Archive by category | Energy

US Supreme Court to hear challenge on greenhouse gas limits

The US Supreme Court agreed today to review the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants — a key piece of  the climate change strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama earlier this year.  Read more

National laboratories prepare to shut down

National laboratories prepare to shut down

With no end in sight for the US government shutdown that began on 1 October, the Department of Energy (DOE) is now preparing to shut down the sprawling complex of national laboratories that maintains nuclear weapons and performs a range of basic and applied research.  Read more

Norway ditches large-scale carbon-capture plan

Norway’s government is cutting off support for a facility that by 2020 was to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions at a commercial scale. After years of delays and mounting costs, the plan to capture 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from an oil refinery and gas power plant at Mongstad would be halted, said oil and energy minister Ola Borten Moe on 20 September.  Read more

EPA proposes emissions limits for new power plants

Following through on President Barack Obama’s climate strategy, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed greenhouse gas regulations that would effectively ban coal-fired power plants unless they are equipped to capture and sequester a portion of their carbon dioxide emissions.  Read more

European Parliament votes to limit crop-based biofuels

The European Union Parliament voted today to limit Europe’s use of biofuels based on crops such as palm oil and soya beans, years after scientists pointed out that making fuel from food crops can do more harm than good to the environment.  Read more

El-Baz wants to solve Egypt’s problems from space

Following the recent and ongoing political upheaval in Egypt, Farouk El-Baz, the Egyptian-born director of Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing, is suggesting his major development corridor construction project as a solution to Egypt’s biggest problems again, hoping the new government may be more attentive.  Read more

Management row threatens to blow Sahara solar dream

Plans to supply Europe with electricity generated in North Africa suffered another blow this week when the DESERTEC Foundation, set up in 2009 to promote the idea, pulled out of the industrial consortium which is trying to advance the €400-billion (US$514-billion) project.  Read more

Management row threatens to blow Sahara solar dream

Plans to supply Europe with electricity generated in North Africa suffered another blow this week when the DESERTEC Foundation, set up in 2009 to promote the idea, pulled out of the industrial consortium which is trying to advance the €400 billion project.  Read more

US Senate approves Moniz for energy post and advances EPA nominee

US President Barack Obama’s science team gained a new member on 16 May as the Senate confirmed physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy. Lawmakers also voted to advance the nomination of Gina McCarthy, Obama’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Read more