With the recent low hydrocarbon costs, alternative energy projects have taken a hit. After all, alternative energy is uneconomical: consequently, until unless established energy costs arise to what it costs to bring forth power from wind, sun, tide or river, the last mentioned will forever be a tomorrow-technology.

Nowadays low energy prices are consequently a fundamental dilemma for governments bidding to bring down carbon footprints, and in the case of Washington, United States of America addiction on oil imported from uncongenial sellers. This goal, reincarnated by every United States. administration for 30 years, has been systematically undercut by market forces too powerful to resist. No government can indefinitely break loose with unnaturally forcing up the price of a key industrial input, thereby decreasing its economic competitiveness. Oil, it will be recalled, was selling for a record $147 a barrel, and natural gas had spiked to $13.

Real change seemed impending, and in one of the year’s curiosities, Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens became an effective, if unlikely, advocate…

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Maryland raised $18 million this week in an auction of rights for power plants to release climate-changing pollution, officials recently announced. The bulk of the proceeds from this week’s auction in New York will finance energy-saving projects and help low-income residents pay their power bills.

The auction of allowances for power plants in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic to emit carbon dioxide yielded a total of $106.5 million for the 10 states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

This was the second auction held this fall. About 31.5 million allowances were sold at a “clearing price” of $3.38 each, an increase over the $3.07 price paid for rights sold in the first auction in September. Maryland received $16 million from the initial auction.

The regional initiative is the first mandatory “cap-and-trade” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The participating states have all imposed caps, or ceilings, on carbon dioxide emissions from their power plants.

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The union cabinet has accorded its approval to ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, India’s largest oil explorer, to go ahead with World’s largest refining companies the acquisition of UK-listed Imperial Energy.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs met recently this week to approve the deal. There is no official word on the government’s decision as yet. People who are in the know of the deal said that the cabinet clearance was taken so that OVL could meet the Tuesday midnight deadline set by UK authorities.

This would pave the way for OVL to make the open offer to the UK listed shareholders. The agreed $2.1 billion deal will be one of the bigger deals by ONGC in recent times. Imperial Energy has oilfields in Russia. OVL had sought to delay making the open offer but the request was rejected by the Takeover panel on Monday.

Analysts say the deal works out to around $2 to $2.5 a barrel for OVL given Imperial’s declared reserves of 900 million barrels and will help improve India’s energy security. India meets almost 70% of its oil demand through imports.

ONGC is being advised by Deutsche Bank. Merrill Lynch is advising Imperial.

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Global warming is an issue pertaining to the world, and is as a result of human interferences and activities. It has not only put the world at risk of a complete ‘meltdown’ of the ice at the poles, but also is destroying the very atmosphere which helps us breathe. Car emissions, burning of fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, all contribute to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a global catastrophe which the world is trying to cope with. The number of laws set and agreed upon by many a nation, wasn’t signed by USA, the largest polluter in the world, leading to a steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over the past few years. Let’s find out what led to this rapid rise in GHG over the last few years in USA.

Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases, both natural and anthropogenic, which emit and absorb radiation of the infrared radiation emitted by the sun and reflected by the clouds. This cycle is known as the greenhouse effect. When anthropogenic gases like pollutants are released into the atmosphere, they can trap radiation, resulting in a heating up of the atmosphere. This process causes global warming.

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Oil prices extended its recent losses on Friday, notching its biggest weekly loss since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, as rising fuel inventories in the US heightened concerns over slumping energy demand. The January futures contract fell below US$34 per barrel, as fears about a deepening global recession offset the proposed production cuts by OPEC.

US light crude for January delivery, which expired on Friday, settled down US$2.35, or 6.5%, at US$33.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since Feb. 10, 2004 when it ended at the same level.

The more active February contract settled up 69 cents at US$42.36 a barrel.London Brent crude gained 64 cents, settling at US$44.00.

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