Record ethanol production in Iowa predicted

The state will produce a record 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol in 2006, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association said Wednesday. Iowa has more ethanol plants than any other state, the association said. The trade group said Iowa ethanol plants will turn out 36 percent more corn-based fuel than last year, when 1.1 billion gallons was […]

Researchers Developing Machinery To Harvest Corn Stalks And Leaves

…development of a stover harvesting system has been constrained by a lack of research funding. “Significant resources have been dedicated to the process of converting cellulose into ethanol,” he said. “But very little has gone into answering how do you get a supply of stover from the field to the biorefinery. This will be critical […]

Ethanol demand fuels 10 percent price jump for farmland

Land values hit record highs, ISU survey says Ames, Ia. The average price of an acre of Iowa farmland increased $290, a 10 percent increase from last year. For the first time since 1941, when Iowa State began the survey, the average price of an acre of Iowa farmland topped $3,000. “We’ve seen a tremendous […]

Coal In Your Stocking

At this moment, U.S. electric utilities are racing to build at least 150 coal-fired power plants, while hundreds more are planned or under construction elsewhere in the world, including as many as 550 in China. Especially in places like China and India, the coal rush is a response to frenzied growth in energy demand, but […]

The Oil Drum: Peak Oil and The Energy Utilization Chain

It has often been cited how economics does not incorporate or look at physics and biology when it comes to sustainability issues. However it can also be said that physicists and biologists have failed to recognize economics when it comes to studying Peak oil or how to adapt to Peak oil. One of the more […]

What If…The Oil Runs Out?

The Science Channel is running a documentary about peak oil called What If: The Oil Runs Out? several times this week. Check your local listings. Slowly a consensus has emerged. Oil, the lifeblood of modern societies, is going to peak then decline irreversibly. Oil will be used for decades to come, but the era of […]

Open letter to Peter Jackson of CERA

by Chris Skrebowski Dear Mr Jackson, I was surprised and somewhat saddened to read CERA In the fourth paragraph of your report you note:-

The Tuscan way of surviving collapse

The fall of empires is a subject that has fascinated us from the time of Gibbon Historians don

North Sea Energy Upstarts Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Young upstarts seldom have respect for conventional wisdom, and small independent oil and gas companies in the U.K.’s North Sea are proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Despite being one of the most heavily explored and exploited hydrocarbon basins in the world, leading figures in the offshore oil and gas industry […]

New German community models car-free living

FREIBURG, GERMANY With gas prices well above $6 per gallon across much of the continent, Vauban is striking a chord in Western Europe as communities encourage people to be less car-dependent. Just this week, Paris unveiled a new electric tram in a bid to reduce urban pollution and traffic congestion. “Vauban is clearly an offer […]

Uganda: MPs Attack Govt Over Power Exports

UGANDA still exports electricity to neighbouring countries despite a crippling power crisis in the country, findings of a parliamentary committee have revealed. A report by the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy assessing the current status of the economy shows that despite a deepening power shortage, partly due to low water levels, electricity exports to foreign […]

Hoping to head off crisis Energy regulators keep an eye out for suspect trades

Every weekday morning, government analysts gather inside the headquarters of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to scour the nation’s energy markets for fraud. They meet in a small room lined with computer screens linked to the country’s electrical grids. The analysts pore over energy sales data, hunting for odd patterns or prices that don’t make […]

Oil prices to remain high but below 2006 records

The record oil prices of 2006 are not expected to be repeated in 2007 but they will be high enough to fill the coffers of the oil companies and draw the ire of motorists. Oil prices eclipsed the highs of 2005 and came close to hitting $US80 a barrel in 2006, peaking at a record […]

Foreign oil facilities in Nigeria seized

LAGOS, Nigeria – Armed men attacked two foreign oil facilities in southern Nigeria on Thursday, and both shut down production following the assaults in the restive, oil-rich region. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which came under attack earlier this week, began evacuating families of foreign workers, citing worsening security. Before dawn Thursday, about a dozen gunmen […]

Schmack starts feeding purified biogas into the natural gas grid

Today sees the start of operations at the Pliening biogas plant, one of the largest of its kind in Germany. Following the official approval by inspectors, the facility located near Munich will start feeding refined biogas into the German natural gas grid on an industrial scale. Ulrich Schmack, member of the Managing Board of Schmack […]

Russia Turns Off The Gas Taps On Georgia In Price Row

Russian gas company Itera shut off gas supplies to six Georgian cities and districts Thursday for not paying their bills. The move came as the row between Moscow and Tbilisi over the price Georgia pays for Russian natural gas remained unresolved just days before a January 1 deadline to accept the new price of 235 […]

Kenya: Support the Search for Other Energy Sources

Government and corporate sector pronouncements on the need to develop alternative sources of energy are laudable and should be supported by all. I am particularly impressed by the ambitious programme by Mumias and Chemilil sugar companies to produce electricity from molasses (sugarcane residue). The recently revived Kenya Meat Commission has also announced that it will […]

SA: Fuel for thought

South Africa is another step closer to a biofuels industry with the cabinet’s approval of a draft biofuels industry strategy earlier this month. In May next year, the cabinet will finalise that strategy to hopefully put the fuel component of the country’s energy economy on the road to a greener, cheaper and sustainable alternative. For […]

Canada: Biofuel cash nice but farmers worry profits won’t materialize

The federal cash promised for Canadian biofuel development impressed proponents of increased renewable fuel use in Canada, but some caution was also expressed Wednesday that farmers could still see themselves shut out of the profits. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose and Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl outlined $345 million in equity for biofuel development, plus scientific research, […]

European Commission OKs aid for German solar energy plant

The European Commission has authorized E76 million of aid, which the German government intends to grant to Conergy over three years to construct a new production plant for solar energy modules in Frankfurt (Oder). The project, which will be spread over three years (from 2006 to 2008), is aimed at producing solar energy modules that […]

India: We are hungry for more energy

Hydrocarbons — crude oil and natural gas — account for around 38% of the primary energy consumption in India. So far, crude oil has accounted for the lion’s share of this total. However, in coming years, the share of natural gas in India’s energy pie is likely to shoot up. Transportation fuels — diesel, petrol […]

Nukes aimed at oil sands

Nuclear power in the oil patch is just a matter of time, according to Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn. Speaking to Sun Media from Victoria yesterday, Lunn said he’s very keen to see a new partnership between Crown corporation Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and a private Alberta company to build a Candu reactor […]

Iran turns from dollar to euro in oil sales

Iran’s decision to switch currencies extends a trend among big oil exporters moving from the dollar as they seek protection from a continuing slide in the petrocurrency’s value. In October Russia said it would diversify its currency reserves into Japanese yen. Overall, Russia is believed to have let its dollar holdings slip and they are […]

Russia: Total Oil Field Under Scrutiny

Total’s license to extract oil at its Kharyaga field, its biggest Russian project, will be reviewed Friday by the country’s subsoil resources agency as the government tightens pressure on foreign-led projects. Total’s reserves at the field are not backed up by expert assessments, Pyotr Sadovnik, the deputy head of the agency, told reporters Thursday. The […]

Opec nations raising oil prices in budgets

Most Opec producers have for 2007 raised the oil prices on which they base their budgets, reducing the amount in reserve, as they grow more reliant on ready cash. Emboldened by a four-year price rally, many have embarked on major spending projects and, having paid down foreign debt, can afford to spend now as well […]

Corn Again: 3 Reasons Ethanol Will Be Back

A lifting of fog allowed oil shipments to return to normal Thursday, restoring inventories of crude oil and redherring

Energy efficiency builds a new clientele

Builders and home buyers across the country are increasingly interested in so-called “zero-energy” or “green” building. Zero-energy homes combine highly energy-efficient design and technology using solar electric and thermal systems to produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis, resulting in zero net energy consumption. washtimes

Gazprom Gains Control of Giant Energy Project

Gazprom, the Russian energy monopoly, bought control of the world nytimes

Finally, Wisdom in Washington On Our Oil Future

Wald’s organization, SAFE, would have our policy makers clearly understand that in this century the global oil market is far removed from what we hold to be a free and unfettered market. That we must recognize that between 75% and by some estimates 90% of all oil and gas reserves are held by national oil […]

Study Suggests Incentives on Oil Barely Help U.S.

The United States offers some of the most lucrative incentives in the world to companies that drill for oil in publicly owned coastal waters, but a newly released study suggests that the government is getting very little for its money. nytimes

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