EPA shows new lower mileage ratings

Federal agency adjusts its fuel economy estimates, with most vehicles, from hybrids to guzzlers, seeing mileage figures trimmed. …The Toyota Prius, the nation’s best-selling hybrid model and the most fuel-efficient, is estimated to see its mileage rating drop 20 percent to 48 mpg in the city from the old estimate of 60 mpg. Its estimated […]

James Howard Kunstler: ”America, Think Downscale!”

…KunstlerIn one slide, Kunstler showed a picture of a typical street found in many suburbs. It showed automobiles riding on it, shopping strip-malls and assorted fast food joints, all set back off the highway, with large parking lots in front. It even had a water tower in it, with a

Ties that Bind

…The capitalist class is of course trying to pass the responsibility to us but in so doing it is revealing the fundamental contradiction of personal Rather than be taken in by these myths as some on left have been, we have to articulate a vision of an alternate economy based on a rational and sustainable […]

Peak Performance?

Peter Odell, one of the most astute, life-long observers of global oil scene, calls them “peak-oilers.” Some of them were quite unhappy when I pointed out (in Energy at the Crossroads, in these pages, and in Worldwatch in January 2006) their propensity for wholesaling catastrophic scenarios of the world once the global oil production peaks […]

California: Rolling Blackouts Likely By ‘09

A plan to discourage new power plants in Southern California’s most polluted communities could lead to rolling blackouts in Riverside, city officials said. The South Coast Air Quality Management District plans could curtail city plans to build two “peaker” plants that could be used during critical times like summer heat waves when electricity consumption exceeds […]

Iran Is Iraq

…Iran is another Iraq for the obvious reason that Iran is sitting on a large amount of oil. With Saudi Arabia as the world leader, Iran is second, Iraq is third. In terms of the geopolitical significance of its resources, Iran and Iraq are on par. Supply this year ought to be, once again, very […]

Community Solutions: Seeking local answers to a global issue

…The use of oil permeates the fabric of American life. It fuels our transportation, heats our homes and businesses, provides us with plastics, fertilizers, pesticides and helps puts food on the table. If the oil supply dries up, what does that mean for our way of life? Grassroots groups across the country are calling for […]

Nuclear plant’s safety rating takes hit

PHOENIX – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday downgraded the safety rating of the nation’s largest nuclear plant, subjecting it to a level of scrutiny shared by just one other plant in the nation. The NRC made the announcement following three years of problems in various safety systems at the Palo Verde nuclear plant west […]

Farmland the new hot property

Demand for corn used in ethanol fuels price hikes outpacing N.Y. lofts Farmland from Iowa to Argentina is rising faster in price than apartments in Manhattan and London for the first time in 30 years. Demand for corn used in ethanol increased the value of cropland 16 per cent in Indiana and 35 per cent […]

The Oil Drum: Climate Change, Sabre Tooth Tigers and Devaluing the Future

(note, this is likely one of the most important posts ever to hit the pages of The Oil Drum…we hope that you’ll help us spread it around.) The debate on the realities of both climate change and Peak Oil has moved from Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

Petroleum Rex

1. “They woz warned.” At the outset, oracles tell the principle players explicitly what their futures WILL BE, yet they all dare to try to avoid their respective fates. The cursed Daddy and Mommy, Laios and Jocasta, leave Oedipus on a mountaintop to die. Later, the foundling Oedipus flees his adopted father and mother when […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: The Oil Market Heats Up

The oil and energy markets like to paint themselves as very scientific places. From the geology to the deep water technology, from the super tankers to the powerpoint presentations. But as we all know the truth is nothing of the sort. For the regular reader of this column the idea of a herd mentality on […]

The Time is Right for the Majors to Seek Bigger Fish

There is plenty of optimism among the deal-making community in the upstream oil and gas sector. Much is in the pipeline and some deals and refinancing initiatives are already in the public domain. Stephen Phillips, head of banking at Dundas and Wilson, points out that Melrose Resources, the Edinburgh oil and gas exploration company, with […]

India expands refining capacity

In the first major foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s oil-refining sector, state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and the Mittal Group of companies owned by Indian-born business baron L N Mittal, well known globally for the Arcelor takeover, have joined hands to implement the Rs157 billion (US$3.5 billion) Bhatinda Refinery project in Punjab now […]

German Biodiesel Sales Slump on New Tax

Germany’s once-booming biodiesel industry has reduced output by 30 to 40 percent so far this year as new biofuel taxes cut demand at fuel stations, biofuels industry association VDB said on Thursday. “It is appalling that a new tax is cutting German biodiesel sales at a time when there is an urgent debate about how […]

Southern Ocean Being ”Strangled” by Greenhouse Gases

The pristine Southern Ocean, which swirls around the Antarctic and absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is slowly losing a fight against industrial gases responsible for global warming, scientists say. The Southern Ocean’s unique wind and storm conditions make it the world’s greatest carbon “sink”; the earth’s oceans absorb a third of […]

No warmth, energy comes first

You could be excused for thinking that we’ll soon do something serious about global warming. Last Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that, to a 90% probability, human activity is warming the Earth. Earlier, Democratic congressional leaders made global warming legislation a top priority and 10 big US firms (including GE and […]

Global business leaders sign agreement to fight global warming

Some of the world’s leading corporations and global organizations have committed to a plan Tuesday to save the planet from the harmful effects of man-made climate changes. Heads of about 100 business organizations, representatives of international organizations and climate experts attended a meeting at the Columbia University to finalize a plan, which they hoped will […]

Scotland to commission biggest wave power generator

Energy utility Scottish Power is constructing the world’s biggest wave power generation plant near the Orkney Islands after the Scottish Executive has given the go ahead and funding for the 13-million-pound project. Scottish Power said it hopes to commission the 3MW wave power plant in 2008. The plant will comprise four wave power generators, to […]

Scramble for Iraq’s oil begins as troops start to pull out

We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of […]

Turkey, Egypt try to avert tension over Cyprus oil

Even as tension continues in the Mediterranean Sea due to the dispute between Turkey and the Greek Cypriots over oil and gas exploration, Ankara and Cairo are trying to avoid tension between their two countries. Against Turkey’s strong objections, Greek Cyprus signed accords with Egypt in 2005 and Lebanon this year, delineating the undersea border […]

The Oil Drum EU: The UK Energy Descent Continues

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) today (22nd Feb 2007) released the latest national energy statistics to the end of 2006. Regular readers will not be surprised by the core data, but it’s still worth looking at it! Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

The climate change revolution

The world is in the midst of a great political transformation, in which climate change has moved to the center of national and global politics. For politicians in persistent denial about the need act, including U.S. President George W. Bush, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there is no longer […]

New Wave-Pump Technology Hits the Water

A new pump system designed to turn salt water into fresh water when combined with desalination systems — and produce clean renewable energy when combined with hydroelectric systems — is currently being tested in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Texas coast. renewableenergyaccess

Contact announces renewable energy plans

Mr Baldwin said the first stage of development would be investment in up to 260 MW of new geothermal generation, with two new power stations planned for the Taupo region. nbr

U.S. energy data supports oil and gas shares

Energy shares moved higher after federal data Thursday revealed large declines among refined crude products but the bullish data failed to spark any breakaway rallies in the largely range-bound sector. marketwatch

Nigerian oil minister says oil output capacity rising six pct per year

Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru said that exploration had raised the country’s oil reserves to about 35 bln barrels from five bln barrels in 1999, and that production capacity was rising. III

US Iran intelligence ‘is incorrect’

Much of the intelligence on Iran’s nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today. The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported […]

Maryland Assembly Moving to Adopt California LEV Standards with CO2 Limits

The House of the Maryland General Assembly has passed the state greencarcongress

University of Nevada professor demonstrates new hydrogen fuel system

Misra and his research team have created a new hydrogen material that has more than a billion nanotubes, which gives it excellent potential to produce hydrogen from another abundant resource eurekalert

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