Brazil

If ethanol is losing its lure in the U.S., it In the first half of 2008, Brazil consumed 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline and 2.38 billion gallons of ethanol. But the race is quickly tilting in ethanol

Tim Flannery: The coal conundrum

Last March, James Hansen, arguably the world’s leading climate scientist, and eight colleagues, claimed earth’s climate system was about twice as sensitive to carbon dioxide pollution as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had found. This implies that there is already enough greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere to cause 2 degrees of warming, bringing […]

Small oil producers take hit from hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf Coast

HOUSTON As the industry continues to assess damage from hurricanes Ike and Gustav, many of those mom-and-pop shops appear to have taken a beating. Of the 49 platforms destroyed last weekend by Ike, 44 produced less than 1,000 barrels of oil a day, according to assessments from the U.S. Minerals Management Service. “Anytime a hurricane […]

Brazil offered $1 billion to save Amazon forest

Norway is first country to pledge to fund with $21 billion goal BRASILIA, Brazil – Norway will give Brazil $1 billion by 2015 to preserve the Amazon rain forest, as long as Latin America’s largest nation reduces deforestation, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. The promised donation is the first to a new Amazon […]

What we don’t know about biofuels

EBI director Chris Somerville on the quest to ‘decarbonize’ and create next-generation fuels BERKELEY The institute he heads has a lot on its research plate: Which crops should be grown for biofuels? How would their large-scale cultivation affect land prices, food supply, and food prices? What’s their impact on soils, waterways, the air, and nearby […]

New fleet may mean U.S. covets Brazil’s oil: Lula

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned on Thursday that the resurrection of a U.S. naval fleet in Latin America may signal that Washington covets huge new oil reserves off Brazil’s coast. The U.S. Navy is reestablishing the U.S. Fourth Fleet, which was decommissioned 58 years ago, to combat drug […]

Farmers go green as petrol prices rise

The increased cost of petrol is providing an incentive for some farmers to consider alternatives such as organic and bio dynamic farming. KERRY OBRIEN: High petrol prices are hitting everyone but many farmers are copping a double hit. They’re also dealing with rising prices for fertilisers made from petroleum. The increased costs are providing added […]

Russia seeks oil control with OPEC move

Russia is seeking to work with OPEC in a move that will unnerve European countries worried that Moscow is seeking to raise the oil price and control energy supplies. “The prospects of co-operation in a new format between OPEC and the Russian Federation are very interesting,” said the energy minister Sergei Shmatko. Russia will send […]

U.S. Won’t Seek Emergency Fuel Supplies From the IEA

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. won’t ask the International Energy Agency for emergency fuel supplies to offset disruptions from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, an Energy Department spokeswoman said. Damages from the storms were “far less severe than we thought,” spokeswoman Healy Baumgardner said today in a telephone interview. Gasoline already is being exported from […]

Presenting science questions to John McCain and Barack Obama

Science Debate 2008 — an effort spearheaded by a half-dozen voters concerned about the state of American science — posed 14 questions to the major parties’ presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. The queries were culled from more than 3,400 suggestions offered by 38,000 contributors, including Nobel laureates, university presidents, government officials […]

Study group questions military action against Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) “A military strike is a feasible option and must remain a last resort to retard Iran’s nuclear development,” the report said. …The U.S. military is capable of launching a devastating strike on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, probably a more decisive one than the Iranian leadership realizes, the study group said. “However, unless […]

Warming World in Range of Dangerous Consequences

The earth will warm about 2.4 “This paper demonstrates the major challenges society will have to face in dealing with a problem that now seems unavoidable,” said the paper’s lead author, Scripps Atmospheric and Climate Sciences Professor V. Ramanathan. Scripps

Global food situation at a crossroads

Declining agricultural productivity and continued growing demand have brought the world food situation to a crossroads. Failure to act now through a wholesale reinvestment in agriculture Dr. Woods pointed out that the annual rice yield growth rate has dropped to less than 1% in recent years, compared with 2% during the Green Revolution period of […]

Australia: State must plan for coastal swamping

VICTORIA must start planning for sea level rises of two metres that will swamp coastal housing and industry, a former planning minister has warned. Tom Roper, Victoria’s planning and environment minister from 1987-1990, will tell the World Sustainable Building Conference beginning in Melbourne tomorrow that a rapid acceleration in planning decisions to combat climate change […]

Platts Says Oil Companies Shunning Banks for Trading

(Bloomberg) — Oil companies have baulked at trading with banks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to Platts, a price-reporting company whose data is used to settle most of the world’s oil derivatives contracts. Shares of Morgan Stanley have plunged 46 percent this week, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is 30 percent […]

Can Small Wind Reap Big Rewards

LONDON, England (CNN) — Micro wind turbines are beginning to pop up all over our urban and rural landscapes. But is it worth investing your hard-earned cash in your very own wind machine? In short, it depends. Take a look at our quick guide to see if “small wind” could help you reduce your energy […]

Gasoline Supply May Fall `Substantially,’ Energy Official Says

(Bloomberg) — The Energy Department’s Sept. 24 inventory report may show that U.S. gasoline supplies fell 8.5 million barrels from a four-decade low as Texas refineries assess damage from Hurricane Ike, a department official said. “Probably the max is an 8.5 million draw in gasoline because demand is down, and it could be as low […]

ANALYSIS – Saudi Arabia lays ground for more OPEC action

DUBAI/LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – OPEC’s surprisingly tough output deal last week lays the foundation for more decisive action to prop up weakened oil markets and it could involve the possible collaboration of leading non-OPEC producer Russia. Until OPEC reached agreement in the early hours of Sept. 10, most had anticipated the group would leave […]

Medvedev pours in more oil billions; battered stock exchanges stay shut

Russia’s battered stock exchanges remained closed yesterday as President Medvedev ordered the Government to pour billions of pounds into saving the financial system. He told ministers that there was “no more important task” than stabilising the markets after a torrid week that has seen share prices slump and brought warnings of a financial crash.He urged […]

Russia to cut oil export duty to support markets

Russia said on Thursday it will slash oil export duty to allow oil firms hit by a weaker crude price to save $5.5 billion and give a boost to their floundering stocks. Russian markets have gone into a tailspin this week together with other emerging markets, prompting bourses to cease trading and authorities to pump […]

Slump in oil prices should enable Ryanair to break even this year

A slump in oil prices during the past two months should see Ryanair break even this financial year after it had earlier predicted a loss of up to €60m, chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday. Speaking at the airline’s annual general meeting in Dublin, Mr O’Leary told shareholders that as long as oil prices remain […]

Peak Oil – Are We There Yet?

Recapping from our theoretical discussion on the depletion curves, the peak happens after discoveries have peaked, after consumption has overtaken discoveries, and once total accumulated consumption/production is roughly equal to the remaining reserves. Looking at the numbers, one concludes that two of the conditions for a production peak have occurred, and a third may be […]

Africa must exploit coal reserves

There is no shortage of hydropower plants in Africa. However, many of these plants are unable to keep up with rapid population growth and the attendant increases in demand. Furthermore, they are prone to frequent drought, which reduces their output significantly, leaving many as little more than decorative infrastructure landmarks. Other resources like fuel oil, […]

Clean coal centre ‘must focus on Australia’

The Federal Opposition has warned a new international clean coal research centre in Australia must focus on the country’s domestic needs. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today announced plans for the new body, which will act as a global centre to drive clean coal technologies in Australia and worldwide.The Carbon Capture and Storage Institute is due […]

India’s Iconic Electric Car Gets Energised

Long before “green” cars became trendy in other parts of the world, a boxy electric two-seater began rolling out of a small factory in the Indian city of Bangalore, which was then emerging as a software services hub. Today, scores of Reva electric cars can be seen tootling down Bangalore’s crowded streets, their bright colours […]

Firms Line Up to Get in on Brazil Oil ‘Gold Rush’

The discovery of huge offshore oil reserves has made Brazil one of the world’s hottest energy markets, with firms that make everything from planning software for wells to floating “hotels” for platform workers clamoring for a piece of the action. More than 35,000 people are attending this week’s Rio Oil and Gas conference, the first […]

Wind Power Can Solve the U.S. Oil Addiction

In recent months, heavy hitters like The Blackstone Group (BX), General Electric (GE) and T. Boone Pickens have stealthily invested billions into a single renewable energy source. JP Morgan Chase (JPM) revealed that it’s holding a $1 billion stake in the very same investment. Even better, in the next five years, the governments in the […]

S.A. uranium limit unnecessary: miner

South Africa, which has Africa’s biggest uranium reserves, doesn’t need to restrict exports of the nuclear fuel to ensure supply for its power plants, Canadian mining company First Uranium Ltd. said. South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings Ltd. will need about 10 million pounds of uranium a year by 2025, Bob Tait, vice president […]

IEA sees risk of recession if oil stays high

LONDON (Reuters) – The head of the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday there was a risk of global recession if oil prices stayed around the current level and hurt emerging economies. Nobuo Tanaka, head of the agency which advises 27 industrialized countries, also said the supply and demand balance in the oil market is […]

New system could help avert collapse of fisheries

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Guaranteeing individual fishermen a share of the catch could help avert a global collapse of fisheries, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. Such programs, known as catch-shares, eliminate the frantic race to get the biggest share of the catch as in traditional open-access fishing, a system that promotes overfishing and habitat destruction, putting […]

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