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Thursday 31 March 2016

Today's ENERGY News -March 31, 2016

 


Top Stories 



New Coal Plants Rise in 2015 Despite Falling Consumption

Old coal plants are increasingly lying dormant, yet new ones keep getting built, according to a new report. The analysis by CoalSwarm, which includes researchers from Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, looks at the state of global coal over the last year. Their findings highlight a disconnect between the recent reductions in demand for coal, and the hundreds of gigawatts of new capacity that developers want to build in the future. Dormant plants Enthusiasm for burning coal has waned in recent years due to climate regulations and efforts to combat air pollution. In 2014, falling demand for coal in China meant that consumption fell for the first time, dipping by around 0.9%. While a relatively small decline, it is in sharp contrast with the annual average growth of 4.2% for the last decade. The trend is expected to have continued during 2015. Beijing recently released its statistics for 2015, […]

China Oil Giants Take Spending Cuts Deeper as Profits Shrink

After chopping spending by almost one-third to cope with a crash in oil prices and billions in writedowns that sent profits to the weakest since last decade, China’s energy giants are cutting even deeper. (Bloomberg) — After chopping spending by almost one-third to cope with a crash in oil prices and billions in writedowns that sent profits to the weakest since last decade, China’s energy giants are cutting even deeper. PetroChina Co., Cnooc Ltd. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., which together produce more crude than any country in OPEC besides Saudi Arabia, will reduce combined capital expenditure by about 8 percent this year, or roughly 29.5 billion yuan ($4.6 billion). That’s after they cut almost 174 billion yuan from spending last year. “The Chinese oil giants will continue to cut,” Qiu Xiaofeng, chief oil analyst with China Galaxy Securities Co., said by phone from Shanghai. “If the oil […]

China Seen Surpassing U.S. as Top Oil Importer This Year: Chart

The crisis engulfing the global steel industry is so severe that one of China’s top producers has warned a new Ice Age has set in as mills confront overcapacity and rising competition that threaten their survival. “In 2015, China experienced a slowdown in economic growth and excess steel capacity, which caused the domestic and overseas steel industry to enter into an ‘Ice Age’,” Angang Steel Co. said after posting a net loss of 4.59 billion yuan ($710 million) for last year. There are severe challenges, fierce competition and difficult survival conditions, it said. Steel demand in China is shrinking for the first time in a generation as growth slows and policy makers seek to steer the economy toward consumption. Faced with declining sales at home, mills in the top producer — which accounts for half of global supply — have shipped record volumes overseas, heightening competition from Europe to […]

OPEC oil output rises in March as Iran, Iraq growth offsets outages

OPEC oil output is rising in March, a Reuters survey found, as higher supply from Iran after the lifting of sanctions and near-record exports from southern Iraq offset maintenance and outages in smaller producers. The survey also found no major change in production in top exporter Saudi Arabia – another sign that Riyadh is serious about freezing output to support prices, which hit a 12-year low near $27 a barrel in January but have since recovered to $40. Producers are meeting on April 17 in Qatar to discuss the plan. “The production freeze has put a floor under the price,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank. “We see a risk of a short-term setback if the meeting produces a disappointment.” Supply from the Organization of the Petroleum […]

Oil Trader Andurand, Who Called Slump, Sees Bull Run’s Start

Pierre Andurand, a hedge-fund manager who predicted the oil collapse, said crude is starting a “multi-year bull run” because low prices have curbed supply. Crude futures, currently trading near $40 a barrel, will rebound to $60 to $70 this year and $80 in 2017, the chief investment officer of London-based hedge fund Andurand Capital Management LLP said in a newsletter to investors. A spokesman for the money manager declined to comment. “Large spending cuts are taking a toll on operational maintenance,” according to the newsletter, which was dated February. “After having been in an oversupplied market we expect inventory draws to start in a few months and accelerate quickly.” Oil has slumped about 60 percent since mid-2014, prompting companies to lay off workers, cut investment and cancel projects. While prices have rebounded from a 12-year low reached earlier this year on speculation the surplus is easing as U.S. output […]


2015 Sets Record for Renewables Investment

  Top Signals End of Oil-Age

Global investment in renewable energy hit a record US$285.9bn (£202.3bn) in 2015, beating the previous high of $278.5bn set in 2011, a study shows.


UN: 2015 Record Year for Global Renewables Investment



The 10th Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment also showed that investment in developing nations exceeded that in developed countries.
In another first, more new renewables capacity than fossil-fuel generation came online during 2015.
But it warned that much more had to be done to avoid dangerous climate change.
The assessment, produced by the Frankfurt School-Unep Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, showed that the developing world committed a total of US$156bn (up 19% on 2014 levels) in renewables (excluding large hydro) while developed nations invested US$130bn (down 8% from 2014 levels).
"A large element in this turnaround was China, which lifted its investment by 17% to US$102.9bn, or 36% of the world total," the report observed.
However, other developing nations also contributed as six of the top 10 investors were developing nations.
In the foreword, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the report's findings increased confidence that a low-carbon world was obtainable.
He wrote: "We have entered a new era of clean energy growth that can fuel a future of opportunity and greater prosperity for every person on the planet."
However, he warned that in order to avoid dangerous climate change required an "immediate shift away from fossil fuels".
Electricity generation, Germany (Getty Images)



Wednesday 30 March 2016

Today's ENERGY News - March 30, 2016


Today's ENERGY News


March 30, 2016 





China’s oil giants hit hard by oil slump

Plunging global crude oil prices crimped 2015 earnings for China’s trio of oil companies, according to their annual reports. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China’s largest offshore oil and natural gas developer, made 20.2 billion yuan (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) in net profits last year, plunging 66.4 percent year on year. Net profits of PetroChina Co. Ltd., China’s top oil and gas producer, shrank 66.9 percent to 35.52 billion yuan in 2015, the lowest profit since 1999. Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner, saw its net profits decline 30 percent year on year to 32.4 billion yuan in 2015. The continued slump in global crude oil prices, downward pressure on the domestic economy and sluggish demand for oil and gas have caused the profit plunge for the oil giants, said Dong Xiucheng, professor with China University of Petroleum. Brent crude, the benchmark for more […]


BP to Lay Off 500 Workers in Houston

BP plc, headquartered in the UK, has announced it will lay off 500 of its workers in Houston. According to a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, the oil and gas super major will lay off many of the employees beginning in early June and affected employees will receive written notice at least 60 days ahead of their separation date. The Houston workforce reductions are part of BP’s larger plan to cut 4,000 jobs globally in its upstream segment in 2016, company spokesperson Jason Ryan confirmed in an email to Rigzone. This is what is required to adapt to the protracted low oil price environment, and BP is taking the steps necessary to reduce costs and ensure we are structured to compete as efficiently as possible, Ryan said. BP has seen many changes this year, namely its announcement to cut thousands of jobs globally through 2017 as well as […]

Oklahoma’s governor defends earthquake response

Oklahoma’s governor defended the state response to the seismic activity attributed to oil and gas development against a federal report on the hazard. “Oklahoma remains committed to doing whatever is necessary to reduce seismicity in the state,” Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. Her comments followed the release of the first-ever report from the U.S. Geological Survey on human-induced seismic activity in the country. A map produced by the USGS shows Oklahoma is the state with the highest risk of potential hazard from human-induced seismic activity. Last year, the USGS found evidence to suggest seismic activity in the state may be tied to the disposal of wastewater from the oil and gas […]

China Natural Gas Price Cuts Seen Luring Customers From Coal

China’s natural gas demand has been boosted by price cuts aimed at switching users from coal to the cleaner-burning fuel, according to one of the country’s biggest gas distributors. ENN Energy Holdings Ltd. has seen its sales rise more than 15 percent in January and February as lower prices encouraged customers to switch, Vice Chairman Cheung Yip Sang said in an interview in Hong Kong. ENN expects full-year sales to rise 15 percent, following last year’s 11.5 percent jump to 11.3 billion cubic meters. “The movement really picked up a lot of momentum,” Cheung said. “The higher burning efficiency of gas and government pressure for better emission standards will help convert more industrial users from coal to gas.” President Xi Jinping’s government adjusted gas prices twice last year to stimulate demand and shift consumption from coal, which makes up 64 percent of the country’s energy mix. The share of […]

Hedge funds establish near-record bullish bet on rising oil prices: Kemp

Hedge funds and other money managers have amassed a near-record number of bullish bets on increasing oil prices, helping push the main international benchmark well above $40 per barrel. By the close of business on March 22, money managers held a net long position equivalent to almost 579 million barrels in the three largest crude oil futures and options contracts ( tmsnrt.rs/1WU26ND ). Hedge funds have more than doubled their net long position from just 242 million barrels at the end of last year, according to an analysis of data published by regulators and exchanges. The net long position has passed the previous peak of 572 million barrels, set in May 2015, and is closing in on the record of 626 million, set in June 2014, when Islamic […]

Tuesday 29 March 2016

Today's ENERGY News - March 29, 2016


Today's ENERGY News


March 29, 2016  

Saudi Economy Shows Deepening Signs of Strain as Spending Drops

M3 shrinks in Feb. from a year ago for first time since 2000 The Saudi economy is showing deepening signs of strain under the weight of cheap oil. Saudi consumers withdrew and spent less money in February, according to central bank data released on Monday. M3, one of the broadest measures of money supply, shrank for the first time since at least 2000, when Bloomberg started tracking the data. While the kingdom still has one of the world’s largest foreign-currency reserves, cuts in government spending to shore up public finances are taking a toll on the economy. Growth may slow to 1.5 percent this year, according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey, the slowest pace since at least 2009. Saudi officials have repeatedly said that the nation can weather the slump in oil prices. Cash withdrawals through ATMs fell 8 percent after expanding for at least the... 


Get house in order, World Bank tells Iraq

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, center, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, right, review economic threats in the era of terrorism and lower crude oil prices. U.N. Photo by Mark Garten BAGHDAD, March 28 (UPI) — Faced with threats from terrorism and low oil prices, the world community is ready to help, but Iraqis make take initiatives, the U.N. secretary-general said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki -moon joined the heads of the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank in expressing solidarity with Iraqi leaders struggling to ensure financial and national stability. From Baghdad, the secretary-general said he was calling on regional and international partners to help support a threatened Iraq, though the Iraqis themselves needed to take responsibility to resolve crises. “These reforms must include measures to empower women and young people, and to bring [about] greater social cohesion,” Ban said in a statement . Iraq’s $200 billion economy is...  


Saudi Arabia loses oil market share to rivals in key nations

Saudi Arabia lost market share in more than half of the most important countries it sold crude to in the past three years, even as the kingdom increased output to record levels. The world’s biggest oil exporter lost ground to rivals in nine out of 15 top markets between 2013 and 2015, including China, South Africa and the US, according to an analysis of customs data. Saudi Arabia set itself a goal in late 2014 of maintaining its crude market share amid a glut that prompted a collapse in oil prices, but the imports data compiled by FGE, an energy consultancy, suggest the country’s strategy suffered setbacks in some of its key customer countries last year. Other data show that Saudi Arabia achieved a limited increase in global market share in 2015 compared to 2014, although last year’s figure was lower than that recorded in 2013. “Saudi Arabia has had a very difficult time selling oil in this environment,” says Ed Morse, an analyst at Citigroup. “Its rivals are going into a very crowded market in a very aggressive way.”

A look at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters

Japan this month (March) marked the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster with a series of sombre remembrance ceremonies across the country. At 2.46pm local time (1.46pm in Singapore) on March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck under the Pacific Ocean, triggering a 10 metre wall of water that devastated the north-eastern coast of Japan. It caused meltdowns in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) Nuclear Power Plant in the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986. Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy in April, The Straits Times takes a close-up look at both disasters. HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE AFFECTED? Fukushima: Some 18,500 people died or are still missing from the earthquake and tsunami. Another 470,000 people were evacuated due to the nuclear fallout. They include those who live within a 20km radius from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear […]

Momentum building behind U.S. wind energy

U.S. wind energy advocates scored a second victory after the federal government gave its support to a transmission line to service the wind power sector. For the first time, the Department of Energy used authority mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to foster cooperation between the private and public sectors on new electricity transmission projects by joining a line slated for the U.S. South. The development, led by Clean Line Energy Partners, is aimed at bringing up to 4,000 megawatts of power generated from wind in Oklahoma and Texas through a 705-mile power line that would serve the energy needs of up to 1.5 million homes in the region. Simon Mahan, a director for […]

Monday 28 March 2016

Peak Oil Today - March 28, 2016

"PEAK OIL TODAY"

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Peak Oil Review – 28 March 2016 

By Tom Whipple

Association for the Study of Peak Oil USA


Quote of the Week
Going into summer, producers know it’s going to be a massacre.”

Sami Yahya, Platts Bentek - Analyst. 
Natural Gas
Contents
1.  Oil and the Global Economy
2.  The Middle East & North Africa
3.  China
4.  Russia/Ukraine
5. The Briefs


1.  Oil and the Global Economy



Oil prices finished a holiday-shortened trading week on Thursday relatively unchanged. Oil had been a bit higher on Monday and Tuesday but then underwent a $2 a barrel decline on Wednesday after the weekly stocks report showed a 9.4-million-barrel increase in the US crude inventory. Prices recovered by a dollar or so on Thursday to close at $39 in New York and $40 in London, partly in response to a 15-unit drop in the US oil rig count. The 50 percent price increase since January still seems to be based mostly on unrealistic expectations that the large oil exporters will cut production enough to bring supply and demand back into balance. So far, however, crude stocks have continued to rise, and production cuts have been minimal. 
 
The theory prevalent in recent weeks that the so-called “missing 800,000 b/d” of world oil production was behind the recent price rise was discounted by the IEA and a second major bank last week as wishful thinking.  There has always been a gap in following the world’s oil flows as many countries do not accurately report their production, consumption, and storage numbers. The IEA says that missing barrels is nothing unusual and has been present in the Agency’s accounting since it was formed.

The exporters meeting, which is to include Russia and much of OPEC, is still scheduled for April 17th in Doha. Given that the countries attending have little expectation of substantial production increases shortly, any decision about a production freeze reached at the meeting is unlikely to have an impact on the 1-2 million b/d of excess capacity that is still estimated to be flooding the market.
  
Unless there is major geopolitical upheaval such as a governmental collapse in Venezuela, Brazil, Nigeria, or Iraq, there is unlikely to be a major curtailment of the oil supply in the next six months.  While there has been a strong demand for gasoline in the US due to the low prices, this may fade as retail prices rise again. While China’s demand for crude oil has been strong recently, much of the increase in imports has been refined and exported as oil products to Asia thereby cutting demand by refineries elsewhere in Asia.
 
There clearly are bad times ahead for the future of the oil industry as it becomes apparent just how much capital spending has been cut on projects that were supposed to come into production later this decade. Last week saw a spate of stories outlining the woes of the industry. Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says that some $500 billion worth oil and gas projects have been deferred due to low oil revenues -- up from $400 billion in the firm’s previous estimate. 
OPEC supply is expected to grow by some 300,000 b/d this year, mostly from Iran and Iraq. However, global demand for oil is expected to grow by a million b/d this year, gradually clearing away the excess supply and inventories so that by 2017 prices will be rising again.
  
The IEA is becoming concerned that unless there is a major increase in oil industry investments in 2017 and 2018, there will be a large increase in oil prices towards the end of the decade as supply can no longer meet demand. The Agency also expects that oil prices will average between $35 and $40 a barrel this year which is not enough to encourage a surge in investment in the short run.   In the meantime, the fiscal condition of much of the US shale oil industry continues to deteriorate as more loans become due and more companies declare bankruptcy. Many banks are reducing their exposure to the oil industry and the flow of capital that built and sustained US shale oil production is starting to dry up.
 
The US oil industry is expressing concern that recent actions by the Obama administration, such as the air quality regulations, blocking the XL pipeline, and stopping the sale of oil leases off the Atlantic coast signifies that the government is more concerned about the environment than the economic well-being of the industry.  The industry sees several technical regulations that are well below the radar of most observers as pointing to an effort to slow oil production. As is normal, there is little concern about the ever-increasing environmental problems the world is facing.


READ MORE

http://peak-oil.org/peak-oil-review-28-mar-2016/


Today's ENERGY News - March 28, 2016

Today's ENERGY News


March 28, 2016  


Dyson developing an electric car

Dyson is developing an electric car at its headquarters in Wiltshire with help from public money, according to government documents. The company, which makes a range of products that utilise the sort of highly efficient motors needed for an electric car such as vacuum cleaners, hand dryers and bladeless fans, last year refused to rule out rumours it was building one. But on Wednesday, the government appeared to have accidentally disclosed Dyson is working on one, along with other big companies outside of the automotive industry, such as Apple . “The government is funding Dyson to develop a new battery electric vehicle at their headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. This will secure £174m of investment in the area, creating over 500 jobs, mostly in engineering,” said the National Infrastructure Delivery Plan, published on Wednesday. When Dyson CEO, Max Conze, was asked last year if the company was working on an […]

Russian Bond Skeptics Surface in Worst Week Since Oil Collapse

Bank of Russia’s unexpectedly hawkish turn at its last rate meeting and the slump in oil prices are casting a shadow over the third-biggest bond rally in emerging markets. Bonds slid last week, pushing yields up the most since January and reining in this month’s returns for the country’s debt to 9.2 percent. The retreat still isn’t enough for analysts at banks including Renaissance Capital, Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale SA, who predict government bonds, or OFZs, have further to fall. OFZs “still do look expensive to us,” Oleg Kouzmin, a Moscow-based economist at Renaissance Capital and a former central bank adviser. “They ignore the risks that oil could be lower, with subsequent implications for the ruble and the policy rate.” Traders anticipating a resumption of rate cuts scrambled to scale back their bets last week after central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina warned March 18 that the “moderately tight”  

China crude oil stockpile up 1.08 pct

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) — China’s commercial crude oil stocks increased 1.08 percent in February over January, while stocks of refined oil products went up 17.34 percent, data monitored by Xinhua News Agency showed on Monday. Last month, China imported 31.72 million tonnes of crude oil, according to the report. Gasoline stocks dropped 7.23 percent as the travelling peak during the China New Year holiday fueled demand. Diesel stocks increased 38.26 percent due to factories shutting down during the holiday, according to the report. Kerosene stocks gained 7.51 percent, said the report.


Oil Firms Slow Exploration to Weather Low-Price Era

The world’s biggest oil companies are draining their petroleum reserves faster than they are replacing them—a symptom of how a deep oil-price decline is reshaping the energy industry’s priorities. In 2015, the seven biggest publicly traded Western energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.27 % and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A 1.22 % PLC, replaced just 75% of the oil and natural gas they pumped, on average, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of company data. It was the biggest combined drop in inventory that companies have reported in at least a decade. For Exxon, 2015 marked the first time in more than two decades it didn’t fully replace production with new reserves, according to the company. It reported replacing 67% of its 2015 output. In the past, shrinking reserves could send investors 

Shell weighs North Sea assets for potential sales

Shell has said it plans to raise $30bn from asset sales worldwide as it moves to offset the cost of the BG acquisition, completed last month just weeks after oil prices plunged to a13-year low near $27 a barrel.  But the company has yet to identify in public precisely which fields will be under scrutiny.  “A review of all assets, including those in the North Sea, is under way as part of our commitment to the $30bn asset sale,” a Shell spokesman said on Sunday.  Shell has nearly 2,500 employees in the North Sea, where it has operated more than 33 offshore installations.  Ben van Beurden, the group’s chief executive, said last month the global disposals would take place between 2016 and 2018 and he expected less than $10bn of asset sales to take place during 2016.  “The buyers are there,” he said, naming other oil and gas companies and private equity groups as potential purchasers.

Sunday 27 March 2016

OIL Prices Retrace on Slower GDP

Oil  Prices Mixed on U.S. GDP Data

Crude oil prices are down about 2.4 percent for the week after showing recovery.

NEW YORK, March 25 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices were mixed in the early stages of Friday trading after figures showed fourth quarter growth in the United States had slowed.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported real gross domestic production increased at an annual rate of 1.4 percent during the fourth quarter, compared with 2.0 percent GDP growth during third quarter 2015.
Crude oil prices faced negative pressure earlier this week amid signs of slow hiring in the United States. Brent crude oil was relatively flat in early Friday trading at $40.50 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for crude oil, was down 0.5 percent to $39.59 per barrel. Trading was light because of observations for the Good Friday religious holiday on the Christian calendar.
While a slight revision upward from previous reports, the Commerce Department said corporate profits declined for the second straight quarter. For full-year 2015, the department estimated the economy grew at a rate of 2.4 percent, the same rate as the previous year.
READ MORE

Saturday 26 March 2016

Today's ENERGY News - March 25, 2016

 

Today's ENERGY News


March 25, 2016  

 A natural gas flare on an oil well pad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota January 21, 2016. Persistent low oil prices have lead to slower business in much of North Dakota's Bakken oil fields.  The collapse of U.S. oil and gas investment could have further to fall and Americans are showing signs they spend less of their windfall from lower gasoline prices than in the past, darkening the outlook for the U.S. economy.   REUTERS/Andrew Cullen

Despite oil’s decline, energy companies win with equity offerings

Persistent low oil prices have lead to slower business in much of North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. The collapse of U.S. oil and gas investment could have… More than a dozen companies in the hard-hit exploration and production energy industry have announced new share offerings this year – and have generally been rewarded in the stock market for the strategy. Although it might seem that companies would upset their investor base by diluting earnings per share when they added more stock, most of the 15 companies that have done so have actually outperformed their peers. Their share prices have beaten an oil and gas producers index, on average, by about 3 percentage points since their respective offerings, and the outperformance is even stronger when compared with that...  

The big bust in the oil fields

He’d borrowed from banks and investors and retirement funds, all in a frenzied mission to drill for oil and gas, and by the time Terry Swift realized he’d gone too far, this was his debt: $1.349 billion. His company, founded by his father almost 40 years earlier, had plunged into bankruptcy and laid off 25 percent of its staff. Its shares had been pulled from the New York Stock Exchange. And now Swift was in a company Chevrolet Tahoe, driving back to the flat and dusty place where his bets had gone bust. Swift was coming to this energy-rich strip of South Texas trying to grapple with how much blame he shouldered for the failure of his company. A low-key and historically cautious oil chief executive who eschews private...  

Solar-Panel Installers Face Clouded Future

Many U.S. states are considering dialing back solar-power incentives amid growing pressure from local electric utilities, potentially dealing a blow to the companies that install home solar systems around the country. More than 900,000 homes across the U.S. are equipped with solar panels, with most of those homeowners able to sell any excess electricity their houses generate back to the utility, helping reduce the cost of home solar panels by up to 30%. But the price solar customers get paid for that extra renewable power through so-called net metering is starting to fall, as several states, including Nevada and Hawaii, have slashed their solar subsidies. Utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Utah and many other states are currently proposing measures that include changing their net metering programs or raising the monthly fees charged to home solar users for […]

Virginia gets head start with offshore wind

Approval of a wind-energy research plan in the federal waters off Virginia’s coast is a pathway to commercial sector development, the state’s governor said. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced consent for the first-ever wind energy research facility offshore Virginia. The research plan envisions the installation of two 6-megawatt turbines, which could generate enough power to meet the annual demands of 3,000 homes. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said federal approval supports state plans to become the first in the nation to advance an offshore wind energy program. “This research project is the gateway to commercial development of offshore wind which will help diversify our Commonwealth’s energy... 

Chinese researchers develop novel aluminum–graphite dual-ion battery

A team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel, environmentally friendly low-cost battery. The new aluminum-graphite dual-ion battery (AGDIB) offers significantly reduced weight, volume, and fabrication cost, as well as higher energy density, in comparison with conventional LIBs. The battery shows a reversible capacity of ≈100 mAh g −1 and a capacity retention of 88% after 200 charge–discharge cycles. A packaged aluminum–graphite battery is estimated to deliver an energy density of ≈150 Wh kg −1 at a power density of ≈1200 W kg −1 —≈50% higher than most commercial lithium-ion batteries. A paper on the work is published in the journal Advanced […]



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