Living fossils cut cost of hydrogen fuel cells

Oxford University has demonstrated an enzyme-based hydrogen fuel cell that operates without platinum or other costly catalysts. electronicsweekly

Venezuela threatens no oil takeover compensation

Venezuela threatened on Tuesday not to compensate some foreign oil companies in its planned takeover of their multibillion-dollar projects in the OPEC nation’s vast Orinoco reserve. The warning from the oil minister intensified the pressure the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez has exerted on some of the world’s largest companies as they negotiate before […]

Governments in the U.S. Prepare for Peak Oil

recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report says that since most studies suggest decline of oil within around three decades, the U.S. government must prepare the country for that eventuality. Here are links to this and other reports, plus articles that interpret them. seattlepi

Top Iraqi Officials Arrive in Dubai to Discuss Draft Oil Law

Iraqi officials and businessmen arrived in the United Arab Emirates Tuesday ahead of a meeting in Dubai on April 18 to discuss their country’s controversial but crucial draft hydrocarbon law, intended to attract investments into the country’s ailing energy sector. rigzone

3D Solar Cells Boost Efficiency, Reduce Size

The new 3D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. The cells could find near-term applications for powering spacecraft, and by enabling efficiency improvements in PV coating materials, could also change the way solar cells are designed for a broad […]

Tapping Into SunPower: On the Path to Strong Growth

I have recently been speaking with Tom Werner, the CEO of SunPower (SPWR), one of the leaders in the high-efficiency solar cell market. SunPower designs, manufactures and markets high-performance solar electric technology worldwide. SunPower seekingalpha

Global oil production to peak by 2018

Global oil production will peak sometime between next year and 2018 and then decline, according to a controversial new model developed by a Swedish physicist. The new model, developed by Fredrik Robelius, a physicist and petroleum engineer at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, uses a msnbc

Ethanol cars may not be healthier

Ethanol vehicles may have worse effects on human health than conventional petrol, US scientists have warned. He added: “By comparison, converting all vehicles to battery-electric, where the electricity is from wind energy would eliminate 10,000 air pollution deaths per year and 98% of carbon emissions from vehicles.” bbc

Big biofuel plant to be built on Canadian Prairies

North America’s biggest biofuel refinery will be built in central Alberta near the town of Innisfail, and could be producing fuels in the third quarter of 2008, the plant’s developers said on Tuesday. The C$400 million ($354 million) complex will be able to produce 378 million liters (100 million gallons) each of ethanol, canola oil […]

Chic-onomics: ‘value is the new growth!’

…Traditional economics is trapped in 20th century worldview, where the outdated ideology of “global-market utopianism” has replaced reality and theory: Their dogma says “markets are perfect.” They focus narrowly on protecting their “efficient market hypothesis,” with a blind obsession for endless “growth.” What’s going wrong? Consider a few examples: Skyrocketing CEO pay, tax cuts for […]

Ex-U.S. military chiefs warn warming worsens security

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global climate change acts as a “threat multiplier” in some of the world’s most volatile areas, and raises tensions even in stable regions, 11 former U.S. military leaders warned on Monday. To combat this, they urged immediate planning and international cooperation without waiting for total certainty on the consequences of global warming. […]

Azerbaijan’s share of the world’s hydrocarbons

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly has published its annual ranking of the world’s 50 largest oil companies, this ranking is the leading source of comparative performance assessments on all the world’s oil companies. While Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil remain entrenched at the top, mergers, acquisitions and state consolidation continue to make their mark. The report states […]

Lester Brown: Plan B Budget for Saving Civilization

Mobilizing to save civilization means restructuring the economy, restoring the economy It is not possible to put a precise price tag on the changes needed to move our twenty-first century civilization off the overshoot-and-collapse path and onto a path that will sustain economic progress. What we can do, however, is provide some rough estimates of […]

Security Council to hold unprecedented debate on climate change

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – For the first time in its history, the UN Security Council on Tuesday debates climate change, a sign that the burning issue is increasingly being seen as a major threat to world security. The theme of the open debate, held at the initiative of Britain — the council chair this month […]

Organic Light With No Wasted Electricity

The long, challenging technological march from the low-power light bulb Thomas Edison invented to the ultimate in a bright and energy-efficient lighting device may reach fruition in work led by the two Arizona State University researchers. Science Daily

Trade-off looms for arid US regions: water or power?

Water consumed by electric utilities could account for up to 60 percent of all nonfarm water used in the US by 2030. Albuquerque, N.M. – The drive to build more power plants for a growing nation This water-versus-energy challenge is likely to be most acute in fast-growing regions of the US, such as the Southeast […]

Climate Change Could Trigger ‘Boom And Bust’ Cycles Leading To Extinction

Climate change could trigger “boom and bust” population cycles that make animal species more vulnerable to extinction. , according to Christopher C. Wilmers, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Favorable environmental conditions that produce abundant supplies of food and stimulate population booms appear to set the stage for […]

Blowing Green Smoke – Kunstler

Tom Friedman, celebrated New York Times columnist and author of The World is Flat, riffed on (or around) the issues of climate change and energy in that newspaper’s Sunday Magazine this week (“The Power of Green”), and managed, in the process, to misunderstand just about every implication these conjoined problems present. Friedman’s specious thinking is […]

Saudi Aramco Says Refining Shortage to Persist on Rising Costs

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest state oil company, said a shortage of refining capacity to process so-called heavy-sour crudes will persist because of rising construction costs. Rising prices of steel and other construction materials have prompted companies and governments to delay or cancel projects, said Ibrahim Mishari, Saudi Aramco’s vice president of marketing […]

U.S. pump price highest since August

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Soaring U.S. retail gasoline prices show no signs of easing, jumping another 7.4 cents over the last week to an average $2.88 a gallon, the government said on Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline has increased 58 cents in the last two months to the highest level since last August […]

EPA chief: Bush climate policy working

WASHINGTON – The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday the growth of greenhouse gases by less than 1 percent in 2005 shows the administration’s program to address global warming “is delivering real results.” The pronouncement by EPA Administrator Dave Johnson brought a quick response from some environmentalists. “Things have come to a pretty […]

Wanna Bet the Farm on Carbon Capture and Sequestration?

…As words go, sequestration is one of your uglier words. It sounds like something bad, like defenestration. Or something left over from the Inquisition. But if you want to go on living on the planet Earth, then you I went to a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today that was intended […]

U.K.: Inflation rate at ten-year high

The Bank of England has been forced to formally explain the soaring inflation rate after it hit a ten-year high. …Mr King said that the rise in inflation was partly due to an “unexpectedly sharp” increase in the domestic energy crisis last year as well as rising food prices. The letter also said that the […]

U.S. weekly oil and gas rig count up 32

Baker Hughes in Houston reports the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. jumped by 32 this week — to reach 1,758.KTVA

Chavez warns US of ”100 years war”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Monday that in case US government attacks his country a “hundred-years’ war” will erupt. ‘We are ready to defend these lands, these waters and these skies with our teeth if we had to defend them. Venezuela is free, it is nobody’s colony,’ DPA reported Chavez as saying.

Special warns that as dwindling oil feels squeeze, so will we

“A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash” could be the most important program you’ll ever see if the experts on the program are right. What’s at stake is simply our entire way of living, they say. The problem is most people won’t see the show or won’t want to even if they can. It’s on from […]

Top 12 Greenest Vehicles

You might be surprised to learn that you don’t need to drive a hybrid car to do your part for the Earth. Yes, of the year’s 12 most environmentally friendly 2007 model cars Forbes

U.S. pursues ethanol technology as key to reducing oil dependence

The sun shone brightly on the crowd gathered at the rusting old oil refinery here, as company officials showed off diagrams explaining how they planned to turn weeds and agricultural wastes into car fuel. Government officials gave optimistic speeches. In the background, workers were preparing a new network of pipes, tanks and conveyor belts. That […]

Iran, Iraq, Kuwait ‘raise May crude oil prices’

Iran and Iraq have raised the May crude oil prices for its three main export products to all markets, while Kuwait upped its export formula for Far East clients, the Middle East Economic Survey reported Monday. The Cyprus-based weekly publication said that for Asian customers, Iranian Light remained unchanged in relation to the average price […]

America tries to beef up fuel production with left-over lard

Americans are often criticised for guzzling too much gas and eating too much fat, but one of the biggest meat producers in the United States is turning the tables, with plans to make fuel for lorries out of left-over lard. Tyson foods, one of the biggest producers of pork, beef and chicken in America, has […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy