Engineering Bacteria to Harvest Light

Commonly used lab bacteria called E. coli can be converted into light-harvesting organisms in a single genetic step, according to new research from MIT. The genetic enhancement allows microorganisms that normally derive their cellular energy from sugars to switch to a diet of sunlight. These findings could ultimately be used to genetically engineer bacteria that […]

Bolivia Min: Foreign Oil Companies Can’t Book Reserves as Own

Foreign energy companies can’t book Bolivian oil and gas reserves as theirs, Bolivian Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Villegas said, the El Diario newspaper reported Friday. “Can companies book the reserves as theirs at stock exchanges? I clearly tell them ‘no,’ because the owner is the Bolivian state,” Villegas is quoted as telling a Bolivian senate commission. […]

Why Hybrid Cars Aren’t Selling Well

The sale of hybrid automobiles constitutes an anemic 1.8% of all vehicle sales, down from a peak of 2.1% in October 2006. I would suggest that Americans aren’t all that “green” despite the endless print and broadcast media harangues that our wonderful lifestyles are to blame for everything from hurricanes to frizzy hair. Those who […]

Clean coal is all hot air

The vast majority (77 per cent) of Australia’s electricity is produced using black and brown coal. As Labor’s policy announcement acknowledges, CSIRO scientists have estimated that carbon capture and storage technologies are not commercially viable (and will not be for many years), and would effectively double the cost of producing electricity. It is also estimated […]

China’s Three Gorges Seen Completed Yr Ahead of Plan

China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, a year ahead of schedule, state media reported on Friday.China, wary of over-dependence on imported oil, is keen to boost the use of hydropower, now supplying nearly a quarter of the country’s installed electricity capacity.A series […]

Fighting for air: frontline of war on global warming

Progress comes at a high price for China and India, but there are grounds for hopeLinfen is the frontline of the battle against global warming. For the past five years, the city of 3.5 million people has been the most polluted place on the planet, bottom of the World Bank’s air quality rankings, and a […]

Japan recognises India’s nuclear energy requirement

Japan “recognises” India’s quest for civilian nuclear energy cooperation and has promised to “proactively participate” in the discussions on the sensitive issue in the international fora. “Japan recognises the strategic importance of India and understands her necessity to meet increasing energy demand by utilising nuclear energy, with consideration to global warming,” Japanese foreign minister Taro […]

As if gold weren’t bad enough, now they have found oil

Ever since press reports indicated several years ago that commercial deposits of petroleum had been confirmed in Zanzibar off the shores of Pemba and surrounding areas, things have never been the same. Before you could say “Petroleum-Ho!,” the Union government of Tanzania and the government of Zanzibar were already locking horns on the find.If the […]

Peak oil thriller hits German best-seller list

A peak oil thriller from a popular German novelist has hit the best-seller lists. The 750-page novel is written in a style like that of Michael Crichton’s techno-thrillers, and covers many of the themes discussed in the peak oil community. Ausgebrannt (“Burned Out” in English) was published in February and reached #7 on the Spiegel […]

Palm Oil & Deforestation: Truth or Fiction?

Comprehensive policies and laws on environmental protection are in place in Malaysia and are strictly enforced by the Department of Environment. Endangered species, including Orang Utans, needing protection are given priority with strong conservation programs put in place. Sabah, with a growing palm oil industry and one of the largest states in Malaysia had drafted […]

The Oil Drum: Just Gazpromming Along

Some measure of the importance of Gazprom to Russia can be estimated by the BBC story which notes that the company provides half of Russia’s energy, and 15% of its hard currency earnings. Of equal importance to those who would buy some of that energy Gazprom will likely send it to you through it’s pipeline […]

Al Gore and the wedges game

Whether they realize it or not, policymakers dealing with energy and climate issues are now deeply engaged in the wedges game. What is the wedges game? It is a useful way of thinking about how to replace energy technologies that produce greenhouse emissions with less-harmful alternatives. energybulletin

Report queries nuclear role in beating global warming

The surge in political popularity of nuclear power as a quick-fix, zero-carbon solution to global warming is misguided and potentially highly dangerous, a group of academics and scientists said on Monday. In its report “Secure energy, civil nuclear power, security and global warming”, the Oxford Research Group said there was not enough uranium available and […]

The changing nature of Russia’s Gazprom

Not only does the Russian energy giant produce most of the country’s vast reserves of natural gas, it also controls the pipeline infrastructure and gas exports. In this corner of Russia, there are 17 underground pipelines pumping gas across the country and to Europe, some 5,000 kilometres away. BBC

Report recommends decentralising energy

Creating a network of local power stations would be far more efficient and lead to lower carbon emissions than building new nuclear power stations, according to a report commissioned by Greenpeace. The study by the World Alliance for Decentralised Energy argues that the current model across the UK relies on a few large power stations […]

Chinese President Visits Russia, Seeking Oil and Natural Gas

Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Moscow today, seeking access to Russian oil and natural gas to power the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Hu will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. The Chinese leader is making his third state visit to Russia since he took office in 2003, underscoring China’s intense interest […]

Iran

The troubles surrounding Iran is not ending. With mass reserves of gas and oil, the ambition to develop nuclear technology is leaving the Iranian industry handcuffed. While Iran is following the footsteps of North Korea, Russia is using the gas to build an energy empire. In this doomed times, Iran may be losing its only […]

UAE has the fifth largest natural gas reserves in the world.

The UAE contains proven crude oil reserves of 97.8 billion barrels, or slightly less than 8% of the world total reserves. Abu Dhabi holds 94% of this amount, or about 92.2 billion barrels. Dubai contains an estimated 4.0 billion barrels, followed by Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, with 1.5 billion and 100 million barrels of oil, […]

Bush, auto execs to talk flex-fuel cars

The focus is on Bush’s support for flexible-fuel vehicles, which are capable of using gasoline and ethanol blends, and his administration’s plan to cut gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years. The three auto leaders have pledged to double their production of flexible fuel vehicles to about 2 million a year by 2010. yahoo

Biofuels can free Africa of its ‘oil curse’ – expert

For the African continent, oil is a real curse: it spurs corruption, civil conflict and resource wars, it displaces local populations, fuels social inequality and has a terrible environmental record. The ongoing civil conflicts in the Niger Delta, the destabilisation in Chad, the war in Sudan or mass-corruption in Angola are just some illustrations of […]

Development in harmony with nature

… O’Brien said those who squawk about the costs of going green are shortsighted. “Between peak oil and climate change, energy is going to get very, very expensive,” he said. “The dilemma of the dollar is that dollars don’t measure social values. Global warming is the biggest, most colossal catastrophe that the human race has […]

China, Venezuela to cement ties with oil deals

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela said on Saturday it was working on a raft of oil deals with China, giving impetus to President Hugo Chavez’s attempts to break his country’s dependence on oil exports to the United States. The China National Petroleum Corp. will look to develop heavy crude oil production in the Orinoco Belt and […]

Africa: Renewable sources the key to energy crisis?

Biofuel and other renewable energy sources may hold the key to Africa’s energy crisis. Without intervention, this crisis is set to grow. Southern African cities such as Lusaka in Zambia, Harare in Zimbabwe, Gaborone in Botswana and Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania will be affected. TICAD was initiated by Japan in 1993 to address threats posed to […]

India committed to Iran gas pipeline: oil minister

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India is committed to a multi-billion dollar pipeline that will transport gas from energy-rich Iran through Pakistan despite reported objections from United States, Oil Minister Murli Deora said. “I don’t see any problem (on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline),” Deora was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency on […]

Will anxious Arab states soon form a nuclear family?

From Libya to Egypt to fuel-strapped Jordan, Arab countries have signaled their desire to develop nuclear power, even amid a concerted attempt by the United States to tighten the noose around Iran lest it join the nuclear club. These new players are entering a nuclear race in an unstable zone, dominated by two regional powers, […]

BHP chief’s doubts over clean coal technology

THE former head of BHP has punctured the optimism of the Howard Government about clean-coal technology by saying the long-term storage of the carbon waste may be as difficult as dealing with nuclear waste. Paul Anderson, who ran BHP-Billiton in 2002 and still sits on its board, told the Herald: “People can’t believe you’re safe […]

Deep economy: Localism, innovation and knowing what’s what

…I have no faith that people in the United States or elsewhere will voluntarily reduce their standards of living: indeed, outside of a few statistical outliers, like the Amish, I know of no evidence that anyone ever has, at least for very long. The way forward is not by going back to some earlier model […]

Catastrophic Hypothesis: Could Global Warming Melt All Ice On Earth?

By Nikolai Osokin, glaciologist at the Institute of Geography, the Russian Academy of Sciences In the permafrost zones, a layer melts in the summer, when the temperature rises above zero. However, in the winter this layer freezes again. This is a normal process: what melts, freezes. Yet if a winter is abnormally warm, this seasonal […]

Asia’s river systems face collapse

The WWF puts the blame for the deterioration of river systems on overdevelopment, noting that at least 60% of the world’s 227 largest rivers have been fragmented by dams, leading to the destruction of wetlands. On a global scale, more than 45,000 large dams – those that are more than 60 meters high – are […]

Open skies deal will undo curbs on CO2, say Greens

Environmental groups warned yesterday that the open skies treaty to liberalise transatlantic flights could undermine efforts to combat climate change. The number of flights between the United States and Europe is expected to increase by half over the next five years – an additional 25 million air passengers – after European transport ministers approved the […]

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