They'll have to be less hungry. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

By Mark Memmott

California has done something again that other states will likely be watching closely to see if they should follow:

"Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators adopted a first-in-the nation mandate to lower electricity demand," the Associated Press writes.

The news is not a surprise. Proponents hope, though, that it is a omen of things to come:

"This is a really big deal, because once standards are in effect it will cut California's power bill by $1 billion a year and avoid the need to build a large, 500 megawatt power plant," Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the AP. "We hope in the long term, every TV sold in America will be just as efficient as those sold in California."

The new regulations affect TV screens up to 58 inches and go into effect in 2011. Standards get even tougher in 2013. California's Energy Commission estimates, AP says, that TV's account for about 10% of a home's electricity use.

By Frank James

China's insatiable thirst for energy to power an economy that essentially has become the world's supplier, has it in talks that could lead to Chinese companies for the first time extracting oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico.

Cnooc, China's oil and gas giant, is in negotiations with Norway's StatoilHydro ASA, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The StatoilHydro website indicates that the company has an agreement with Cuba's Cupet oil company to explore and perhaps produce oil off Cuba.

The Wall Street Journal reports the following:

Cnooc Ltd. is in talks with Norway's StatoilHydro ASA over a deal that would open the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to China's oil companies for the first time, a person familiar with the matter said.

The move is significant as Cnooc's aborted $18.5 billion bid for California-based Unocal Corp. in 2005 is widely seen as having deterred state-owned Chinese oil giants from investing in U.S. oil and gas assets. Cnooc withdrew its offer for Unocal after it drew a storm of protests from some U.S. politicians.

But as tight credit has caused a lull in spending on offshore exploration, appetite for Chinese capital has grown, and opposition to Chinese investment may be less likely.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico remains one of the most plentiful areas of the world for oil discoveries, with billions of barrels of crude believed to be trapped below the seabed. This is attracting Chinese companies at a time when they are encountering difficulties in tying up deals elsewhere in the world, partly because oil-rich countries want greater control over their resources.

Continue reading "China Energy Giant In Talks To Tap Gulf Of Mexico Energy " >

By Mark Memmott

Energy Secretary Steven Chu. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

If he had to choose between having a coal-fired energy plant or a nuclear facility next door to his home, "me personally, I'd rather be living near a nuclear power plant," Energy Secretary Steven Chu tells Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep.

A nuclear plant, he says, produces less pollution and U.S. nuke plants have good safety records. Chu also thinks advances in technology will make storage of nuclear waste less of an issue in coming years.

Here's a piece of their conversation (it begins with Steve Inskeep's voice):

As ME producer Neva Grant writes:

Chu is an optimist. The secretary of Energy, who won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, believes science can solve many of the nation's energy challenges.

"Scientists by their nature are very optimistic," he says. "We learn about Newton, about Maxwell, about Einstein. And yet you want to do some science that can contribute on the shoulders of those giants---you've got to be pretty optimisitc!"

"That doesn't mean I'm a cockeyed optimist," he adds. "You've still got to come up with the goods."

More from Steve's conversation with Secretary Chu is due on Monday's edition of ME. Click here to find an NPR station near you.

By Laura Conaway

If you heat your home with natural gas, you can expect lower rates this winter and next -- but not for the best of reasons.

Reuters reports:

Record-high inventories and prospects for a slow economic recovery again forced energy analysts to scale back their forecasts for U.S. natural gas prices this year and next year despite a steep slide in drilling that should eventually tighten supplies.

"We have a rather deep economic recession, and the industrial sector has taken quite a hit. There's no way productive capacity can turn around that quickly to rebalance the market," said Kevin Petak, vice president at the consultanting firm ICF International in Virginia.

Prices over the first six months of the year are roughly 57 percent lower than the record highs from the first half of 2008 -- largely because of the steep drop in industrial demand. While you're opening lower home heating bills, U.S. manufacturers are wrestling with how they'll keep the doors open. It's good for you on the day you open the bill, but not so great for the economy in the long haul.

Look at the algae, not the fish. lant_70/Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/lant_70//Flickr Creative Commons

By Laura Conaway

A veteran of the race to map the human genome is back with a new idea. J. Craig Venter, founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc., just signed an agreement with Exxon Mobil to develop fuel from algae. Exxon is investing $600 million in the project.

Venter talked to NPR's Robert Siegel today about the project. He explained that algae grows faster than other plants scientists are considering as possible biofuels, including switchgrass. Algae solves the biggest problem for alternative energy sources. Venter explains:

"Scale is the big challenge. For a scientist such as myself, going from a test tube to a beaker is usually considered a scale-up reaction. If we can't produce billions of gallons eventually, all this is really just hot air."

After the jump, a couple of other challenges.

Continue reading "Farming Algae For Fuel: From Pond To Pump" >

The banner was a much larger version of this poster. Greenpeace.org

By Mark Memmott

Using the Web to stream and tweet the action, the environmental activists from Greenpeace say they've taken their criticism of the G8 leaders to Mount Rushmore.

They say they've got a banner hanging from the presidents, near Abraham Lincoln, making the case that "America honors leaders, not politicians. Stop global warming." At least one of the climbers, Greenpeace says, has been tweeting from the side of the monument.

As we noted earlier, President Barack Obama and the other leaders agreed on a target of keeping average global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees (Celsius). And, as we reported, there are also protests and street theater in Italy, where the G8 leaders are meeting.

Update at 1:55 p.m. ET: The Rapid City Journal writes that 11 climbers "evaded security at Mount Rushmore National Memorial Wednesday and hung the 65-foot by 35-foot banner, which hung for a few minutes to the side of Abraham Lincoln's head. ... The banner came down after a few minutes, according to video broadcast live online by Greenpeace, either cut away by park workers or knocked away by the wind. But the banner hung on for a few additional minutes before falling away from the giant sculptures."

Newsweek's The Gaggle blog says it has learned:

That a team of 12 experienced climbers prepped conspicuously for months planning for different scenarios to ensure the action could be completed safely. The group also promised there would be no damage to the actual monument, which is solid granite. And all involved planned to spend several weeks behind bars.

Update at 2:30 p.m. ET. KELOLAND TV of Sioux Falls, S.D., reports that "a witness confirms" that the banner was unfurled and that "10 people were escorted from the park in chains" soon after. It has a news crew on the scene now.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has put this photo on Flickr:

 

By Mark Memmott

Saying that "this is a crucial year for taking rapid and effective global action to combat climate change," leaders of the so-called G8 nations agreed today to take steps to keep the average global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees (Celsius).

In pursuit of that goal, President Barack Obama and the other leaders said in a declaration released a short time ago that:

We reiterate our willingness to share with all countries the goal of achieving at least a 50% reduction of global emissions by 2050, recognizing that this implies that global emissions need to peak as soon as possible and decline thereafter. As part of this, we also support a goal of developed countries reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in aggregate by 80% or more by 2050 compared to 1990 or more recent years. Consistent with this ambitious long-term objective, we will undertake robust aggregate and individual mid-term reductions.

As the Associated Press points out, the Bush administration had resisted setting such a temperature goal. The wire service also notes, though, that:

It remains only a target, however, and it is far from clear that it will be met, especially as China, India and other rapidly industrializing nations generate and consume more energy from coal and other sources.

BY Frank James

When skyrocketing energy prices were causing consumers a lot of financial pain last year, some policymakers blamed speculators in the energy markets.

Not all did. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers at the time that his economists saw few signs if any that speculators were behind the huge jumps in energy prices.

Still, that's not the same as saying as speculation wasn't involved in the significant price run-ups.

So policymakers in the U.S. and Europe are seriously considering placing restraints on oil speculators.

As The Wall Street Journal reports:

In Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the main U.S. futures-market regulator, said it is considering tougher regulation of oil-futures markets. The proposed rules, which drew immediate criticism from traders, would seek to curb the influence of speculative investors such as hedge funds and investment banks by limiting how much money any single trader can bet on any one commodity at a time.

In an opinion piece submitted to The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote that governments need to act to curb a "dangerously volatile" oil price that defies "the accepted rules of economics" and "could undermine confidence just as we are pushing for recovery."

Continue reading "Oil Price Rise Leads To Proposed Crackdown On Speculators " >