[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON
Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:10pm EST
Exclusive: EIA sees growing oil demand over next 2 years
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and global oil demand will increase in 2010 and 2011, but the growth rate in petroleum consumption will not be as strong as in years past, according to advance details provided to Reuters on a U.S. government monthly energy supply and demand forecast.
The Energy Information Administration's forecast, which will be released on Tuesday, expects the U.S. economy to grow about 2 percent this year and close to 2.7 percent next year, resulting in rising oil demand.
"We're not working off a double-dip recession in our forecast," said an EIA analyst familiar with the agency's outlook who did not want to be identified.
However, the EIA expects U.S. oil demand will grow at a slower rate than in the past because the economic recovery will not be as vibrant.
"In the U.S. a decade ago, we might have expected 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) growth to be closer to normal, where as now we're probably closer to half that," the analyst said.
As a result, the EIA's new monthly energy forecast will cut the 270,000 barrel per day (bpd) increase in oil demand for this year that the agency had predicted last month.
The agency's first supply and demand forecast for 2011, which will be included in Tuesday's report, will show an increase in U.S. oil consumption next year of under 300,000 bpd, but still more than 2010's demand growth, the analyst said.
The EIA forecast is not final and it could change before the agency issues its report.
Separately, the EIA will slightly lower its estimate for global oil demand growth for this year from its prior forecast of a 1.1 million bpd increase, the analyst said. World oil demand growth for 2010 will still be more than 1 million bpd.
As for 2011, global petroleum demand will also be higher than this year thanks to strong demand in developing countries, but the analyst declined to say whether next year's demand growth would be under 1.5 million bpd.
"Total world oil consumption will be stronger in 2011," the analyst said.
The International Energy Agency said in its most recent monthly energy forecast that world oil demand would increase by 500,000 bpd to 1.2 million bpd next year, depending on how strong the global economy grew.
The IEA releases its next monthly energy forecast on January 15, followed by the perspective of major oil producers on January 19, which is when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries issues it monthly supply and demand outlook.
Also included in the EIA monthly forecast, will be a special supplement on non-OPEC oil production during the next two years.
Oil output from non-OPEC countries, particularly the United States, Brazil and the former Soviet Union, will increase this year and next, the analyst said.
The agency will also look at declining output from non-OPEC countries, like Mexico. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Shumaker)
[Green Business]
TOKYO
Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:21am EST
Hitachi develops battery for plug-in hybrid cars
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Hitachi Ltd said it has developed lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles and plans to start commercial production by 2013, aiming to take a slice of a market with strong growth potential.
Plug-in hybrids have large batteries which can be recharged at home with an extension cord, unlike conventional gasoline-electric hybrid cars, which have batteries that are recharged only when the driver hits the brake.
Hitachi will be competing with larger rivals such as Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, the world's largest rechargeable battery maker, which plans to start producing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid cars in 2011.
Toyota Motor Corp, whose Prius hybrid vehicles became Japan's best-selling car in 2009, plans to begin selling plug-in hybrid cars to the public in two years.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kentaro Hamada)
[Green Business]
Madeline Chambers
BERLIN
Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:23am EST
World must step up efforts on saving species: Merkel
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged industrialized and emerging countries to invest more in protecting wildlife and said the U.N. should create a body to refine scientific arguments for saving animal and plant species.
Researchers say preserving nature is crucial to the fight against climate change and warn that human activity is speeding up extinctions. They also argue that peoples' livelihoods depend on natural assets worth trillions of dollars.
Extinction rates run at 1,000 times their natural pace due to human activity, research shows. Three species vanish per hour, according to U.N. figures.
"The question of preserving biological diversity is on the same scale as climate protection," Merkel said Monday at an event to launch the United Nations' Year of Biodiversity.
"We need a sea change. Here, now, immediately -- not some time in the future," she said. "This year has to be used to relaunch this effort." Germany is chair of the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity and hands over to Japan later in the year.
Merkel said countries should invest more money in protecting species and create a network of wildlife protection areas.
NEW BODY
She also suggested setting up a new body to deal with the science of biodiversity, similar to the U.N.'s panel of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).
"It would be sensible to have an interface between the politics and the science to integrate knowledge, like the IPCC does with climate change," she said, adding such a body could help drive forward the political work.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Program, agreed, saying the time had come to do something comparable to the IPCC on the subject of biodiversity.
Up to a fifth of plant and animal species risk extinction, according to experts, and nations have missed a goal set by the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in 2002 to significantly slow the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, said it was essential to set new targets this year.
"We have established a target and missed it... we have to learn the lesson to ensure that in 2020, we will not say 'we have missed the target'."
"The strategy must be not only about setting a target but about implementation, monitoring and evaluation and integrating targets into national plans," said Djoghlaf.
[Green Business]
OSLO
Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:54am EST
Sea icy off part of Antarctica despite fear of melt
OSLO (Reuters) - Sea water under an East Antarctic ice shelf showed no sign of higher temperatures despite fears of a thaw linked to global warming that could bring higher world ocean levels, first tests showed on Monday.
Sensors lowered through three holes drilled in the Fimbul Ice Shelf showed the sea water is still around freezing and not at higher temperatures widely blamed for the break-up of 10 shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula, the most northerly part of the frozen continent.
"The water under the ice shelf is very close to the freezing point," Ole Anders Noest of the Norwegian Polar Institute wrote in a statement after drilling through the Fimbul, which is between 250 meters and 400 meters (820-1,310 ft) thick.
"This situation seems to be stable, suggesting that the melting under the ice shelf does not increase," he wrote of the first drilling cores.
The findings, a rare bit of good news after worrying signs in recent years of polar warming, adds a small bit to a puzzle about how Antarctica is responding to climate change, blamed largely on human use of fossil fuels.
Antarctica holds enough water to raise world sea levels by 57 meters (187 ft) if it ever all melted, so even tiny changes are a risk for low-lying coasts or cities from Beijing to New York.
The Institute said the water under the Fimbul was about -2.05 Celsius (28.31 Fahrenheit) -- salty water freezes at a slightly lower temperature than fresh water.
And it was slightly icier than estimates in a regional computer model for Antarctica, said Nalan Koc, head of the Norwegian Polar Institute's Center for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems.
"The important thing is that we are now in a position to monitor the water beneath the ice shelf," she told Reuters. "If there is a warming in future we can tell."
She said data collected could go into a new report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due in 2013-14. The last IPCC report, in 2007, did not include models for sea temperature around the Fimbul Ice Shelf.
Experts have generally raised estimates for sea level rise -- the United Nations spoke in late 2009 of a maximum 2 meter rise by 2100, up from 18-59 cms estimated by the IPCC in 2007 that excluded any possible acceleration from Antarctica.
The break-up of ice shelves does not in itself contribute to raise sea levels since the ice is already floating. The risk is that pent-up glaciers on land will flow faster toward the ocean if the shelves are removed.
Last month, most nations agreed at a Copenhagen climate summit to limit any rise in world temperatures to below 2 Celsius above pre-industrial times. But they failed to set cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to achieve the goal.
[Green Business]
Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON
Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:10pm EST
Exclusive: EIA sees growing oil demand over next 2 years
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and global oil demand will increase in 2010 and 2011, but the growth rate in petroleum consumption will not be as strong as in years past, according to advance details provided to Reuters on a U.S. government monthly energy supply and demand forecast.
The Energy Information Administration's forecast, which will be released on Tuesday, expects the U.S. economy to grow about 2 percent this year and close to 2.7 percent next year, resulting in rising oil demand.
"We're not working off a double-dip recession in our forecast," said an EIA analyst familiar with the agency's outlook who did not want to be identified.
However, the EIA expects U.S. oil demand will grow at a slower rate than in the past because the economic recovery will not be as vibrant.
"In the U.S. a decade ago, we might have expected 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) growth to be closer to normal, where as now we're probably closer to half that," the analyst said.
As a result, the EIA's new monthly energy forecast will cut the 270,000 barrel per day (bpd) increase in oil demand for this year that the agency had predicted last month.
The agency's first supply and demand forecast for 2011, which will be included in Tuesday's report, will show an increase in U.S. oil consumption next year of under 300,000 bpd, but still more than 2010's demand growth, the analyst said.
The EIA forecast is not final and it could change before the agency issues its report.
Separately, the EIA will slightly lower its estimate for global oil demand growth for this year from its prior forecast of a 1.1 million bpd increase, the analyst said. World oil demand growth for 2010 will still be more than 1 million bpd.
As for 2011, global petroleum demand will also be higher than this year thanks to strong demand in developing countries, but the analyst declined to say whether next year's demand growth would be under 1.5 million bpd.
"Total world oil consumption will be stronger in 2011," the analyst said.
The International Energy Agency said in its most recent monthly energy forecast that world oil demand would increase by 500,000 bpd to 1.2 million bpd next year, depending on how strong the global economy grew.
The IEA releases its next monthly energy forecast on January 15, followed by the perspective of major oil producers on January 19, which is when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries issues it monthly supply and demand outlook.
Also included in the EIA monthly forecast, will be a special supplement on non-OPEC oil production during the next two years.
Oil output from non-OPEC countries, particularly the United States, Brazil and the former Soviet Union, will increase this year and next, the analyst said.
The agency will also look at declining output from non-OPEC countries, like Mexico. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Shumaker)
[Green Business]
TOKYO
Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:21am EST
Hitachi develops battery for plug-in hybrid cars
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Hitachi Ltd said it has developed lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles and plans to start commercial production by 2013, aiming to take a slice of a market with strong growth potential.
Plug-in hybrids have large batteries which can be recharged at home with an extension cord, unlike conventional gasoline-electric hybrid cars, which have batteries that are recharged only when the driver hits the brake.
Hitachi will be competing with larger rivals such as Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, the world's largest rechargeable battery maker, which plans to start producing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrid cars in 2011.
Toyota Motor Corp, whose Prius hybrid vehicles became Japan's best-selling car in 2009, plans to begin selling plug-in hybrid cars to the public in two years.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kentaro Hamada)
[Green Business]
Madeline Chambers
BERLIN
Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:23am EST
World must step up efforts on saving species: Merkel
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged industrialized and emerging countries to invest more in protecting wildlife and said the U.N. should create a body to refine scientific arguments for saving animal and plant species.
Researchers say preserving nature is crucial to the fight against climate change and warn that human activity is speeding up extinctions. They also argue that peoples' livelihoods depend on natural assets worth trillions of dollars.
Extinction rates run at 1,000 times their natural pace due to human activity, research shows. Three species vanish per hour, according to U.N. figures.
"The question of preserving biological diversity is on the same scale as climate protection," Merkel said Monday at an event to launch the United Nations' Year of Biodiversity.
"We need a sea change. Here, now, immediately -- not some time in the future," she said. "This year has to be used to relaunch this effort." Germany is chair of the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity and hands over to Japan later in the year.
Merkel said countries should invest more money in protecting species and create a network of wildlife protection areas.
NEW BODY
She also suggested setting up a new body to deal with the science of biodiversity, similar to the U.N.'s panel of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).
"It would be sensible to have an interface between the politics and the science to integrate knowledge, like the IPCC does with climate change," she said, adding such a body could help drive forward the political work.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Program, agreed, saying the time had come to do something comparable to the IPCC on the subject of biodiversity.
Up to a fifth of plant and animal species risk extinction, according to experts, and nations have missed a goal set by the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in 2002 to significantly slow the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, said it was essential to set new targets this year.
"We have established a target and missed it... we have to learn the lesson to ensure that in 2020, we will not say 'we have missed the target'."
"The strategy must be not only about setting a target but about implementation, monitoring and evaluation and integrating targets into national plans," said Djoghlaf.
[Green Business]
OSLO
Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:54am EST
Sea icy off part of Antarctica despite fear of melt
OSLO (Reuters) - Sea water under an East Antarctic ice shelf showed no sign of higher temperatures despite fears of a thaw linked to global warming that could bring higher world ocean levels, first tests showed on Monday.
Sensors lowered through three holes drilled in the Fimbul Ice Shelf showed the sea water is still around freezing and not at higher temperatures widely blamed for the break-up of 10 shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula, the most northerly part of the frozen continent.
"The water under the ice shelf is very close to the freezing point," Ole Anders Noest of the Norwegian Polar Institute wrote in a statement after drilling through the Fimbul, which is between 250 meters and 400 meters (820-1,310 ft) thick.
"This situation seems to be stable, suggesting that the melting under the ice shelf does not increase," he wrote of the first drilling cores.
The findings, a rare bit of good news after worrying signs in recent years of polar warming, adds a small bit to a puzzle about how Antarctica is responding to climate change, blamed largely on human use of fossil fuels.
Antarctica holds enough water to raise world sea levels by 57 meters (187 ft) if it ever all melted, so even tiny changes are a risk for low-lying coasts or cities from Beijing to New York.
The Institute said the water under the Fimbul was about -2.05 Celsius (28.31 Fahrenheit) -- salty water freezes at a slightly lower temperature than fresh water.
And it was slightly icier than estimates in a regional computer model for Antarctica, said Nalan Koc, head of the Norwegian Polar Institute's Center for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems.
"The important thing is that we are now in a position to monitor the water beneath the ice shelf," she told Reuters. "If there is a warming in future we can tell."
She said data collected could go into a new report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due in 2013-14. The last IPCC report, in 2007, did not include models for sea temperature around the Fimbul Ice Shelf.
Experts have generally raised estimates for sea level rise -- the United Nations spoke in late 2009 of a maximum 2 meter rise by 2100, up from 18-59 cms estimated by the IPCC in 2007 that excluded any possible acceleration from Antarctica.
The break-up of ice shelves does not in itself contribute to raise sea levels since the ice is already floating. The risk is that pent-up glaciers on land will flow faster toward the ocean if the shelves are removed.
Last month, most nations agreed at a Copenhagen climate summit to limit any rise in world temperatures to below 2 Celsius above pre-industrial times. But they failed to set cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to achieve the goal.
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