Month: January 2023

U.S. House Passes Bill To Limit SPR Withdrawals

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A bill designed to limit the Department of Energy’s ability to withdraw crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum reserve has passed the House, although U.S. President Biden promised previously to veto it. U.S. representatives in the House voted to pass the bill known as The Strategic Response Act, H.R. 21, in a vote 221 to 205, gaining the support of a single Democratic lawmaker. The bill will now go to the Democrat-led Senate, where its passage will be much less certain. If it passes both houses—and isn’t vetoed by…

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First glimpse as Dubai’s hydroelectric plant in Hatta takes shape

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The flow of water will soon help power businesses and homes in the UAE with clean energy. A huge hydroelectric power plant is under construction in the rugged Hajar Mountains, outside Dubai, that will utilise the turquoise waters of Hatta Dam. The station is planned for completion towards the end of 2024 and will have a production capacity of 250 megawatts. One megawatt can typically power 500 to 1,000 homes for a year. It will have a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt hours and a lifespan of up to 80…

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India wants to keep third parties out of water treaty with Pakistan

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India has asked Pakistan to change a decades-old water-sharing agreement by barring third parties from intervening in disputes, an Indian government source said, a suggestion likely to rile Islamabad. The neighbours have been arguing over hydroelectric projects on the shared Indus river and its tributaries for many years – a dispute exacerbated by their standoff over Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Pakistan is concerned that India’s planned hydropower dams will cut flows on the river, which feeds 80% of its irrigated agriculture. Over the years it has asked…

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Soaring Food Prices Prompt Eurasian Nations To Ban Food Exports

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The harshest winter since 2008 is contributing to shortages of staple vegetables across Central Asia and sending prices north in a region still suffering from COVID-induced food inflation. In Uzbekistan, record frosts have highlighted the shortcomings of the national energy system as even residents of the capital spent days on end without power. But the cold has also hammered the agriculture sector in the region’s most populous country. On January 20, the Uzbek agriculture minister announced a four-month ban on exports of onions after prices doubled in three weeks. The…

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Will Geothermal Energy Ever Become Scalable?

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The most cutting-edge approach for saving the planet from climate disaster doesn’t sound like it’s ripped out of the pages of science fiction. In fact, it doesn’t even sound like it’s ripped from the headlines. Far from new but nonetheless noteworthy, the ancient energy technology of using heat from the Earth’s core is finally ready for its close-up. While geothermal energy is already used around the world in relatively small-scale operations, scientists are working on scaling what could potentially be a clean, abundant, and cost-effective form of energy production suitable…

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