All Natural Resources Articles
  • Can solar energy compete with fossil fuels?

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    According to the Edison Electric Institute, such utility-sized solar plants will soon appear across the United States with 232 under construction, in testing or to be granted with permits. One question, however, remains: Can solar compete with fossil fuels in terms of price?

  • Preventing the hazards of aboveground storage tanks

    Heather Rhoades Engineering

    Aboveground storage tanks are generally used in locations where installing underground tanks is not practical. Despite their many uses, ASTs can prove to be a hazard if they are not installed and maintained as required.

  • The truth about the ‘water-energy nexus’

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    ​Environmentalists campaigning against the accelerating development of U.S. shale will not be heartened by the latest State Department study suggesting a minimal environmental impact for the Keystone XL pipeline. But in a world of highly-politicized studies on the unpredictable consequences of hydraulic fracturing technologies, the issue of water use during production is an increasingly contentious one, particularly in arid southern states such as Texas.

  • Refineries: The real winners of the shale oil boom

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    Smoke rises again from the pilot flare of a Texas-based Blue Dolphin Energy refinery after a two-decade standstill — and that's just the beginning. Following the shale oil boom, is another boom: refining. Blue Dolphin Energy, Valero Energy, Kinder Morgan and many others are building new crude-processing equipment, reopening old refineries and building new ones.

  • US natural gas exports revisited: A real debate emerges

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    I have summarized both sid​es of the debate previously on whether the U.S. should start exporting its natural gas internationally. Now on the back of a Senate hearing in January, the debate over the wisdom of a continued ban on U.S. oil and gas exports has intensified.

  • Solar energy global market drivers and challenges

    Don Rosato Manufacturing

    ​The worldwide solar energy or photovoltaic (PV) demand reached only 29 gigawatts (GW) last year, a 5 percent year-over-year increase. This is the first time in 10 years that the year-over-year PV industry market growth has been less than 10 percent. For supply and demand to have been balanced during 2012-13, end-market demand should have approached the 45 GW level. This overcapacity is having a significant effect on companies all along the supply chain as the industry consolidates.

  • US vs. Europe: Comparing different approaches to renewable energy

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    Let's assume this statement is true: The world is running toward a huge climate crisis. Temperatures will rise by about 11 degrees F , if we do nothing, and the impacts of such a rise can be fatal — floods, droughts, food insecurity, migration, just to name some. Now, what should we do, and what is the best approach of creating the right policy in a fight against time? The common assumption, when comparing the European Union and U.S., is that the U.S. approach to renewable energy is lagging behind the EU.

  • Azerbaijan and the Shah Deniz project: A small country playing a big game

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    Azerbaijan is a piece of the post-Soviet jigsaw roughly the size of Minnesota, home to a population of 9 million that gained independence in 1991. Few feel confident pointing out the country on a map (it's located on the northwest corner of Iran, right on the Caspian Sea). But just before 2013 closed out, Azerbaijan's policymakers finalized a $45 billion deal that will make them a key link in the European Union's and United States' play to secure Europe's energy independence, and to reduce Russian influence. This is a small country playing a big game.

  • The end of gas prices as we know them

    Stefanie Heerwig Natural Resources

    Many have heard about fears that exports of natural gas in the U.S. could lead to comparatively higher domestic gas prices, potentially hampering the growth of the U.S. economy. Antiexport proponents are mostly energy-intensive groups like the chemical and metal industries. On the contrary, a study done for the U.S. Department of Energy by the economic consultancy NERA in 2013 suggests that natural gas exports would actually benefit the U.S. economy, despite rising natural gas prices.

  • 2014 means decision time for the Keystone XL pipeline

    Lucy Wallwork Natural Resources

    A decision on the approval of the $5.4 billion northern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline (linking oil sands production in Canada with refining on the U.S. Gulf Coast) is expected in the first quarter of 2014. And a new survey has revealed strong support for the project among Americans.