on the ambitious plans of the two sides. Having signed an oil supply contract in February 2017 and an oil and gas infrastructure ownership takeover deal in September, Rosneft […]

US sold oil with high levels of dangerous chemical

Three firms that bought oil last year from U.S. emergency stockpiles raised concerns about dangerous levels of a poisonous chemical in the cargoes, according to internal Department of Energy emails and shipping documents reviewed by Reuters.

China taking first steps to pay for oil in yuan this year

China is taking its first steps towards paying for imported crude oil in yuan instead of the U.S. dollar, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, a key development in Beijing’s efforts to establish its currency internationally. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Dollar and China Yuan notes are seen in this picture illustration June 2, […]

Russia, China eclipse US in hypersonic missiles

Russia and China are outpacing the United States in the development of super-fast missile technology, Pentagon officials and key lawmakers are warning. Russia says it successfully tested a so-called hypersonic missile this month, while China tested a similar system last year expected to enter service soon. “Right now, we’re helpless,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of […]

Shanghai Oil Futures Off To Robust Start On 2nd Day

Shanghai crude oil futures got off to another strong start in their second day of trading on Tuesday, with more than 16 million barrels of crude changing hands, extending the launch day’s high volumes, data showed. More than 32,000 lots of the most-active September contract, equivalent to 16 million barrels of crude, changed hands in […]

Russian Arctic natural gas comes to India

It was the first ever shipload of Russian Arctic LNG to India. And more is to come. According to Lev Feodosev, Deputy Chairman of Novatek’s Management Board, the Asian market is considered of major importance for the company’s LNG project in Yamal. «One of our main priorities, which is laid down in the company’s strategy until […]

Mexico’s Oil Reserves Drop Again Despite Recent Discoveries

Mexico’s proven oil and gas reserves dropped again last year, after new certified discoveries—mostly by private foreign operators—were unable to keep pace with current production. According to data by Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), the country’s proved total oil and gas reserves were 8.484 billion barrels of oil equivalent as of January 1, 2018, which […]

Putin Finally Went Too Far

When Britain threw out 23 Russian diplomats in response to an assassination attempt on Russian agent Sergei Skripal, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia and current bad boy of modern geopolitics, shrugged it off. With relations between London and Moscow so strained, the embassy didn’t have all that much to do, anyway. The cost, Putin […]

Oil’s Seven Sisters Enter a ‘Golden Age’

The world’s largest oil companies have survived a life-changing crisis, and are now poised to reap the rewards, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. Big Oil is in a sweet spot with rising oil prices and low operating costs, leaving them with the biggest cash-flow growth in two decades and boosting earnings, Goldman said in a […]

ITER nuclear fusion project avoids delays as U.S. doubles budget

The United States has agreed to double its planned 2018 budget contribution to the ITER project to build a prototype nuclear fusion reactor, avoiding delays to the international project this year, its director said on Monday. FILE PHOTO – A crane loads equipments at the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in […]

World faces shortage of fresh water

Low availability of fresh water and steady growth in population across the world would make water dearer in less than a decade, warned an expert at a seminar organised jointly by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) yesterday. While making a presentation, Mahzaben Mannan of the Sustainable […]

‘PetroYuan’ Futures Launch With A Bang, Volume Dominates Brent As Big Traders Step In

As we detailed previously, China’s yuan-denominated crude oil futures launched overnight in Shanghai with 62,500 contracts traded in aggregate, meaning over 62 million barrels of oil changed hands for a notional volume around 27 billion yuan (over $4 billion). As OilPrice.com’s Tsvetana Paraskova notes, Glencore, Trafigura, and Freepoint Commodities were among the first to buy the […]

Trump praises arms sales as he meets Saudi crown prince

President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised his relationship with Mohammed bin Salman as he met the Saudi crown prince at the White House, pointing to growing arms sales to the kingdom even as he privately pushed Riyadh to resolve the protracted dispute with US ally Qatar. Mr Trump has formed one of the closest alliances […]

Driving An Electric Vehicle Is Far Cleaner Than Driving On Gasoline

Driving an electric vehicle (EV) has obvious climate benefits: zero tailpipe emissions. But because EVs are charged by power grids that burn fossil fuels, they aren’t necessarily zero-carbon. An EV’s carbon footprint depends on whether its power comes from renewables or fossil, and quantifying exactly how clean EVs are compared to gasoline-powered vehicles has been […]

OPEC Supply Cut Compliance Hits Record, Oil Glut Going Fast

Compliance with a global deal to cut oil supply hit a new high in February and an inventory glut is shrinking fast, a joint OPEC and non-OPEC committee said, bringing producers close to the pact’s original aim. OPEC and its allies achieved 138 percent of pledged output reductions last month, OPEC said, up from 133 […]

Global Report on Food Crises 2018

The 2018 Global Report on Food Crises provides the latest estimates of severe hunger in the world. An estimated 124 million people in 51 countries are currently facing Crisis food insecurity or worse (the equivalent of IPC/CH Phase 3 or above). Conflict and insecurity continued to be the primary drivers of food insecurity in 18 […]

The Twilight of Authority

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the need for a rhetorical education—that is, an education that doesn’t presume to lay down the law about what’s true and what’s false, but instead teaches each individual how to understand and assess claims about truth and falsehood. That’s a concept many people find challenging these days. […]

The Seneca Effect: A Review

Writing from Berlin, where the presentation of “The Seneca Effect” is going to start in a few hours.  And here is another review by Ronny Wagner, in German, which I translated the best I could with the help of Google. The Seneca effect by Ronny Wagner | 3 Jan, 2018 |   “It would be […]

Decrypting The Appointment Of John Bolton

So perhaps the dominant wing of the Deep State is finally willing to cut a deal with Trump. To many observers, the appointment of John Bolton as national security advisor is the functional equivalent of appointing the Anti-Christ–or maybe worse. Indeed, these observers would, when comparing the two, find grudging favor with the Anti-Christ. Bolton […]

Collusion – Central Bank Money Rules The World

Central bank credit that supports markets – is not just creation of the Fed, but by central banks and institutions around the world colluding together. Global markets are too deeply connected these days to consider the Fed in isolation. Since last month’s correction, the world has been watching the Fed because its policies have global […]

Gimme That Old Time Religion!

The biggest albatross of environmentalism is its well-deserved reputation for apocalypticism: the world is always going to come to and end because of. . . plastic bags! Bee colony collapse disorder! Endocrine disruptors! Velociraptors! And of course the big one: c—— c—– (formerly known as g—– w——). This apocalyptic outlook always comes with the same […]

Is Turning Off The Tap Takes To Save Water?

According to the United Nations Water Development Report 2016, one of the most serious problems humanity is facing today is the scarcity of portable and clean water for drinking and domestic use. This crisis is feared to worsen dramatically in the coming decade. The World Bank’s report on India says that while the development of […]

John Bolton likely to turn up heat on Iran and boost oil prices

The appointment of John Bolton as his national security advisor signals President Trump is now looking to pursue a more hard-line approach against U.S. adversaries, like Iran or Venezuela. Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador, has said the U.S. should act pre-emptively against North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, and his arrival makes it more likely […]

China Seeks Greater Role in Global Oil Trade

China, the world’s largest oil importer, soon will launch a yuan-denominated crude futures contract with the potential to become a benchmark for global oil transactions. But it must overcome many challenges to earn a place alongside the internationally recognized U.S. dollar-denominated contracts. Tim Seymour, managing partner of Seymour Asset Management, notes that because the contract […]

Does Nature Have the Solutions to Our Water Problems?

Every year, on the 22 March, we celebrate World Water Day to draw attention to the importance of water for humankind and our planet. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is ‘Nature for Water.’ According to the 2018 edition of the UN World Water Development Report (WWRD 2018) launched this week, if we […]

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