Experts offer scaled-back sea level rise forecast

Global warming may push sea levels up by about 2.6 to 6.6 feet by 2100 WASHINGTON – Worldwide sea levels may rise by about 2.6 to 6.6 feet by 2100 thanks to global warming, but dire predictions of larger increases seem unrealistic, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. They examined scenarios for loss of ice from […]

Need a hobby? Try collecting rainwater

More homeowners, especially in drought areas, are adopting barrels Concern over drought and wasted resources, and stricter water conservation laws have revitalized the practice of capturing rainwater during storms and stockpiling it for use in drier times. A fixture of building design in the Roman empire and in outposts along the American frontier, rainwater harvesting […]

Stinkweed in your fuel tank? Maybe some day

ALBANY, N.Y. – The request caught dairy farmer Brian Ziehm off guard: Would he devote an acre of his fields near the Vermont line this fall to grow stinkweed? “It was like, ‘What the heck? I’ve been trying to get rid of these things for 30 years. Now you want me to plant them?’” But […]

Congress faces big push on offshore drilling

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – America’s pain at the gasoline pump has been years in the making, but there will be a big push in Congress next week, when lawmakers return from summer break, to fix the problem by expanding offshore oil drilling. Gasoline prices, down sharply since July, remain high by historical standards, a major issue […]

U.S. Gulf energy output slow to return after Gustav

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico continued to recover slowly in the wake of Hurricane Gustav on Friday as a second fierce storm threatened to enter the energy-rich region next week. Some 90.5 percent of U.S. Gulf oil production and 79.8 percent of its natural gas production […]

Iran official says $100 oil price ”appropriate”

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s OPEC governor said an oil price of $100 per barrel was “appropriate” in current conditions, the Oil Ministry’s news agency Shana reported on Friday. The oil minister of the world’s fourth-largest crude producer had said earlier in the week that $100 a barrel was the lowest appropriate price. Crude CLc1 has […]

Strong Hurricanes Getting Stronger; Warming Is Blamed

Global warming is causing powerful hurricanes to become even more intense, a new study says. Warmer seawater has boosted the average wind speed of powerful hurricanes from 140 miles (225 kilometers) an hour in 1981 to 157 miles (253 kilometers) an hour in 2007, according to the study’s lead author, geographer James Elsner of Florida […]

Time To Consider Oil’s Homely Cousin, Natural Gas

On Wednesday we detailed three of the largest issues affecting oil prices. To review they are: 1. Geopolitical concerns (Iran, Russia, and Pakistan) 2. Speculation (in July, 11% of oil contracts were controlled by one trader) 3. The over-leveraged financial system. These three items make forecasting oil prices virtually impossible. Fortunately, oil Natural gas is […]

Cliff Wirth: ”Surviving Peak Oil: Obstacles To Relocation”

Oil and natural gas depletion will soon begin to undermine the capacity of urban and metropolitan areas to sustain human life. Modern urban and metropolitan life depends on oil and natural gas for food production and distribution, residential heating, water purification and distribution, sanitation, and the power grid that delivers electricity for the pumping of […]

The Failed States Index 2008: One Disaster Away from Collapse

When troops opened fire in the streets of Mogadishu in early May, it was a tragically familiar scene in war-torn Somalia. Except on this day, soldiers weren …Record oil prices have failed to improve the poor fortunes of the world

Is California on the Brink of Environmental Collapse?

California has spared no expense to either taxpayers or natural ecosystems to attain its status as the most hydrologically altered landmass on the planet. It would surprise few that California was built on gold, greed, extraction, depletion, extinction, dubiously acquired large-landed semi-desert agricultural empires, well-gifted railroad land grants fueling speculative growth, and highly subsidized stolen […]

U.S. highway fund crushed by cutback in driving

As drivers cut back on gas, The Department of Transportation says its Highway Trust Fund will be depleted and needs an $8 billion emergency infusion. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — An unprecedented decline in driving will deplete the federal Highway Trust Fund by the end of September prompting the government to ask Congress for an $8 […]

City’s flooded future

Take a ride around the Charleston Peninsula when the tide is high, preferably at the highest tides during the full moon phase. Stay as close to the water as the roadways allow and you will be impressed that downtown Charleston is a city at a very low elevation. Now in your imagination, raise the level […]

LOOP restarts offshore operations after Gustav

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only U.S. deepwater oil port supplying crude to about half of the nation’s refining capacity, said on Friday it restarted offloading tankers in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. …LOOP said its operations, which had been suspended Aug. 30 due to Gustav, were running at reduced rates using emergency power […]

The post-petroleum job ads

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UK: Warning after wave of tractor thefts

Rural insurer reminds farmers of need to improve security on their premises …NFU Mutual said yesterday that farmers in England had suffered from a crimewave with the cost of claims soaring from NFU Mutual risk management services spokesman Terry Price added:

BP’s Russian defeat a market victory

MOSCOW – If anyone needed convincing, the paper that BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, signed on Thursday with Mikhail Fridman and his Russian shareholding partners proves that defying the law of gravity is unlikely to succeed for long; even if the world’s weakest prime minister, Gordon Brown, and his disloyal foreign minister, David Miliband, […]

Oil’s climb forced companies to become leaner

NEW YORK – Conventional wisdom had long held that some industries would collapse if oil topped $100 a barrel. As oil neared $150, sending costs higher for everything from jet fuel to plastic jars, the question was how many companies would succumb. The surprising answer: Not many. Some have even thrived. Companies have culled unprofitable […]

EU moves to loosen Russia’s ‘energy stranglehold’

British consumers could end up paying higher prices as a result of European Union measures to reduce Russia’s “energy stranglehold”, as Europe steps up efforts to prevent Moscow using critical gas supplies to blackmail the West. EU, European Union, Gazprom. Energy Security, Oil, Gas European Commission officials are currently carrying out a feasibility study to […]

UK: Chaos at

A stunt in which The promotion began at 0630 BST and ended about four hours later. Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said “Whilst a lucky few might have got free petrol, hundreds of residents have faced misery”. The Liberal Democrat said: “Trying to recreate Venezuelan-style fuel riots on the streets of London […]

EU’s Piebalgs Seeks Political Push For Nabucco Gas

The European Union must reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies by accelerating the planned Nabucco pipeline to bring gas from central Asia, says the EU’s energy chief. The EU is heavily reliant on Russian gas, but it has been pushing for the $12-billion Nabucco pipeline since disputes between Russia and transit states like Ukraine […]

Beijing Contradicts Baghdad, Says Oil Deal Still Being Negotiated

China says a multi-billion dollar oil deal with Iraq is still being negotiated. This contradicts reports last week from Iraqi officials, who said the deal had been signed. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing. China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said negotiations with Baghdad to exploit an Iraqi oil field continue.Voice of America

IATA: global airlines to lose $5.2 billion in 2008

The global airline industry is expected to pose losses of 5.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 due to high oil prices and falling demand, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Wednesday. “The situation remains bleak. The toxic combination of high oil prices and falling demand continues to poison the industry’s profitability,” IATA Director-General […]

Lack of power and water cap Namibian uranium output

A shortage of energy and water will cap future uranium mine expansion in Namibia, but the country hopes to ease the bottlenecks through desalination and a new coal-fired power plant, an industry body said on Wednesday. The government has issued some 50 exclusive prospecting licenses for more uranium mining firms, but output of uranium is […]

UK Approves Building of Major Offshore Wind Farm

The British government has approved construction of a 500-megawatt offshore wind farm in Cumbria, northwest England, the government said on Thursday. It said the Duddon Sands farm, planned near Walney Island off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, was one of the country’s three largest offshore wind farms approved so far. It would comprise up to 139 […]

Australia: Power prices up 40% under climate plan

Electricity prices will increase by 40 per cent by 2020 under economist Ross Garnaut’s greenhouse target. Professor Garnaut has recommended the nation cut emissions by 10 per cent in 12 years’ time, in his latest report.While a 40 per cent price increase would be a “big hit” for households, government revenue from emissions trading could […]

Asian soot, smog may boost global warming in US

Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report released Thursday. These overlooked, shorter-term pollutants — mostly from burning wood and kerosene and from driving […]

Palm oil firms’ moratorium rejection threatens orangutans: activists

A decision by Indonesian palm oil companies to reject a moratorium on land clearing is threatening to wipe out more than 8,000 orangutans in the next three years, activists said Thursday. The decision last week to reject the moratorium call by Greenpeace means there is no effective mechanism for protecting thousands of orangutans living outside […]

No Hope for a Sensible Energy Policy

The presidential candidates’ implausible plans to end our dependence on oil. I have bad news for all those who think that the retirement of George W. Bush will somehow initiate a golden–or green–age in America. It won’t. Just take a close look at the promises being made by the two men who have now been […]

As prices plunge, OPEC faces dilemma on oil production

NEW YORK: The decline in oil prices in recent weeks has been a welcome relief for consumers and a rare piece of positive news in an otherwise bleak economic landscape. But for oil producers, increasingly accustomed to rising revenues, falling prices are fast turning into a cause for concern – if not quite panic. Oil […]

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