Energy prices 'to rise' with carbon floor pricing

Price comparison site uSwitch.com has warned that household energy bills could increase as floor prices are put in place for carbon emissions.

Outlined in the 2011 Budget, the pricing system is due to come into effect from April 2013 and aims "to drive investment in the low-carbon power sector".

Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear energy: India

Emphasizing Iran's right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme, India has said that Tehran should reassure the international community that its nuclear project is only meant for peaceful purposes. "India has taken a consistent stand on the Iranian nuclear issue," Hardeep Singh Puri India's envoy to
the UN said at a Security Council meeting to discuss the status of the sanctions imposed on Iran.

US energy policy: Two very different disasters will have profound effects

US energy policy for the coming decade will be shaped by two disasters less than a year apart: the Deepwater Horizon explosion and blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, and the Sendai earthquake and tsunami less than a year later.

The first has led to significant curbs on future supply of fossil fuels in the US; the second is likely to cause a significant increase in demand.

As a consequence, the price of US natural gas is likely to be pushed higher, and the country’s reliance on imported oil, which has been falling since 2006, may stop declining, or even rise.

Sustainable energy supplies are vital

Damian McGann head of Business Development UK at Santander Corporate Banking, comments on how it is becoming increasingly important to address the need for sustainable energy supplies, and how a local approach to relationship banking could be crucial for businesses operating in this sector.

With the recent instability in the Middle East, attention has again focused on the need to achieve security of energy supplies. In addition more and more countries are developing serious strategies to set about reducing carbon emissions.

Energy challenge: Oliver Letwin, Cabinet Office Minister

We need a wider range of energy sources to ensure security of supply and sustainable growth. The answer is a green economy.

It is surprising that people are still asking whether we can move to a low-carbon economy. The answer to that question is obvious and certain. Of course we can. The real question is whether Britain should make that choice and become the world’s first true low-carbon economy. I believe we should. Why? There are two compelling reasons – each as important as the other.

Oil-hungry China needs energy security rethink

Beijing’s decision to suspend approval for new nuclear facilities in the aftermath of the Japanese nuclear crisis caught world markets by surprise and suggested a Chinese energy policy in crisis. But it is vulnerability to oil market disruptions emanating from ongoing events in the Middle East, not the ability to diversify future power supply, which is currently upending China’s energy game plan.
China’s recent nuclear decision, driven by short-term politics, is not likely to change its long-term energy path. The country’s oil dependence, however, is a much more pressing concern. China’s economy is more oil intensive than either America or Europe, while half of its imported oil comes from the Middle East and north Africa, compared with one-quarter for the US. If crude stays at current prices China will spend more on oil this year than it earns selling goods to the US.

The Obama Administration Must Abandon its Nuclear Energy Policy

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Wednesday, confirmed to Congress that the Obama administration would continue to propose more than $8 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of a new fleet of nuclear power plants. As Secretary Chu cautiously acknowledged the administration's budget request during congressional testimony, reactor number four at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was on the verge of melting down -- one of its spent fuel tanks completely drained of water.