The U. S. Electric Grid: Will It Be Our Undoing?

Quite a few people believe that if there is a decline in oil production, we can make up much of the difference by increasing our use of electricity–more nuclear, wind, solar voltaic, geothermal or even coal. The problem with this model is that it assumes that our electric grid will be working well enough for […]

Monsanto to develop grass for biofuel

“Monsanto has been committed to providing farmers with higher grain yields to help them meet demand for food, feed and fuel,” said Steve Padgette, vice president of biotechnology at Monsanto. “This collaboration has the potential to advance discoveries in the next frontier: cellulosic biofuels. It also presents both companies with an opportunity to broaden our understanding of the strengths and potential applications of biomass grasses to biofuels production.”

Monsanto.com

Survey shows rise in U.S. honey bee deaths

SAN FRANCISCO – A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation’s commercially managed hives lost since last year. Last year’s survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent. As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around […]

Back to the future with fuel prices?

When I was a kid in the 1960s, most of the people on our block, including my own family, had vegetable gardens that were carefully tended — not out of pride but out of necessity. Food prices were high enough, and wages were low enough, that the carrots, lettuce, corn, radishes and tomatoes that could […]

UK: ‘Lazy, short-sighted and irresponsible’

A leaked government memo to British MEPs about how the UK plans to reach the EU’s ambitious target of increasing its use of renewables in energy consumption tenfold to 15% by 2020 from the current 1.5% has provoked anger and disbelief among green campaigners. “Lazy, short-sighted and irresponsible,” is how Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, describes […]

Georgia says ‘very close’ to war with Russia

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russia’s deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war “very close”, a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday. Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, the “foreign minister” of the breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as […]

Climate link with killer cyclones spurs fierce scientific debate

PARIS (AFP) – Climate scientists have begun to debate whether global warming is producing more powerful storms, after Nargis smashed into Myanmar — brutally changing gear from a Category One to a Category Four cyclone just before it made landfall. Nagris wasn’t an isolated incident: Hurricane Katrina laid waste to parts of the US Gulf […]

Some See Oil At $150 a Barrel This Year

A growing number of oil-market watchers say voters riled by soaring fuel costs may face far worse this summer, as factors ranging from unrest in Nigeria to slumping production in Russia could shove benchmark oil prices over $150 a barrel. …”It’s not that the genie is out of the bottle — it’s that 100 genies […]

Fuel bill extends Easyjet losses

Budget airline Easyjet has seen first-half losses more than treble as the price of oil soars. For the six months to 31 March the firm made a loss of Fuel costs in the April to September are set to increase by at least

Cyclone fuels rice price increase

Rice prices have risen for the fourth consecutive day, as tight supplies are aggravated by the disaster in Burma’s key rice-growing region. Rice for July delivery rose 2.4% to $21.6 per one hundred pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade. Cyclone Nargis, which has killed tens of thousands of people, struck areas where 65% of […]

Green movement forgets its politics

Organisations campaigning on climate change need to learn the lessons of the anti-slavery and anti-apartheid movements, says Ann Pettifor. By focusing on individuals rather than governments, initiatives such as the recent Energy Saving Day are bound to fail in their bid to reduce emissions, she argues. Climate change is the issue of the day. Scientists […]

Flood risk fear over key UK sites

Hundreds of UK power substations and water treatment plants are potentially at risk from flooding, a confidential government study suggests. BBC News has seen the conclusions of research commissioned after the devastating floods of 2007. Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and Gloucestershire were among the worst affected areas after heavy rain. And a separate study […]

Soaring oil price could drive ‘weaker airlines’ out of business

The soaring oil price will drive “weaker” rivals out of business, easyJet claimed this morning, despite seeing its own losses treble over the last six months. With oil hitting a new record of $122 a barrel yesterday, and Goldman Sachs forecasting it could hit $200 a barrel this year, easyJet predicted carnage in the airline […]

UK: Who is to blame for the soaring oil price?

With the oil price at near-record highs and Shell (RDSB) and BP (BP) declaring record profits last week, there are various truckloads of drivel about the oil majors being ruthless profiteers doing the rounds at the moment. But who With the oil price above $100 a barrel, who makes the most money out of a […]

Iraq March Oil Revenue Up 12% On Month At $5.644 Billion – Ministry

AMMAN -(Dow Jones)- Revenues from Iraq’s oil sales rose 12% in March despite Iraq exporting more crude oil in February, oil ministry figures seen by Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday show. Iraq’s oil revenues in March totaled $5.644 billion, compared with $5.037 billion in February, the ministry said. Iraq exported 59.4 million barrels in March, or […]

Palm oil wiping out key orangutan habitat: activists

One of the biggest populations of wild orangutans on Borneo will be extinct in three years without drastic measures to stop the expansion of palm oil plantations, conservationists said Wednesday. “For Central Kalimantan, the species will be gone as soon as three years from now,” Centre for Orangutan Protection director Hardi Bhaktiantoro told a press […]

No Drop in Oil Demand Seen (Birol)

Oil prices pushing well past $100 a barrel will do little to stop worldwide demand, said the economics chief of the International Energy Agency, which advises 27 member countries. Subsidies in China, India and oil-producing countries will combine with strong economic growth in those areas to support demand even with prices rising, Fatih Birol of […]

Indonesia adopts stringent ”green” palm oil standard

Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, plans to take firm measures aimed at ensuring palm oil firms meet stringent standards before labeling their products as eco-friendly, an industry watchdog said on Wednesday. The rapidly expanding palm oil industry in Southeast Asia has come under attack by green groups for destroying rainforests and wildlife, as […]

Germany Defends Biofuels, Hedges Bets on Energy Goals

The German government rejected claims Tuesday that fuel crops were causing a worldwide spike in food prices. Berlin plans to announce a plan for easing the world food crisis by July, agriculture minister Seehofer said. Germany cannot reach its climate change goals unless it dedicates land to growing biofuels, Germany’s agriculture minister Horst Seehofer said […]

World may be heating quickly: scientist

Climate change is happening faster than predicted and the world could be as much as seven degrees hotter by the end of the century, a CSIRO scientist says. New Australian research showed current policies did not go far enough to manage the risks posed by climate change, according to Dr Roger Jones, a climate risk […]

Israeli President Sees Eco-Fuel Fighting ”Terror”

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday hailed his country’s new weapon against the threat of “terrorism” from its Middle East neighbours — the electric car. Outlining Israel’s development priorities in an address to foreign journalists to mark this week’s 60th anniversary of statehood, Peres said reducing global dependence on oil would curb oil-producing states’ ability […]

No Chance Oil Supply Will Grow Faster Than Demand; More Crude Price Rises Loom

With oil production in non-OPEC countries Indeed, the Raymond James report suggests that the market may be about to raise the risk premium on a barrel of crude, which now stands at very roughly $10 to $20 a barrel, as

Saudi Fears Of High Oil Prices Fade With Demand

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)–For all the benefits of soaring oil prices, Saudi Arabia has historically viewed them with a measure of trepidation. Besides the worry that high energy prices could hinder economic growth and eat into demand, Saudi officials have traditionally argued that sky-high crude prices would hasten the development of renewable energy that would displace […]

Asia tries to get a grip on inflation

JAKARTA: Asia grappled with a response to inflation on Tuesday in an era of $120-a-barrel oil and record commodity prices, with Indonesia raising rates and other countries saying that they hoped the problem would soon be under control. Inflation in the Philippines neared a three-year peak, but the central bank there said it would hold […]

It’s time to wake up from the American Dream

And so it begins. …Not that you’ll hear any of the three major candidates talking about the rationing of grain, nor about peak oil or any of the environmental daggers pointed at the heart of our lifestyle by global climate change. And if they do speak about it all, they espouse the naive belief that […]

Arctic ice: big thaw on the way?

It

City of Swiss-style hill villages envisioned here

Soaring food and fuel prices will make current planning model obsolete, architect says METRO VANCOUVER – Sky-high fuel and food prices will eventually make Metro Vancouver’s current planning model of suburban communities linked by gas-guzzling highways economically obsolete. So says Vancouver architect Richard Balfour who believes the region’s future should resemble Switzerland rather than Los […]

Dr. Nansen G. Saleri on Peak Oil and the Future of Energy

Dr. Saleri of QRI and former head of reservoir management at Saudi Aramco joins a panel discussion on peak oil. Participants discuss major energy challenges for the coming generation. In a panel discussion today at Rice University’s Earth Science department, Dr. Nansen G. Saleri, president and CEO of Quantum Reservoir Impact and the former head […]

The final countdown

When it comes to surviving the end of the world, it pays to have your survivalist manbag at the ready – complete with peanut butter When does having a bug-out bag packed and ready to go “just in case” stop being the preserve of cranks and start being a sensible precaution? Well, judging by the […]

No Respite from Dearer Oil

Oil prices look set to continue higher for some months yet threatening weakened western economies. Merrill Lynch reckons the commodities sector is the most overheated it has been since

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