OSLO (AFP) – In Norway, many motorists are up in arms over why they have to pay the highest petrol (gasoline) prices in Europe when the country is the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter and a recent tax hike has done little to cool tempers.
“It is really strange: we have lots of oil and we’re a rich country. Why do we have to pay so much?” asks Per-Arne Skjerpingstad, a 38-year-old hospital porter as he fills up the tank of his Peugeot 307 at an Oslo gas station for 750 kroner (94 euros, 148 dollars).
Diesel costs 14.23 kroner (1.78 euros, 2.82 dollars) a litre (quarter gallon) and 95 unleaded 13.84 kroner, putting it at the top of the European league, EU figures show.
And while many countries are discussing how to soften the blow of skyrocketing oil prices on consumers, Norway on July 1 increased its already heavy tax take by 0.05 kroner per litre on petrol and 0.10 kroner (0.1 euro cent, 0.2 dollar cent) on diesel.
In oil-rich Norway, petrol prices most expensive in Europe – Yahoo! News.
Solar Energy ETFs: Don’t Get Burned
June 24, 2008
Solar Energy ETFs: Don’t Get Burned
With sky-high oil prices hitting new records seemingly every week, interest in solar energy burns bright. But investors have found shares of companies that provide solar-power gear to be among the most volatile in the entire stock market.
Shares of leading players like First Solar (FSLR) and SolarWorld (SRWRF.PK) routinely trade up or down by more than 10% in a day. On June 19, shares of Evergreen Solar (ESLR) surged 20% on news that the solar wafer maker had signed two long-term contract deals. But the next day, they dropped 8% when there was no significant news to drive the stock.
All that volatility had many investors welcoming the April introduction of two exchange-traded funds focusing on solar energy indexes, the Claymore MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF (TAN) and Van Eck’s Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT). The Claymore fund is already up to $163 million in assets, while the Market Vectors offering is yet to hit $25 million.
If you’re interested in solar, I would suggest you check out First Solar (FSLR) and Canadian Solar (CSIQ), the latter was not mentioned in the article. However, both are extremely volatile.
Germany ‘is world’s greenest country’
June 22, 2008
Germany ‘is world’s greenest country’ – Telegraph
Germany has been labelled the world’s greenest country after it cut its energy use by more than any other state in 2007.
The report emerged as the German government passed a new round of environmental laws designed to ensure the country meets ambitious carbon dioxide reduction targets.
The power and the glory
June 20, 2008
The power and the glory | Economist.com
EVERYONE loves a booming market, and most booms happen on the back of technological change. The world’s venture capitalists, having fed on the computing boom of the 1980s, the internet boom of the 1990s and the biotech and nanotech boomlets of the early 2000s, are now looking around for the next one. They think they have found it: energy.
Many past booms have been energy-fed: coal-fired steam power, oil-fired internal-combustion engines, the rise of electricity, even the mass tourism of the jet era. But the past few decades have been quiet on that front. Coal has been cheap. Natural gas has been cheap. The 1970s aside, oil has been cheap. The one real novelty, nuclear power, went spectacularly off the rails. The pressure to innovate has been minimal.
In the space of a couple of years, all that has changed. Oil is no longer cheap; indeed, it has never been more expensive. Moreover, there is growing concern that the supply of oil may soon peak as consumption continues to grow, known supplies run out and new reserves become harder to find.
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
June 14, 2008
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol – Times Online
“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”
He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.
Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.
Who would’ve thought! Though I still believe they should permanently fix the price of gas at just under $4 by creating a tax floor. People will become a lot more rational with their car usage – similar to what it’s like in many countries in Europe.
World’s biggest solar farm at centre of Portugal’s ambitious energy plan | Environment | The Guardian
From a distance the bizarre structures sprouting from the high Alentejo plain in eastern Portugal resemble a field of mechanical sunflowers. Each of the 2,520 giant solar panels is the size of a house and they are as technically sophisticated as a car. Their reflective heads tilt to the sky at a permanent 45 degrees as they track the sun through 240 degrees every day.
The world’s largest solar photovoltaic farm, generating electricity straight from sunlight, is taking shape near Moura, a small town in a thinly populated and impoverished region which boasts the most sunshine per square metre a year in Europe.
BMW’s Hydrogen Car Cleans The Air as You Drive
June 3, 2008
Inhabitat » BMW’s Hydrogen Car Cleans The Air as You Drive
What if your car consumed carbon monoxide instead of spewing it out? Just such a vehicle was unveiled at last month’s SAE Congress in Detroit, which showcased some exciting green trends in the automotive industry. BMW stole the spotlight with its hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan that emits less carbon monoxide than is present in its environment. The car’s engine breaks down and converts carbon monoxide, essentially cleaning the air as it is driven.
I love BMW’s. It’s too bad this is only available on the uber expensive 7-series.
Wind power could make Norway Europe’s battery
May 28, 2008
Wind power could make Norway Europe’s battery
OSLO, May 26 (Reuters) – Norway could become “Europe’s battery” by developing huge sea-based wind parks costing up to $44 billion by 2025, Norway’s Oil and Energy Minister said on Monday.
Norway’s Energy Council, comprising business leaders and officials, said green exports could help the European Union reach a goal of getting 20 percent of its electricity by 2020 from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro or wave power.
“The thinking is that Norway is blessed, is lucky, to have big energy resources. There is undoubtedly a large potential for wind power,” she said. Norway says it has the longest coastline in Europe, from the North Sea to the Arctic Barents Sea.
lyndon. 