The Biofuels Trap

My Kingdom for a Horseless Carriage We must move our nation beyond fossil fuels. But let’s not be suckered by the promoters of biofuel alternatives like corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. Large companies that stand to reap billions in subsidies and tax breaks from these energy “sources” are selling them as the way to a […]

Africa: Dealing With Africa’s Resource Curse

Africa is a vast and exotic continent of about 900 million people in 54 independent countries. It has a total area of over 30 million square kilometres. Africa is rich in mineral and natural resources. It possesses 99 percent of the world’s chrome resources, 85 percent of its platinum, 70 percent of its tantalite, 68 […]

British aid for Russian ‘eco disaster’

BRITISH taxpayers are expected to offer a Britain’s Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has agreed, in principle, to underwrite it, and John Hutton, the secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, is expected to make a final decision within weeks. Sakhalin II has angered environmentalists on several counts. The construction of three giant […]

Is A Bioeconomy fueled by Biorenewables, Sustainable?

AMES, Iowa – This spring farmers responded to the ethanol industry’s demand for grain by increasing their corn acreage by 19 percent over last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. What if that happens again next year? What if farmers decide against crop rotations and plant corn on the same fields, year after […]

Pope Leads

LORETO, Italy (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leading the Catholic Church’s first ‘eco-friendly’ youth rally, on Sunday told up to half a million people that world leaders must make courageous decisions to save the planet “before it is too late.” “A decisive ‘yes’ is needed in decisions to safeguard creation as well as a strong commitment […]

Big gamble can yield bigger payoff

ABOARD THE DISCOVERER DEEP SEAS …Exploratory wells, known in the industry as “wildcat” wells, assess whether oil exists in a field. Subsequent appraisal wells help gauge how much. Exploratory wells take several months to drill, and 65 percent or more fail. Koen projects a 1-in-12 chance of success in the Bob North field probe. Chevron […]

Barrasso visits UW

University of Wyoming students in the College of Engineering covered the concepts of peak oil and renewable energy with Wyoming In his book, Deffeyes discusses the concept of peak oil and how the United States must explore renewable forms of energy. The students discussed topics such as nuclear and wind energy, solar power, fuel cells […]

Bangladesh: No Gas for Eight Proposed Large & Medium Power Plants

The Power Division of Bangladesh is set to face a major setback in implementing at least eight large and medium power plant projects to generate a total of 1,700MW electricity as Petrobangla has informed the Power Development Board that it will not be possible to supply gas to the plants. The country is likely to […]

Expect no relief from holiday hot spell

Thousands in the region are without power, and temperatures are expected to remain in triple digits before easing off Tuesday. Day Five of the year’s longest heat wave sent people fleeing to the beaches this holiday weekend as thousands were left without power in their homes and the promise of relief was still days away. […]

Iran is running 3,000 atomic centrifuges

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran had met a planned target of installing and running 3,000 atomic centrifuges used in enriching uranium, Iranian news agencies reported. Iran had said it aimed to have that many centrifuges, which are set up in interlinked networks or “cascades” of 164 machines each, by the end of […]

Russia’s uranium enrichment center wins international support

ANGARSK, Russia–The Russian government plans to set up an international center here to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants in foreign countries. The center, to be established in the premises of the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex in eastern Siberia, is expected to prevent the proliferation of nuclear technologies to countries that do not have them.The […]

Uranium’s reaction to a nuclear future

The uranium market’s roller-coaster ride has left many investors with their fingers burnt, and has raised questions about whether the so-called nuclear renaissance – a push by governments around the world to build new nuclear power stations – will be economically viable. John Busby, who wrote ‘After Oil’, a report on alternative sources of energy, […]

Biofuels Don’t Have The Juice To Go The Distance

We must move our nation beyond fossil fuels. But let’s not be suckered by the promoters of biofuel alternatives like corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. Large companies that stand to reap billions in subsidies and tax breaks from these energy “sources” are selling them as the way to a healthy planet and energy independence for […]

Sri Lanka tea firms urged to grow own energy

Sri Lanka’s tea plantations companies have been urged to grow their own fuel as a means of reducing costs at a time when fossil fuel prices are escalating. Growing crops like gliricidia would not only provide a cheap source of firewood to meet energy requirements but also nutrients for the soil in which tea bushes […]

No holiday for nation’s 24/7 ‘energy slaves’

From oil alone, 150 energy slaves serve the average person in the United States. The electrical line worker drives a truck everywhere; the backhoe makes digging a foundation in flinty soil seem effortless compared to digging by hand in sand; and the nurse uses bandages and medicines made with and from oil, in a hospital […]

Japan’s oil products demand may have yet to recover

Japan posted an increase in oil products output in July for the first time in 14 months, but it may be premature to interpret this as a sign of demand recovery from Asia’s second-largest consumer. Even though the uptick came alongside a jump in crude oil imports and a fall in products inventories, the country’s […]

China takes ”urgent” energy challenge to masses

China’s leaders have called on ordinary people to help tackle the “urgent” problem of booming energy demand and massive pollution, which they warn threatens growth, launching a huge propaganda campaign on Saturday. “For the long-term development of our Chinese nation, saving energy and reducing pollution are so important, so urgent,” Ma Kai, head of the […]

Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata

Global competition for energy resources and tougher controls on greenhouse gas emissions have made Japan reliant on nuclear power. While the government and regional power utilities are quick to associate the word “safety” with atomic energy, several fatalities, accidents, coverups and earthquake threats have damaged the industry’s image. This is the first in a series […]

Caspian storm growing

MILAN – Kazakhstan wants hefty compensation for cost overruns and delays at the giant Kashagan oil field and favours replacing Italy’s Eni with a local company as operator, its deputy finance minister was quoted as saying. Kazakhstan, in talks with Eni SpA on the future of the contract, expects compensation for “tens of billions of […]

Gov. Heineman extends waiver for fuel haulers

LINCOLN – The whereases all add up to continued tight supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel, forcing longer trips to farther away fuel terminals. So Gov. Dave Heineman on Thursday extended until Oct. 10 his waiver issued earlier this summer on hours of service for commercial truck drivers carrying motor fuel. The extra service hours […]

Electoral Politics Cancel Out Brave Calls to Raise Gas Tax

Here’s hoping that members of Congress got some rest on their summer vacation, that they will return to Washington refreshed and wiser and ready to come up with a national energy policy that makes sense. But here’s betting that those hopes are in vain. Elections are approaching and nothing makes sense, certainly nothing as complicated […]

Home grown apples can save the planet…

An oil crisis is coming, to add to our climate change woes. And the only practical solution is in our own back yards A few weeks ago, the climate activist and inventor Dave Wilks told me he In the 1970s, families abandoned the UK because they feared being wiped out by Russian nukes. That dreaded […]

Oilsands project hit by delays, higher costs

CALGARY – Construction of the Long Lake oilsands project is about 90% complete, but labour struggles, including a failure this summer to find enough pipe fitters, has led to a delay of between six months and a year and to a fourth cost bump in two years. Nexen Inc. and OPTI Canada Inc. now say […]

Canada: Climate change ticks ever closer

On the Leslie St. spit, signs of global warming are being picked right from the feathers of migratory birds. And the ticks now spreading north carry with them the spectre of Lyme disease At the foot of Leslie St., a spit of land fans out into Lake Ontario. Over the years, the man-made peninsula, built […]

Bush’s ethanol dreams make corn a hot commodity

Washington – When Americans fire up their grills for late summer barbecues over the next few weeks, a cloud will be hanging over them in the form of higher prices for steak, chicken and ribs. The reason can be found in the rapid rise in the cost of corn, which is used not only as […]

Canada: The green faith effect

Solar panels aren’t mentioned in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, so Rev. Margaret Cornish had to write her own blessing for a special dedication service last Sunday. On the roof of St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Richmond, B.C., she asked that “the blessed sun shine on us and warm these panels, our hearts and […]

Hydropower sees peril, promise in climate change

TACOMA, Wash. — It’s been likened to a giant bellows or a massive fire hose, sending huge amounts of water roiling and churning between Puget Sound’s southern and northern basins with every change of the tides. Some entrepreneurs, however, see the mile-wide channel of the Tacoma Narrows as more than a natural wonder. It’s also […]

Planet of the apes needs to get real

I have spent 20 years in the Green movement and I need to say it as it is: we won the argument but lost the debate. We showed that coal is killing the world and they greenwashed it “clean”. We got democracy on our side and they ignore it. These are manic days for Planet […]

Heat, rain and fire: Edison sets an energy-use record

Other utilities register high demand, and there are scattered power outages. No relief is expected until after the long holiday weekend. Day 4 of the year’s longest heat wave brought new energy-use records Friday, thunderstorms, lightning-sparked fires and forecasts of no relief through the holiday weekend. At 2 p.m. Friday, Southern California Edison, which serves […]

Beyond Wind and Solar, a New Generation of Clean Energy

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Iron Works has the feel of a World War II-era shipyard, with sparks flying from welders’ torches and massive hydraulic presses flattening large sheets of metal. But this factory floor represents the cutting edge of American renewable-energy technology. The plant is assembling a test buoy for Finavera Renewables, a Canadian company […]

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