World’s oil outlook frightening, group says

Food shortages, cars abandoned, another depression. It’s the stuff of nightmares Members of Seattle Peak Oil Awareness expect world production of oil and gasoline to peak soon, if it hasn’t already, and hard times to follow. Similar groups are popping up around the country from Boston to Portland, despite oil-industry assertions that there’s nothing to […]

Coal mine deaths spike upward

Coal mining deaths soared to a 10-year high in 2006, reversing an 80-year trend of steadily falling fatalities and raising safety concerns as coal production reaches record levels. Forty-seven miners died last year, more than double the 22 killed in 2005 and matching the number in 1995. The recent spike is the biggest percentage increase […]

The Denial Machine

In the past few years, a hurricane has engulfed the debate about global warming. This scientific issue has become a rhetorical firestorm with science pitted against spin and inflammatory words on both sides. How could scientific fact, which many believe could determine the very future of the planet, become a political battleground, pitting left versus […]

Power-Sipping Bulbs Get Backing From Wal-Mart

…If it succeeds in selling 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs a year by 2008, total sales of the bulbs in the United States would increase by 50 percent, saving Americans $3 billion in electricity costs and avoiding the need to build additional power plants for the equivalent of 450,000 new homes. That would send shockwaves […]

Gentlemen, Start Your Plug-Ins

How does 500 miles a gallon sound to you? by James Woolsey An oil and security task force of the Council on Foreign Relations recently opined that “the voices that espouse ‘energy independence’ are doing the nation a disservice by focusing on a goal that is unachievable over the foreseeable future.” Others have also said, […]

Arlington Takes on Global Warming

Arlington County will buy more wind-generated electricity, give tax breaks for hybrid cars, require new public buildings to be green-certified and hand out energy-efficient light bulbs to residents as part of a major push toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, county officials said yesterday. The county has reduced carbon dioxide and other emissions — making its […]

How the Current Power Crisis in Uganda Started

The greatest challenge facing Uganda today is the crisis in the power sector. The drop in the installed hydro-power capacity of 380 megawatts (mw) to 135mw as of May 2006 is unacceptable. And yet the downward trends have continued without any permanent solution in sight. Various reports, including the recent one by the Parliamentary Committee […]

Russia seeks Japan N-help

Atomprom, the Russian state-run nuclear power company to be launched this year, has asked Toshiba Corp. and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. to enter negotiations over a possible tie-up on nuclear power plant technology, it was learned Sunday.Russia’s nuclear plant manufacturing technology has barely improved since the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in 1986. Consequently, Moscow has […]

Australian PM Says Nuclear Power Inevitable

Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday nuclear energy was an inevitable option for Australia after the release of a report which found that 25 nuclear reactors could significantly cut greenhouse gases. Howard said the government would respond officially to the report’s recommendations early in 2007, but added that the final decision on nuclear power […]

Delivering results the key focus this year

An interview with Tan Sri Lodin Wok, Group managing director of Boustead Holdings Bdd, palm oil major from Malaysia. Please describe the challenges and opportunities ahead for oil palm plantation players? There will be a challenge to sustain this demand in view of land, labour and capital constraints. Short-term price differentials will continue as production […]

Wind power faces gathering storm

Canada’s wind power business could face a tough year in 2007, with increasing doubts about this green energy source promising to buffet the industry. While a record amount of wind power is likely to come on-stream next year, with close to a dozen projects across the country set to be commissioned, questions about the safety […]

Global Warming is Here. Now What?

The world’s economy appears to be robust, but masks an approaching crisis — the sustainability of future generations “can no longer be taken for granted.” That’s the opinion of the 1,300 scientists who participated in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a four-year analysis of the world’s ecosystems sponsored by the Worldwatch Institute and reported in Vital […]

The Energy Crisis of 2007

Wow. So the rising cost of energy inputs into the economy has reached such a level that the world is simply going to cease generating wealth at this level. Hmmn. It’s possible. There are the laws of physics to consider, which determine how much energy you can get from carbon, and how efficiently you can […]

Global Warming 2006: Our worst fears are exceeded by reality

It has been a hot year. The average temperature in Britain for 2006 was higher than at any time since records began in 1659. Globally, it looks set to be the sixth hottest year on record..You could be forgiven for thinking that you’ve heard it all before. You may think it’s time to turn the […]

Energy to capture more attention in new year

Energy in 2007 will be one of the most popular industries for venture capital funding, a top legislative priority for manufacturers and a big concern for small businesses. More than 90 percent of the venture capitalists surveyed by the National Venture Capital Association expect increased investments in energy companies. Next on their list are Internet […]

A response to the President

I am less optimistic for 2007 due to the fact that Americans are still in the dark about HOW to change our consumptive habits, or that they even need to sacrifice at all, starting right now. There is too-low attendance at Power Down meetings across the country. The president just used his media bullhorn to […]

Consequences of scarce oil to go far beyond costly gas

The Sakhalin affair received scant attention in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil. But it illustrates a future that will challenge not only companies such as Shell, but also America’s foreign policy, economy and individual consumers. It illustrates some stark truths that are operative now, not some possibility for the far future […]

Climate Experts Search For Answers In The Oceans

The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), part of the United States sciencedaily

Alloy Solar Panels

In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun. seattlepi

Technology of the Year Award

The Technology of the Year Award for 2006 was presented to Dr. Bussard for his innovative work in a new fusion device. The fusion process recommended by Dr. Bussard takes boron-11 and fuses a proton to it, producing, in its excited state, a carbon-12 atom. This excited carbon-12 atom decays to beryllium-8 and helium-4. Beryllium-8 […]

Ethanol: Not America’s complete energy solution

Vic Knutson watches the boom in ethanol plants with guarded skepticism, because ethanol plants also require fairly large amounts of water. newsnetnebraska

Is energy independence finally in sight?

After years of hope and hype, there seems to be visible movement toward new energy sources that stand a decent chance in market competition with current oil, natural gas and coal. In an important article article in today’s Opinionjournal.com, James Woolsey argues that a new mix of hydrocarbon energy technologies will begin to free us […]

Beyond Batteries: Portable Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Mention hydrogen fuel cells, and most people envision hydrogen-powered cars as an alternative to the gas-guzzling and polluting internal combustion engine. In fact, many much smaller applications also could benefit from this nonpolluting technology. However, despite the billions of dollars being poured into the research and development of hydrogen fuel cells, few products have been […]

David King: At last, I’m hopeful about climate change

For those of us seeking to tackle the threat of climate change, 2006 was an encouraging year. At the start of the year, the conversation – when it took place at all – was about whether climate change was really happening. That discussion is now over. This public shift has been mirrored in the political […]

Astrolab Solar-Electric Hybrid Vehicle

Astrolab, the world alternative-energy-news

Vladimir Soprano

Some of the world’s major energy companies are learning a hard lesson about President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It is the same lesson that Putin’s political opponents have absorbed, along with independent journalists, human rights activists, and certain oligarchs who fell afoul of the plutocratic KGB veterans who form Putin’s inner circle. Royal Dutch Shell and […]

Kick back, chill out: It could save the planet

All work and no play doesn’t just make Jack a dull boy. It also may make Jack a hotter boy – and harm the planet, to boot. Two researchers – presumably keeping their hours to a minimum – looked at how long Americans work compared with people in other nations. Then they figured in productivity […]

Defiant Iran heading to industrial enrichment

Iran has maintained its defiance of UN sanctions over its nuclear program, declaring it is heading towards enriching uranium on an industrial scale and mulling a reduction of cooperation with the UN atomic monitoring group, the IAEA. The deputy foreign minister said Iran would announce a major step forward towards industrial-scale enrichment of uranium to […]

Free electricity… created by bright sparks

It is a mechanical problem that has troubled scientists since the ancient Greeks. Now a Scottish electrician has invented a small water wheel that could save thousands of pounds in energy bills. Ian Gilmartin, 60, who has no mains electricity, is generating power from the stream in his garden. He and friend Bob Cattley, 58, […]

The Oil Drum: Will the New Year Bring Happiness and Prosperity?

The problem with making predictions, and I suppose also the fun, is that there are so many imponderables, such as the weather, that can make them into so much hot air or wasted electrons which, as we have discussed relative to predictions from folks such as CERA, can later make them embarrassing to have to […]

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