New Mexico Unveils 10 MW Geothermal Eletrical Plant

Cyrq Energy Inc. on Wednesday celebrated the opening of its geothermal power plant, the first of its kind in New Mexico.

The company provided tours of the $43 million plant to state officials, local residents and students. Gov. Susana Martinez had been scheduled to attend the open house but remained in Roswell in the wake of Tuesday’s middle school shooting.

The governor has promoted the project as a way for the state to diversify its renewable energy resources and meet sustainability goals.

[...]

The plant is currently supplying four megawatts of electricity to Public Service of New Mexico and is under contract to ramp up to 10 megawatts later this year.

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India, China to Drive Global Energy Markets, USA Energy Independent by 2035

China and India are increasingly driving world energy demand as the United States' production boom puts it on track to become independent of the global market, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

China is close to becoming the world's largest oil importer, while India will turn into the leading importer of coal in the next decade to lead the Asian surge, the Paris-based IEA said in its 2013 World Energy Outlook.

"The dominance of Asia will be more and more visible," IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven told The Associated Press. "Asia will be the clear center of the global energy trade."

While per capita energy consumption will not be as high in Asia as in North America and Europe, "the demand and the thirst for energy (in Asia) in all its forms will be tremendous."

At the same time, the United States is moving toward "meeting all of its energy needs from domestic resources by 2035," the IEA said.

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Ukraine Seeks Energy Independence From Russia by 2020

The Ukrainian government is launching major natural gas extraction projects in the country, as joint ventures with leading Western companies. At present, Ukraine depends on Russian gas imports for more than 60 percent of Ukraine’s total annual consumption. The government’s goal is not simply to reduce Ukraine’s dependence on Russian gas, but—far more boldly—to eliminate that dependence entirely and achieve self-sufficiency by boosting gas extraction within the country.

The Ukrainian government is currently working with Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell toward that goal. These projects are variously targeting shale gas, tight gas, and conventional gas, onshore and offshore on Ukrainian territory.

According to President Viktor Yanukovych’s statement, occasioned by the agreement just signed with Chevron (see [link]), the projects with Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron would enable Ukraine to become self-sufficient for gas supplies by 2020.

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Has the United States Already Surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia for Fossil Fuel Production

Fracking Revolution indeed.  I wonder what the geopolitical considerations now are...

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The US Oil Production Highest Since the 1980s

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Remember, the US is projected to surpass the Saudis by 2020 now.  Ponder that.

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors for the Clinch River, Tennessee

Near the banks of the Clinch River in eastern Tennessee, a team of engineers will begin a dig this month that they hope will lead to a new energy future.

They'll be drilling core samples, documenting geologic, hydrologic, and seismic conditions—the initial step in plans to site the world's first commercial small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) here.

Once before, there was an effort to hatch a nuclear power breakthrough along the Clinch River, which happens to meander through the U.S. government's largest science and technology campus, Oak Ridge, on its path from the Appalachian Mountains to the Tennessee River.

In the 1970s, the U.S. government and private industry partners sought to build the nation's first commercial-scale "fast breeder" reactor here, an effort abandoned amid concerns about costs and safety. Today, nuclear energy's future still hinges on the same two issues, and advocates argue that SMRs provide the best hope of delivering new nuclear plants that are both affordable and protective of people and the environment. And even amid Washington, D.C.'s budget angst, there was bipartisan support for a new five-year $452 million U.S. government program to spur the technology.

Frak Me! The Monterey Shale Could Have Up to 15.2 BILLION Barrels of Oil

It's easy to tick off the ways in which California is a leader in clean energy: It harvests more solar energy than any other state, has a program to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles on its famously long highways, and launched its own cap-and-trade system this year.

And yet, a move is afoot for a quite different type of new energy development in the Golden State, beneath the same valley that beckoned gold seekers and migrant farmers generations ago. That ever alluring land happens to lie atop the Monterey shale formation, a vast rock formation that is believed to hold one of the world's largest onshore reserves of shale oil.

Oil companies are seeking to stake their claim to this prize, plunging California into a debate on its energy and economic future. The U.S. trailblazer on renewable energy could well become the latest front in the nation's fracking-driven oil boom.

It's not yet clear whether hydraulic fracturing can unleash the same sort of oil rush in California's Monterey shale as the United States is now seeing in North Dakota and in Texas. The San Joaquin Valley, site of historic tension over river flow, aquifer-pumping, and irrigation, is a dubious location for a business that requires large volumes of water to fracture the underground rock.

As for the rock itself, it is deeper and thicker than other shales, formed by tectonic faulting millions of years ago. Today the geology's potential and risks are still not fully understood. But perhaps the biggest obstacles are above ground, as California grapples with questions fundamental to its identity. Should the state move aggressively to seize this new opportunity for jobs and industrial development, or take steps to preserve its remaining havens of undeveloped land and shun a new round of fossil fuel expansion?

Japan Begins Extracting Natural Gas From Methane Calthrates

Two years after the Fukushima meltdown, most of Japan’s nuclear reactors remain shuttered, and that anniversary this week has sparked discussion about Japan’s energy sources. The country has depended almost exclusively on imported fossil fuels since the disaster. But in news announced today, Japan has become the first country to successfully extract methane from frozen reserves under the ocean floor, opening a new potential energy source for the country.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas but methane hydrate offers an even more concentrated source. One cubic foot of hydrate traps about 164 cubic feet of methane gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The methane in hydrate is frozen within an ice lattice, forming a sherbet-like substance.

To get the methane gas out, Japanese engineers used a depressurization method that turns methane hydrate into methane gas. Extraction began this morning, about 30 miles offshore of Japan’s main island and at a depth of around 1,000 feet below the seabed.

US Set to Overtake Saudi Arabia as Top Oil Exporter by 2017, Energy Independent by 2035

The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer by 2017, the West's energy agency said on Monday, predicting Washington will come very close to achieving a previously unthinkable energy self-sufficiency.

The forecasts by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises large industrialized nations on energy policy, were in sharp contrast to previous IEA reports, which saw Saudi Arabia remaining the top producer until 2035.

"Energy developments in the United States are profound and their effect will be felt well beyond North America - and the energy sector," the IEA said in its annual long-term report, giving one of the most optimistic forecasts for U.S. energy production growth to date.

"The recent rebound in U.S. oil and gas production, driven by upstream technologies that are unlocking light tight oil and shale gas resources, is spurring economic activity - with less expensive gas and electricity prices giving industry a competitive edge," it added.

The IEA said it saw a continued fall in U.S. oil imports with North America becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030 and the United States becoming almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035.

"The United States, which currently imports around 20 percent of its total energy needs, becomes all but self-sufficient in net terms - a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing countries," it said.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London he believed the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest gas producer by a significant margin by 2015. By 2017, it would become the world's largest oil producer, he said.

The United States will rely more on natural gas than either oil or coal by 2035 as cheap domestic supply boosts demand among industry and power generators, the IEA said.

Real or the dangers of the linear extrapolating brain eater striking? 

If this is the case, Global Warming Is Inevitable.  cuz the junkie just got a new source for its fix.