Northeast States Sue EPA over Water Use Rules for Power Plants

Six Northeast states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, claiming its rules on power plants’ water use will cause fish kills and other environmental harm. The EPA published regulations in July 2004 outlining how power plants nationwide can use water from bays, rivers, lakes, oceans and other waterways for cooling. ENN

Solar Power is Latest Innovation at N.J. Farms

Move over, Jersey tomatoes. Some farmers are producing a new crop: energy. They’re putting solar power systems over barn roofs and fields to make electricity for their homes, farm buildings and irrigation systems — and reducing pollution at the same time. A further lure is a unique program that uses state rebates, credits and investor […]

U.S. Court Rejects Effort to Block Rules on Mercury Pollution

An effort by environmental groups to block the President George W. Bush’s administration from implementing its new regulations on mercury pollution power plants was rejected by a federal appeals court. Without comment, Judges David Sentelle and Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a motion for an […]

Scientists Study Arctic Climate Changes

A Reno scientist is among a team of researchers who will spend the next several weeks studying the icy Arctic Ocean to document historic climate changes. Glenn Berger, a research professor at the Desert Research Institute, and others set off Friday aboard the Healy, a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker. “There are more climate changes happening […]

Oil drives up UK production costs

Raw material costs rose at their fastest annual rate in 20 years in July as soaring oil prices continued to put pressure on UK industry. Producer input prices rose 1.8% between June and July, giving an annual increase of 13.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

U.S., Saudis Play Same Old Game

Saudi Arabia has never been one of my favourite places to visit. In the 1970s, I was arrested by the Jeddah religious police, threatened with prison, became deathly ill, and was whipped by Riyadh airport police during a riot.Saudi Arabia has changed a lot since then but still remains a feudal monarchy run by 7,000 […]

No More Electric Bills

Nicholas and Loan Gatai used to cringe when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the Sacramento, Calif., couple moved into a new, 1,500-square-foot home in Premier Gardens, a subdivision of 95 “zero-energy homes” just outside town. Now they’re actually eager to see their electric bills. The grand total over the 10 months they’ve lived in the three-bedroom, stucco-and-stone house: $75. For the past two months they haven’t paid a cent.

Almost unknown outside California, ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens, which opened last summer, is one of a half-dozen subdivisions in California where every home cuts power consumption by at least 50 percent, mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels. Several more are under construction this year, including the first ZEH community for seniors…

Newsweek

UK Says Saudi Attacks in ‘Final Stages’ of Planning

Britain warned on Monday that militants were in the final stages of planning attacks in Saudi Arabia as Washington shut its missions there for two days and Australia told its citizens to avoid travel to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia, battling a two-year campaign of violence by supporters of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said […]

Renewable energy going to waste

A million hectares of countryside could be used for sources of biomass, helping to create a cleaner, greener Britain and avoid 20m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, says a government report to be published in October. Biomass, which can include straw, wood chips, willow coppice, mildewed grain, chicken litter and sewage sludge, could […]

Fuel protester warns of a new backlash

A former fuel protest leader believes a motorist backlash is imminent as unleaded and diesel prices edge towards ic North Wales

Not enough “fuel” for China’s economic expansion

The torrid Chinese summer weather is leading to an acute lack of electric power and oil in Guangdong, so much so that supplies have run out in many petrol stations. …But the shortage has taken on serious proportions in all large Chinese cities. Already from July, the central government issued drastic measures to reduce energy […]

Fuel outdoes labor costs at some airlines

Flipping normal industry economics upside down, some airlines in the USA are paying more for jet fuel than for the people they employ. AirTran, America West, JetBlue and US Airways each reported paying more for fuel in the April-June quarter than for labor. Typically, fuel is a distant second behind labor as a company expense. […]

A look at Reliance’s mega plans

(…) Last week, at the annual shareholders’ meet at south Mumbai, RIL chairman and managing director laid out the grand design to make the company a global leader in downstream oil, strengthen its presence in the oil refining business as also in the much sought after oil exploration and production business. According to Ambani, RIL […]

Fuel-Cell Researchers Look to Carbon

A group of researchers has developed a new method of layering graphite that could be used someday to efficiently and safely store hydrogen in a vehicle. If their preliminary findings hold up under more experimentation, carbon-based storage may have the most potential, among several technologies now being considered, to make fuel-cell vehicles commercially viable. … […]

Rail operators ape budget airlines in effort to fill seats

Passengers are to be offered new “flexible” train fares by long-distance operators in a desperate attempt to put more “bums on seats”. The new system of “bargain” tickets aims to simplify fares on the main express routes, replacing a complicated structure that means passengers can be charged up to two dozen different prices for the […]

Pakistan Shortlists 11 Firms for Oil Companies Sell

Pakistan has shortlisted eleven companies which will be eligible to take part in the privatization of two of the country’s biggest oil companies. In a statement Saturday, Pakistan’s Privatization Commission said it has pre-qualified seven companies to take part in the privatization of Pakistan State Oil, or PSO, the country’s largest oil marketing company. Schlumberger

Pension funds ‘must consider risks of climate change’

Pension fund trustees have a duty to address the financial risk posed by climate change when making investment decisions, according to a report issued today by the Carbon Trust, the government-funded body that helps companies cut harmful emissions. The report, compiled by Mercer Investment Consulting, warns that the effects of climate change have already had […]

Climate change unites senators

Bipartisanship was in unusually fine form in the Benedict Music Tent on Saturday evening as Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman stressed the importance of taking climate change seriously. The two senators said they were encouraged that their counterparts in Washington, D.C., are realizing the ramifications of global warming, signified by the […]

London leads in carbon market

When Dorothy Thompson arrives to start her new job near Selby next month, she will be in charge of an 850ft chimney and 12 enormous cooling towers — and also the hottest seat in one of the City’s fastest-growing financial markets. That market is carbon emissions trading, and Drax Power, the company at which Thompson […]

Oil, Jihad & Destiny – some comments

Re-reading the New Yorker piece on depletion (thanks Anon), I was struck by a comment made about energy independence by Robert Ebel (who works for CSIS). He said “it will never happen in my lifetime.” And it struck me that there is this perception that nothing much will really change when Peak Oil appears and […]

China pumps effort to free miners

Rescuers were using water pumps Monday in an effort to reach 102 miners who were trapped underground in a coal mine flood in southern China, as top leaders ordered an all-out effort to rescue them. Four miners escaped from the mine after the accident, which occurred at 1:30 p.m. Sunday (5:30 a.m. GMT) in a […]

Crude Oil Prices Hit New Record

Crude futures rose to a new high of $62.69 in Asian trading Monday as the U.S. government announced the closure of its embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia due to security threats and on continued concerns that earlier shutdowns of U.S. oil refineries would reduce supply. Midmorning in Singapore, light, sweet crude for September delivery […]

Talks fail to end Seoul pilots’ strike

Asiana Airlines executives and striking pilots have failed to end a three-week long walkout in talks that had raised hopes for a conclusion to South Korea’s worst-ever aviation strike after the government softened a threat to use emergency powers to halt it. Asiana spokesman Oh Kyung-keun said on Monday that a marathon meeting that lasted […]

UN in Iran to monitor atomic restart

UN inspectors have arrived at a uranium conversion plant in Iran to install surveillance equipment and oversee the removal of seals as Tehran prepares to resume work there. Such a move would lead Tehran into direct confrontation with the European Union, which has warned that it faces being referred to the UN Security Council for […]

USAF Fuel Cost Blowout Cuts Weapons Research

The Pentagon is discovering it’s not immune from the high gas prices that have overwhelmed taxpayers’ cheque books and dampened summer travel plans across the U.S. Defense Dept. planners are now estimating fuel costs may add as much as $4 billion to what was already expected to be a shortfall of nearly $6 billion in […]

Oil giants fanfare energy crisis

ExxonMobil, the world’s largest energy group, said in a recent advertisement: “The world faces enormous energy challenges. There are no easy answers,” according to a story of Financial Times published on Friday. And ExxonMobil’s statistics back up the sentiment. In The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, the Irving, Texas-based company forecasts that oil production […]

Crude Oil Rises to a Record on Sustained U.S. Economic Growth

Crude oil rose to a record in New York on speculation demand will rise as reports showed sustained growth in the U.S. economy. Wages in the U.S. increased at their fastest pace in a year, the Labor Department said on Aug. 5. Oil prices also gained after the U.S. closed its embassy in Saudi Arabia […]

War Plans Drafted to Counter Terror Attacks in U.S.

The U.S. military has devised its first-ever war plans for guarding against and responding to terrorist attacks in the United States, envisioning 15 potential crisis scenarios and anticipating several simultaneous strikes around the country, according to officers who drafted the plans. The classified plans, developed here at Northern Command headquarters, outline a variety of possible […]

Firm to sell UK portfolio

US independent oil and gas producer Kerr-McGee is selling its entire portfolio in the UK’s North Sea for $3 billion, the Business newspaper reported yesterday.Without revealing the source of its information, the paper said that the company’s senior British management was preparing for the handover of its fields, stakes, equipment and land to a new owner.It said Kerr-McGee was understood to be assessing bids from US independent oil and gas producer Apache and Canadian firms Talisman and Canadian Natural Resources. A sale was expected to be completed within the next month, it added.

http://tinyurl.com/9poj5

Renewable energy going to waste

A million hectares of countryside could be used for sources of biomass, helping to create a cleaner, greener Britain and avoid 20m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, says a government report to be published in October. Biomass, which can include straw, wood chips, willow coppice, mildewed grain, chicken litter and sewage sludge, could provide a “significant” amount of the nation’s energy needs.

http://tinyurl.com/aaosa

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