Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare

Just a few years ago, politicians and environmental groups in the Netherlands were thrilled by the early and rapid adoption of “sustainable energy,” achieved in part by coaxing electrical plants to use biofuel — in particular, palm oil from Southeast Asia. Enlarge This Image Spurred by government subsidies, energy companies became so enthusiastic that they […]

China Sees Declining Oil Reserves Last Year While Natural Gas Soars

China’s proven crude reserves dropped 12.33% last year to 2.19 billion tonnes from a year earlier while natural gas reserves surged more than 50% to 2.27 trillion cubic metres, far higher than the 1.15% average increase of world reserves, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said. China is the only country that posts significant […]

Harnessing the Wind Power of the Highway

How many speeding cars does it take to power a lightbulb? For Mark Oberholzer, a runner-up in the 2006 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition, this might not be such an absurd question. His project proposed integrating businessweek

World energy council highlights nuclear power in Europe

With the world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, WEC forecast that global energy consumption will double every year while demand for electricity is to triple. However, the report points out, there are solid economic reasons to support the development of nuclear power in Europe. ” For existing plants the economics behind nuclear […]

Mirror, mirror on the wall, how can oil plan at all?

The other view is that the business of big oil is to capture scarce resources. It timesonline

California may ban conventional lightbulbs by 2012

A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs as part of California’s groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. yahoo

CEOs, Retired Generals Push to Curb Oil Reliance

An influential private group of corporate chief executives and retired generals is telling lawmakers on Capitol Hill to “think big” on energy. yahoo

More reflections on climate change

When not in denial, the US government’s approach to climate change has been dominated by faith in the “technological fix” rather than changes in behaviour (US answer to global warming: smoke and giant space mirrors, January 27). There are a number of reasons to be wary of this strategy. First, the science might not work. […]

BP to Increase Natural Gas Recovery From San Juan Basin

BP today announced that it will invest up to $2.4 billion over the next 13 years to increase its share of ultimate recovery of coalbed methane natural gas from the San Juan Basin of southwestern Colorado by an estimated 1.9 trillion cubic feet. The company anticipates a steady development program that will increase current BP […]

Mexican Cantarell Oil Field in Decline: Prelude to a Larger Crash?

Daily output at Mexico’s biggest oil field tumbled by half a million barrels last year, according to figures released Friday by the Mexican government. The ongoing decline at the Cantarell field could pressure prices on the global oil market, complicate U.S. efforts to diversify its oil imports away from the Middle East, and threaten Mexico’s […]

ZAP and Lotus to Use APX Concept as Basis for High-Performance In-Wheel Motor El

ZAP and Lotus Engineering are beginning the first phase of an engineering project to use the British consultancy greencarcongress

JAXA Targets 2008 Launch for Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is planning a summer 2008 launch for its new Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). JAXA unveiled a prototype of GOSAT at its space center in Tsukuba on Monday. greencarcongress

The Oil Drum EU: Is There A Painless Way To Fill The Oil Supply Gap?

Despite new evidence in the form of higher than expected demand, capacity squeezes and price rises, there remains a view amongst some geologists and economists that the peak is many years away and even that technology, new energy sources, and new efficiencies will make it irrelevant. Although I believe such views are driven by wishful […]

Waxman seeks climate inquiry evidence

WASHINGTON – The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government’s response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly “to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming.” Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said he and the top Republican […]

The Oil Drum: Palm Oil — The Southeast Asia Report

In an effort to broaden our coverage at The Oil Drum, this Southeast Asia report focuses on the tragic consequences of cultivating palm oil (mongabay.com) to produce biodiesel fuel.Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

Jeremy Leggett: Take to the fields

The tipping point of global oil production will be accompanied by a dire energy shock, and we will have to redefine the concept of farming. On Friday and Saturday last week, a potentially historic meeting took place in the rather unpromising location of the CIA, otherwise known as the Cardiff International Arena. Britain’s organic farming […]

Debunking the Myths About Nuclear Energy

As the U.S. Congress debates energy policy, EIR provides this summary review of the answers to frequently raised objections to the only feasible solution to the U.S. and worldwide power shortage, nuclear energy. Q: Aren’t nuclear power plants dangerous to public health?A: In fact, there has never been any nuclear accident in the United States […]

Miners Celebrate Resolutions Encouraging Uranium Projects in Two Key New Mexico

Commissioners in two key uranium-abundant New Mexico counties passed resolutions supporting and encouraging uranium mining in that state. Previously, many wondered if uranium would ever be mined in New Mexico again. County commissioners in New Mexico’s Cibola and McKinley counties recently signed resolutions ’supporting and encouraging’ uranium mining in their areas. The record uranium price, […]

Housing Fetish – Kunstler

Martha Stewart was not an accident of history. She came along in the late 20th century as a kind of spirit guide to a society whose bad choices and misinvestments had led to the wholesale destruction of any place in America that people called home. And by this I mean the towns, neighborhoods, and city […]

Price of oil on the slippery slope

ONLY five months ago crude oil prices nudged $US80 a barrel amid predictions by informed observers – not apocalyptic ravers – that the commodity would reach the $US100 level. Since then, oil has tumbled 30 per cent and the contango on futures pricing has disappeared, which means investors aren’t punting on a quick recovery. What […]

How Much Did the Green Revolution Matter?

Can We Feed the World Without Industrial Agriculture? There are many questions that have come up for me in writing a book about food, energy and climate, but the one that I find most engaging is the question of exactly what was gained and lost in the transition to industrial agriculture and the green revolution. […]

Nuclear agency: air defenses impractical

WASHINGTON – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded Monday that it is impractical for nuclear power plant operators to try to stop terrorists from crashing an airliner into a reactor. Plant operators instead should focus on limiting radioactive release from any such airborne attack, the agency said in a revised defense plan for America’s nuclear plants. […]

Yes–Blood For Oil!

I got caught in a traffic jam the other day because of some librul war protesters and I didn’t even drive over them with my Escalade. Felt too sorry for them. It was a butt-cracking minus-ten degrees, with a helluva wind, but that’s not why I pitied them. It was on account of their nylon/polyester/polyolefin […]

Shell defies US pressure and signs

Shell has signed an important deal to help Iran develop a major gas field, ignoring growing pressure from George Bush to isolate the country for being part of what he alleges is an “axis of evil”. The Anglo-Dutch group, which is struggling to bring more momentum to its business after being forced to hand over […]

Fuel stocks run out in Indian state as tanker strike enters sixth day

KOLKATA, India (AFP) – Oil tankers were set to refuel pumps in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal after a six-day strike was put on hold pending the outcome of talks on transportation charges. A two-week window for compromise came as petrol pumps in the state capital Kolkata were almost dry and public transport […]

Africa: Oil, Global Influence Driving Hu Jintao’s Trip

China’s energy-hungry economy and global influence are driving President Hu Jintao’s 12-day tour of Africa which kicks off this week. It is Hu’s second trip to Africa in less than a year. The visit, which starts Tuesday, will take him to Cameroon, Namibia, Mozambique, the Seychelles, Sudan, South Africa, Zambia and Liberia. He returns home […]

UN chief seeks climate change summit

Plans for an emergency summit of world leaders to break the international impasse on cutting greenhouse gases are being discussed by Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general. At the summit, mooted for September, heads of state would discuss the possibility of a successor to the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the main provisions of which expire […]

Biodiesel: Asia’s alternative fuel

Asia’s big biodiesel producers are starting to secure their green investments by hedging against falling oil prices and rising feedstock costs, but the move may carry even bigger risks for infant players.Futures prices of palm oil the main raw material for biodiesel in Southeast Asia cost about US$535 a tonne last week, up 30 per […]

Biofuel hopes may be too high

It would cost about $1.40 per gallon to produce a new ethanol production plant, so that in order for a company to build a 100 million gallon facility, it would cost about $140 million to build, which would be a huge investment by any calculation. Another problem that remains unaddressed is how to transport the […]

Energy Jihad

Russia spent last year strenuously denying reports that it was participating in the creation of a cartel of gas suppliers to the EU. Now, however, the idea has received an unexpected boost from Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, who called on Russia to create a “gas OPEC” at a recent meeting with Russian Security Council […]

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