Energy efficient renovations could save Bragg $1.5 million

Fort Bragg expects to save more than $1.5 million in energy costs each year as it renovates aging buildings, according to a report that highlighted Department of Defense energy initiatives.

Fort Bragg is one of several installations mentioned in the 88-page report released last week entitled "From Barracks to the Battlefield: Clean Energy Innovation and America's Armed Forces" from the Pew Charitable Trust.

Oil & Gas - China investing to secure energy supply

Energy security is becoming a priority for economies around the world, not least the world’s biggest energy consumer, China. It will be responsible for most of the 36% increase in global energy demand by 2035, says the International Energy Agency.

It’s therefore not surprising that the the Financial Times reported that Chinese oil and gas companies — PetroChina and its parent company China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China’s National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC) and Sinopec — were responsible for 20% of global mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas sector last year.

Fuel and energy focus of Energy review

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy, in a quadrennial review, said strategies aimed are revamping the fuel and energy sector are key factors in energy security.

The Energy Department said energy security and U.S. market competitiveness could increase with better vehicle efficiency, alternative fuels and the use of electrical vehicles in the light-duty fleet.

Customers willing to pay more for energy security claim IET

The vast majority of people are worried enough about energy security to be willing to pay more to guarantee it, new research reveals.

According to new research by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), released today (September 26), claims despite rocketing bills energy security is still a huge concern.

Land grab for renewable energy production could impact beef capacity

Rising demand for the dominant form of renewable energy worldwide – wood – could drive yet more foreign acquisitions of land, particularly in developing countries where food insecurity is rising and land rights are weak, researchers say.

In a recent briefing paper, the International Institute for Environment and Development warned that this new trend needed greater public scrutiny and debate.

Renewable energy sector still a bright spot, says DoE

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Energy said renewable energy remained an attractive investment destination in the country, as it vowed to push for the massive use of these resources to ensure national energy security.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras, however, admitted there was a need to pace the installation of renewable energy facilities, explaining that “each technology has its inherent economic and technical characteristics and must be applied to specific local realities.”

Canada’s energy minister: Keystone XL critics threaten ‘security’

Toronto - Hollywood celebrities and prominent international voices against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline threaten Canada's "security" and hinder the government's goal of being the dominant energy supplier for North America, states a leading Canadian official.

Joe Oliver, Canada’s energy minister, is taking on critics of the proposed $7 billion pipeline planned to run from Alberta to refineries along the Texas Gulf coast. “Criticism of the oil sands - and now the proposed Keystone XL pipeline - is a major concern for us, with implications for our energy industry, our economy and our energy security,” Oliver told a Toronto business audience on Friday, according to Reuters.

Studies Weigh Green Energy Investments Payback

Are investments in green energy programs worth it?

Two studies each released within the last year take contrarian points of view on the subject.

Officials at The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, a free-market-leaning public policy organization, found in a study published last year that programs that charge ratepayers additional money to encourage renewable energy systems simply don’t have a high return on investment.

Clean energy drive could steer economic growth

Berlin: A major expansion of renewable energy could create millions of jobs worldwide, stir economic growth in heavily indebted countries and help fight climate change at the same time, an American adviser to the German leader Angela Merkel said on Monday.

Jeremy Rifkin, a best-selling author and an adviser to the European Union on climate change and energy security, said Germany has been leading the way by creating some 250,000 jobs in renewable energy in just a few years, but could do more.

US Military's Clean Energy Investments Jump 300% from 2006-2009, to Eclipse $10 Billion by 2030

The US Dept. of Defense (DoD) spends more on energy than 3/4 of the world’s nations. A rapidly growing percentage of that is coming from clean and renewable energy sources, however. The DoD’s clean energy investments jumped 300%, from $400 million to $1.2 billion, between 2006 and 2009, a figure that’s projected to surpass $10 billion annually by 2030, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts’ research report.

The DoD’s investments are helping spur development and deployment of clean energy technologies in three key areas: vehicle efficiency, advanced biofuels and the installation of renewable energy systems at military bases, according to Pew’s, “From Barracks to the Battlefield: Clean Energy Innovation and America’s Armed Forces.”

Tepco considers job cuts as part of restructuring plan

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the owner of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is considering cutting thousands of jobs.

Reports say Tepco has told a government backed committee that it may cut as many as 5,000 jobs or 10% of its workforce.

The committee is expected to announce a restructuring plan for Tepco next week.

New oil and gas sources on rise

By 2015, 60 per cent of the world's new oil and gas will come from unconventional resources.

The question that should be top of mind is what this means for North America, and, just as important, for energy security.

"The dynamics are changing because of the development of unconventional resources around the world," said Robert Johnston, director of energy and natural resources with the Washingtonbased Eurasia Group.

UAE crucial to global energy security

Trade Arabia reported that the UAE which holds about 10% of the world’s known oil reserves is a vital contributor to world energy security.

Mr Abdalla Salem El Badri the Vienna based secretary general of OPEC said that the UAE has been 'an OPEC member country since the 1960s and is one of the pre eminent players in the global energy arena.

Noda pledges new basic energy plan by next summer

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda pledged Sept. 13 to come up with a new basic energy policy by next summer to reduce the nation's dependence on nuclear energy.

Noda, making his first policy speech, said: "It is unproductive to perceive energy policy as a confrontation between those who call for a move away from nuclear energy and those who promote nuclear energy."

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver touts Keystone XL pipeline construction

TransCanada Pipelines Ltd.’s Keystone XL project, which is expected to create 20,000 construction jobs in the United States, was one issue Canadian Natural Resources Minster Joe Oliver addressed at a San Francisco conference on transportation and energy Tuesday.

“We have a number of purposes and one of them is to talk about clean energy and the transport sector, but I’m also taking advantage of the opportunity here in California to talk about the Keystone XL Pipeline as I’ve done before in New York and in Washington where I will be returning next month.”

For Libyan Oil, Security Is Everything

On Monday, OPEC came out with a remarkably optimistic forecast for Libyan oil.

Despite Libya’s oil industry being almost completely shut down by the civil war, OPEC said the country could be producing 1 million barrels a day of oil again within six months.

Bill Gates, others push for energy innovation

Bill Gates and several other formidable technology industry leaders brought a simple message to Capitol Hill on Tuesday: Invest in a more expansive energy and technology policy.

At a briefing hosted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Gates and other captains of industry unveiled a new report on “energy innovation and proposed reforms of government programs to yield greater economic benefits.”

Minister touts Taiwan's green energy sector at APEC roundtable

San Francisco, Sept. 12 (CNA) Economic Affairs Minister Shih Yen-shiang pointed to "green growth" as a major factor in Taiwan's economic growth and highlighted Taiwan's achievements in the field at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco Tuesday.

Speaking at the APEC Energy Security Policy Roundtable, Shih pointed to green growth as a major engine of the country's economic growth and emphasized that Taiwan's technological advancements in renewable energy had drawn the interest of other countries attending the meeting.

Free-market energy solutions don't jeopardize national security

By spurring development of the politically favored alternative fuel of the moment, devotees of federal energy subsidies say that we can stop sending dollars overseas. Details of the Solyndra scandal continue to unfold, but what we know so far should teach the Obama administration a valuable lesson: The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers.

Unfortunately, some conservatives -- trying to promote national security -- fall into the same trap of arguing for alternative energy subsidies. Interests ranging from solar to wind, from propane to biodiesel, from natural gas to algae, purport to provide the key to America's energy and national security needs, but having the president or Congress pick winners and losers in the energy sector is neither practical nor principled.

Natural gas key to national securty, Ridge tells conference

PHILADELPHIA -- Pointing to natural gas as a key component of a national energy strategy that protects national security and blasting the "hysteria" he sees as accompanying environmental concerns, former Gov. Tom Ridge opened the Marcellus Shale Coalition's conference here on a fiery note.

Mr. Ridge, who spent the past year as a paid adviser to the industry trade group, used his half-hour opening remarks to repeatedly urge greater development of American energy resources.

Putin opens Nord Stream Baltic gas pipeline to Germany

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pressed the start button to open a pipeline carrying natural gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

He said the Nord Stream pipeline would reduce Russia's dependence on Ukrainian pipelines, which were shut during gas disputes between Moscow and Kiev.

Oil prices fall on continuing global economy concerns

Oil prices have fallen on concerns that the US could fall back into recession, and continuing anxiety about eurozone debt levels.

With fears about a slowdown in China also hitting sentiment, US light crude had fallen $2.40 a barrel to $84.05.

Brent crude was also lower, dropping $1.66 to $110.67 per barrel.