Shell to Suspend Arctic Offshore Drilling Program
Shell shut down its 2013 drilling season in the Arctic waters off Alaska on Wednesday, after a series of mishaps and mechanical failures. The oil company said in a statement it was putting its operations off the coast of Alaska on pause for 2013, but remained committed to drilling at a later stage. The decision raises further doubts about the futu… Read More
Nuclear Power Cannot Compete with Cheap Shale Gas
Nuclear power stations in Canada and the United States are closing because they cannot compete with cheap power being produced from shale gas. This revolution in the way North America produces its electricity is sending shock waves through the nuclear industry in Europe too. New nuclear build will be spectacularly uneconomic if a fracking industry… Read More
Ex-IPCC Head: Prepare for 5°C Warmer World
The world has missed the chance to keep greenhouse gas emissions below the level needed to prevent the temperature climbing above 2° Celsius, according to the British scientist who used to chair the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.… Read More
UK’s Nuke Plans Lose Traction with Shift to Renewables
The UK government's plan to build a new generation of 10 nuclear power stations suffered another severe blow this week when the British utility Centrica pulled out of the program, writing off a £200 million ($315M) investment in the process. To prop up the industry the government is faced with breaking two important electoral pledges and may face… Read More
India Confronts Huge Climate Change Challenge
India has to find a new model of development if the twin challenges of job creation and climate change are to be met, says an Oxford University academic, Barbara Harriss-White, of the Oxford Department of International Development.… Read More
Salazar Leaves Contested Legacy as Interior Secretary
The departure of Ken Salazar as interior secretary leaves Obama with virtually a clean slate to remake his energy and environmental team. The only other original member of Obama's original green "dream team," the Nobel prize-winning energy secretary Steven Chu, is also expected to step down at the start of Obama's second term.… Read More
Coal to Challenge Oil’s Dominance by 2017, Says IEA
Coal is likely to rival oil as the world's biggest source of energy in the next five years, with potentially disastrous consequences for the climate, according to the world's leading authority on energy economics. One of the biggest factors behind the rise in coal use has been the massive increase in the use of shale gas in the U.S. … Read More
Keystone XL Will Not Use Advanced Leak Detection
Even after causing more than a dozen spills in 2011 from its newest tar sands pipeline — including a six story “geyser” of crude — Canadian energy developer TransCanada claimed its planned Keystone XL pipeline would “exceed” safety standards.… Read More
