Fuel for thought

The drought and harsh winter have led to significant price rises in fruit and vegetables but these are short-term compared to the impact some global forces could have at the farm gate. When visiting food industry figure Guillaume Bastiaens told a gathering of his Australian counterparts in Sydney that he had never seen anything like […]

The Oil Drum: Ethanol and the Environment

What about the environmental benefits of using ethanol as fuel? The feedback I received on the previous posting on ethanol use and foreign oil displacement was very valuable in helping me to identify poorly communicated points, and make some key edits. I am hoping for the same kind of feedback on the present offering. I […]

A New Push to Regulate Power Costs

More than a decade after the drive began to convert electricity from a regulated industry into a competitive one, many states are rolling back their initiatives or returning money to individuals and businesses. A $1 billion rebate for Illinois residents and businesses, for example, was signed into law last week. In Ohio, politicians, utilities, their […]

Fuel Oil Beats Gasoline, Diesel on Shipping Demand

(Bloomberg) — Fuel oil for the first time in two years is rising faster than gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, increasing the cost of ocean freight and electricity. Demand for the fuel used in marine engines and power plants is accelerating because the world shipping fleet is growing at a record pace. Refiners are selling […]

Richard Heinberg’s Museletter- Peak Everything

Note: This issue is an edited version of the Introduction to Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines. During the past few years the phrase Peak Oil has entered the global lexicon. It refers to the moment in time when the world will achieve its maximum possible rate of oil extraction; from then […]

Kunstler: Crunch Time

…I haven’t changed my view of what is happening to us. We have run out our string of stunts and tricks in the money rackets. We’ve spent our legitimacy. The rest of the world will strive mightily to get free of their obligations to us, including their respect for the value of our currency. The […]

Refinery to shut down in October for a month

One of Colorado’s two refineries in Commerce City that turn crude oil into gasoline and diesel will be shut down for a month beginning Oct. 1, possibly squeezing fuel supplies and pushing up prices at pumps. Owner Suncor Energy said the planned shutdown for maintenance work has been scheduled for October because that month typically […]

Iraq far from US goals for energy

IraqThePeninsula

Good intentions vs good extractions

Turkey is energy-poor, that is to say, it lacks large fossil-fuel reserves and has had to spend millions of liras to generate power from its natural resources with hydroelectric dams across most major rivers, solar panels on every house, and wind farms on the Aegean coast. Other sources of energy such as a nuclear power […]

Dutch Build Towering Wind Turbines Out at Sea

There is no shortage of wind in the densely-populated Netherlands but there is a shortage of space and in a nation which likes its houses small and its gardens cosy, opposition to wind farms is immense. That is why a new Dutch wind farm is being built so far out to sea it is barely […]

Corn Ethanol

Corn ethanol has been enticing to Upstate New York, with its declining industries and abundant farms. Companies have positioned the plants as an economic life raft and thrown them to a region struggling to stay afloat: They’ll provide much-needed jobs and drum up business for corn farmers. But they won’t last. Already, the vast amounts […]

Aussie biofuel production capacity grows despite drought

Australia’s capacity to produce ethanol and biodiesel is gaining strength despite the drought, experts say. APAC Biofuel Consultants released a report in Bangkok today at the Advanced Global Biofuel Summit which predicts Australian biofuel production capacity will double this year to more than 600 million litres.The report, prepared by APAC Biofuel Consultants principals Mike Cochran […]

Bread prices to keep rising worldwide-bakers union

Bread prices are rising globally due to higher grain prices and this trend is set to continue, the International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners said on Monday. Wheat futures hit all-time highs last week in Europe and the United States on persistent worries over tight global supplies and strong export demand.“I think that consumers need […]

Oversupply of gas does not mean price cuts

For decades, the UK has been reliant for its gas imports on pipelines from abroad – most notably the interconnector. As the stock of gas in the North Sea ran down in recent years, and Britain became a net importer, it became clear that this limited link with the Continent was a serious impediment. It […]

Urgency of nuclear power in Bangladesh

Following the statement of G-7 countries in April, favouring nuclear power electricity as one of the three options for energy diversification, energy efficiency, and energy security, and to address climate change (nuclear power stations do not emit greenhouse gases, especially C02), there has been a softening of attitude towards nuclear power both in the developed […]

The

The Government will announce in November that it is to invest up to The plants will each use different technologies to transform coal into a clean fuel by piping harmful gases into empty North Sea oilfields. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks will announce the finalists next year and the plan is to get the first green […]

Oil funds should not be allowed to spend: IMF

Oil funds that have been proliferating as a result of the tripling of average energy prices between 1999 and 2006 should not have the authority to spend the revenues earned, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Instead, the earnings of the oil funds – whose aims include stabilisation, financial savings, asset […]

Russia’s Rosneft aiming to become top global oil company

State-controlled Russian group Rosneft wants to extract 140 million tonnes of oil by 2012 and become a global top three energy company, its chief executive said Sunday. “Today we are the leader of the Russian oil industry, and our medium-range objective is to become a global top three energy company,” Sergei Bogdanchikov told Vesti 24 […]

Electric Cars 2.0

Plug-in hybrids could bring gas-free commutes. But will they make it to market?An electric battery with a 40-mile range could nearly eliminate trips to the gas station for many drivers, since Americans drive just over 30 miles a day on average. But unlike earlier, all-electric cars, the new hybrids could handle longer commutes; the Volt […]

Against the grain

Although technologies like solar and wind power may have entered the mainstream, itDo you think that may be a part of the legacy of existing, long-established relationships? It

Funny thing happened at fuel queue the other day

“WHAT Scattered all over, either hidden or in full view, are once fashionable and not so fashionable vehicles forging a very sedentary existence in splendid abandonment. Some of these have been turned into storage facilities or, for the more enterprising ones, chicken coops. I know of a gentleman who turned his once impressive SUV into […]

Fair play: Kids, the fair, the future

…Last week the U.S. Department of Energy quietly released a report saying that in less than 30 years we will exhaust the planet The reality of other threats like global warming increased my melancholia. Most people are not aware of the dire future their children face, which makes me wonder: Would many parents have had […]

Trinidad & Tobago: Economic risk management

…Any government that depends on the proceeds (taxes) from the energy sector has to be cognisant of the risks attached to its cash flow, of the concept that petroleum is a finite and depleting resource. As a result it has to manage the economy to alleviate as much as possible the impact of this risk […]

Oilsands Project to Use Bituman Instead of Natural Gas to Produce Steam

The project will be the first oilsands development to practically eliminate the use of natural gas to generate steam, instead using OPTI’s patented process to turn the heaviest portion of each barrel of bitumen into a synthetic fuel. The companies have said the process could offer an operating cost advantage of as much as $9 […]

[TOD EUR] Duncan Clarke Responds to David Strahan

Last month David Strahan published an open letter to Duncan Clarke, which we discussed here. Duncan Clark has been good enough to respond to Strahan with an open letter we are able to publish today. The Oil Drum: Europe

So Cal Heat Wave Strains Power Grid

Parts of Southern California sweltered in triple-digit temperatures on Monday as a heat wave stretched into the seventh day and contributed to power outages that left thousands with without air conditioning. Temperatures soared in the San Fernando Valley with Woodland Hills reporting 102 degrees and Van Nuys at 99, according to the National Weather Service. […]

The Facts on Emissions, or a Lot of Hot Air?

President Bush made an arresting claim about global warming when he appeared at a fundraiser last Monday, but it may not have been correct. “Do you realize that the United States is the only major industrialized nation that cut greenhouse gases last year?” Bush said in Bellevue, Wash. Kristen A. Hellmer, the spokeswoman for the […]

South Dakota company says new technology will squeeze more ethanol from corn

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A company that has been making ethanol from corn for more than 20 years says its ethanol research should allow it to squeeze 27 percent more fuel from each acre of the crop. Poet, a privately owned ethanol producer in Sioux Falls, plans to expand its dry-mill ethanol plant in […]

Harnessing the Sun

The Holy Grail of nuclear fusion may soon be within reach The world’s insatiable demand for energy is rapidly altering the economics of its production. As the price of crude oil rises, exploration in inhospitable seas and frozen wastes becomes profitable. Gas, too, becomes more valuable as an alternative, and the breakneck rise in production […]

`Veg my ride’: Businesses turn old cars into green machines

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) The petite 49-year-old business owner might be a car junkie, but she’s indulging her obsession without polluting the air by running her rides on biodiesel and other alternative fuels. “I feel so superior driving next to a Hummer and going, ‘Dude, yo, look at this, this is what you should be doing,’” […]

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