Small cars stage a big turnaround

…In sheer numbers, small-car sales this year will near 2.5 million, highest since 2001, the data show. Small vehicles of all sorts – including SUVs and crossovers, or CUVs – sell twice as fast as the average of all cars and trucks, Power Information Network reports. “Small cars and CUVs are going to rule,” says […]

Concern over Middle East nuclear plans

Plans announced recently by Egypt and Turkey that they hope to build nuclear power plants are raising a ripple of concern about the long-term prospect of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. “It is easy to exaggerate and it is true that these countries have a right to seek all sources of energy […]

Kenya: Student Violence Baffling

…Thus, it was surprising that Kenyatta University students decided to go on the rampage on Monday night to protest power outage. In their mindless and misdirected anger, they resorted to stoning motorists on Thika road, and setting ablaze three vehicles, one of them a matatu. They may have been a handful of unruly students, but […]

World’s trees provide ‘’services” worth trillions

Forests in northern nations such as Russia and Canada are worth US$250 billion a year because of services they provide by purifying water or soaking up greenhouse gases, according to a researcher. Mark Anielski, an ecological economist based in Edmonton, Canada, urged governments to follow suit and place value on natural services rather than go […]

Greens find Branson not so green

Richard Dyer, aviation campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said Virgin should drop any support for new runways at Heathrow and Stansted airports. “The growth in emissions [from airport expansion] will outweigh any improvements that he has suggested.” Mr Dyer said many of the proposals announced yesterday are already being considered or have been adopted. […]

Wildfires unleash mercury from Arctic

Climate changes that have brought more fires to boreal peatlands also could create more heavy-metal air pollution. As the planet The team then estimated on the basis of recent annual burns the acreage that could burn under different climate scenarios. In the past, researchers had not added peat fires into their models, but the new […]

Energy Ministers From 11 Countries Say Russian Energy Policy Rises Risks for Eur

Eleven energy ministers warned of rising political and commercial risks to Europe’s energy markets as President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to unconscientious investors, Agence France Presse reported on Thursday .

Gas Pipeline Blown Up in Southern Russia

A Russian gas pipeline “central Asia-Center” has been blown up in Volgograd region in southern Russia Thursday night, at about 3.40 am local time. No casualties were reported. The pipeline was still burning in huge flame at the time of filing this report, about 12 hours after the explosion. Russians never admit sabotage operations of […]

Falling oil price a real boon but can Opec live with it?

The future oil price is, once again, in the hands of the cartel. If the oil producers want to sustain the oil price even at today’s level, they will have to cut their output sharply this winter. But they have to agree what price they wish to defend: $60 a barrel? $50? The problem for […]

China carries out test of fusion reactor

Scientists on Thursday carried out China‘s first successful test of an experimental fusion reactor, powered by the process that fuels the sun, a research institute spokeswoman said. Beijing is eager for advances, both for national prestige and to reduce its soaring consumption of imported oil and dirty coal. Cheng said the test was considered a […]

Methane emissions soar as China booms

The explosive growth of the Chinese economy over the past seven years has been linked with a rise in emissions of man-made methane, a study has found. Levels of methane in the atmosphere have risen since the Industrial Revolution but in recent years they appeared to have stabilised, leading scientists to believe that the gas […]

Putin takes hard line on Shell Sakhalin dispute

Russia’s dispute with Shell over the future of the Sakhalin-2 project took an ominous twist last night when President Putin demanded government action against companies that break licensing agreements. Mr Putin, in a televised meeting with Yuri Trutnev, the Natural Resources Minister, said: “I am counting on the Ministry and the Government as a whole […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Perfect Storm

Behind all the good news for oil prices, however, depletion of the world’s finite oil supply continues at 85 million barrels per day, day after day, after day. Bad news for the future of oil production continues to come out, but it is lost in the shuffle or not recognized for its importance. Many now […]

Iraq, China discuss reviving Saddam-era oil deal

Iraq could hand China the first foreign contract to develop its vast oil resources if Beijing agrees to put into effect a deal originally signed with Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said on Wednesday. While U.S. oil majors, excluded from Iraq before the U.S. invasion in 2003, wait for Iraq to pass new laws on […]

Germany to Put Global Warming Back on G8 Agenda

Germany will make fighting climate change a top priority when it takes control of the G8 next year and will try to persuade the United States of its importance, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday. Merkel, a former environment minister, said she wants to put cutting emissions of the “greenhouse gases” blamed for global warming […]

Bransby to speak to Bush about alternative energy

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The Ascent of Wind Power

Wind power may still have an image as something of a plaything of environmentalists more concerned with clean energy than saving money. But it is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas of the world but in fast-growing countries like India and China that are avidly seeking new energy sources. And […]

Economics: avoiding the Y2K fallacy

This point has been notably lacking in many discussions of the economic impact of peak oil. It energybulletin

Dutch study imported biofuel production

Dutch researchers say they’ve determined liquid fuels can be produced economically from biomass, even if all the raw materials must be imported. Robin Zwart and colleagues at the Energy Research Center of The Netherlands focused their study on the so-called biomass-to-liquids, or BtL, process — one of the most promising biomass fuels options. upi

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Perfect Storm

Therefore, the message of the last few weeks is not to confuse lower gas prices with any lessening of the threat from peak oil. The peak is still out there and is moving inextricably closer. In the meantime, enjoy low gas prices while they last. OPEC is already wildly signaling that its members can’t live […]

Researchers Optimizing Production of Gas from Biomass to Displace Natural Gas

Researchers from Iowa State University are working with Frontline BioEnergy to optimize a gasification process for the production of producer gas from biomass to replace the use of natural gas in ethanol plants. greencarcongress

New energy tied to new cooperation

Humanity’s darkest hour may be just decades away, touched off by a desperate and increasingly violent struggle for energy resources. Futurist scenarios examined by the International Energy Agency, Shell Oil, a Stockholm-based think-tank, and others see “grim” prospects for civilization if nations fail to manage a smooth transition to new energy systems as conventional fossil […]

Methane levels to rise again after slowdown

Scientists have uncovered evidence that levels of the greenhouse gas methane will rise sharply in the next few years, warming the planet faster than previously expected. The new data from an international team of scientists has revealed that while methane levels began to level off in the 1990s, emissions from human activity started to climb […]

IARC scientists document warm water surging into Arctic

Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks International Arctic Research Center this fall documented that recent surges of warm water from the North Atlantic Ocean continue to pulse into the Arctic Ocean and are moving toward Alaska and the Canadian Basin. That finding indicates that the warm water is moving further and further into the […]

Program to train corporate directors on climate change

New Haven, Conn. — Yale University, along with two other leading U.S. organizations, has announced a unique collaborative effort to educate hundreds of independent corporate board members about the potential liabilities and strategic business opportunities that global climate change can create for companies. “Climate change is no longer the purview of scientists only,” said Gus […]

DOE Funds Projects Aimed at Coal-to-Hydrogen Production and HCE

The Department of Energy announced funding for six cost-shared research and development projects investigating different aspects of coal-to-hydrogen production and the utilization of hydrogen or hydrogen/natural-gas mixtures in combustion engines. greencarcongress

The Arctic: Oil’s last frontier

Twenty five percent of the world’s untapped reserves could lie near the North Pole, but politics could prove harder to crack than the ice. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Nothing says hot like an Arctic bidding war. Last spring Canada Southern Petroleum, a company with significant reserves inside the Arctic Circle, received a takeover offer of […]

California begins risky war on global warming today

A landmark global warming law that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to sign today commits California to the ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. How exactly that will be accomplished — and at what cost — is unknown. But it’s clear that if the state intends to meet its goals, […]

Energy efficiency: action plan ditched or strengthened?

The EU Commission’s postponement of the adoption of the action plan on energy efficiency has raised questions about its commitment to one of the main priorities of the new European energy policy. Green NGOs are worried that the EU’s commitment to energy efficiency is weakened down as a result of the “power-industry lobby”, which is […]

The Oil Drum: Burning Buried Sunshine

I thought it was time to step far enough away from the myopia induced by current oil prices and, in so doing, provide sufficient space to review the the sustainability of the way we live. The title is taken from Jeffrey Dukes’ 2003 paper Burning Buried Sunshine: Human Consumption of Ancient Solar Energy (pdf). Before […]

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