SPIEGEL-Online International: For as long as he can remember Floyd Lasseigne has been a fisherman on Grand Isle, off the coast of Louisiana. Now he has to stand by and watch as the BP oil spill destroys his life. The oysters lie in the water like silent harbingers of the disaster. A shiny film...
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Tags: energy, environment, ethics, industry, oil spill
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SPIEGEL-Online International: BP has only one arrow left in its quiver, a method known as ‘bottom kill.’ The idea is for relief wells to stop the gushing oil from below, but the technical challenges are formidable. Past experiences show that the oil may continue flowing into late autumn. For the engineers, it was a...
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Tags: energy, industry, oil spill, technology
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The Gulf of Mexico spill is vastly larger than the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989, but where is all the oil? While efforts to protect coastlines have been making the headlines, the real ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is unfolding deep beneath the water’s surface. Samantha Joye was sure she was right....
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Tags: energy, environment, industry, oil spill, technology
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So lange er denken kann, ist Floyd Lasseigne Fischer auf Grand Isle vor der Küste Louisianas. Die Ölpest im Golf von Mexiko zerstört sein Leben. Die Austern liegen im Wasser wie stille Boten der Katastrophe. Ein silbrig glänzender Ölfilm zieht sich über die Schalen der Tiere. Schlierig schwappt die Brühe über die flache Austernbank...
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Tags: energy, environment, ethics, industry, oil spill
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The oil catastrophe afflicting the Gulf of Mexico underscores just how dangerous offshore oil exploration can be. Oil companies are seeking to extract the planet’s last remaining barrels by drilling from ever-deeper sites on the ocean floor that wouldn’t even have been considered not too many years ago. The oil now coating the Gulf...
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The oil spill from the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico could turn into the biggest environmental catastrophe in US history. It could take months to stop the oil flow, and the damage to the local economy and wildlife could be huge. The accident is likely to hamper US President Barack...
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Tags: energy, environment, industry, marine science, oil spill, technology
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The nuclear energy industry hopes to secure its future through miniature nuclear reactors. The small underground plants will supposedly be safer than large plants, and would lower the cost of electricity from nuclear power. But critics say that the electricity the plants produce will be too expensive and warn of the risk of proliferation....
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Tags: energy, nuclear energy, technology
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In a SPIEGEL interview, former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, 61, discusses Barack Obama’s environmental policies, the endless push by lobbyists to derail reforms and his hopes for a global deal at the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month. SPIEGEL: Mr. Vice President, you write in your new...
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Tags: climate change, development, energy, intelligence
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Nuclear power is back in vogue in Russia, with 26 new reactors scheduled for construction by 2030. German industrial giant Siemens has grabbed a piece of the pie. But safety and financial concerns threaten to overshadow the country’s atomic ambitions. Olga Kurochkina can hardly hide her delight at making her German guests squirm. She...
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Tags: energy, nuclear energy
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Is nuclear power on the verge of a renaissance? Its supporters argue that atomic energy is the only way to satisfy humanity’s hunger for more energy without aggravating the effects of global warming. Critics, however, regard the nuclear hype as over-simplistic optimism fueled by an industry in distress. The constant drizzle coming down over...
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Tags: energy, nuclear energy
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The rapid change in the world’s climate and shrinking oil and natural gas reserves are forcing a radical shift in the way we think about energy. Declining prosperity seems unavoidable unless the global community chooses a more sustainable approach to producing and consuming energy. Have you taken a shower today? Have you sipped a...
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Tags: climate change, energy
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