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When we talk about energy storage today, lithium-ion batteries tend to dominate the conversation. They are sleek, compact, and have become the default image of the clean energy revolution. Yet behind the headlines, a quieter cast of characters has been doing the heavy lifting. Some of the most effective ways to store energy are not based on exotic chemistry at all, but on gravity, heat, air, and even sand. They are often strange, wonderfully simple, and surprisingly effective. If the world’s energy transition were a movie, lithium-ion batteries…
U.S. natural gas futures surged the most since late October as one energy trader warned that "winter isn't over," with another wave of cold air set to spill into the eastern half of the Lower 48 early next week. The upcoming cold blast arrives even as much of the U.S. enjoys a brief warm-up following an early-month polar vortex that plunged large parts of the U.S. East into Arctic-like conditions. "Winter isn't over yet. Here are forecast anomalies for this time next week showing a large area of unseasonably chilly temperatures across the major…
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose by 3 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Tuesday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 545 this week, down 44 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 3 in the reporting period, according to the data, after US drillers saw an 8-rig decline in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 409, which is 74 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 127, which is 25 more than this…
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (NYSE:DJT) have surged nearly 70% after the company agreed to merge with fusion startup TAE Technologies in a $6 billion deal. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of each company will own roughly half of the combined entity on a fully diluted equity basis. Trump Media, majority owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, will now become the holding company for TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences alongside current holdings Truth Social, Truth+ and Truth.Fi. Founded in 1998, TAE Technologies…
Oil tankers are diverting from their route to Venezuela; some are sitting idle at ports instead of setting off for Asia; discounts on Venezuelan crude are deepening; and PDVSA may soon start shutting down wells for lack of storage space. President Trump’s military campaign against Venezuela is threatening an $8-billion market. It started with one tanker seizure, a week ago. Then Trump escalated the rhetoric, threatening a blockade on Venezuelan tanker traffic and demanding that Venezuela returned “Oil, Land, and other Assets that they…
Tajik officials are proposing the creation of a regional mechanism in Central Asia to legally regulate “new technologies,” including artificial intelligence. Tajikistan, along with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have announced government programs to develop their respective countries’ IT/AI sectors. Kazakhstan has gone so far as to establish a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, while Tajikistan’s digital infrastructure at present lags far behind its Central Asian neighbors. Speaking at a regional forum in Bishkek on December…
The tit-for-tat trade war between the US and China earlier this year cooled by late October after President Trump and President Xi agreed to a trade truce that, so far, appears to be holding. There are early signs that the truce is beginning to restore rare earth trade between China and the West, as Beijing has started approving some rare earth export license applications this week. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic told Bloomberg TV earlier this week that industry chatter suggests China is granting so-called general licenses, a shift from a highly…
Lithium-ion batteries dominate the tech world. You probably have at least one within reach right this moment, considering that lithium-ion batteries now power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices, from your smartphone to electric vehicles, and even power utility-scale energy storage. And while the tech industry is eager to diversify battery design to relieve its dependency on this “white gold”, lithium continues to dominate the sector – and will likely remain essential for a long time to come. While lithium…
For years, heat pumps were seen as the fragile heroes of mild climates, efficient in theory but unreliable when the mercury dropped. That narrative has now collapsed under the weight of experience. From the frozen lakes of Finland to the prairies of Canada, heat pumps are thriving where they were once thought impossible. The data from the multiple past winters tells the story clearly. Even in subzero temperatures, installations are growing faster than almost any other clean heating technology. This shift is more than a technical achievement; it…
On a recent flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix, I glanced out the window as the aircraft slowly descended over the open desert west of the city. The landscape shifted abruptly from endless scrubland to an expanse of mirrored rectangles stretching to the horizon. I took several pictures, and my phone’s GPS later confirmed what I was seeing: the Mesquite Solar Complex in Arlington, Arizona—one of the largest photovoltaic installations in the United States. From above, the site resembles an enormous geometric tapestry. On the ground, it…
China’s LNG demand is disappointing in 2025 for a second year in a row, just as new U.S. export projects ramp up and Qatar is nearing start-up of the first new facilities in its huge capacity expansion. The wave of new LNG supply that will come online by the end of the decade, mostly from the top exporters, the United States and Qatar, has prompted many analysts to expect an oversupplied LNG market by 2030 that would weigh on prices. Lower prices could incentivize additional demand from price-sensitive buyers in south and Southeast Asia,…
China’s latest oil import data has been rather bullish, with November imports rising 5% year on year. Not only that, but China is building new storage capacity, so it can keep buying more crude, instead of demonstrating that its oil demand growth is weakening, as forecasters say. China is making oil demand forecasting uncertain. FGE NexantECA, for instance, recently reported that China’s apparent demand in October had been revised downwards to 14.6 million barrels of crude daily, or 570,000 barrels daily less than earlier expected.…
Escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela could lead to profound changes in the oil industry of the world’s largest crude resource holder. Any regime change of President Nicolas Maduro could be a game-changer for oil production in Venezuela, U.S. access to Venezuela’s heavy crude fit for U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, and America’s influence in the Western Hemisphere and Latin America. Although it’s not certain that U.S. President Donald Trump would necessarily pursue regime change or an incursion of some…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is traveling to Turkmenistan for festivities December 12 marking the Central Asian state’s 30th anniversary of neutrality. While in Ashgabat, Erdogan will also hold talks with Turkmen leaders likely focusing on the topic of natural gas supplies. Speaking to reporters earlier in December, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Ankara is working to expand gas imports via a long-time arrangement with Iran, augmented by a swap deal with Turkmenistan. A lack of clarity about sanctions currently…
On Wednesday, the United States carried out one of its most consequential maritime interventions to date. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, acting with support from the Department of War, seized a crude oil tanker accused of transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. It was a dramatic show of force in already volatile waters and an intervention that has jolted Caracas. The operation was presented as a decisive strike against illicit oil flows. Yet within hours, Venezuela…
The global energy landscape is undergoing a decisive structural shift, moving away from the century-old model of centralized utility dependence toward localized, autonomous power networks. According to a new industry report by Credence Research, the global market for decentralized microgrid solutions is projected to nearly triple in value over the next decade, reaching $17.16 billion by 2032. This trajectory represents a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.74%, driven by a confluence of geopolitical instability, accelerating renewable energy…
For farmers in the United States, concerns about too much clean energy production are quickly transforming into concerns about too little energy to go around. For years, rural America has been pushing back against the spread of utility-scale solar and wind farms competing for agricultural land. Now, they have a new sector to worry about as massive data center developments look to set up shop across the country, competing for land, energy, and water resources. AI integration is becoming ubiquitous, with virtually no market sector untouched by its…
The European Union has drawn a line in the sand. By 2027, the bloc intends to phase out Russian natural gas imports completely. But as the policy ink dries in Brussels, a new challenge is emerging in the real economy… We might not have enough hands to build the infrastructure that replaces it. International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol stood alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week and called it the "end of an era." But he also delivered a warning. The transition away from Russian…
As U.S. natural gas prices jumped to a three-year high, coal has become a cheaper power-generating fuel for utilities, which are set to run coal-fired generators harder this winter. U.S. benchmark natural gas prices at Henry Hub have jumped from $4.23 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at the start of November to above $5 per MMBtu by early December. Early on Friday, the front-month futures price was $5.084 per MMBtu. That’s the highest price in three years, as a polar vortex with freezing temperatures and snowstorms gripped most…
As the spread of renewable energy continues to ramp up around the world, finding more efficient and affordable technologies for energy storage has become a high-priority issue for global energy security. While energy storage addition is making huge strides across the world, leading technologies – most notably lithium-ion batteries – have some critical drawbacks. As a result, the race to find the tech breakthrough to replace lithium-ion batteries is on as “clean energy’s next trillion-dollar business” heats up. …
The machinery that powers the modern world, from industrial assembly lines to the cooling systems of data centers, is undergoing a massive, capital-intensive overhaul. According to a new analysis by Allied Market Research, the global electric motor market is projected to reach $373.9 billion by 2032, nearly tripling its 2020 valuation of $142.1 billion. The data reveals a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.5% from 2023 to 2032. But beyond the growth percentages, the report outlines a structural change in how the global economy consumes energy. …
Congress just overturned a Biden-era rule that had restricted how much of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain could be leased for oil and gas. The Senate passed the resolution 49-45, using the Congressional Review Act to wipe out a 2024 Interior Department plan that kept large sections of the 1.56-million-acre area off-limits. Federal leasing will now revert to the broader 2020 Trump-era framework that opened essentially the entire Coastal Plain to development. For Alaska’s delegation and regional Native corporations,…
Notions of renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gases are nice, but costly energy prices are forcing a shift in Europe’s priorities. Reuters reported this week that two members of the European Union — Greece and Italy — and the UK are loosening their opposition to new oil and gas drilling, even as the continent builds out renewables to slash greenhouse gas emissions and meet climate targets. Greece in November issued its first offshore oil and gas exploration license in more than 40 years to a trio of companies including Exxon…
Energy Costs Prompt Europe To Reconsider Oil, Gas Opposition Europe’s Green Dreams Buckle Under the Weight of Its Power BillsSoaring Energy Costs Push Europe Back Into Oil and Gas’s ArmsEurope’s Transition Stalls as Voters Rebel Against Sky-High Electricity Prices The Most Boring Oil Month in Years Sets the Stage for a High-Stakes December When Germany earlier this year approved an offshore gas drilling project, it raised a lot of eyebrows. An energy transition champion, a record breaker in wind and solar installations, now Germany…
