By Zachary Shahan •
November 7, 2009
Total, a French oil company, recently agreed to give the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) $4 million for a 5-year research project to develop stationary batteries that can more efficiently store solar energy.
More efficient energy storage has been a difficult issue for scientists to crack. It is a major issue preventing more widespread use of renewable energy, and solar energy in particular.
Is this project, one funded by a true oil giant, the one that will make it happen?
By Andrew Williams •
September 14, 2009
Germany has launched an exciting new plan to establish a national hydrogen fuel network, which could be fully operational as early as 2015.
On behalf of the German government, the transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with eight industrial partners to set up the H2 mobility scheme. High profile participants include Daimler, EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall and the NOW GmbH National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.
Speaking about the groundbreaking plan, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, Tiefensee said, “Our aim is to continue consistent and systematic promotion of electromobility based on batteries and fuel cells. Today we can see that Germany is setting the pace when it comes to hydrogen and fuel cell technology. We are aiming at establishing the nationwide supply with hydrogen in Germany at around 2015 in order to support the serial-production of fuel cell vehicles.”
By Derek Markham •
September 10, 2009
A gas project of Chevron and Total is responsible for major funding of the military junta in Myanmar, allowing Burmese generals to accumulate billions of dollars in Singapore banks, and human rights abuses have been linked to the Yadana Pipeline, says human rights group EarthRights.
EarthRights claims that both Total and Chevron have tried to dismiss the abuses, which include forced labor and killings, by Myanmar troops along the Yadana Pipeline. The group also maintains that the $4.8 billion in revenue from the project has allowed the ruling military junta to continue to exist.
The world’s first retrofit of a power plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will begin operating this month in the south of France. By Alok Jha of the Guardian.
At a power plant at Lacq, energy company Total has upgraded an existing gas-fired boiler with CCS technology – a crucial step towards reducing carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power plants worldwide.
With renewable energy sources a long way from covering the world’s increasing demand for energy, many experts believe that developing reliable technology to allow countries to burn fossil fuels without releasing dangerous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere is essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
By Elizabeth Balkan •
February 6, 2009
Figures released by the General Administration of Customs in China last week reveal a rise in LNG imports to 3.3 tons in 2008, up from 2.9m tons the year prior. Despite 15% growth over the course of the year, December figures were down 23% from November.
The economic downturn, widely credited for December’s sluggish demand, suggests that 2009 import levels will not surpass those of 2008. Indeed, 2009 figures may even fall short of last year’s, due to the unique conditions that spurred LNG imports in 2008. Precautionary preparation for the Beijing Olympics was a major driver of surging LNG demand in the summer of 2008. Plagued with domestic shortages of natural gas, the Chinese shored up their stockpiles of gas and oil in the lead up to the Olympics.
How could 4,000 LNG-powered buses and cabs Beijing installed on the road and the conversion of burners in several power plants from coal-fired to gas-fired require such an influx, you ask? It did not, which is why China, having made excessive preparations for the Olympics, relaxed in October as the falling numbers suggest.
By Lisa Wojnovich •
January 31, 2009
Imagine plugging your laptop into its case to charge the battery. Or your cell phone into a beach umbrella. Or simply slipping it into your shirt pocket. Konarka, a next generation solar energy startup, is currently promoting and raising R&D capital for its Power Plastic line, and while these solar cells, printed on sheets of plastic similar to camera film, can’t quite manage that last one, plans are definitely on the drawing board.
