How Is Inequality Linked to Climate Change, and What to Do About It?
Progressives see climate change and economic inequality as two of the big problems of our time. As the global aid organization Oxfam points out in a recent media briefing paper, “Extreme Carbon Inequality,” the two are “inextricably linked.” But just what is the nature of the linkage? Does inequality cause climate change? Does climate change ... Read more
What do We Learn from the Missing Piece in Hillary Clinton’s Energy Plan?
This week Hillary Clinton rolled out an ambitious policy proposal on energy and climate change. It sets the goal of generating a third of US energy from renewable resources by 2027. It builds on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, but regards that plan’s goals as a floor, not a ceiling. It calls for extensive ... Read more
How Natural is Natural Monopoly? The Case of China’s Crumbling Hold on Rare Earths
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen elements with exotic names like neodymium and yttrium that are key ingredients in many high-tech products, many important for national defense. Imagine the consternation of Western officials when they woke up one morning in September 2010 to learn that China held a near-monopoly in the production ... Read more
Russia Claims Ukraine’s Black Sea Oil And Gas Bounty
Russia’s annexation of Crimea has totally upended Kiev’s plans for Black Sea and Sea of Azov offshore oil and natural gas production. Before the peninsula’s March 16 independence referendum, followed two days later by Russian annexation, Ukraine’s state-owned Chornomornaftogaz (“Chernomorneftegaz” in Russian) owned 17 hydrocarbon fields, including 11 natural gas fields, four gas condensate fields, and two ... Read more
Water Wars: The Next Clash Between India and China
By Amitava Mukherjee: A China watcher named Claude Arpi has drawn attention to a recently posted article on the website of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission under China’s Ministry of Water Resources. The article speaks of the necessity and feasibility of diverting the waters of some rivers, including the Brahmaputra (called Yarlung Tsangpo in China), to ... Read more
Europe’s Case Against Gazprom Will Damage Russian Influence
By Nick Cunningham: As Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to maintain its grip over Eastern Europe with its vast web of natural gas pipelines, one small European country gained a bit of leverage over Russia. Lithuania announced on May 8 that it has successfully pressured Russian gas giant Gazprom into lowering its price for natural ... Read more
More Bad News for Fukushima and Tepco
By Andy Tully: Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) now says the meltdown of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011 involved all the fuel rods in the affected reactor, causing them to fall to the bottom of the containment vessel. Eight months after the massive tsunami caused the accident, Tepco said the ... Read more
The Economic Future (if Any) of “Novorossiya”
Last May, I posted an item on the economic situation in the rebellious regions of Eastern Ukraine, or “Novorossiya” (New Russia), to use the term increasingly favored by separatists and their Russian sponsors. Novorossiya was the name of a province of Tsarist Russia that occupied much of the southern part of present-day Ukraine, stretching all ... Read more
The Next Shale Revolution—Probably Russia
By Charles Kennedy: More than 400 shale oil and gas wells will be drilled outside of the US in 2014, most of them in China and Russia, while Europe largely sits on the sidelines of the so-called revolution, according to energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Ltd. The geological conditions—not to mention the public support—for a shale ... Read more
Germans Happily Pay More For Renewable Energy, But Would Others?
By Chris Dalby: While Germany is breaking world records for the amount of sustainable energy it uses every year, German energy customers are breaking European records for the amount they pay in monthly bills. Surprisingly, they don’t seem to mind. In the first half of 2014, Germany drew 28 percent of its power generation from renewable energy ... Read more