GM, Ford, Chrysler Credit Ratings May Be Cut by S&P

June 20 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC credit ratings may be lowered by Standard & Poor’s as higher gas prices inflict “financial damage” on the auto industry. S&P placed the carmakers’ credit ratings, already five levels below investment grade, on CreditWatch negative, according to a statement today. New York-based […]

Ford delays launch of new F-150

Big pick-up sales are hit by high gas prices and reduced construction spending. Automaker also expects more production cutbacks. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With sales of full-size pickups in a steep decline, Ford Motor Co. said Friday it is delaying the launch of its new, redesigned Ford F-150 pick-up by two months. The full-size pick-up, […]

Lame duck surfs oil’s slippery slope

Dear President Bush: … Even though you are a lame duck living in the ever-growing shadows of Barack O. and John M., I am sure, sir, you are still very busy. Just organizing that press conference Wednesday where you said how you were going to do something about the high price of oil, had to […]

The End of Suburbia As We Know It?

When James Howard Kunstler describes the future of the American suburbs, it sounds like he’s describing a disaster movie. The housing crisis, he says, isn’t just a low point in a real estate business cycle. High gas prices aren’t just a temporary problem for suburban commuters. None of those problems will go away. We’re at […]

Green plan urged for upgraders

Alberta should not approve as many as six more oil sands upgraders near Edmonton until the province has a solid plan to limit the huge amount of fresh water they will use and to better manage the pollution they will produce, a new study says. The Pembina Institute’s Oil Sands Fever report, released on Monday, […]

Bangladesh is set to disappear under the waves by the end of the century

Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century The waters flowing through Munshigonj

IRAN: Stop nukes by bombing oil wells, neocons suggest

Why attack Iran’s nuclear facilities when striking their oil infrastructure would be much more effective in the scope of a US-led preventive war? Sure, oil prices might skyrocket and the world economy might collapse. But, hey, that’s the price you pay for security. Such a scenario is not a nightmare or an outtake from a […]

Despite Reality, Belief in Peak Oil Persists

World oil production continues to rise; outlook good for next decade or more. Peak Oil, a theory popular among Chicken Little types, has been much in the news recently. The idea behind it is that future production levels of any consumable resource can be reliably predicted based off a single factor: the size of the […]

Battery leasing could help ease anxiety about hybrids

DETROIT Two companies are working on battery lease plans. Think Car USA plans to lease the batteries for its City electric car to go on sale next year. Project Better Place, a start-up with $200 million in funding from partners, is trying to create a system for consumers to “subscribe” to a service that offers […]

Energy Future: A Significant Period of Discomfort

Interview with Robert Hirsch on Peak Oil You were the lead author of a groundbreaking 2005 study on future oil production and declining reserves. How is the situation three years later? RH: Today, the situation is worse, and the reason for this is that it is now obvious that world oil production is already on […]

U.S. Says Exercise by Israel Seemed Directed at Iran

Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: A Meeting at Jiddah

If the only purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the Saudis opening the taps a bit at a new oil field in response to fears that their customers will soon be priced out of the market — that would be nice. However, it seems there will be more to the meeting than an increase […]

China coal price freeze could tighten supply

China’s decision to freeze thermal coal prices is an attempt to avert possible power shortages this summer, but could further tighten domestic coal supply by encouraging exports. Late on Thursday night, China said it would cap thermal coal prices at Thursday’s level through the end of the year, while hiking diesel, gasoline and jet fuel […]

How Satellites Could Power the Future

Placing solar panels in space above both night and clouds was first considered 40 years ago. But the estimated cost was, in a word, astronomical. The idea, however, has seen a resurgence, thanks to rising oil prices and advances in solar technology. A report from U.S. Defense Department found that space-based solar is technically feasible […]

Organic by design

As a product designer, Agustin Otegui’s has to “think big” about the objects he creates. From novel portable chairs made out of shovels to chrome radiators that look like modern works of art, he recasts the mundane in a modernist and functional new light. Yet when he got thinking about how he could help with […]

Experts find key to saving fuel: say gallons per mile

Turning a car’s fuel efficiency on its head by stating it in “gallons per mile”, instead of “miles per gallon” helps potential customers choose the greenest option when they upgrade, said the team at Duke University in North Carolina. In The MPG Illusion, published in the US journal Science yesterday, Richard Larrick and Jack Soll […]

Chavez may stop selling oil to Europe

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday threatened to stop selling oil to European countries if they apply a new ruling on illegal immigrants that is criticized in Latin America and by human rights groups. European Union lawmakers ruled on Wednesday that illegal immigrants can be detained for up to 18 months and […]

Climate change threat to Antarctic whales

Whales in the Southern Ocean face the twin threat of a shortage of food and a loss of hunting grounds because of global warming, a new report warns. The rise in temperature predicted over the next 40 years will lead to a drop in winter sea-ice coverage of Antarctic waters of up to 30 per […]

US-India nuclear deal appears to be in trouble

NEW DELHI (AP) U.S. policymakers see India as a counterweight to an ever-more powerful China, and the deal reverses three decades of American policy by allowing the shipment of nuclear fuel and technology to India, which has never signed international nonproliferation accords and yet has tested atomic weapons. India, in exchange, would allow international inspections […]

More farmers selling shares of their crops

‘CSA’ farms boom from 50 in 1990 to more than 2,000 today MILWAUKEE – Environmentalists recommend buying close to the farm. But actually buying the farm? A growing number of people around the nation are investing in shares of a local farmer’s crop, reducing trips to the supermarket and the cost of shipping food. The […]

State talks green energy, but leaves production to neighbors

Massachusetts consumers want green energy, and several local utilities want to provide it. The catch: finding that power in the commonwealth is next to impossible. The reason for supply shortfall is largely political; many of the large-scale clean energy projects such as Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound and Hoosac Wind in Western Massachusetts have been […]

Britain set to miss EU renewable energy target

The Renewables Advisory Board (RAB), made up of senior figures from across the industry, says the best the UK could realistically hope for is to generate 14% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2020. The EU has set Britain a target of 15% renewable energy generation by then. The government will next week publish […]

Clean-energy tea leaves show choppy growth

NEW YORK–Economic and policy problems have placed a few potholes in front of the fast-growing clean-technology business. Forecasts for clean-technology adoption all point upward these days, buoyed by high double digits growth rates in sectors like wind and solar power over the past several years. But a panel of financial experts here at the Renewable […]

Kudzu could be the next biofuel

It has caused the southeast millions in property and crop damage, but a researcher in Canada and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture say the invasive kudzu vine could be an important new source of bioethanol. Their findings come at a time when experts are rethinking whether corn is best suited for ethanol production […]

Blood in Your Tank: Petrofraud War

It’s not as if we didn’t all know that our government had gone to war for oil. It’s not as if we don’t know that they were committing unspeakable horrors in pursuit of that oil. It’s not as if we didn’t continue consuming that oil since we got a heads-up in 1973 that it was […]

Inside the Solar-Hydrogen House: No More Power Bills–Ever

Mike Strizki has not paid an electric, oil or gas bill—nor has he spent a nickel to fill up his Mercury Sable—in nearly two years. Instead, the 51-year-old civil engineer makes all the fuel he needs using a system he built in the capacious garage of his home, which employs photovoltaic (PV) panels to turn […]

NEW BP REPORT: Germany Records World’s Biggest Cut in Energy Use in 2007

A new annual energy consumption report by the oil giant BP paints a split picture of the world: rapid rises in emerging economies, a smaller fall in the EU. Energy-conscious Germany emerges as the star environmental performer. When it comes to tackling climate change, Germany’s government seems to be making a serious effort. On Wednesday, […]

Guns blight US energy choices

When New York City wanted to make the biggest purchase of subway cars in US history in the late 1990s, more than US$3 billion worth, the only companies that were able to bid on the contract were foreign. The same problem applies to high-speed rail today: only European or Japanese companies could build any of […]

How Green is My Low-Cost Car? India Revs Up Debate

Shweta Kumari is waiting impatiently for Tata Motors’ new Nano to hit Mumbai’s car showrooms later this year. But some environmentalists are dreading the prospect of hundreds of thousands of low-cost cars hitting polluted and over-crowded roads around the world in the next few years.“In the current policy and regulatory framework, the low-cost cars will […]

Report Says Severe Weather to Increase as Earth Warms

As humans emit more greenhouse gases, North America is likely to experience more droughts and excessive heat even as intense downpours and hurricanes increase, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The 162-page study, which was led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides the most comprehensive assessment […]

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