Fuel for Thought

With Sasol and Total’s Natref refinery now back on stream, the sporadic fuel shortages that have afflicted parts of Gauteng over the past few weeks should ease. But for how long? Such has been the growth of SA’s economic hub in recent years — and the boom in passenger vehicle sales — that the country’s […]

Will Battle of the Nile Be Fought On the Beaches of Entebbe?

Lake Victoria’s water levels are at their lowest in 80 years. Uganda, which relies for nearly all its electricity on the Nile River as it flows out of Lake Victoria in Jinja, is a country that will soon be plunged in darkness. ..”The ecological health of Lake Victoria has been affected profoundly as a result […]

Uganda Manufacturers Want Tax Waivers Over Energy Crisis

Uganda’s business community wants the government to waive import duties on fuel and power generation units to offset rising costs of production caused by power rationing. Both the Uganda Manufacturers Association and the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU) said the frequent power outages were costing businesses production hours and damaging sensitive equipment…Uganda requires 350MW […]

Opec Raises Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Oil Quotas

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Funsho Kukpolokun, yesterday said that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia had been granted permission by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase their crude oil production quotas to help fill current market supply shortfalls of 2.0 million barrels per day (bpd). Kupolokun spoke […]

India’s Iranian gas: Talk about a non-starter

Along with the possibility of international sanctions hanging over Iran, the future of a 2,600-kilometer pipeline to transport natural gas to India from Iran through Pakistan, which is actively opposed by Washington, has fallen into jeopardy. While the three regional governments are going through the motions of planning for the US$7 billion project and say […]

Half of Dutch population backs more nuclear energy

Half of the Dutch population supports an expansion of nuclear power after a government official indicated the intention to build a second nuclear power station, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Tuesday. ..Electricity and gas prices have been climbing steadily in the Netherlands in recent years. On average, households now pay 65 percent more than […]

Sandia Labs Researcher Invents New Way to Make Hydrogen for Fuel

His invention, the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5, for short), splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, using a simple, two-step thermochemical process. The CR5 is a stack of rings made of a reactive ferrite material, consisting of iron oxide mixed with a metal oxide such as cobalt, magnesium, or nickel oxide. Every other […]

Putin Predicts Russia Will Become 3rd-largest Energy Exporter to U.S.

Russia could become the third or fourth largest exporter of energy resources to the United States within the next few years, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Treasury Secretary John Snow on Saturday. “The share of Russian energy resources on the American market has increased from the twelfth to the eighth largest share,” Putin said, according […]

Healthy Economic Growth Predicted

White House economists said yesterday that the U.S. economy should continue to grow at a healthy pace in the years ahead, even as they warned that the housing market is likely to cool and energy prices may spike in response to supply disruptions. “The economy has shifted from recovery to sustained expansion,” the Council of […]

SCAJOLA: MORE GAS AND COAL TO CLOSE ‘OIL ERA’

“We need more natural gas pipelines, more regasification terminals, more clean coal and a more extensive use of renewable energy without excluding compensation for the municipalities in which solid fuel plants are located. Meanwhile we can’t lose sight of the achievements of solar and nuclear power” said the minister for production activities, Claudio Scajola, in […]

Why oil will hit $100 a barrel

The era of easy oil is over, but growing demand from countries like India and China is forcing oil firms to enter unusual territory. Sir Bill Gammell is the chief executive of Cairn Energy. He’s a former Scottish rugby international who went to school with Tony Blair and knew George Bush when he was just […]

Oil fears decline as traders discount Iran doomsday scenario

The fever that gripped oil markets in recent weeks has begun to subside as traders discount the likelihood of a doomsday scenario in Iran, yet many remain cautious due to a variety of geopolitical risks. “That’s not what we expect. But in such a case, it wouldn’t surprise us to see oil spike into the […]

Penn. Awards $3.7 Million in Alt-Fuel Grants

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced the investment of $3.7 million in Alternative Fuel Incentive Grants (AFIG), in amounts ranging from $500 to $2 million, for 23 projects. Among the awards are a grant for $112,000 toward participation in a buyer greencarcongress

Kyoto Countries Below Reduction Target, But Within Striking Distance

The industrialized countries that have ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol are tracking to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of a combined 3.5% below 1990 levels during the first commitment period (2008 greencarcongress

Si, mama, no battery! Fiat goes fuel-cell direct

The Fiat Panda Hydrogen prototype is the result of a joint venture between Fiat, the Italian research and environment ministries and top component suppliers – most of them Italian. It was developed, says Fiat, to safeguard the environment while offering performance and interior space on a par with conventional vehicles. The Panda Hydrogen, unlike previous […]

IEA urges members to step up renewable energy R&D

Industrialized countries must boost spending in research and development in renewable energy and not focus on subsidizing the use of green but costly electricity, the West’s energy watchdog said on Tuesday. The International Energy Agency (IEA), adviser to 26 industrialized nations on energy policy, said that spending in renewable energy research and development by its […]

Peak Oil Survival: The Syriana Syndrome

by James Kunstler

Ethanol’s empty promises

American farmers are absurdly proficient at growing corn. Last year’s crop covered 82 million acres and yielded more than 11 billion bushels worth $23 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making it the nation’s top farm commodity. And almost none of that corn was food. Not technically, anyway, even though a lot of […]

UAE: Increase in Fuel Prices Affecting Driving Habits

DUBAI – Continuous increase in fuel prices is changing families driving habits in the UAE. In a recent online consumer poll conducted by ACNielsen among 23,500 regular Internet users in 42 countries, almost half of the respondents in the UAE said they try to use their vehicles less, to control their fuel expenses. The ACNielsen […]

Outlook sweetens for sugar cane farms

AUSTRALIA’S sugar farms have been in the doldrums since 2000. The price of sugar collapsed to US5c a pound, farmers struggled or went broke but couldn’t sell because there were few buyers. Properties stayed on the market for 12-18 months and often sold only at a loss. Many farmers wanting to leave the industry hung […]

U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies

WASHINGTON – The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. New projections, buried in the Interior Department’s just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and […]

Qatar’s fortunes boom with gas

With oil prices settled above $50 a barrel and increasing concern over shrinking reserves, many countries in Asia and the West are looking to alternative sources to meet a growing energy demand. One solution many of them are buying into is liquefied natural gas – or LNG. Lucy Williamson went to the Gulf state of […]

Deere fiscal first-quarter profit rises

…Rising interest rates, high fuel prices, and a depressed market for farm commodities have been cutting into demand for farm equipment, while high raw materials prices have pressured profit margins. During the quarter, Deere said its sales in the agricultural division dropped 6 percent to $1.89 billion. But that drop was more than offset by […]

Threat of Scarcity Draws Oil Companies to Cuba

HAVANA, Feb 14 (IPS) – The need to find new oilfields to satisfy world demand, which could soon outstrip production, has prompted foreign oil companies to take an interest in offshore prospecting and drilling around Cuba, to explore the country’s unconfirmed potential. According to predictions, global crude oil production is going to fall in terms […]

Bush may be taking the idea of peak oil seriously

“America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” George W. Bush declared in his State of the Union speech last month. His solution is what he calls the “Advanced Energy Initiative,” consisting primarily of investment in alternative technologies. Was Bush serious? The Wall Street Journal didn’t think so. […]

Japanese cars top annual

U.S. automakers Scores are based not only on fuel economy but also emissions tied to smog and global warming. Thus, while the natural gas Honda and the Toyota Corolla mileage are nearly half that of the top hybrid models, their overall score was high due to very low emissions. Natural gas, in particular, is much […]

Mexican oil output could drop sharply

Mexico’s huge state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, may be facing a steep decline in output that would further tighten global oil supply and add to global woes over high oil prices, the online edition of the Wall Street Journal reported. ..An internal study reviewed by The Wall Street Journal shows water and gas […]

Commuters all at sea as governments lose the plot

Perhaps less tangible than the threat of cannonballs or invaders at the city walls are the converging crises of peak oil prices and global warming. These events now comprise the greatest threat to our current concept of the city. Their confluence will, one way or another, bring about decisive action by governments on the urban […]

Exxon to fund Providence oil prospect off Ireland

Shares in the AIM-listed Providence Resources shot up 27 per cent yesterday on news that ExxonMobil had agreed to finance development of its Dunquin prospect off the west coast of Ireland… The deep water Dunquin prospect has potential recoverable volume of some 25 trillion square cubic feet of gas and about 4 billion barrels of […]

Plug pulled on renewable energy gurus

The day Carol Tombari got fired plays in her head like a scene from a cheesy espionage thriller. She was among the disappeared from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, where 31 workers were dismissed seven days after President Bush read the words “addicted to oil” off the teleprompter and announced yet another “Advanced […]

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