SOUTH AFRICA: Coal – A New Solution to Fuel Problems?

A new solution to power and fuel problems worldwide may be developed by using a resource long characterised as dirty and non-renewable: coal.

IRAQ: After False Promises, the Heat Is On

Iraqis promised development with the ouster of Saddam Hussein and the arrival of the U.S. are now suffering lack of development as never before. And where it hurts every moment is through the collapse of power supply.

INDIA: Jatropha Boom Yields Tough Lessons

With a gas-guzzler of an economy, India had been spending tens of billions of dollars annually to import petroleum. And so its 2009 policy on biofuels mandated that by 2017, India would have enough biofuel production to cover at least 20 percent of the country’s oil consumption.

BRAZIL: Development Trumps Environment on Election Agenda

With Brazil's elections only about a fortnight away, there is already a clear winner: "developmentalism." This position espoused by the two main presidential candidates has relegated pressing environmental issues to a lowly place on the campaign agenda, in spite of the fact that the third contender represents the Green Party (PV).

BRAZIL: Small-scale Palm Oil Production Is Women’s Work Too

"This isn't women's work," they told her. But Benedita Nascimento is now one of the most outstanding success stories of a family farming programme involving palm oil production in Brazil's eastern Amazon jungle.

OPEC – Fifty Years Regulating Oil Market Roller Coaster

Half a century after OPEC came into being, the world is very different, thanks partly to the actions of this organisation, the first to be formed in the developing South specifically to protect an export product.

BP Report on Oil Spill Disaster Met with Scepticism

The report released Wednesday by energy giant BP of its internal investigation into the catastrophic explosion in April of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the subsequent spill from the Macondo oil well has been met with criticism by watchdog groups who question the company's motives.

MIDEAST: The Lights Are Going Out on Gaza

The Muslim festival Eid approaches, but not the end to power cuts that have darkened the month-long Ramadan fasting leading up to the festival. Or to the agony of Gazans, made worse by the reminder that it's approaching festive time.

Brazilian Dam Would Put Peruvian Jungle Under Water

Seen from up high, the route to Puente Inambari looks like a green serpent -- long, robust and sinuous. The Amazon jungle that dominates this landscape will be underwater if one of the largest hydroelectric dams in Peru (and all Latin America) is built.

BRAZIL: Sugarcane’s Electrical Potential Goes to Waste

Sugarcane could replace the energy produced by three hydroelectric dams like the Belo Monte in the Amazon, claims the Brazilian sugarcane industry, which remains relegated to marginal participation in the national electricity matrix.

Environmental Forensics for BP Gulf Spill

Stealthy submarine gliders slide through the depths of the Gulf of Mexico with the precision of birds of prey. Robot-like rovers search for droplets of oil thousands of metres under the surface. Powerful computerised analysers send instant results to scientists on board the ship above. All of this to assess the impact of disaster.

ARGENTINA-BRAZIL: Nuclear Safeguards System an Example for the World

A system of mutual safeguards, created nearly two decades ago by Argentina and Brazil for in-situ verification of the peaceful use of nuclear power in both countries, serves as an international model of transparency and confidence building in this highly sensitive field.

Environmentalists Push For Coal-ash Regulation

In what promises to be a contentious, high-profile series of debates, the forces of environmental protection will be lining up against those of the electric power industry over the future status of coal-ash.

Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth

The heat in the upper six miles of the earth's crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world's oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.

CHILE: Coal Plants Under Fire

Controversial plans to build the Barrancones thermoelectric plant near a protected area in the northern Chilean region of Coquimbo were cancelled Friday, but not before reviving the debate on other projects for polluting coal-fired power stations.

ENERGY: Is Fracking Even Worse Than Drilling?

With cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico barely underway, energy companies are already assuming a crouching stance in anticipation of a no-holds-barred attack by environmentalists on what the industry says is the next major breakthrough in natural resource extraction.

ECONOMY: “Sub-Saharan Africa Is Speeding Towards Affluence”

Africa is heading towards a bright economic future, according to a new book co-authored by the former director of the French state agency for economic cooperation and released recently in Paris.

ENERGY: Brazilian Biofuels Run into EU Obstacles

Brazil has begun a counterattack on the European Union's measures for certifying crop-based fuels, which could lead to import barriers for this energy source coming from the South American giant.

BRAZIL: Water Abounds in Amazon, But Sanitation Is Scarce

It might seem a bit strange to adopt, in the Amazon rainforest, a solution developed for drought-stricken northeastern Brazil. But rainwater collected on rooftops and stored in tanks is helping to improve the health, hygiene and overall living conditions of rural communities in the jungle.

MEXICO: Oil Workers at Sea Without a Safety Net

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reawakened concerns about labour conditions on Mexican drilling platforms.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Cancun Conference Holds Out Little Hope in Face of Extreme Weather

Unusually warm temperatures and more frequent and intense droughts and hurricanes... you have seen the headlines. As options dwindle for negotiating a global pact to fight climate change, the United Nations is pointing to today's "extreme conditions."