Energy Archives

ENVIRONMENT-US: Florida Hopes Energy Farm Will Be First of Many

If an experiment to plant sweet sorghum in rural Florida and convert it to fuel ethanol pans out, it could herald a fundamental change in how the U.S. and other countries create and use renewable bio-energy, researchers say.

ENERGY: Governments Must Lead on Renewables, says Shell CEO

By IPS Correspondents

Royal Dutch Shell, with an annual turnover of more than 350 billion dollars from extracting oil and gas, mainly in third world countries, says it is up to governments rather than companies like Shell to take the lead in finding solutions for a sustainable energy future.

COLOMBIA: Sugar Workers Strike for Basic Rights

By Constanza Vieira

"We sugar cane cutters are neither delinquents nor terrorists; we are honest workers demanding respect for our rights," say Colombia’s cane harvesters, who have been on strike since Sept. 15, demanding basic rights.

ENVIRONMENT: Climate Action Could Escape Financial Crisis

By IPS Correspondents

Enter the global financial crisis - exit action on climate change? That lingering apprehension is not shared by Pamela Cox, the World Bank's vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean.

BOLIVIA: Water, Energy Everywhere – But Not for Locals

By Franz Chávez

Peasant farmers in 42 villages along the Zongo valley in western Bolivia stand by and watch as the flourishing electricity industry harnesses the swift-flowing river while, paradoxically, their own farms are languishing from lack of water and energy.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner Credit: Courtesy of UNEP

Q&A: "Future Prosperity Is in Green Technologies"

By Stephen Leahy

Achim Steiner, the eloquent executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), believes that Mexico could take a leadership role in the new "green" economy.

Q&A: When Intelligence Is Used Unintelligently

By IPS Correspondents

All eyes were on Hans Blix, the seemingly unflappable Swede, on TV screens around the world before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

ENVIRONMENT: Companies Scramble for Ever-Scarcer Resources

By IPS Correspondents

As humanity runs out of oil and minerals, the extraction of previously untouched deposits suddenly pays off - financially. But experts warn that it will likely further accelerate climate change and seriously damage the environment.

'US taxes on a gallon of gasoline are 45 cents compared to four dollars in most of Europe.' Credit: Steve Leahy/IPS

U.S.: Great Place for the Oil Business

By Stephen Leahy

Why do U.S. oil companies - some of the most profitable corporations on the planet - receive 20 to 40 billion dollars a year in subsidies from the U.S. government?

Jeremy Bird Credit: Mekong River Commission

Q&A: 'Oil Prices Have Revived Interest in Dams'

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Concerns over the future of fisheries in the Mekong River floated to the surface at the first round of discussions held here late this month to shape a blueprint to build a series of mega dams across South-east Asia’s largest body of water.

ENERGY-LATIN AMERICA: PDVSA’s Growing Presence

By Humberto Márquez

Central America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and islands in the eastern Caribbean are receiving more and more oil from Venezuela, while major refineries are planned in South America - at Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, and at El Aromo, on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Researchers are studying how a shift from wood or coal to other energy sources affects women. Credit: Kimberly Haugen

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: Lighting Up Women’s Lives

By IPS Correspondents

Anneth Laizer shoved her kerosene lantern onto the top shelf and switched on the lights after her home in Tanzania's third-largest city, Arusha, was connected to electricity earlier this year.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Denmark, Norway Grapple with Growing CO2

By IPS Correspondents

Even as Scandinavian leaders have assumed a prominent role in international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, both Norway and Denmark have failed to reduce their own emissions.

Six weeks after floods reached a record peak in Laos, sandbags still line the roads of Vientiane. Credit: Soe Win Nyein/IPS

ENVIRONMENT-LAOS: Paying South-east Asia's Power Bill

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

There is an uneasy calm that swirls through this South-east Asian capital, which sits on the banks of the Mekong River. White sandbags piled waist-high over a 13 km stretch along the river offer the reason why - floods.

Local children with water containers at the Shell gas flares at Umuebulu community in the Obigbo oilfield near Port Harcourt, Niger Delta, at night. Credit: Peter Roderick

RIGHTS: Oil Companies’ “Self-Policing” a Dismal Failure

By IPS Correspondents

The intersection of human rights, the environment and corporate responsibility was highlighted today at a Capitol Hill hearing featuring activists from Burma and Nigeria who underlined the failure to date of "voluntary" controls over major oil companies operating in their countries.