Japan: Food prices rise as more crops go into producing biofuels

The increasing demand for biofuel, which is derived from biomass — usually plants — has taken a bite out of supplies of crops and other farm products worldwide. The redirection of crops from mouths to fuel tanks is reflected in the rise of prices of ordinary food items in Japan. For the first time in […]

National Academies: A call for global energy efficiency

We call on all countries of the world to cooperate in identifying common strategic objectives for sustainable, efficient and climate friendly energy systems, and in implementing actions toward themOur present energy course is not sustainable. World population is forecast to reach 9 billion by 2050, with the most rapid growth in the poorest countries. Escalating […]

In going green, how energy is used can be more important than its source

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are getting a lot of attention these days as a way to reduce the impact of energy use on the environment. But even enthusiastic supporters of alternative energy agree that the easiest way to cut carbon emissions and air pollution is to focus more on efficiency, and less […]

‘Spectacular’ growth for green energy

The Green Energy sector is growing at breathtaking speed, driven by the challenges of climate change, surely unprecedented in our time. Globally, it has already become a multi-billion dollar industry, with very high growth potential which is attracting record investment. Over the last few years, eco-industries in the European Union have grown to such an […]

African Leaders Call for Integrated Strategy On Oil

African energy ministers, majority of whose countries are net petroleum importers, are calling for a collective approach in the exploration, production and management of the continent’s oil resources. The call for co-operation comes in wake of an ever-swelling import bill for the respective economies, despite the emerging oil discoveries as well as the traditional big […]

The Future of Crude Oil is Sour and Heavy

WTI trades at a premium to Brent Crude because WTI is a lighter grade of crude. By lighter, we mean that WTI crude, owing to its purer, less sulfuric quality, is less expensive to “crack” into refined fuels for re-sale to the public. A product with a built-in higher profit margin should trade at a […]

NZ may still have 10 billion barrels of oil – GNS

Up to 10 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from future significant discoveries around New Zealand, an expert in oil exploration says. “New Zealand is surrounded by sedimentary basins. . . and the probability of significant oil. . . 10 billion barrels,” said David Darby, a “new business” manager for GNS Science.“The deepwater frontiers […]

China Embraces Nuclear Future

Under plans already announced, China intends to spend $50 billion to build 32 nuclear plants by 2020. Some analysts say the country will build 300 more by the middle of the century. That’s not much less than the generating power of all the nuclear plants in the world today. washingtonpost

Uranium Windfall Opens Choices for the Energy Dept.

nytimes

Companies gear up for greenhouse gas limits

Congress hasn’t come up with a plan for limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, but U.S. companies are wagering billions of dollars that it will. msnbc

Biofuels to be processed by oil refineries

As a result of an increasing demand for biofuels, new processing routes for crude oil have had to be found. Over the next five years the BIOCOUP project, supported through the Commission europa

Monbiot: Our blind faith in oil growth could bring the economy crashing down

Britain’s future prosperity has been hardwired to rising use of transport fuels, without a thought for the supply drying upThe energy white paper the government published last week talks of new taxes, new markets, new research, new incentives. Anyone reading the chapter on transport would be forgiven for believing that the government has the problem […]

Get 50 mpg — in your own car

But by applying common sense and some of hypermiling’s simpler techniques, it is possible to improve significantly the fuel efficiency of any vehicle. Hypermilers report daily mileage — even in bone-stock cars such as a Honda Civic, Ford Escort or Toyota Yaris — well into the 40s. moneycentral

Oil companies salivating over U.S. reserves

Colorado and Utah have as much oil as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates combined. Trapped in limestone up to 200 feet thick in the two Rocky Mountain states is enough so-called shale oil to rival OPEC and supply the United States for a century. […]

Japan Plans to Spur Development of Low-Carbon Powertrains and Fuels

Japan greencarcongress

Limits To Growth?

We have to change the basis of our society, from one which is ultimately reliant on hydrocarbons (what happens to all those cars, all that shipping and transportation, the lineaments of our society, without it) to one that doesn’t dump carbon faster into the environment that the earth can clean it up. And we need […]

Efficiency, Not Just Alternatives, Is Promoted as an Energy Saver

nytimes

UK outlines Biomass Strategy: large potential for bioenergy, bioproducts

The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Transport (DoT) have released their joint report on the potential of and strategies to exploit biomass for energy, fuels and renewable products in the UK. (…) The cross-departmental report says “there is significant potential […]

Troubles run deep on Gulf oil platform

“We have passed the peak for world discoveries,” said Robert Gillon, an analyst at oil-industry research firm John S. Herold Inc. “It’s hard to see how the industry can do anything whatsoever to materially increase its oil reserves or production.” Against this backdrop, Thunder Horse, sitting atop a reserve that possibly holds 1.5 billion barrels, […]

Trouble brews in Germany as biofuel boom jacks up price of beer

Like most Germans, brewer Helmut Erdmann is all for the fight against global warming. Unless, that is, it drives up the price of his beer. And that is exactly what is happening to Erdmann and other German brewers as farmers abandon barley – the raw material for the national beverage – to plant other, subsidized […]

Leggett demands action from government mired in ‘half-policies’

Environmental policy is a hodge-podge of half-policies and will end up in a blind alley if the government does not rethink its response to climate change, a leading environmental campaigner will say today. In a debate at the Guardian Hay festival, Jeremy Leggett, a former Greenpeace campaigner and now chief executive of the environmental group […]

China wants to stop energy-guzzling industries

China’s top economic planning agency has told local authorities to remove preferential policies for industries which consume disproportionate amounts of energy, state media said. The order from the National Development and Reform Commission, reported by the Xinhua news agency, comes amid growing signs the government’s ambitious energy-saving plans are failing.It was unclear which sector would […]

Palm oil puts squeeze on Asia’s endangered orangutan

Bound hand and foot, dishevelled orangutans caught raiding Borneo’s oil palm crops silently await their fate as a small crowd of plantation workers gather to watch. Lacking only hand-cuffs and finger-printing to complete the atmosphere of a criminal bust, such “ape evictions” have become part of life for Asia’s endangered red apes.Thousands have strayed into […]

Peak oil requires new thinking for a new age

In an economy where fossil fuels are in decline and renewable and nuclear energy sources are assuming increasingly dominant roles, electricity will become increasingly important as an end-use energy source. This implies that as fossil fuels deplete, the basis of our economy will shift from a predominantly chemical to a mostly electrical base. This would […]

Global Warming ‘Could Trigger Rise Of Rats’

Global warming could contribute to a rat population explosion with potentially disastrous human health consequences, an expert warned today. Milder winters and hotter springs were already increasing the rat population significantly, he said. lse

Cities to get loans for green energy

Five of the world’s most powerful banks have launched a US$5 billion fund to speed up energy efficiency programmes in 16 world capitals. As a result, London, Chicago, Sao Paulo and other centres will be able to slash carbon dioxide emissions. It is hoped the project will cut the price of green technologies because the […]

Mexico climate plan aims at trees, energy

Mexican president Felipe Calderon has launched the nation carbonpositive

The Arab world requires capital investment of about $345bn in the energy sector between 2007 and 2011, a recent review by the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) has said. This represents a 57% increase over the 2006 gulf-times

A Gas Crisis 30 Years in the Making

Embrace the memory of the average $3.21 cents we’ll pay for each gallon of regular unleaded gasoline purchased this Memorial Holiday weekend. The chances are we’ll pay a lot more next year and the year after that. Abandon your conspiracy theories, your worries that global oil companies are gouging us at the pump. For the […]

Japan Will Urge APEC to Take Energy-Saving Measures

Japan, a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, wants the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members to adopt specific measures to cut energy consumption. Japan’s delegation to the APEC energy ministers’ meeting in Darwin, Australia, will call on the meeting to agree plans to promote energy savings across industries, Jun Arima, director of the […]

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