NEW ORLEANS: BP PLC was on Saturday slowly raising the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, careful not to damage or drop a key piece of evidence in the spill investigation.When...
NZ Herald Oil and Gas
Sewage and water concerns are among the top priorities for emergency services in the wake of this morning''s 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch.The city was left devastated after the quake struck 30km west of the city at...
NZ Herald earthquakes
Here is the current situation: Water Some outlying areas are still without water. Inner-city residents are being asked to save water by not flushing the toilet as there are fears the city''s water infrastructure may have been...
NZ Herald earthquakes
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake which struck Canterbury about 4.30am today rates among the top dozen to hit New Zealand.The quake 40km west of Christchurch was at an epicentre 10km southeast of Darfield and 20km south-east of Coalgate.It...
NZ Herald earthquakes
Power and water have been cut to parts of Christchurch after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck about 30km west of the city at 4.35am today.The quake was at a depth of 33km and was centred near Darfield.New Zealand Herald reporter...
NZ Herald earthquakes
Profits for shareholders was the most important thing, and no open share issue was planned, Michael Fraser, Managing Director, AGL, told the market as AGL analysts rummaged in the NSW Treasury data room as a dominant bidder in the NSW sale process for Energy Australia, Country Energy, and Integral, and generators Delta, Macquarie and Eraring.
AGL reported late August, 2010, its renewables generation intentions, - under contruction and committed - to meet its Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) Obligation.
eldavojohn writes "A new paper up for prepublication from the controversial solid-state physicist Godfrey Louis claims that the cells Louis collected from a Keralan red rain incident divide and produce daughter cells at 121 degrees Celsius. While unusual, this is not unheard of as the paper recalls cells cultivated from hydrothermal vents are known to reproduce at 121 C as well. Of course, caution is exercised when dealing with the possible explanation surrounding the theory of panspermia but the MIT Technology Review says researchers ''examined the way these fluoresce when bombarded with light and say it is remarkably similar to various unexplained emission spectra seen in various parts of the galaxy. One such place is the Red Rectangle, a cloud of dust and gas around a young star in the Monocerous constellation.''" Read more of this story at Slashdot.
pickens writes "David Pogue writes in the NY Times that when you buy a new Windows PC, it comes festooned with stickers on the palm rests: one for Windows, one for Skype, one for Intel, one for the laptop company, maybe an Energy Star sticker and so on. ''It''s like buying a new, luxury car — and discovering that it comes with non-removable bumper stickers that promote the motor oil, the floor mat maker, the windshield-fluid company and the pine tree air freshener you have no intention of ever using,'' writes Pogue. But the worst thing is that when you peel them off, they shred, leaving adhesive crud behind. ''When you''ve just spent big bucks on a laptop, should you really be obligated to spend the first 20 minutes trying to dissolve away the sticker goop with WD40?'' But AMD has a solution. Starting next year, AMD will switch to new stickers that peel off easily, leaving no residue; after that, it''s considering eliminating the sticker program altogether." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
On completion in early 2013, the Macarthur wind farm will be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, said AGL.
This shows the change in fuel use for both scheduled and non-scheduled generation over the
The 2010 Electricity Statement Of Opportunities for the National Electricity Market, released 1 September, 2010, by AEMO, (Australian Energy Market Operator) expects "climate change policies will, over time, change the way in which Australia produces and consumes electricity".
Russian gas major, Gazprom, has posted a 1Q 2010 net profit of 336.8 billion roubles under IFRS.
Russia Today Business
aarondubrow writes "Three years ago, researchers from Caltech and The University of Texas at Austin came together to create a computational tool that could model the Earth and answer the most pressing questions in geophysics: What controls the speed of plates? How do microplates interact? How much energy do the plates generate and how does it dissipate? Using a new geodynamics software package they developed, the researchers have modeled plate motion with greater accuracy than ever before. The project is also a finalist for the Gordon Bell Prize — high performance computing''s Oscar — at this year''s SC10 conference." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A new initiative between national grid operator Transpower and businesses will help ease electricity demand pressures in the upper North Island at crucial times, says Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee.Transpower said yesterday that...
NZ Herald electricity
An engineer has poured cold water on Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee''s draft energy strategy involving reduction of fossil-fuel power and more emphasis on wind generation.The Government has called for 90 per cent of New Zealand''s...
NZ Herald electricity
beschra writes "BBC writes of ''terra-forming'' Ascension Island, one of the islands Charles Darwin visited. He and a friend encouraged the Royal Navy to import boat loads of trees and plants in an attempt to capture the little bit of water that fell on the island. They were quite successful. The island even has a cloud forest now. From the article: ''[British ecologist] Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from that experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars. In other words, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way."''" Read more of this story at Slashdot.
thecarchik writes "It is not an easy task to compare the environmental effects of battery powered cars to those caused by conventionally fueled automobiles. The degree to which manufacture, usage and disposal of the batteries used to store the necessary electrical energy are detrimental to the environment is not exactly known. Now, for the first time, a team of Empa scientists have made a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) or ecobalance of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, in particular the chemically improved (i.e. more environmentally friendly) version of the ones most frequently used in electric vehicles. Researchers decided to find out for sure. They calculated the ecological footprints of electric cars fitted with Li-ion batteries, taking into account all possible relevant factors, from those associated with the production of individual parts all the way through to the scrapping of the vehicle and the disposal of the remains, including the operation of the vehicle during its lifetime." Read more of this story at Slashdot.