Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

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To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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Oil Surges as Hamas Attack on Israel Fans Middle East Tensions

October 8, 2023 at 6:05 PM EDT
Updated on October 9, 2023 at 1:53 AM EDT


Oil surged as much as 5% after the broadest and bloodiest attack on Israel in decades threatened to inflame tensions in the Middle East, the source of around a third of the world’s crude.

West Texas Intermediate traded near $86 a barrel as a war-risk premium returned to markets. The death toll on both sides following Hamas’ strikes against Israel over the weekend topped 1,100 as fighting headed into a third day, while the US said it was sending warships to the region.

The latest events in Israel don’t pose an immediate threat to oil flows, but there’s a risk the conflict could spiral into a more devastating proxy war, embroiling the US and Iran. Any retaliation against Tehran amid reports it was involved in the attacks could endanger the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit that Iran has previously threatened to close.

“While the worst-case scenario of a regional war has to be kept in view, it’s not my base case,” said Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based analysis firm Vanda Insights. “Restraint and calmer minds will prevail as there will be only losers all-round in a wider war.”
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... nd=premium
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Exxon Mobil buys Pioneer Natural in $59.5 billion deal with energy prices surging
Source: AP

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN
Updated 6:06 AM CDT, October 11, 2023
Exxon Mobil Corp. is buying Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion, its largest buyout since acquiring Mobil two decades ago, creating a colossal fracking operator in West Texas.

Including debt, Exxon is committing about $64.5 billion to the acquisition, leaving no doubt of the Texas energy company’s commitment to fossil fuels.

Pioneer shareholders will receive 2.3234 shares of Exxon Mobil for each Pioneer share they own.

Exxon purchased XTO Energy in 2009 for approximately $36 billion. In the late 1990s, the merger between Exxon and Mobil was valued around $80 billion.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/exxon-pionee ... 221e5423d1
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U.S. oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to curb climate change
Source: PBS News Hour

Oct 13, 2023 6:57 PM EDT

United States domestic oil production hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions by the Biden administration and world leaders.

And it conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden “war on American energy.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

With the United Nations and scientists saying the world needs to cut carbon emissions — from burning coal, oil and natural gas — by 43 percent by 2030 and down to zero or close to it by 2050, several developed countries across the world are dangerously producing more, not less, fossil fuels, experts say.
Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u ... ate-change
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Biden administration announces $3.5 billion for projects to strengthen nationwide electric grid stressed by extreme weather

Source: Fortune/AP

October 19, 2023 at 4:41 AM EDT


The Biden administration on Wednesday announced $3.5 billion for 58 projects across the country to strengthen electric grid resilience as extreme weather events such as the deadly Maui and California wildfires continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said it was the largest federal investment ever in grid infrastructure, supporting projects that will harden electric systems and improve energy reliability and affordability. The federal spending, combined with money promised by private partners, could result in up to $8 billion in investments nationally to upgrade the grid, Granholm said.

“The grid, as it currently sits, is not equipped to handle all the new demand” and withstand natural disasters and extreme weather worsened by climate change, Granholm said at a news conference. “We need it to be bigger, we need it to be stronger, we need it to be smarter” to bring a range of renewable energy projects online and meet the Biden administration’s goal of reaching 100% clean electricity by 2035, she said.

Projects funded by the federal Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program will increase the flexibility, efficiency and reliability of electric power systems, with a particular focus on spurring solar, wind and other renewable energy, Granholm said. The projects also are aimed at fixing problems that may contribute to wildfires and other disasters and will improve reliability by deploying innovative approaches to electricity transmission, storage and distribution, she and other officials said.
Read more: https://fortune.com/2023/10/19/biden-ad ... e-weather/
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Reports: UK meat-eating hits lowest levels since 1970s amid cost-of-living pressures
25 October 2023

Average of 854g of meat purchased by UK households each week last year was lowest since records began, but experts warn shift is largely due to soaring food prices

Average household meat consumption in the UK fell to its lowest level on record last year, as cost-of-living pressures forced consumers to tighten their belts and opt for more affordable food options, the latest government figures suggest.

Data on UK household food purchases released by Defra this week show average meat consumption fell by 12.5 per cent to 854g per week during the year to March 2022, which is the lowest level since records began in the 1970s.

For context, 854g is about the same weight as less than half a medium chicken sold by Waitrose. The supermarket states that on its website that its 1.75kg medium chickens can feed up to four people.

It marks a fall from 976g of meat consumed each week on average by UK households the previous year, which was also in turn down slightly from 949g in the year before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, according to reports this morning. Overall, the data shows household meat consumption has fallen 14 per cent since 2012.
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4138 ... -pressures
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Supercritical CO2 pilot aims to make steam turbines obsolete
By Loz Blain
October 31, 2023
https://newatlas.com/energy/supercritical-co2-turbines/
Steam turbines still produce most of the world's power, but supercritical carbon dioxide promises to be much cheaper, and 10% more efficient as a medium than water, using 10X smaller turbines. A US$155-million pilot plant is now complete in San Antonio.

Ribbons were cut at the Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant in Texas on October 27 as it was declared "mechanically complete" by project partners Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), GTI Energy, GE Vernova, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The device in the image above is the world's first supercritical carbon dioxide turbine. Roughly the size of a desk, is a 10-megawatt turbine capable of powering around 10,000 homes. Ten megawatts is pretty small potatoes in the energy business, but to do it with a turbine this tiny? That could prove to be a revolutionary feat.

Carbon dioxide goes supercritical when the temperature and pressure are above about 31 °C (88 °F) and 74 bar (1,070 psi), respectively. At this point, it stops acting like a gas or a liquid, and instead starts acting something like a gas with the density of a liquid. Past this point, relatively small changes in temperature can cause significant changes in density.
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To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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