海角大神

Recharge is a weekly e-mail digest of energy news and analysis聽written by Monitor reporters David J. Unger and Jared Gilmour.

Antitrust:聽The EU leveled formal antitrust charges against Gazprom last week, reflecting the sense that Moscow needs European customers more than Brussels needs Russian energy. After years of strengthening its own pipeline interconnections, expanding alternative sources, and using all those sources more efficiently,聽Europe is better poised to enforce policies that counter Russian gas dominance. The term 鈥渆nergy security鈥� is often thrown around, but this is a real world example of what it means and why it matters.

Restart: A path to a nuclear renaissance in Japan is paved with legal ups and downs. Last Wednesday,聽a Japanese court cleared the way for restarting the Sendai nuclear power station, just a week after a separate court delayed the startup of reactors in Fukui prefecture. Meanwhile, grid operators scramble to fill the gap left by the country鈥檚 mothballed reactors, which once accounted for more than a quarter of it鈥檚 power.聽Japan鈥檚 LNG imports bill continues to mount, hitting a record high for the fiscal year ending March 31.

Everglades: The Obama administration has long tried to shift energy and climate issues from the future to the present and from the political extremes to stabler middle ground. And聽in southern Florida鈥檚 tropical wetlands, climate change is a kind of here-and-now problem, blind to local politics.聽It explains why聽the White House picked the Everglades for President Obama鈥檚 Earth Day speech, which emphasized contemporary challenges in a conservative state 鈥� replete with聽nods to Teddy Roosevelt and George H.W. Bush.聽

In the pipeline

• Tuesday, April 28: WASHINGTON 鈥撀燡apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with President Obama聽to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, security, and climate change. A bill is working its way through Congress that would give Mr. Obama authority to negotiate a deal with聽Pacific nations seeking to liberalize energy trade with the US.
• Tuesday, April 28: WASHINGTON 鈥撀燛nergy Secretary Moniz testifies before the Senate Energy Committee聽on his department鈥檚 Quadrennial Energy Review, which diagnoses problems with decaying US energy infrastructure and suggests some fixes 鈥� many of which would require appropriations from a GOP Congress.
• Thursday, April 30: HAWTHORNE, CALIF. 鈥撀燭esla Motors is expected to introduce home and utility-scale batteries聽in CEO Elon Musk鈥檚 latest venture beyond electric cars. Big names like聽Wal-Mart and Cargill are reportedly already slated to use Tesla鈥檚 batteries.

Drill deeper

Why one town in oil-rich Texas is ditching fossil fuels聽
[海角大神]
By 2017, Georgetown, Texas will get all its electricity from renewables 鈥� and the decision is an economic rather than environmental one. 鈥淢ake no mistake, this was a business case,鈥� Mayor Dale Ross tells the Monitor. Though nearly 鈥渆verybody has an oil derrick in their backyard鈥� in Texas, Ross says, sun and wind power are abundant and cheap, and don鈥檛 experience the same price volatility as fossil fuels.

Why Moore鈥檚 Law Doesn鈥檛 Apply to Clean Technologies
[Council on Foreign Relations]
鈥淢oore鈥檚 Law is a consequence of fundamental physics. Clean technology cost declines are not,鈥� writes Varun Sivaram. 鈥淢oore鈥檚 Law is a prediction about innovation as a function of time. Clean technology cost declines are a function of experience, or production.鈥�

Is China-Pakistan 'silk road' a game-changer?聽[BBC]
China and Pakistan are bolstering ties with mutually beneficial infrastructure and energy deals. Pakistan will reap billions in investment; China will gain easier access to Middle East oil and gas. It鈥檚 part of China鈥檚 鈥淕o West鈥� strategy to expand influence in Eurasia and the Middle East. Though the US and India fret that China鈥檚 new development bank and its aggression in the South China Sea could stoke unrest, new money in Pakistan is more likely to stabilize a region sorely needing investment.

Energy sources

• US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz via Fuel Fix: "In a situation where we still import 7 million barrels of crude oil per day, I don鈥檛 think an overly compelling argument has been made on the basis of pragmatic economics"
• Earth Statement: "2015 is a critical year for humanity. Our civilization has never faced such existential risks as those associated with global warming, biodiversity erosion and resource depletion. Our societies have never had such an opportunity to advance prosperity and eradicate poverty."
• Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, via Fuel Fix: "Here we are thinking about lifting the sanctions on Iran and letting them export, and yet here we have sanctions in America that we can鈥檛 export our oil. What鈥檚 going on?"

Unplug

鈥淩esearch has identified 17 areas in the central and eastern United States with increased rates of induced seismicity. Since 2000, several of these areas have experienced high levels of seismicity, with substantial increases since 2009 that continue today.鈥�
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