Commodity Trends

Hand-held taser

No More “Blood in the Streets”

he rise of humans from fearful creatures huddled around cave fires to the dominant species on the planet largely parallels the evolution of weaponry. Different subgroups rose and fell, spreading their culture or declining in influence as they either came up with the new best thing with which to slaughter their neighbors or fell behind in the innovation game. Club, axe, spear, atlatl, sword, longbow, crossbow, catapult, gun, bomb, artillery, really big bomb—all have had their day.

We even delineate historical epochs by naming them after the dominant weapon technology of the time: Stone, Bronze, Iron, and the modern era, which might accurately be termed the Gunpowder Age. Over time, the one constant has been to invent a technology that conferred an advantage on the user in battle—or else served as protection against what the other guy had. And the reason for wielding any given weapon has always been to maim or, preferably, kill one’s adversary. Before one got one’s own self killed, of course.

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Wind power may replace many coal power plants

A Look At the US Government’s New Pollution Policies

Soon after President Obama was elected, he made a commitment to place the USA on a path to reducing carbon pollution. On June 25th, 2013, he took his most ambitious step yet towards fulfilling this commitment, by unveiling his new climate change action plan, containing proposals to reduce carbon emissions at the domestic level, as well as leading global efforts to combat climate change. These proposals have clear implications for business and industry, as well as for the domestic consumer.

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Baltiyskiy Zavod launched the ice breaker "Saint-Petersburg"

Russia Building Floating Nuclear Power Plants

The nuclear power debate has surrounded the use of a sustained nuclear chain reaction to generate electricity since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 and recently Fukushima has reignited the debate. From 1952 to 2011 there have been at least 25 nuclear power plant accidents that had either multiple fatalities or more than US$100 million in property damage. Worldwide there have been a total of  99 accidents at nuclear power plants that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage.

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New technological innovations in the production of natural gas are making it more economical.

New Technologies in Natural Gas

During the last 10 years, the natural gas and oil industry has developed into one of America’s most technologically sophisticated industries. New advancements have caused the industry to become a technological pioneer. In the nineties, increased numbers of power generators started to utilize natural gas for electricity production, which caused demand to rise significantly. This industry has managed to keep up with rising demand and generate larger quantities of gas, thanks to technological advances. These advances have allowed gas to be produced from shale, along with other less conventional formations, which are located in plentiful supply throughout the US. However, natural gas is still produced from traditional onshore and offshore formations as well.

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Extreme Energy, Extreme Implications

James Stafford of Oilprice.com discusses the following topics with Michael Klare: Why we are talking about a resurgence” of American power Why the issue of US natural gas exports is a geopolitical dilemma Why Myanmar is important but not critical to the US Asia-Pacific “pivot” Why Myanmar IS critical to China Why India and Japan are key to the US’ evolving

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"Offshore Oil Rig" by num_skyman

India’s Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington

India’s relentless search for hydrocarbons to fuel its booming economy has managed the rather neat diplomatic trick of annoying Washington, delighting Tehran and intriguing Baghdad, all the while leaving the Indian Treasury fretting about how to pay for its oil imports, given tightening sanctions on fiscal dealings with Iran.

On 7 June the US State Department reluctantly announced that it was renewing India’s six-month waivers for implementing sanctions against Iran, along with seven other countries eligible for waivers from the sanctions owing to good faith efforts to substantially reduce their Iranian oil imports. In New Delhi’s case, it is the U.S. and EU-led sanctions rather than any willingness on India’s part that has seen a fall in its Iranian oil imports. India is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, a nation with whom it has traditionally had close ties. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan had all qualified for an exception to sanctions under America’s Iran Sanctions Act, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their crude oil purchases from Iran.

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