In The News

Carbon Crash, Solar Dawn: Deutsche Bank on Why Solar Has Won

Giles Parkinson March 9, 2015
Solar energy could increase tenfold to become the world’s dominant electricity source by 2030 and account for 30 percent of the market by 2050, notes a Deutsche Bank report. Most growth is anticipated in developing economies, especially for the 20 percent of the world’s people who lack access to grid electricity. Solar could account for 25 percent of India’s total capacity in less than a decade....

Mission Impossible

February 13, 2015
Cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear plant, after three of four reactors went into meltdown, following an earthquake, tsunami and flooding in March 2011 is posing unprecedented engineering challenges, reports the Economist. Decommissioning could take more than four decades as engineers scramble to invent new technology and methods for handling the massive cleanup: They constructed a frozen wall of...

A Not-To-Be-Missed Opportunity

Nayan Chanda January 30, 2015
The abrupt fall in oil prices, due to new technologies and a battle over market share between Saudi Arabia and the United States, creates clear winners and losers. Exporting countries that predicated budgets on oil priced near $100 per barrel struggle to adjust even as prices near $50 per barrel offer a brief respite for nations that depend on oil imports. “Amid signs that the price may fall...

Obama in India: Time to Get Serious on Common Goals

Vikram Mansharamani January 22, 2015
As the world’s two biggest democracies, India and the United States share many interests on trade, investment and security matters. US President Barack Obama will attend India’s Republic Day celebration on January 26, and many in business and government look forward to a stronger partnership between the two countries on energy, manufacturing and IT. “If Modi and his team can help get India out of...

Bill Gates Drinks Water Distilled From Human Sewage

January 16, 2015
Janicki Bioenergy based in Seattle has devised an Omni Processor system that takes raw sewage, boils it, separating solids from water vapor. The solids are then used to produce electricity – with the extracted water used for drinking. Sewage contains about 80 percent water and 20 percent biomass; untreated, such sewage can be toxic to ingest. Bill Gates drank a glass of water made from sewage to...

Wrong-Way Bets on Oil

Will Hickey January 13, 2015
Nations are wary about fast-dropping oil prices and just how long those prices could stay low. Some nations are lured into ongoing dependence on fossil fuels while others reduce consumer subsidies and redirect funds into infrastructure development. Will Hickey, associate professor at Linton Global College in Daejeon, urges careful management of the windfalls as the decisions will have lasting...

Plummeting Oil Prices Upend Global Economy

Chris Miller January 6, 2015
Abrupt changes in prices of an essential commodity like oil immediately create winners and losers. Oil prices have fallen since July due to new supplies coming on line and exporters seeking to hold on to market share. If sustained for long, the price drop will transform the global economy and geopolitics, explains Chris Miller, PhD candidate at Yale University and research associate with the...