All Environment
- Israel mulls natural gas exports. Is that a good idea?
In an era of high volatility in energy prices and supplies and in a country surrounded by unfriendly neighbors, one would think that Israel would want to keep this valuable energy prize all to itself, Cobb writes. Still, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is seeking approval for Israel to jump on the natural gas exports bandwagon.
- Renewable energy is growing, but ...
Electricity from renewable energy sources is growing at an explosive rate, but clean energy comes with a caveat. So does every other form of energy, Rapier writes.
- Are electric cars really cheaper than gas cars?
A new website from the US Department of Energy compares the energy costs of driving an electric car relative to gasoline prices. The tool might prove useful, Styles writes, but only as long as it is grounded in the best information we have about the vehicle choices that potential electric car buyers are actually considering.
- Pacifica shark attacks kayak. Man inside escapes unharmed.
Pacifica shark attacks a man's kayak in waters just south of San Francisco Tuesday. The kayaker was able to escape and returned to shore without injury, according to Pacifica police. Most shark attacks off California shores occur between July and November, when the predators are drawn by seals and sea lions.
- Global warming and the politics of fossil fuel
We’re not going to be able to transition to a non-fossil-fuel economy overnight, Fen Montaigne, senior editor of Yale Environment 360, said in an interview with OilPrice.com. But if you keep approving tar sands projects, or massive pipelines, or drilling in the Arctic, when does it stop?
- As US delays Keystone XL, Albertans ask 'What's the holdup, eh?'
The pipeline project's legal limbo is causing frustration in the Canadian province of Alberta.
- BP oil spill: Oil giant challenges Gulf payments
BP oil spill settlement payments are being aggressively contested by London-based BP. The company may seek to recover what BP calls 'overpayments' that businesses received from the court-supervised settlement program for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
- How Obama's climate change plan promotes natural gas
President Obama's broad climate change plan highlighted renewable energy, but the biggest near-term potential for reducing emissions is in the switch from coal to natural gas, Holland writes. Obama's plan for new EPA regulations will firmly entrench natural gas over coal as the fuel of choice for electricity generation.
- Google Tesla: Could a tech giant buy the electric car company?
Having paid off its federal loan, Tesla Motors could technically put it up for sale, according to a report in Bloomberg. The electric car company might seem a good fit for a deep-pocketed tech giant like Google, but Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has suggested he has no intention of selling the company.
- Yarmouth Maine explosion linked to propane gas
An explosion in Yarmouth, Maine Tuesday apparently involved propane, the only source of fuel to the building. The Yarmouth, Maine explosion resembled an earlier explosion in Bath, Maine from a leak in a propane line.
- Tsunami hit East Coast in June? Scientists say maybe.
A tsunami may have made landfall on the US East Coast earlier in June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday. A strong storm moved through the region and offshore that day, and scientists were trying to determine if it played a role in a possible tsunami.
- What Obama's climate plan means for his pick to head EPA
President Obama's plan to combat climate change may help the environment, but it will likely put one potential member of his cabinet in political jeopardy. Gina McCarthy, his pick to head the EPA, is already facing heated opposition from some lawmakers. The climate change plan Obama outlined Tuesday could make McCarthy's confirmation process even more complicated.
- Tropical Storm Cosme becomes hurricane off Mexico coast
Tropical Storm Cosme no more; Hurricane Cosme has formed off Mexico's Pacific coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Cosme will generate large swells that will affect parts of Mexico's Pacific coast Tuesday and parts of southern Baja California starting Tuesday night and into Thursday.
- Obama climate plan: bold, but will China go along?
President Obama's climate plan aims to address climate change with an eye toward global partnerships. Without cooperation from China and the developing world, international climate treaties have fallen short – a shortcoming Obama hopes to remedy with his climate plan.
- How shale gas can slow global climate change
Shale gas has done much to reduce US emissions as the nation shifts from coal to natural gas, Holland writes, but the US is exporting record amounts of coal, essentially outsourcing part of the emissions that would otherwise have been produced here. Globalizing the shale revolution could change that.
- Indiana leopard: Since when did leopards live in Indiana?
Indiana leopard: An Indiana woman and her boyfriend shot and killed a leopard that they spotted prowling in their backyard. Wait, they have leopards in Indiana?
- How energy companies fight terrorism
Energy companies across the globe are forming special units to respond to acts of terrorism after recent attacks in Algeria. With the economy just as much a viable target as any, counter-terrorism may becoming more than just the military's game.
- Tropical Storm Cosme forms off southwest Mexico
Tropical Storm Cosme made its way through the Pacific southwest of Mexico Monday. The US National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Cosme could become a hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday.
- Supreme Court sides with ethanol in renewable fuel debate
Renewable fuel advocates praised a Supreme Court decision Monday not to hear a challenge to higher ethanol blends of gasoline, while opponents warned of potential mechanical damage. The Supreme Court decision comes as fuelmakers struggle to meet federal renewable fuel standards.
- Methane leaks of shale gas may undermine its climate benefits
If methane leak rates are more than 3 percent of output, fracking of shale gas formations may be boosting greenhouse gas emissions rather than lowering them.