Chickens given roosts in urban backyards

California Web developer and business consultant Rob Ludlow gets laughs when he tells people his pets make him breakfast. It’s no joke. Ludlow, his wife, Emily, and their two daughters have five egg-laying hens living in the backyard of their Bay Area home in Pleasant Hill, Calif. “Can your dog or cat claim the same?” […]

U.S. to Add 12 Million Barrels to Petroleum Reserve

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Energy Department plans to add 12 million barrels of oil to the nation

A Surge in Bicyclists Appears to Be Waiting

After a summer of their dreams, bicycle store owners are facing a grim reality this winter. Big increases in business this year led some shop owners to think that they were largely insulated from a slowing economy. But the economy has continued to spiral downward, taking bicycle sales and much else with it. The question […]

More uncertainty lies ahead for public services

If there is one thing certain about the nature of the century that lies ahead, it’s uncertainty. From climate change to water, energy and food supplies, Earth’s life-support systems are creaking under the strain of humanity. For those who run public services, the prospect of a series of overlapping emergencies, each involving the raw materials […]

OPEC to Cut Crude Shipments by 1%, Oil Movements Says

(Bloomberg) — OPEC will cut daily shipments of crude oil by 1 percent in the four weeks to Jan. 17 as the group enacts supply reductions announced in the past four months, according to industry consultant Oil Movements. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producer of more than 40 percent of the world OPEC last […]

Bumpy Crop: Farming’s Sudden Feasts and Famines

Benjamin Riensche has just come off two of his best years in farming. But like growers all over the globe, he is in the midst of a more turbulent era of sharply rising and then suddenly falling prices. “I never thought the stakes could get so big,” Mr. Riensche says. “We’ve gone from the nickel […]

New national security strategy highlights Arctic

A new Russian national security strategy will be adopted in February, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev confirms. The new strategy, which will cover the period until 2020, includes a high level of focus on the energy potentials of the Arctic. Speaking in a recent meeting with the Russian Academy of Sciences Presidium, […]

Locals Remember Gas Shortage Crisis Of 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Midstate drivers won’t forget the last two weeks of September 2008. A severe gas shortage left drivers waiting in line for hours just to fill their tanks. Viewers picked the gas shortage as the third biggest local story of the year. NewsChannel 5’s Phil Jones took a look back at long lines, […]

Clean Coal: Wave of the Future or Empty Rhetoric?

Through rustic images of America and a call for technological ingenuity, “clean coal” media advertisements became pervasive across the United States this year. The coal industry promises an abundant and cheap energy solution that also protects the environment. Yet the clean coal solution to climate change is not currently economical, leading many environmentalists to criticize […]

Energy Star Climate Change Claims Misleading, Audit Finds

WASHINGTON, DC (ENS) – A voluntary program promoted by the federal government to boost energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions does not work as advertised, according to a new audit by the Inspector General of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Inspector General’s report on the federal Energy Star program concludes that many of […]

Countries in tug-of-war over Arctic resources

(CNN) — One of the planet’s most fragile and pristine ecosystems sits atop a bounty of untapped fossil fuels. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 90 billion barrels of oil, 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are recoverable in the frozen region north of the Arctic […]

Idea #10: Biophysical Economics

In the future, economists will return to earth. The year 2009 will witness a tsunami of economic appeals to fix, as disgraced Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan put it, the “flaw” in their thinking. Most will get it wrong. The proposals for bailouts, regulations and government spending sprees all share one tragic flaw: they assume […]

Energy in the real world

Solar and Wind are not renewable. The energy from solar and from wind is available but not renewable. An oak tree is renewable. A horse is renewable. They reproduce themselves. But, and a very important but, the human made equipment used to capture solar energy or wind energy is not renewable. In fact, there is […]

Rocket science: Jet test should spark quest for new biofuels.

An Air New Zealand jet thundered through the sky on a two-hour flight this week — on a 50-50 blend of ordinary fuel and one made of seeds from the African desert. The successful flight was promising for the airline industry, and truly exciting for the environment and the hope for national fuel autonomy. Tuesday’s […]

Reserves increase in 2008

The higher crude oil and natural gas prices of the first half of 2008 brought about record drilling activity which brought about an increase in crude oil and natural gas reserves worldwide. As the industry responded to record-high prices, production increased worldwide by 1.1 percent. New estimates of world’s oil reserves total 1.34 trillion barrels, […]

Uranium price up with global nuclear push

Foreign investors are driving up the value of Australian uranium stocks amid increased world demand for nuclear power. As spot prices of dirty greenhouse fuels such as oil and coal fell dramatically in December, uranium prices rallied to six-month highs.The rollout of fourth generation nuclear power stations in China, India and Europe has placed a […]

Climate scientists: it’s time for ‘Plan B’

An emergency “Plan B” using the latest technology is needed to save the world from dangerous climate change, according to a poll of leading scientists carried out by The Independent. The collective international failure to curb the growing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has meant that an alternative to merely curbing emissions […]

Canada’s vast forests, once absorbers of greenhouse gases, now add to problem

As relentlessly bad as the news about global warming seems to be, with ice at the poles melting faster than scientists had predicted and world temperatures rising higher than expected, there was at least a reservoir of hope stored here in Canada’s vast forests. The country’s 1.2 million square miles of trees have been dubbed […]

Nigeria: Ethanol Project – Global Recognition for Country

There is no doubt that Nigeria is blazing the trail in renewable energy sector, which ethanol is the final product. The initiative is to stem the effect of global warming, which has become a matter of serious concern dominating local and foreign discourse. Interestingly, a Nigerian company is already making waves in this important sector, […]

Hong Kong air pollution worst since records began

Air pollution across large swathes of Hong Kong last year reached its highest level since records began, despite government efforts to improve the environment, official figures showed Friday. Hong Kong suffers high air pollution, caused partly by huge numbers of factories over the border in southern China, and there have been fears the problem could […]

11 Questions for Obama

President-elect Barack Obama pledges to put a lot of emphasis not only on reinvigorating science, but on making decisions that are grounded in science. As promised, INY Times

Rising costs become more important factor in oil price

Inflation nibbles away at profit; $40 isn’t impressive. … While prices remain well above the infamous $10 oil Alaska faced and survived in 1999, many in the industry say $40 today doesn’t buy what it bought just a few years ago. “The fundamental cost of our business has changed over the past couple of years,” […]

Russian gas row may cost UK customers

Gas row dashes hopes of cut in heating bills Hopes of deep cuts in heating bills for British homes before the winter is out were evaporating yesterday after Russia turned off the gas supply to neighbouring Ukraine over alleged payment arrears, raising concern about the security of supplies throughout Europe. Pipelines that cross Ukraine carry […]

Utilities Offer

Thinking about making over your home or business so that it runs greener? What about going nuclear? That seems to be what at least two utilities are hoping customers will opt for as concerns grow about the damage created by planet-warming emissions from highly polluting sources like coal and from other fossil sources like gas. […]

Tar Sands to Ethanol: Wacky Year for Energy

One year ago, when the price of crude oil sat comfortably above $100 a barrel, the energy space was a feeding frenzy as investors tripped over each other looking for companies that were exploring new, sometimes zany sources of fuel. … Today, oil is trading for about $40 a barrel, and the world that once […]

Year-end leap in oil price could bode well for gold in 2009

With OPEC seemingly determined to drive oil back to around $100 a barrel, this should be very positive for the gold price as the dollar suffers. LONDON – Oil, and to a lesser extent gold, recorded a strong price surge on the final day of the year, which could be bad news for the U.S. […]

Coral growth in decline at Great Barrier Reef

Warming, more acidic oceans cited; ‘pretty scary’ findings, one expert says The rate at which corals absorb calcium from seawater to calcify their hard skeletons “The data suggest that such a severe and sudden decline in calcification is unprecedented in at least the past 400 years,” the researchers stated in the study, published in the […]

After worst year ever, commodities may lag recovery

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Commodities, until six months ago the darling of investors and an out-performing asset class, sealed their worst year on record with accelerating losses in the fourth quarter of the year, data showed on Thursday. Industrial metals, crude oil and even grains took it on the chin as the world fell into recession […]

Cheaper oil is already fuelling the next spike

LESS THAN six months ago analysts were predicting that the days of $200 oil were not far off. Over the first half of the year, increasing demand, driven by consumption in rapidly growing economies such as China and India, forced oil prices past $100 a-barrel and close to $150 in July. This was against a […]

Panel wants fuel taxes hiked to fund highways

WASHINGTON – A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads. The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the […]

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