In The News

Shock Absorber: US Retools Economy, Curbing Thirst for Oil

Justin Lahart August 18, 2008
As demand for oil surged and the world contended fleetingly with record-high prices, the US quickly adjusted: Companies develop new strategies to lower energy costs, and consumers turn to energy-efficient products. As the world’s largest user of energy products, the US can drive prices. “Whether this newfound energy austerity alters the fabric of American life in a lasting way will depend partly...

New Energy Frontiers Expand Global Connections – Part I

Adriana Valencia August 14, 2008
Electricity is essential for any who care to participate in globalization, and huge numbers of the world’s rural poor still long for this basic tool at a time of tight supply and climbing prices. This two-part series examines two frontiers – the energy demands of the rural poor and the increasing supply of alternative-energy sources in the developing world. In the first article, Adriana Valencia...

Obama’s Biofuels Policy Tension

Roger Harrabin August 13, 2008
Ethanol subsidies are popular among voters in the American Midwest, where farmers grow millions of acres of corn to produce the biofuel. It’s no surprise, then, that Barack Obama – as a senator representing Illinois – has embraced such subsidies. Yet while ethanol may be popular politically, it has proven disastrous as a matter of policy: Research suggests that producing ethanol creates more...

The Oil Price: Nothing to Smile About

August 12, 2008
The rising price of oil throughout summer 2008 resulted in higher prices for most other products, especially food. With a dip in the price of oil, some analysts expect central banks to hold off from lifting interest rates, maintaining less expensive credit and money for business. But that cheap credit can lead to risky speculation and bubbles, some economists argue. Current interest “rates now...

War in Georgia: How the Caucasus Erupted

Carmen Eller August 8, 2008
The provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia struggle to break away from Georgia, and build closer links with Russia. Russia issues passports to residents in the provinces seeking independence and has also built a gas pipeline. Spreading conflict underscores ongoing differences between Russia and the US and the struggle to control energy sources. “Russia does not want to lose its influence on...

Learning to Speak Climate

Thomas L. Friedman August 7, 2008
The effects of climate change are slow and pernicious, suggests Thomas Friedman in his New York Times column. Too many anticipate massive disasters on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, striking New Orleans in 2005 with broken dams and flooding. But instead, notices of climate change already arrive steadily by post, warns Danish geologist Minik Thorleif Rosing, in the form of higher bills for water...

Russia Takes Control of Turkmen (World?) Gas

M.K. Bhadrakumar August 6, 2008
Russia has signed two agreements on gas in Turkmenistan, ensuring Russian control over gas exports from the region. Russia will pay higher market prices for Turkmen gas, notes M.K. Bhadrakumar in an article for Asia Times, and that could reveal a geopolitical rather than money-making strategy. At the same time, China and Russia concluded negotiations on energy cooperation. “Suffice it to say that...