Global Energy

It seems retirement stock portfolios aren’t the only things rapidly declining in the United States over the past few months. In a more uplifting turn of events, energy use in the U.S. declined almost 5 last year, good for the most significant energy reduction the country has ever seen. To put that in further perspective, though the mainstream push for “going green” is still relatively new, the government began tracking such statistics in 1949.Of course, a view held by many analysts is that this isn’t entirely good news. While the reduced levels of energy are no doubt a welcome sight for the environment, they could be interpreted as an equally disheartening look in the mirror for the national economy. After all, energy use tends to decrease alongside GDP per capita. In other words, when people have less money, they buy less, do less and use less, all across the board. It would be a nice to believe the full 5 was constituted by American’s making responsible energy decisions; however, it’s far more likely the statistic is merely a manifestation of equally reduced individual means. (more…)

A massive oil spill certainly made headlines in the summer of 2010, though perhaps it diverted attention from another sad situation off the coast of Egypt in the Red Sea. While resources and global media attention flooded towards the well oiled banks of the Gulf Coast, the Red Sea oil spill has been widely underreported. Many environmentalist groups monitoring the area suspect that perhaps the severity of the Red Sea oil spill is the subject of a cover up, actually causing much more damage than controlling interests would lead on. Were word to get out, officials may be worried that it could negatively impact the tourism sector of Egypt’s economy, a major source of revenue for the country. The Egyptian government was notably quiet in the first few days following the oil spill, raising some eyebrows. When the country’s Environmental Crisis Department did finally comment on the issue, it claimed that impact on Egypt’s beaches was minimal, though acknowledged conditions were worse in the Red Sea’s northern islands.Individuals near the beach resort area of Hurghada would say this information is incorrect, and that’s putting it kindly. Not only do some reports claim that a 100 mile stretch of coastline is now polluted with oil, some locals claim that the leak stemming from an off-shore oil platform was yet to be fully contained at the time the government claimed the situation to be resolved. (more…)

The world’s largest consumer of coal seems to be consuming even more of the fossil fuel, as China Shenhua Energy Company, a unit of the nation’s largest coal producer, saw significant growth over the first two quarters of the fiscal year. China Shenhua Energy reported a 14 profit increase of said time period, stemming from an increased demand due the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy.China is home to the fastest growing major economy on the planet, already the second largest in the world behind the United States. Over the past 30 years, China has sustained an average growth rate of 10, unmatched across the globe. Such demands to meet business needs and power fast-paced innovation have placed further stress on the environment, despite the resulting financial windfall. The concern regarding Chinese coal use however is slightly mitigated by the countries expansive coal reserves. (more…)