Category: COVID-19

THE EMERGING GLOBAL NATURAL GAS MARKET AND THE ENERGY CRISIS OF 2021-2022 12/14/2021

THE EMERGING GLOBAL NATURAL GAS MARKET AND THE ENERGY CRISIS OF 2021-2022

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert, Director Morgan D. Bazilian, and Samantha Gross write about the the ongoing energy crisis of late 2021 looks sure to move into 2022. It has already had wide-ranging impacts on economics, the environment, and security. This essay considers a few of the tensions arising for government policy, investors, and consumers. The crisis has three distinct elements: COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions, greater interconnectedness of natural gas markets, and signs of energy price
volatility during the energy transition away from fossil fuels. December 14, 2021.

Cop26 made tangible progress with shift to ‘the hows’ in climate action – webinar told 12/8/2021

Cop-26 made tangible progress with shift to ‘the hows’ in climate action – webinar told

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about how the recent Cop-26 global summit marked a big shift in moving away from words and rules on climate action, to “the hows” on how global warming can be addressed.  Cop-26 delivered real progress and could have gone much worse because of issues such as Covid-19 and the climate finance controversy with failed promises of sustained support for developing countries.  December 8, 2021.

Coal prices are rising, but producers can’t keep up with demand 10/7/2021

Coal prices are rising, but producers can’t keep up with demand

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributed to this article about how coal, where supply shortages are pushing prices to record highs as well, has more than doubled in price. But for all its stigma, coal is pretty entrenched. It still generates more than half the energy in China, the world’s second-largest economy.  October 7, 2021.

The Kenyan Connection: Shedding Light on a Global Hub in the Trade of Illicit Gold and Mercury 9/13/2021

The Kenyan Connection: Shedding Light on a Global Hub in the Trade of Illicit Gold and Mercury

Payne Institute Deputy Director Greg Clough is part of the team of Colorado School of Mines researchers working on the IMPACT project that is transforming natural resource management to empower the artisanal gold mining communities in Nairobi.  IMPACT is exploring ways to disrupt the illicit gold supply chain networks.  September 13, 2021. 

Tackling Energy Poverty and Climate Change through Sustainable Power Generation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 6/9/2021

Tackling Energy Poverty and Climate Change through Sustainable Power Generation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Payne Institute Fellow Peri-Khan Aqrawi-Whitcomb and Prsha Abubakr Othman write about how the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) continues to tackle a myriad of socio-economic and political issues, intensified by a global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These socio-economic and political setbacks are amplified by energy poverty and climate change.  June 9, 2021.

Cascading risks: Understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas 6/2/2021

Cascading risks: Understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas

Payne Fellow Joshua W. Busby, Kyri Baker, Director Morgan D. Bazilian, Fellow Alex Q. Gilbert, Emily Grubert, Varun Rai, Joshua D. Rhodes, Sarang Shidore, Caitlin A. Smith, and Michael E. Webber write about the Texas freeze of February 2021 that left more than 4.5 million customers (more than 10 million people) without electricity at its peak, some for several days.  This piece offers a retrospective on what caused the blackouts and the knock-on effects on other services, the subsequent financial and political effects of the freeze, and the implications for Texas and the country going forward. June 2, 2021.

Governments have identified commodities essential to economic and military security 3/31/2021

Governments have identified commodities essential to economic and military security

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Rod Eggert and Director Morgan Bazilian contribute to this article about obtaining critical minerals necessary to break the U.S. dependence on foreign production. The U.S. Defense department will help facilitate the building of facilities to process rare earths, part of an effort to secure supply independent from China.  March 31, 2021.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Energy Market Disruptions and Resilience 3/30/2021

The Covid-19 Pandemic: Energy Market Disruptions and Resilience

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert and Director Morgan Bazilian write about the direct risks and indirect effects from the COVID-19 pandemic that have impacted the operations and resilience of global energy markets.  This article considers several aspects of the impacts and responses of these markets as well as energy sector resilience.  March 30, 2021.