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The imbalance between energy resource availability, demand, and production capacity, coupled with inherent economic and environmental uncertainties make strategic energy resources planning, management, and decision-making a challenging process. In this paper, a descriptive approach has been taken to synthesize the world’s energy portfolio and the global energy balance outlook in order to provide insights into the role of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in maintaining “stability” and “balance” of the world’s energy market. This synthesis illustrates that in the absence of stringent policies, <em>i.e</em>., if historical trends of the global energy production and consumption hold into the future, it is unlikely that non-conventional liquid fuels and renewable energy sources will play a dominant role in meeting global energy demand by 2030. This should be a source of major global concern as the world may be unprepared for an ultimate shift to other energy sources when the imminent peak oil production is reached. OPEC’s potential to impact the supply and price of oil could enable this organization to act as a facilitator or a barrier for energy transition policies, and to play a key role in the global energy security through cooperative or non-cooperative strategies. It is argued that, as the global energy portfolio becomes more balanced in the long run, OPEC may change its typical high oil price strategies to drive the market prices to lower equilibria, making alternative energy sources less competitive. Alternatively, OPEC can contribute to a cooperative portfolio management approach to help mitigate the gradually emerging energy crisis and global warming, facilitating a less turbulent energy transition path while there is time.

This work thoroughly evaluates the electric power consumption of a full scale, 3 &#215; 923 m3 complete stirred tank reactor (CSTR) research biogas plant with a production capacity of 186 kW of electric power. The plant was fed with a mixture of livestock manure and renewable energy crops and was operated under mesophilic conditions. This paper will provide an insight into precise electric energy consumption measurements of a full scale biogas plant over a period of two years. The results showed that a percentage of 8.5% (in 2010) and 8.7% (in 2011) of the produced electric energy was consumed by the combined heat and power unit (CHP), which was required to operate the biogas plant. The consumer unit agitators with 4.3% (in 2010) and 4.0% (in 2011) and CHP unit with 2.5% (in 2010 and 2011) accounted for the highest electrical power demand, in relation to the electric energy produced by the CHP unit. Calculations show that 51% (in 2010) and 46% (in 2011) of the total electric energy demand was due to the agitators. The results finally showed the need for permanent measurements to identify and quantify the electric energy saving potentials of full scale biogas plants.

Sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the form of its hydrates in natural methane (CH₄) hydrate reservoirs, via CO₂/CH₄ exchange, is an attractive pathway that also yields valuable CH₄ gas as product. In this paper, we describe a macroscale experiment to form CO₂ and CH₄-CO₂ hydrates, under seafloor-mimic conditions, in a vessel fitted with glass windows that provides visualization of hydrates throughout formation and dissociation processes. Time resolved pressure and temperature data as well as images of hydrates are presented. Quantitative gas conversions with pure CO₂, calculated from gas chromatographic measurements yielded values that range from 23 – 59% that correspond to the extent of formed hydrates. In CH₄-rich CH₄-CO₂ mixed gas systems, CH₄ hydrates were found to form preferentially.