Author Archives: GEC

Nuclear power in Poland

Poland has substantial energy reserves, mostly coal and in 2008 imported 27% of TPES. The government decided in 2005 to diversify energy resources and to reduce carbon and sulphur emissions by introducing nuclear power, with the first plant coming on-line soon after 2020. 11.5 GW of nuclear capacity was initially proposed but may be too […]

Oil Prices

Generally, oil prices have been rising since the turn of the 21st century, de making unconventional oil resources more economically viable. Wars, cuts in production, price controls and economic crises are a few examples of factors affecting oil prices, along with factors affecting demand such as uncharacteristically warm winters reducing demand for heating. Suez Crisis: […]

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental Organization that was formed in 1960. It was set up as a reaction to an international oil market dominated by ‘Seven Sisters’ multinational companies. Based on the ‘inalienable right of all countries to exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in the interest of their national development’ The four founding members […]

The Early Origins of Electricity Transmission and Distribution

Although primitive uses of electricity and magnetism had been known for centuries its real possibilities were discovered in the hundred years leading up to the last quarter of the 19th century. Names like Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday, James Watt, Luigi Galvani, Nicola Tesla, and Alessandro Volta resonate from the schoolroom, as the men who uncovered […]

McCloskey Coal Information Services (MCIS) NWE Steam Coal Marker Price

The MCIS NWE Steam Coal Marker is a long established price indicator, first quoted in January 1991, and produced on a monthly basis until earlier this year when the frequency was changed to weekly postings. For historical comparison and indexation purposes, the monthly price is taken from the first price quoted each month. The monitored […]

Future Coal Trading Patterns

Trading patterns are expected to change in the near-term with an increase in exports from Australia, Mongoliam Western Canada and Russia to China and from South Africa and Australia to India. Demand and thus exports to Europe from all regions is expected to decline, and the South American market is expected to rely more on […]

Alternative Energy Storage Projects in the US

Interest in other energy storage technologies has been led by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the Electric Power Research’s Institute (EPRI). The former is the US’s largest state-owned public power utility and the latter is an international, non-profit company performing RD&D in the electricity sector for the interest of the general public. For […]

US Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

A plug-in hybrid medium-duty vehicle programme: a national programme co-ordinated by the EPRI to procure three hundred and seventy eight vehicles for fifty fleets in the US. A total of USD 45.4 million has been allocated in federal stimulus funds for the development of electric vehicles and their commercialisation. A solar assisted plug-in vehicle charging […]

Mexican Water institutions

In Mexico, institutional power is most heavily vested in the President and the federal agencies. According to Article 27 of the Constitution, the President is granted the power to regulate the extraction and use of the nation’s waters, to establish areas where water cannot be extracted and, through his designated agents, establish rules for issuance […]