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Alternative Energy and Fuel News - ENN
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Alternative Energy and Fuel News - ENN
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New NOAA Analysis Gives Further Clues about Location and Movement of Subsurface Oil in Gulf – and how little of it there is
Remember the debate about the subsurface "plumes" or oil released by the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico? A new report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy about subsurface oil monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico contains preliminary data collected at 227 sampling stations extending from one to 52 kilometers from the Deepwater Horizon/BP wellhead.
The data shows that the movement of subsurface oil is consistent with ocean currents and that the concentrations continue to be more diffuse as you move away from the source of the leak. This confirms the findings of the previous report.
The report comes from the Joint Analysis Group (JAG), which is comprised of the afore mentioned agencies and was established to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the best scientific minds across the government and provide a coordinated analysis of information related to subsea monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Climate bill in doubt as Democrats delay action
U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday they will wait until September at the earliest to take up broad climate-change legislation, a potentially fatal blow to the White House push to curb greenhouse gases.
The delay means Democrats have little time to advance the complex legislation amid intense political pressure in the weeks before November congressional elections.
It also could derail global climate change initiatives, as the world's major economies and greenhouse gas emitters insist the United States play a leading role.
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BP eyes new option for plugging well
BP Plc defended its embattled chief executive on Wednesday and denied he would soon leave as the company prepared to launch within days a new approach to ending the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
CEO Tony Hayward, criticized for a series of public relations gaffes and failed efforts to end the disaster, has the full support of the company's board and will remain in his job, a BP spokesman said. The spokesman dismissed a Times of London report that Hayward would step down within 10 weeks.
In response to the spill, big oil companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell said they would spend $1 billion to develop a new spill containment system for the Gulf of Mexico.
It will aim for water depths up to 10,000 feet and have an initial capacity to contain 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons/15.9 million liters) of oil per day. The failed BP well is a mile below the ocean surface.
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Air Products and Chemicals
Environmentalism has done a tremendous job of awakening the American public over the last ten years to many of the fundamental issues of our times. It is now apparent that, with the explosion of emerging market economies, the energy needs of the world are going to exponentially grow over the next 20 years. Along with the topic of energy, atmospheric gases have come into central focus in the American public. The issue of global warming, whether one believes completely in its claims or not, has raised American awareness to level where it's now clear that we cannot continue to release emissions and pollutants into the atmosphere in uncontrolled amounts and expect it to not affect our world.
One such company in the U.S. industrial gases sector that is heavily involved in renewable energy is Air Products and Chemicals(NYSE: AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS). AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS specializes in supplying atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services worldwide.
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Transitioning to Cool Roofs
In the effort to slow the pace of global warming, researchers and policy makers are encouraging the use of lighter colors for rooftops and streets worldwide. Dark, non-reflective surfaces which are common for asphalt and asphalt shingles, absorb heat from the sun and create a "heat-island" effect, plus a greater need for air conditioning. Lighter surfaces would reflect the sun’s rays back to outer space, reducing ground-surface temperatures and overall energy requirements.
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Nations pledge global support for clean energy
The United States and dozens of other countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward clean energy initiatives to help battle climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said on Tuesday.
Meeting in Washington, D.C., for a two-day conference, delegations from 24 countries representing 80 percent of global energy consumption promised 11 initiatives that would mean building fewer power plants and using more clean energy.
"We know the clean energy challenge won't wait, and we won't wait either," Chu said.
With the U.S. Senate virtually gridlocked on passing an energy and climate change package this year, the Obama administration is under pressure to provide leadership in global climate talks that are making little progress.
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Engineers detect seepage near BP oil well
Engineers monitoring BP Plc's damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico detected seepage on the ocean floor that could mean problems with the cap that has stopped oil from gushing into the water, the government's top oil spill official said on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, BP officials had expressed hope that the test of the cap which began Thursday could continue until a relief well can permanently seal the leak next month. Oil gushed from the deep-sea Macondo well for nearly three months until the new cap was put in place last week.
But late on Sunday, the U.S. government released a letter to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley from retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen that referred to an unspecified type of seepage near the mile-deep (1.6 km-deep) well along with "undetermined anomalies at the well head."
"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," Allen wrote.
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