In The News

China Overtakes US as World's Biggest Energy Consumer

Jonathan Watts August 12, 2010
China has surpassed the US in energy usage, making it the world’s biggest energy consumer. The International Energy Agency, based in France, reported that the nation’s use of coal, oil, wind and other sources of energy reached the equivalent of 2.26 billion tons of oil in 2009, nearly double its usage a decade ago. This surge has implications for the global market, including stress on the...

The Gulf's Invisible Villain: Natural Gas

Kate Sheppard August 9, 2010
Methane accompanies oil and gas deposits; potentially explosive with machinery, bright light, sparks or pressure, the gas poses a danger to drillers and miners. The odorless and colorless gas can also displace oxygen and catch living creatures unaware. After the oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, government and media attention focused on highly visible oil rather than invisible methane. Oil...

Scientists Say Gulf Spill Altering Food Web

Matthew Brown, Ramit Plushnick-Masti July 23, 2010
Some plants and animals can withstand abrupt changes in their environment, and scientists predict long-term, even permanent changes in some habitats of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill forces life forms to contend with more chemicals along with less sunlight and oxygen. All life depends on other life to live – disruptions in food chains and habitat can wipe out food sources for some species or...

In Afghanistan, a Threat of Plunder

Paul Collier July 21, 2010
Afghanistan’s poor security situation, combined with reports of enormous untapped mineral wealth, could unleash a tragic rush to exploitation, environmental destruction and civil conflict. Without good governance, Afghanistan’s lithium and gold may do little to improve Afghani daily life – as was the case with gold in the Congo, oil in Nigeria, or diamonds in Sierra Leone. In contrast, Botswana...

Seizing the Moment for Clean Energy

Ann Florini July 1, 2010
Government and corporate helplessness to stop oil gushing from a broken pipe in the Gulf of Mexico is a depressing reminder of the world’s utter dependence on a limited supply of fossil fuel that poses so many environmental threats. US President Barack Obama suggested that the accident could transform the nation’s energy policy, much as the 9/11 attacks altered US approach to security. But the...

Growing Challenges of Energy and Environment – Part I

Susan Froetschel June 22, 2010
Emerging economies have joined developed nations in the wild scramble for energy, all taking greater risks in drilling for oil and gas supplies while largely shrugging about effects on climate, the environment or public health. Nations and corporations go to great lengths to explore and drill, but repairs are not so easy, as seen with a broken well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April...

Globalization of Energy Demand

June 18, 2010
In an interview with Nayan Chanda, Editor of YaleGlobal Online, Daniel Yergin, one of the world’s leading experts on energy, discusses the future of dependence on oil and a push towards efficiency. He also talks about the “globalization of demand”, in which he states that the success of globalization, notably demonstrated by rapidly rising incomes in, for example, China and India, is reflected in...