Food and energy security: Cassava to the rescue

Rome, 25 July 2008 – The tropical root crop cassava could help protect the food and energy security of poor countries now threatened by soaring food and oil prices, FAO said today. At a global conference held in Ghent, Belgium, cassava scientists called for a significant increase in investment in research and development needed to […]

Rising demands threaten wetlands

The recent surge in demand for food and biofuel has increased the risks facing the world’s wetlands, warn scientists. A declaration by 700 scientists said the habitats faced a growing risk of being converted into farmland.It also stated that the current knowledge of the extent of the world’s wetlands was “unacceptable” and called for a […]

IRL: Minister abandons biofuel target as doubts grow about benefits

The government has abandoned a plan to have biofuels make up 5.75 per cent of all transport fuel by 2010, Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan disclosed yesterday. The decision to drop the ambitious biofuels targets – which were set as recently as 15 months ago by Mr Ryan’s predecessor Noel Dempsey – follows growing doubts […]

Current Oil Price `Not Expensive,’ Gabrielli Says

(Bloomberg) — Crude oil at $126 a barrel is “not expensive,” considering production costs and rising demand, said Jose Sergio Gabrielli, chief executive officer of Brazil’s government-controlled oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA. “Oil is an exhaustible resource,” Gabrielli said in an interview today in Rio de Janeiro. “In order to produce new oil to replace […]

Schools eye four-day week to cut fuel costs

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the ’70s oil crisis: a four-day week. Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents’ […]

Fuel cost now driving up electric bills

Disconnect notices have risen sharply, indicating stress on more households. New York – Rising energy prices are now squeezing consumers from a different direction: their utility bills. Consumers from California to New York are facing rate increases of as much as 30 percent. Average homeowners’ electric bills are now heading towards $70 to $80 a […]

Nothing to Eat – Book Review: ‘End of Food’ by Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts’s prophetic and well-received 2004 book, “The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World,” anticipated the current energy crisis. Now he’s moved on to what we put in our mouths. Roberts’s new book, “The End of Food,” which takes into account a vertiginous pile of recent developments — including the […]

A View from the Peak of the Global Economy

…What seems pretty clear is that at $140, a lot of things in this world just don’t work anymore. Airlines are, obviously, one business not built around highly priced oil. Worldwide, 24 airlines have gone bankrupt so far this year. But there are other parts of the transport system, the food system and the economy […]

Big Oil has more cash than it can use

Some of the country’s biggest oil companies have a money problem. They’ve got too much of it. No tears, of course, will be shed for Big Oil, which often is cast as the heartless profiteer, sneering in delight as we motorists wince with every squeeze of the pump handle. But the oil companies, too, are […]

Limits on futures trading could boost gas prices

Proposals to reign in wallet-draining gasoline prices by curbing speculation in oil markets would likely increase costs at the pump instead of trimming them, a University of Illinois economist says. Scott Irwin argues congressional efforts to curb trading by speculators is a

Cow power could generate electricity for millions

Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America’s entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), according to US research published today, Thursday, 24 July, in the Institute of Physics’ Environmental Research Letters. …The […]

Material that turns heat to power gets efficiency hike

Your car wastes around 60% of the energy you put into it as heat. But that could soon change, thanks to a new way to boost the efficiency of thermoelectric materials that are able to convert heat into electricity Adding small chunks of thermoelectric material to any heated surface, like a car exhaust or a […]

‘Fuel battery’ could take cars beyond petrol

A new approach to storing electrical energy can store more energy than gasoline in the same volume, and could help extend the range of electric vehicles. But some experts say other approaches are more practical. Batteries produce electricity from a closed chemical system that is eventually exhausted. Fuel cells use a constant supply of fuel, […]

Food Sovereignty and the Collapse of Nations

In his book, Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia, economist and former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, suggests that between 1966 and 1990, 80 million Soviet farmers urbanized stalling grain production and putting pressure on the government to use revenue from oil and natural gas production to buy grain from abroad. When fossil […]

State highway patrols struggle with big gas bills

HELENA, Mont. – In big, wide-open Montana, a state trooper might have to drive more than 100 miles to answer an emergency call, and routinely puts several hundred miles on the odometer in a day. With gasoline at $4 a gallon, all that driving is tearing up the Highway Patrol’s budget. It is the same […]

The Real Question: Should Oil Be Cheap?

Amite Foundry & Machine is one of those gritty manufacturers at the heart of American industrial might. The Louisiana company’s fiery 2,800F furnaces melt down hunks of recycled scrap steel and recast them into massive parts for trucks, oil rigs, and other heavy equipment. Amite even turned 30 tons of metal from the World Trade […]

CNPC to fund part of Central Asia-China oil line

China National Petroleum Corp. is seeking a $2.5 billion loan from the China Development Bank for a section of the Central Asia-China natural gas pipeline project, according to local media. Caijing magazine, citing an unnamed company source, said the money would fund construction of the Uzbekistan section of the pipeline, expected to finish in 2009. […]

Is offshore drilling a viable solution to energy needs?

When it comes to mapping out America’s energy future, presumptive presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain agree on most issues except one: offshore oil drilling. The subject, predictably, highlights the chasm between Democratic and Republican philosophy: Republican McCain wants to press forward with it while Democrat Obama believes it will yield few results at […]

Nobody Loves a Three-Year-Old SUV

Auto executives just can’t catch a break. Add to slumping sales and lofty gasoline prices a ticking time bomb in their auto leasing operations. During the past several years automakers from General Motors to Nissan Motor to BMW leased millions of cars and trucks. As those leases end, the companies have to take back the […]

EasyJet to cut Stansted winter flights by 12%

EasyJet has announced cuts to its winter timetable as the high price of fuel eats into the no-frills airline’s profits. The company said yesterday that it would reduce its flights to and from London Stansted airport by 12 per cent and cut flights at “less profitable” times. The company said it was also considering shutting […]

IT hub on standby: Bangalore reels under power crisis (India)

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Southern states in the grip of power crisis (India)

With monsoon paying truant, the power situation is worsening everyday in almost all southern states, except perhaps in Tamil Nadu. After Maharashtra, it is now the turn of Karnataka and Kerala where the state electricity regulatory commissions have suggested load shedding. The Karnataka government has announced a 20 per cent reduction in power supply, that […]

Oil traders face US civil action

The US energy regulator has taken civil action against a Dutch-based oil trading firm and three top employees for manipulating crude oil prices. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission complaint relates to Optiver Holding and two subsidiaries. As the price of oil has risen sharply since last year, the watchdog has turned its focus on […]

Oil: How low will it go?

A recent drop in oil prices can be attributed primarily to futures traders focusing exclusively on the troubled U.S. economy and ignoring other factors, according to economists. Unfortunately for businesses and consumers looking for a break on gas prices, those same economists are not expecting the price freefall to last much longer. CanadianBusiness

Analysts Doubt Gazprom’s $250 Claim

RUSSIAN gas and oil monopoly Gazprom yesterday claimed it was inevitable oil prices would rise to $250 a barrel next year. But analysts in SA said there were already signs of the price softening in response to waning demand as consumers respond to spiralling fuel costs. They said the economy, already buffeted by a host […]

Russian deputy PM to hold ‘energy talks’ in China

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin is to fly to China on Friday for high-level energy talks with the Chinese government, the Russian government press service said. During the two-day talks, due to start on Saturday, Sechin is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, and the leadership of the […]

Higher prices, wider waistlines

Unless the cost of food is reined in, expect to see obesity levels continue to climb. The Times recently ran a story on the latest obesity survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a survey that did not make the connection between obesity and the price of food. U.S. obesity levels have […]

At Ford, End of a Big-Vehicle Era Takes a Toll

DETROIT The huge charges reflect the diminishing value of both the plants and the vehicles they produce.

Middle class: ‘On the edge’

Experts tell Congress that middle class is struggling with stagnant wages, rising debts and increased expenses. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — America’s middle class is increasingly squeezed by sagging incomes and soaring expenses, experts told Congress on Wednesday. Adjusted for inflation, median household income dropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007, said Elizabeth Warren, professor at […]

Record prices put Arctic oil within reach

Resources the oil industry thought would never be tapped may soon be called into play WASHINGTON — Global warming and record high oil prices could put Arctic oil and gas into play much sooner than many people think, analysts and industry officials say. …”Everything is now in play,” Mr. Book said. “That should give any […]

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