Securing the Insecure: U.S. Oil Imports

In the last 15 years, Canada has taken honors as one of the top crude oil exporters to the United States. However, conventional reserves of crude oil in Canada are in decline, and the only reserves that Canada has in abundance are the oil sands, which are expensive and difficult to extract. Furthermore, Canada already […]

Chevron Reports Oil Output Slips

The Chevron Corporation said Thursday that second-quarter oil output fell to the lowest level since 2005 as record energy prices reduced the companyNYTimes

Brown blunders in pledge to secure Nigeria oil

Gordon Brown is being accused of preparing for a military adventure in Africa after he pledged to provide backing to the Nigerian security forces. His announcement prompted the collapse of a ceasefire in the oil-rich Niger Delta and helped to drive up crude oil prices on world markets. The Prime Minister’s offer to help “tackle […]

Crude Oil Demand Destruction Stops at the US Border

As the price of oil reverses course again and closes in on the unheard of price of $150 per barrel, Americans are finally responding to the pressure and have cut back on gasoline consumption. According to a report this week, Americans used 3.3% less gasoline than at the same time last year and usage now […]

Russia’s Putin tours new rig in Arctic oil drive

SEVERODVINSK, Russia (AFP) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday toured a new Arctic oil rig intended to boost Moscow’s position in the intensifying competition for northern energy reserves. Putin also met ministers and top oil executives in the Severodvinsk shipyard to discuss prospects for developing more Arctic fields, which are estimated to contain […]

High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom

NEWTOWN, Pa.

Hunger brings anguish for millions of Pakistanis

THARPARKAR, Pakistan: When Pakistani labourer Mangal Ram’s children cry from hunger all he has to offer them is empty promises. “My kids complain and cry for more food but what can I do?,” said Ram, 50, a father of seven who lives in the desert village of Tharparkar, in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh. […]

Our view: Trains could be route to new jobs, too

Maybe the old adage about what’s good for General Motors being good for the country should get a tweaking: what’s good for the former GM worker is good for the country. On first reading, two recent stories in this newspaper might suggest a struggle that is beyond winning. First, a report Friday, July 4, by […]

USDA Rule Change May Lead To Crops on Conserved Land

Under pressure from farmers, livestock producers and soaring food prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is weighing a policy change that could lead to the plowing of millions of acres of land that had been set aside for conservation. At issue is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), under which the government has paid farmers to […]

President George Bush: ‘Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter’

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan. The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.” He then punched […]

Experts Say High Oil Prices Here To Stay

ROCKLAND (NEWS CENTER) — Oil prices can’t stay this high, can they? Oh yes they can, say two of the country’s experts in energy. In fact, they will go higher. That’s the somewhat gloomy prediction of Mathew Simmons and Paul Anderson. Simmons is an energy investment banker, who divides his time between Texas and Maine. […]

What fraction of America’s $4+ gallon gasoline is due to the war in Iraq?

Earlier today, someone asserted that well over half (or more than $2) of America’s $4.10 gallon of gas is due to the war. Another person asked “Is that right?” And, after pulling out some hair from my head, my response was both short and then long. The short: Two dollars a gallon is, perhaps, as […]

Oil sets new record above $147 a barrel

NEW YORK – Oil prices spiked to a new record above $147 a barrel Friday, as rising hostilities between the West and Iran and the potential for attacks on Nigerian oil facilities gave investors reason to rush back into the energy markets. The resurgence in crude prices not only raises the concern that $4-a-gallon gasoline […]

Concentrating Solar Power: Oasis or Mirage?

Covered by concentrating solar power plants, less than one percent of the world CSP, or solar thermal, refers to the different ways to concentrate solar energy with panels and mirrors to heat up water and generate steam. Huge projects have already been built in Spain, Australia, and a 280-Megawatt (MW) plant in Arizona will be […]

Governors call for boost in home heating aid

N.H. governor: ‘It’s potentially a crisis and I don’t use that word lightly’ BOSTON – Governors from across New England, warning that some families may have to choose between food or warmth this winter, have called for a sharp boost in federal home heating aid. The governors, meeting in Boston on Wednesday, said they are […]

Is There an Oil Shortage?

According to a number of energy experts, between 30- and 40-percent of the recent increases in the price of oil can be attributed to dollar depreciation. One of the simplest ways to calculate this is to compare the price per barrel of oil in dollars and euros over the last five years.

Japan’s MMC to Sell Electric Cars Next Year – Nikkei

Mitsubishi Motors Corp will begin selling its electric car to individual customers in Japan from summer 2009, slightly ahead of schedule, banking on strong interest amid record-high fuel prices, the Nikkei business daily said. The Japanese automaker, one of the front-runners in the development of electric cars, had said it would begin offering the zero-emission […]

Thousands protest in Niger against power, food woes

Around 30,000 people marched through Niger’s capital Niamey on Thursday to protest against the high cost of living and electricity blackouts caused by disruptions in power supplies from neighbouring Nigeria. It was one of the biggest public protests seen in recent years in the landlocked Sahel state, which is a leading world exporter of uranium […]

Gas vs Environmental Concerns: Who Wins? (Baltics)

Poland and Lithuania may celebrate their first victory. This week the European Parliament voted with a big majority to recommend that the European Commission appoint an independent auditor to evaluate the environmental consequences of the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction before the work begins. Even though the parliament’s recommendation is non-binding, it has the support […]

Pickens’ plan is bold — too bad it won’t work

Dallas billionaire investor and oilman-turned-wind-farmer Boone Pickens on Tuesday unveiled an audacious plan that he hopes will prod policymakers into a more realistic discussion of energy issues. It’s hard to grasp, though, how parts of the plan would be implemented. Assuming all the rights to millions of acres could be acquired and the wind farms […]

Indonesia’s Budget May Face Pressure as Oil Rises

Indonesia’s budget may come under pressure as the government prepares to increase subsidies to cap fuel prices and match a jump in crude that has more than doubled in the past year. “If oil prices increase to $170 a barrel, of course there will be problems,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in an interview in […]

Biofuels And Biodiversity Don’t Mix, Ecologists Warn

Rising demand for palm oil will decimate biodiversity unless producers and politicians can work together to preserve as much remaining natural forest as possible, ecologists have warned. A new study of the potential ecological impact of various management strategies found that very little can be done to make palm oil plantations more hospitable for local […]

A third of reef-building corals threatened with extinction: scientists

A third of reef-building corals worldwide are threatened with extinction due to climate change and water pollution, according to the first global assessment on the marine creature by 39 scientists. Destructive fishing and the degradation of coastal habitats also posed threats, said the study published Thursday involving the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) […]

As planet swelters, are algae unlikely saviour?

As the world mulls over the conundrum of how to satisfy a seemingly endless appetite for energy and still slash greenhouse gas emissions, researchers have stumbled upon an unexpected hero: algae. So-called microalgae hold enormous potential when it comes to reining in both climate change, since they naturally absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, as […]

Entrepreneurs lug cheap Mexican fuel across border

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – U.S. and Mexican entrepreneurs with an eye for a quick buck are buying subsidized fuel in bulk in Mexico and hauling it across the U.S. border to make big profits, officials say. With a yawning gap between the cost of Mexico’s state-subsidized fuel and record U.S. pump prices, tanker truck owners […]

CFTC says no evidence of oil manipulation, hoarding

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told Congress on Thursday there is no evidence that market traders are working together to push up crude oil prices or that oil supplies are being hoarded. “We have no evidence that people are hoarding oil,” CFTC Chairman Walter Lukken told a House Appropriations […]

Two Takes: Energy Independence Is Neither Practical nor Attainable

The world economy is in the throes of an oil crunch. Surging Asian demand and a slow supply response drive high prices. U.S. politicians facing an election offer half-baked ideas to create the illusion that they have serious answers to problems they helped create. Many politicians and commentators offer long-term visions for a problem that […]

Study links global warming to more smog

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. environmental regulators quietly published a draft study on Thursday that linked global warming to higher levels of smog that could harm human health, a report green groups said stood in contrast to the Bush Administration’s slow movement on climate change. The draft report published by the Environmental Protection Agency in […]

Shucking the Hype: St. Louis Fed Analyzes Ethanol

ST. LOUIS, July 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — While increasing our use of ethanol for fuel may make a small dent in the demand for oil, the potential benefits must outweigh the potential costs if ethanol is going to be viable in the long-term. The environmentally friendly nature of ethanol, when compared to crude […]

Some in U.S. replace oil heat with wood stoves

BOSTON (Reuters) – It’s summer in the United States, but many Americans are already fretting about winter. Record prices for home heating oil are rippling across America’s northern regions, stoking demand for wood stoves and other alternatives, and forcing some heating oil companies out of business. In New England, which has the nation’s highest rates […]

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