Stern: China sees tackling climate change as urgent

China's leaders recognise that tackling climate change is urgent and that reducing greenhouse gases does not mean slamming the brakes on growth, the author of an acclaimed report on global warming said on Friday.

OPEC Expansion Ups Clout But Also Brings Problems

The already sizeable footprint of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in global oil markets is set to become even bigger as the group prepares to enlarge its club with new members and with oil production from non-OPEC countries set to plateau within the next decade.

...Although the move would give OPEC more clout in oil markets buoying up oil prices, it could also slow investment by Western oil companies in the three countries, potentially hindering new supplies of crude oil coming to increasingly thirsty world markets, oil analysts said.

Alaskans should take note

Scott Waterman of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation earlier this week spoke to three southern Kenai Peninsula audiences about the importance of finding new ways to get the most out of our energy resources. The presentation was titled “Peak Oil and the Economics of Energy Efficiency,” but the lessons were about responsibility and stewardship.

Energy efficiency challenges small businesses

An Answer to the World's Energy Problems? - Bacteria Could Be the Source of an Unlimited Supply of Power

Forecast: U.S. Renewable Energy to Hit 700 GW

Leading experts predict that policy goal of 25% renewable production capacity by 2025 could potentially double.

Commodity Strategists: Oil Prices May Fall Next Year

Crude oil prices may fall 7.5 percent next year because of an increase in supplies from Russia, Brazil and Angola, said Bank Julius Baer & Co., Switzerland's largest independent money manager.

How to win the winnable war? Oil

If Saudi Arabia "strangled" Iran's economy, that would also strangle Iran's capacity to fund its nuclear blackmail program, not to mention Hezbollah and other murderous proxies. And what was that the Saudi adviser said about cutting the price of crude oil in half? A Saudi-Iranian, Sunni-Shiite rift over Iraq sounds like a win-win situation for the United States, maybe even better than the Sino-Soviet rivalry of the Cold War.

Cameroon: New Firm to Soothe Country's Energy Crisis

Algeria: Oil Tax to Vary on Field Size, Profitability

Algeria's new fiscal regime on hydrocarbons will be "sensitive" to the size and profitability of foreign partners' investments, Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said Thursday.

Canadian Income Trusts at Risk

Canada's energy trust sector has been left "in limbo", with firms not sure if they are allowed to make acquisitions under the country's plans to make trusts pay corporate tax, according to a income trust spokesman.

Bodman: Africa Increasing in Strategic Energy Importance

Any hopes the U.S. may have to loosen some of the control the OPEC cartel has on the crude market through increased oil development of Africa's crude and natural gas production may have been diminished by an announcement earlier this week by Angola that it wishes to join OPEC.

Video: Amory Lovins on Charlie Rose

Church heeds calling with food bank

According to Ken Brewer, head of the local food pantry, he and the 25 volunteers that assist the ministry have noticed a big increase in the number of families seeking help from them.

“I have been doing this for several years and this year has been the busiest,” Brewer said. “Even people who work and bring in a regular income are having trouble making ends meet.”

The reason, Brewer said, for that increase in need are the continually high utility and gasoline bills families are faced with each month.

Analysis: Reid to change U.S. energy plan

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- When he takes control of the U.S. Senate in January, Harry Reid's agenda will include moving the country toward energy independence -- a U.S. security issue, he says -- which he blames the Republican Congress and president for hindering.

In an exclusive interview with United Press International in his Las Vegas office, the future Senate Majority Leader said Thursday he's astonished by how much oil the United States consumes and by the lack of attention paid to drawing down the crude habit.

OPEC sends conflicting signal on need for deeper cut

CAIRO (Reuters) - OPEC ministers sent conflicting signals on Saturday on whether the group needed to reduce oil production further to bring markets back into equilibrium.

Libya's top energy official said markets seemed to be nearing a balance and he did not feel there was a need for OPEC to add to the 1.2 million barrel per day cuts agreed in October.

...But influential Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi reiterated the market was out of balance because of high fuel stockpiles and that 100 million barrels needed to be removed.

Peak Oil Passnotes: We Were on the Money

PARIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- As Resource Investor has been pointing out for some time a breakout in the crude oil market has had to come. Finally the data from the United States, combined with the cold weather in the northern Americas, has woken the market to the fundamentals.

That is that gasoline stocks in the United States – once presumed to at “record highs” – have slumped by 80% in just seven weeks. The momentum has all been about a draw down in the distillate stocks for the United States.