Soy Beans Soy bean is a legume native to East Asia but can be grown in most warm climates. Only 45% of all soy is grown in this region. The rest is grown in the US, Brazil, Ar-gentina and other parts of the world. There have been reports that areas of the rainforest in Brazil […]
Offshore capacity will play an increasingly important role in Spain’s future wind energy production. In March 2009 the Spanish government approved an offshore wind map that establishes a grading system for suitable areas as well as exclusion zones. The government also published a resolution in April 2009 that gives legal status to the map, meaning […]
Wind energy is in a position to make a significant contribution to Spain’s electricity supply. Its supply of 16.4% of the power demand in 2010 is up from 14.4% in 2009, placing it behind only combined cycle gas and nuclear power. The share of renewable, nuclear and gas in meeting energy demand has been increasing […]
1989 Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act This act completed the process of deregulating wellhead prices. It required the removal of all price controls on wellhead sales with effect from 1 January, 1993, allowing natural gas prices to be freely set in the market. 1991 Mega-Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Mega-NOPR) FERC requested comments from consumers and […]
Natural Gas Policy Act The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was created out of the old FPC and directed to reform natural gas pricing. Essentially this was a reversal of the Phillip’s decision as it allowed the deregulation of wellhead gas prices. Production increased dramatically in response to pent-up demand which led to a gas […]
Hydro power is much more significant as a generator of electricity. At 15.9% hydro power currently has a larger share than nuclear power which has 13.5%. Hydro power is the most important renewable energy source for the generation of electricity. Hydroelectric resources The theoretical size of worldwide hydropower is about 3,000 GW, four times greater […]
The Depression in the United States, floods and drastic droughts in the 1930s inspired a “big dam” period that included construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Colombia River in Washington, the Central Valley Project in California, and the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydro facility […]
Energy can be generated from tidal or marine currents driven by the tides or by oceanic circulations, using completely submerged turbines comprised of rotor blades and a generator. Water turbines work on the same principle as wind turbines, by using the kinetic energy of moving fluid and transferring it into useful rotational and electrical energy. […]
In the wrong hands, technology exists whereby on a small scale, a neighbour could turn off another neighbour’s power supply. Moving up rogue groups could cause widespread power outages or co-ordinate power outages to attack sensitive facilities. At the largest scale governments could remotely shut down smart meters to meet energy saving targets or to […]
Shale gas is extracted using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’. None of which are particularly new technologies or shale gas specific. Horizontal drilling During the process wells are drilled vertically to just above the known shale deposit at a depth of 1,500 to 3,000 metres. Then the drill bit is deviated and drilled […]
