International Energy Agency: "We Are Clearly in the Third Oil Price Shock"

The world is in the grip of its third oil shock, according to the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. Speaking at the World Petroleum Conference in Madrid, Nobuo Tanaka told the crowd that the current crisis is different from the oil embargo of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979, when there was still a lot of easy oil to be pumped. In its new report, the IEA sharply cut its estimates of future oil supplies, and cited the ageing of existing oil fields and inadequate investment as reasons for the tightening supply.

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Record High Prices for Crude, Gasoline, and Natural Gas

News of crude oil supply shortfalls is putting even more upward pressure on crude oil prices, which soared to yet another record yesterday, settling at nearly $141 dollars per barrel. That’s roughly twice what it cost this time last year, when a barrel of oil was just $71 dollars.

Motor gasoline prices also broke new ground this week in the U.S., with a gallon of gasoline now averaging $4.09. To be sure, many Europeans are paying double that amount, but the cost of gas is now 39 percent higher than it was a year ago.

And, get ready for sharply higher heating costs this winter: natural gas prices are more than double what they were this time last year. One million BTU’s of the gas now sells for $13.63 – an unprecedented price for this time of year. Storage levels for natural gas are also 16 percent below what they were this time last year.

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Solar Electricty Still Twice the Cost of the Dirty Stuff

Even after the sharp hikes we’ve been seeing in the retail cost of conventional electricity, getting your power from a small solar-photovoltaic system can be twice as expensive. That's according to SolarBuzz, publisher of an online index that tracks price trends for the solar power industry.

According to SolarBuzz, the fully amortized cost of electricity, before incentive programs, from a 2-kilowatt grid connected system in a sunny climate is about 37-1/2 cents per kilowatt hour. Their index also shows that the cost of electricity from a  larger, 50-kilowatt commercial system is now about 27-cents a kilowatt-hour.

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DOE Announces $30.5 Billion in Loan Guarantees, Mostly for Nukes

The U.S.Department of Energy announced Monday that it intends to provide more than $30 billion dollars in loan guarantees for projects that can reduce or sequester air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.

The DOE has structured the new program in a way that ensures that more than two thirds of the support will go to nuclear power facilities and nuclear fuels facilities. Less than one third of the DOE program is devoted to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

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