End of the year take on the energy sector

Energy has become, increasingly, a major focus of the British Columbia economy with billions of dollars of proposed projects. Those include Enbridge's controversial $6.5-billion Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan's $5.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. There are also billions in liquefied natural gas projects being considered by global energy heavyweights such as Exxon Mobil, Shell and the BG Group. The Vancouver Sun talked with Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers president David Collyer for a year-end take on these major projects.

Three-Pronged, Energy-Based Approach Needed to Generate Resurgence of American Manufacturing

Staying focused on a clean energy agenda and working collaboratively across the business, academic, and government sectors is the key to sparking a resurgence in United States manufacturing and to mitigating climate impacts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson said today.

President Shirley Ann Jackson

President Jackson was addressing a forum on American Energy and Manufacturing Competitiveness, jointly sponsored by General Electric, the Council on Competitiveness, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE), and hosted by the GE Global Research Center, in Niskayuna, New York.

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Energy Security Market Worth $67.90 Billion by 2018

Dallas, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2013 -- The report "Energy Security Market by Power Plants (Nuclear, Thermal And Hydro, Oil And Gas And Renewable Energy), By Technologies (Physical, Network Security), Professional Services - Global Advancements, Forecasts & Analysis (2013 – 2018) " segments the global energy security market into various sub-segments with in-depth analysis and forecasting of revenues. It also identifies drivers and restraints for this market with insights into trends, opportunities, and challenges.

MarketsandMarkets has segmented the global energy security by type of power plants: nuclear energy security, oil and gas energy, thermal and hydro power, renewable energy; by type of solutions: physical security solutions, network security solutions; by regions: North America (NA), Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe (EU), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America (LA).

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How sugar could help satisfy the world's energy needs

Hydrogen makes an extraordinarily efficient and clean fuel. Three times as energy-efficient as petrol, Nasa used it to power its space shuttles. It can be used to generate electricity and only produces water as a byproduct.

And yet, scientists are struggling to scale up hydrogen production. Ironically, given hydrogen's green potential, the cheapest and most viable sources are hydrocarbon-based compounds such as natural gas. But liberating hydrogen from fossil fuels creates carbon emissions that outweigh any environmental advantages.

Percival Zhang, professor of bioengineering at Virginia Tech Institute, says that the problem is not just technical but that, sometimes, "scientists have poor imaginations". And so he wants to try something different: why not take advantage of an abundant natural resource, sugar? "Our idea is that simple," he says. "We call the project Sweet Hydrogen."

America's new energy resources - Global Energy

The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity and the Battle for America’s Future. By Michael Levi.

ALL revolutions need their storytellers. So it is surprising that America’s energy revolution of the past few years has not had a serious scribe before now. Shale gas, billowing out of the bedrock in ever-increasing quantities, is becoming the most important factor in the drive to lessen America’s dependence on imported fuel.