Tag - energy

 
 

ENERGY

Containers transporting coal at a dock in Cam Pha, Vietnam. Enthusiasm for Vietnam’s renewables boom is dampened by factors such as its underdeveloped electricity grid and patchy regulatory framework, while the country’s major source of electricity remains coal.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Mar 25, 2024
With Japan’s help, is Vietnam headed for a flawed energy transition?
The climate-vulnerable nation is looking to renewables, but also questionable solutions promoted by Tokyo, for its energy needs.
Despite vast coal reserves, China has always been geopolitically vulnerable on the energy front.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2024
China navigates myriad of energy-driven challenges
Rising fuel prices are a thorn in the China's side amid deflation concerns.
A coal-fired power plant in Shanghai in October 2021. For years, analysts expected coal production to plateau after it hit a then-record in 2013. Then came 2021, when power shortages in China set Beijing on a path to order more mining to ensure energy security.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 24, 2024
Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is preparing for a long goodbye
Output hit a record last year, and producers expect a future where coal will be required to balance renewable energy for decades.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 22, 2024
Local support sought for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant restart
A representative from an agency of the industry ministry highlighted the "severe" energy supply situation in eastern Japan.
The National Ignition Facility’s preamplifier module increases laser energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory federal research facility in Livermore, California.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2024
Nuclear fusion backers meet in U.S. as competition with China looms
Scientists, governments and companies are racing to harness fusion to provide carbon-free electricity.
This screen grab from a video purportedly shows an explosion at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 17, 2024
Ukraine drones attack refinery, target Moscow and disrupt power, Russia says
Moscow accuses Kyiv of election sabotage with its days of strikes on Russian infrastructure, one of the most sweeping air operations on Russian territory.
To squeeze more energy out of the wind, turbines are getting bigger and bigger, which means that ships capable of installing them are in growing demand.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 17, 2024
Offshore wind’s next big problem: Not enough ships
As economies go green and utilities retire fossil-fuel power stations, wind is emerging as one of the most popular forms of alternative energy.
An offshore wind farm near Nysted, Denmark. Japan aims to become a major offshore wind power producer, with the government targeting projects totaling 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 15, 2024
Japanese firms join forces to promote floating offshore wind
Floating offshore wind power is seen as a way to ensure Japan has a stable and sustainable energy supply.
An image taken from video released by Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region of Russia, last month purportedly shows firefighters working to extinguish flames at an oil depot after a Ukrainian drone strike.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2024
Ukraine, stalled on the battlefield, targets Russia’s oil industry
This year, Ukraine has claimed responsibility for nearly a dozen assaults on Russian oil infrastructure.
A flare burns at a gas plant near Orla, Texas. Production and use of fossil fuels put more than 120 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere last year, a slight rise from 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 14, 2024
Methane emissions from energy sector rose in 2023 despite pledges
Production and use of fossil fuels put more than 120 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere last year.
Japan aims to have 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power projects by 2030 and up to 45 GW by 2040, to replace fossil fuels including coal and liquefied natural gas in its energy mix — for which floating offshore wind is essential.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 13, 2024
Japan to expand offshore wind development to exclusive economic zones
Global energy companies have been urging Japan to make investments more attractive, amid soaring costs and growing competition between suppliers.
Dai Karasawa, president of SSE Pacifico K.K., a joint venture of U.K. energy group SSE and Japan's Pacifico Energy, speaks about their plan to develop offshore wind farms in Japan during an interview in Tokyo, last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024
SSE's Japan unit aims to develop 6GW offshore wind farms
Japan is aiming to become a major offshore wind power producer, with the government targeting 10 GW by 2030 and up to 45 GW by 2040.
A LNG tanker at the Negishi LNG Terminal, which is jointly operated by Tokyo Gas and JERA, in Yokohama
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2024
Japan boosts reliance on allies for long-term LNG supplies
LNG accounts for about a third of Japan's power generation and it is the world's second-largest importer behind China.
Barrels stored at the Energy Fuels White Mesa Mill uranium production facility in Utah
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 11, 2024
Uranium firms revive forgotten mines as price of nuclear fuel soars
Mines were idled in the aftermath of Fukushima, when uranium prices crashed and countries like Germany and Japan initiated plans to phase out reactors.
A sign warns of underground natural gas pipelines outside Rifle, Colorado, in June 2012.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2024
U.S. gas pipeline accidents pose big, unreported climate threat
Accidental pipeline leaks — caused by incidents like punctures, corrosion, severe weather and faulty equipment — happen routinely.
Philippine Coast Guard personnel film a China Coast Guard vessel during a supply mission in the disputed South China Sea on March 5.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2024
U.S. key to Philippines’ plan to tap oil and gas in South China Sea
Manila is seeking to parlay its deepening security ties with Washington into broader economic benefits, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S. said.
A solar farm owned by the Huaneng Group in Shilin, China on March 2. Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels, as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
China racing ahead on plans to dominate solar energy industry
Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
A worker checks the carbon fiber at the composite production line at the Swancor factory in Nantou, Taiwan, in February.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 9, 2024
Recycling wind turbine blades can solve the industry’s biggest problem
Swancor is one of several firms globally trying to develop products that mimic the physical properties of current blade material but can be recycled.
Floating solar panels at the Canoe Brook water treatment plant in Short Hills, New Jersey
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 6, 2024
Pressed for space, solar farms are getting creative
There are solar arrays on top of big-box stores, solar arrays on yachts and solar farms that float.
J-Power is making a AU$380.9 million bid for Australian renewable energy firm Genex Power.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2024
J-Power makes bid for Australian renewables firm Genex
The move comes as part of the Japanese company's efforts to boost its renewable energy assets.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes