So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish

After more than two years and over 2,000 posts, Environmental Capital is closing its virtual doors.

It’s been, in equal measure, a fun, grueling, and educational ride.

Special thanks are owed to the folks who got it all started and kept it going—Mark Gongloff, Jeff Ball, and Russell Gold—not to mention all the Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal folks who fed the beast so well all this time.

Of course, the biggest thanks of all goes to our readers—both of you. You’re what got us out of bed in the wee hours every morning. Well, that–and the paycheck.

And you can still get your fix of environmental and energy news right here, at the WSJ Environment page and the Energy, Oil, and Gas page.

Who’s Afraid of a Clean-Energy Future?

Two years ago, when we launched Environmental Capital, we set out to chart the tectonic shift in the global energy landscape, affecting everything from what keeps the lights on to what’s under the hood of your car.

A big part of that shift was—and still is—environmental concern. The world’s (half-hearted) efforts to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions were meant to spur (and might yet) the development and deployment of a whole new world of cleaner energy.

But we also noted another rationale for a shift in the way the world produces and uses energy: the bottom line. Whether it’s a big-box retailer changing the way it packs and ships goods or the growing conviction that energy efficiency and “negawatts” are the cheapest, cleanest source of energy available today, the cleaner way of doing things is very often the smarter way of doing things.

That it isn’t always the case is less of an indictment of clean energy than of the current energy system itself.

To take a single example…

Wind Jammers: More ‘Buy’ Recommendations for Denmark’s Vestas

Here’s a stumper: Why are shares in the global leader in the most mature renewable-energy technology so moribund?

Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems, the biggest maker of wind turbines in the world, can’t get any love from investors. Its share price, after an up-and-down 2009, is roughly where it was at the start of last year.

Some analysts think that’s out of whack. HSBC today put a “buy” on Vestas shares and reiterated a target price of 500 Danish kroner; the stock today trades at around 333, well off the highs it reached last spring and summer. Jeffries Research also put out a “buy” recommendation today, though with a slightly lower target price.

HSBC’s reasoning is simple enough…

Boiling Point: High Hopes for Geothermal Energy

Geothermal is boiling hot these days. Wind and solar might even want to watch out.

The industry is adding 144 geothermal power plants in 14 states, says Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association. That’s up from 121 projects on the books last March and a 73% increase from the 83 projects underway two years ago.

“We’ve added 200 megawatts in the last year,” said Mr. Gawell, during a stop at The Wall Street Journal’s New York office on Wednesday ahead of the industry’s big finance forum today. “Compared to wind, it’s not much. But it is a lot for a small industry with only 3,000 installed megawatts.”

One big shot in the arm: The federal stimulus, which is chanelling $400 million to the geothermal industry in the form of tax incentives and cash grants. The trade group has seen member ship swell to about 150 from just 30 members five years ago.

Another big key: Technology. Geothermal companies are developing new technologies that allow lower-temperature water in the earth’s core to be turned into geothermal energy. That makes development possible in more place, putting states such as Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana on the map in addition to traditional geothermal heartlands such as California.

Geothermal’s potential, thanks to advanced technologies, could be huge. The U.S. Geological Survey notes…

Green Ink: Magical Climate Thinking, Offshore Wind, and Chinese Coal

Crude oil futures hovered around $80 a barrel amid renewed confidence in the economic recovery. “Sentiment is such that dips below $80 are seen as buying opportunities,” an analyst tells Bloomberg.

The U.S. CFTC will outline today limits on positions energy traders can hold, the belated response to worries speculators were behind big price spikes in 2008, in the WSJ.

Iran will start winding down fuel subsidies, which eat up 30% of its budget, AP reports in the WSJ.

If North Sea oil and gas production was already reeling, the recession kicked the industry while it was down and lowered investment in the region, in the FT.

Want to know why President Obama’s clean-energy dreams have failed to materialize? Because it’s the same “magical thinking” that has prevailed since the Carter years, argue Nordhaus and Shellenberger in Foreign Policy. What’s needed instead is hard-headed investment in energy technology, they argue.

Now that the health-care fight is over…

Scrap-and-Trade: Would An Energy Bill Alone Do Any Good?

Is the climate part of energy-and-climate legislation about to get thrown under the bus?

As Congress gets back to work, one of the big questions looming on the Hill is whether it’s time to park plans for a national curb on greenhouse-gas emissions and focus on a narrower energy bill. The rationale? Energy reform, even to boost clean energy, enjoys some cross-aisle support. Capping greenhouse-gas emissions has proven a tough slog even within the majority Democrats. And the health-care fight has undoubtedly dented enthusiasm for another bruising battle.

There’s plenty of chatter out there to that effect. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said yesterday that “I think you can expect everything but cap-and-trade,” referring to upcoming Senate work on energy legislation. Politico details the back-and-forth.

Sen. John Kerry, co-author of two of the four cap-and-trade bills bouncing about, is horrified by the prospect. He told E&E News:

“If you separate climate from energy reform, you slow your ability to create those clean jobs because every market expert tells you those energy reforms can’t take hold unless you price carbon. Unless you do something comprehensive you’re just going a more expensive, less effective route and you’ll keep trailing other countries.”

But is that really the case?

Green Ink: Oil Slumps and T. Boone Punts

Crude oil futures fell below $80 a barrel after Chinese banking rules raise fears the country might slam the brakes on growth. “The Chinese decision doesn’t affect physical oil demand, but it does affect sentiment, and that’s the most important thing for driving prices,” an analyst tells Bloomberg.

In Washington, the fate of energy and climate legislation hangs in the balance. The question: Is it wiser to try to pass stand-alone energy legislation, without all the controversial climate-change bits, or push for the whole enchilada? In Politico and Green Wire.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s position is clear: Climate legislation now would strangle U.S. businesses still struggling with the recession, also in Green Wire. NASA’s James Hansen also hates cap-and-trade, and plans more acts of civil disobedience, in The Guardian.

So what about geo-engineering? Scientists will convene a conference this March to study emergency options for checking temperature increases, also in The Guardian.

More fallout post-Copenhagen: China’s Janus-faced approach to international affairs reveals a “dragon in sheep’s clothing,” says…

Oil Prices: Is OPEC Looking for $100 Crude?

Crude may be taking a breather Tuesday, down about $1 a barrel, but some OPEC countries appear to be giving oil traders a-wink-and-a-nod for pushing crude prices higher.

Earlier Tuesday, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters that $82 oil was “fantastic” and said the Gulf state doesn’t think OPEC needs to change production in March at its next policy meeting based on current prices.

An official in Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council then told Zawya-Dow Jones that OPEC “will not consider it an alarming event even if oil hits $100…” Last week, Libya’s top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, said, “As long as (oil prices) are under $100 there is no need for (OPEC) action.”

For months, the 12-nation cartel has repeated like a mantra its comfort with crude oil prices between $70 and $80 a barrel. That’s a relatively tolerable level for consumers, and certainly cheery for OPEC states, whose drilling costs are a tiny fraction of today’s $81 oil price in New York.

Olivier Jakob, an analyst with Swiss-based Petromatrix, thinks the recent the recent OPEC chatter is basically talking up prices. “While OPEC will blame higher oil prices on speculators, they are trying to sponsor the same speculation by making the rounds saying that OPEC will not move a finger unless [West Texas Intermediate] rises above $100 a barrel,” Mr. Jakob said in a research note Tuesday, referring to the U.S. oil-price benchmark.

Moderate voices within OPEC–such as Saudi Arabia, which holds most of OPEC’s spare production capacity–recoil at suggestions that OPEC wants higher prices and say they’re genuinely pleased…

Full Throttle: P&W’s Newest, Greenest Jet Engine

The aviation business is perennially in the spotlight for its role in greenhouse-gas emissions: Jets burn tons of fuel at high altitudes. So far, much of the focus on next-generation aviation technology has landed on big, high-profile planes, such as Boeing’s Dreamliner or Airbus’ A380, and all the fancy gimmicks they incorporate to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

But the real battleground for aviation over the next two decades could play out among smaller, regional jets–100-plus seat planes that play an increasingly large role in air transportation in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia.

That’s the target market for Pratt & Whitney’s newest jet engine, the Pure Power PW1000G, which will be fitted to the latest regional jets from Bombardier and Mitsubishi in 2013 and 2014. The new engine is “the biggest step in engine technology since the 747,” says Alan Epstein, P&W’s vice-president for Technology and Environment and a 30-year veteran of MIT.

The new P&W engine, which garnered Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” award last year, promises to cut fuel consumption by between 12% and 15%. That by itself is good news for carriers wracked by high oil prices. But lower fuel consumption also means fewer carbon emissions…

Green Ink: Shallow Gas, Electric Cars, and the Future of Yucca Mountain

Crude oil futures fell toward $81 a barrel amid forecasts of warmer weather in the U.S., Bloomberg reports.

Chevron warns on fourth-quarter earnings due to a weak refining environment that couldn’t offset higher oil prices, in the WSJ.

Natural gas finds a new, shallow-water frontier: McMoRan’s potentially huge shallow-water find in the Gulf of Mexico raises hopes of abundant, low-cost supplies, in the Houston Chronicle.

More scorecards on President Obama’s first year in office. Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress figures the president went 10-for-10 on the think thank’s clean-energy prescriptions, at Grist.

California is studying ways to return money from climate-change plans…