California Seeks Thermostat Control

SAN FRANCISCO The proposed rules are contained in a document circulated by the California Energy Commission, which for more than three decades has set state energy efficiency standards for home appliances, like water heaters, air conditioners and refrigerators. The changes would allow utilities to adjust customers

Underwater oil discovery to transform Brazil into a major exporter

RIO DE JANEIRO: While some of the world’s largest oil producers, including Mexico and Iran, are struggling to remain exporters, Brazil is moving in the opposite direction. A huge underwater oil field discovered late last year has the potential to transform South America’s largest country into a sizable exporter and win it a seat at […]

Good, not so bad news from Iraq oil

BAGHDAD, Jan. 11 (UPI) — Iraq ended a deadly year by steadily increasing oil production, but about $1.4 billion in revenue was taken by the still booming black market. Around 21.5 million barrels of oil were reported pumped but not accounted for in exports, storage facilities or refineries, according to the global energy information firm […]

ANALYSIS – Bush unlikely to pressure Saudis on oil

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush is unlikely to complain about oil prices near $100 per barrel when he meets with Saudi Arabia’s king next week, even though prices have nearly doubled since the last time the two met in 2005. When he arrives in Riyadh on Monday, Bush would be well within his bounds to […]

Food Bank center looks to end need for help

…Andrews said the need for soup kitchens, emergency food boxes and other such Band-Aid remedies to hunger can be reduced by having a community-based food system with community gardens, shared kitchens, and education about such food-preservation techniques as canning and freezing. “The new era we’re entering is a more ecological approach to food, so it’s […]

3-wheeled Aptera aspires to car-pool lane

CARLSBAD, Calif. “Most people thought I was crazy,” Fambro recalls. Some might still wonder when they see what emerged: a futuristic commuter car powered by electricity with a skin of epoxy resin, not sheet metal. And perhaps oddest, it has three wheels, not four. The Aptera, with a range of 190 miles between charges, is […]

Surging oil prices fuel manufacturing inflation pressures in Canada

OTTAWA – Factory prices and the cost of raw materials surged in November as the high cost of oil showed signs of filtering through to the general economy. Statistics Canada reported Friday that prices charged by manufacturers for their goods rose 0.6 per cent in November after six straight monthly declines. Meanwhile, raw material costs […]

The future of oil? America’s not in the driver’s seat

With oil hovering at the $100-a-barrel mark, we’re inundated by calls for a “Manhattan Project” on alternative energy, more regulation of major oil companies and an end to our military presence in the Gulf. The assumptions are that America’s energy demand drives prices, the “majors” determine supply and instability in the Middle East explains recent […]

Ahead for Heating Oil Users: a Record-Shattering Winter

Penny Osborn never before needed help with the cost of heating, but the 57-year-old physician’s assistant had been out of work most of last year recovering from cancer surgery. And as cold weather set in, she faced an $855 bill to fill up the oil tank of her Colfax, Iowa, home Although Osborn’s run of […]

Oil, not China, sends trade deficit higher

WASHINGTON The increase was driven by a 16.3 percent surge in America’s foreign oil bill, which climbed to an all-time high of $34.4 billion as the per barrel price of imported crude reached new records while the volume of shipments declined slightly. With oil prices last week touching $100 per barrel, analysts are forecasting higher […]

Shoppers in China will have to pay for plastic bags

BEIJING (AFP) – Shoppers in China will have to pay for plastic bags at supermarkets and other retail stores as part of a nationwide crackdown on the environmentally damaging items, the government has announced. The production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags thinner than 0.025 millimetres (0.001 inches) will also be banned completely, the […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: The Bears Are Back in Town

As we enter 2008, there has rarely been a time when the prospects for the oil price could be so apparently volatile. Just take some of the figures we have at our disposal today as reminders. One year ago the Nymex price for a barrel of crude fell just a shade under $50 intra day. […]

Ireland to ban low-efficiency light bulbs

DUBLIN (AFP) – Ireland is to ban the sale of traditional light bulbs from next year and promote the use of low-energy CFL bulbs, environment minister John Gormley said Thursday. He said the switch will see Ireland lead the way in Europe — just as it taken the lead with its ban on smoking in […]

Das Coopital: A Chicken and Egg Story of the Economy

In the beginning, roving bands of people gathered fruit and plants and hunted proto-chickens, until one day they discovered that they could eat more regularly if they cultivated the plants that they ate and domesticated the chickens. Thus was born agriculture, more or less, and everyone contributed their labor in equal measure to the number […]

Mexico’s Calderon Inaugurates Nitrogen Plant To Help Oil Production

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon inaugurated a new nitrogen injection plant on Thursday to help increase oil production in the country’s southern region. State oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos has seen oil output fall steadily since reaching a peak in 2004, and is turning to advanced techniques such as nitrogen injection to increase […]

Older Arctic sea ice replaced by young, thin ice: Study

A new study by University of Colorado at Boulder researchers indicates older, multi-year sea ice in the Arctic is giving way to younger, thinner ice, making it more susceptible to record summer sea-ice lows like the one that occurred in 2007. The team used satellite data going back to 1982 to reconstruct past Arctic sea […]

Fuel shortages in northern Iran sparks riots

Fuel shortages in sub-zero temperature in northern province of Mazandaran sparked angry riots. Residents of Qaemshahr gathered outside the governorates office building yesterday to protest against the government’s inaction to resolve fuel shortages after a gas supply cut off over the past two weeks. Lack of any move by the authorities to deal with the […]

UK: Why 36 is the magic number for nuclear

Greener, more radioactive energy will not come cheap: this single number, at the heart of government policy, is the reason why Your electricity bill will soar as the power supply becomes greener and more radioactive, in line with government policy. The proof lies in a single number buried in the White Paper on Nuclear Power, […]

A Shell Game of Coal Dust and Green Olympics

There are only 270 days left until the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. by Between now and the time the torch is lit and the Green games start, 38 new pulverized-coal fired power plants will open. Statement after statement about how this Olympiad will be environmentally friendly and the amazing lengths China is going […]

Bush To Push Saudi On Oil In Mideast Talks?

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The last time U.S. President George Bush met face-to-face with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, crude oil prices were nearly half their current price and Saudi oil output was 5% higher than it is now. Bush heads off Tuesday for a Middle East trip aimed at advancing efforts for a negotiated peace between […]

PDVSA Cardon Refinery Has Six Shut Units, Industrial Info Says

(Bloomberg) — Venezuela’s state-owned oil company’s Cardon refinery has six units that remain shut following a power failure in December, according to Industrial Info Resources. Petroleos de Venezuela SA had to halt production at all of its units to prevent damage to the plant, Industrial Info said. A catalytic cracking unit, a methyl tertiary butyl […]

Australian gov’t aims to ditch plastic bags by year end

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia’s government said Thursday it hoped to phase out the use of plastic bags from the nation’s shopping centres by the end of the year. Environment Minister Peter Garrett said billions of bags were being thrown away every year, causing pollution and harming native wildlife. “There are some four billion of these […]

Tropical dengue fever may threaten U.S.: report

Dengue fever — a tropical infection that usually causes flu-like illness — may be poised to spread across the United States and urgent study is needed, health officials said on Tuesday. A warming climate and less-than-stellar efforts to control mosquitoes could accelerate its spread northwards, they cautioned. “Widespread appearance of dengue in the continental United […]

Mexico: Thieves cause diesel pipeline spill

VERACRUZ, MEXICO — Thieves ruptured a pipeline that crosses the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, spilling at least 79,000 gallons of diesel fuel Thursday and forcing the evacuation of at least 350 people. The diesel spilled across at least 1,000 square feet in Rio Blanco, 80 miles west of Veracruz city, said state civil protection […]

The Real World: Oil at $100

Is $100 oil a cause to celebrate? The answer is, yes — in the short term, and no — in the long term. The answer also depends on who you are and where you sit. Many oil exporting Middle Eastern government officials may think that the oil bonanza is here to stay. However, oil revenue […]

An incentive for peace

Despite the recent Annapolis peace conference, Israeli-Palestinian violence is escalating. Last week, Palestinian rockets fell on Israeli cities, and Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes; in one day, nine Palestinians died, including a 3-year-old girl. Even as President Bush visits the region this week for the first time since taking office, Americans might be forgiven for not […]

Analyst calls oil at $100/barrel ”pretty cheap”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Crude oil at $100 a barrel would still be “pretty cheap” because global oil demand shows no signs of abating and new energy sources are in short supply, a prominent U.S. oil analyst said on Thursday. Matt Simmons, founder of Houston-based Simmons and Co International, dismissed the idea that a looming U.S. […]

Raymond J. Learsy: President Bush in Saudi Land

Questions to Ask While Holding King Abdullah’s Hand – Your Highness, my people at our Energy Department and my good friend Matt Simmons are somewhat confused. They tell me they know so little about your true production capabilities. That you have let it be known that Saudi Arabia holds 260 billion barrels of crude oil […]

C-Realm Podcast: The Long Emergency

KMO welcomes author Dmitry Orlov back to the program for a discussion of keeping people fed in times of turmoil and for a reading from Orlov C-Realm

Economist predicts $1.50 a litre for gasoline

CIBC’s Jeff Rubin says crude will hit $150 U.S. a barrel within 4 years Maverick economist Jeff Rubin, who is at the top of his game these days, says Canadians shouldn’t be surprised to see gasoline at $1.50 a litre and oil at $150 (U.S.) a barrel within the next four years And this, according […]

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