1709: The year that Europe froze

IN ENGLAND they called the winter of 1709 the Great Frost. In France it entered legend as Le Grand Hiver, three months of deadly cold that ushered in a year of famine and food riots. In Scandinavia the Baltic froze so thoroughly that people could walk across the ice as late as April. In Switzerland […]

VeraSun Energy to sell assets to Valero Energy

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Sioux Falls-based ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. says it’s selling assets to Valero Energy Corp. for $280 million amid difficult industry conditions and tight credit markets. The assets include certain VeraSun production facilities in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. The company will sell all operations in separate or combined […]

Enjoy low oil prices while you can: guru

Henry Groppe, founder of Houston-based Groppe, Long & Littell, is 83 years old, a vegetarian and has been a forecaster in the oil and gas business since 1955. And he is not afraid to go against the conventional wisdom. One year back he predicted the oil price would collapse in the second half of the […]

What’s the beef?

The amount of meat we eat can help or harm the planet … For example, eating a typical family-of-four steak dinner is equal to driving around in an SUV for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home, he says. “In all, the average American meat eater is responsible for one and a […]

Why Oil Prices May Rocket Higher

Sure, oil is relatively cheap now. But what about when the global economy turns around? Might it then rocket higher again? This via Commodity Online, from oil expert Peter Grandich (bold is mine): Yes. We suggest that people contain any oil purchases between $35 and $40

Toyota forecasts mounting losses

Automaker expects wider-than-expected annual loss as global sales slide. TOKYO (Reuters) — Toyota Motor Corp. forecast a far bigger full-year loss than it had flagged just six weeks ago as the world’s biggest automaker struggles to cut production fast enough to match a sharp drop in global sales. A sudden dive in demand since late […]

A case for regional transit funds

“REMEMBER the Regional Transportation Authorities!” Admittedly, as rallying cries go, that one is somewhat less inspiring than, say, “Remember the Alamo” or “Remember the Maine.” But as Beacon Hill begins to address the needs of the transportation system, the members of the Legislature’s Regional Transportation Caucus will be sounding that message relentlessly. And why the […]

Recharging a high-tech battery industry

The country is behind when it comes to advanced vehicle batteries, but innovation and a little stimulus money could head off another OPEC scenario. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — There’s a saying as the nation pushes for cleaner electric cars: The United States will end up trading dependence on Saudi oil for dependence on Asian batteries. […]

Canada’s bid to cut greenhouse gases flawed: probe

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Two of Canada’s major strategies for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases have major flaws and cannot achieve the promised results, the country’s environmental watchdog said on Thursday. The report by Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan promises to be a fresh headache for Canada’s minority Conservative government, which critics say is only paying lip […]

Forty dollars may be the bottom for oil, analysts say

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude oil prices have consistently traded above $40 over the past two weeks, fueling expectations that the beaten down commodity has finally stabilized around that level. After hitting a four-year low of $32.40 a barrel on Dec. 19, oil has now rebounded more than 20%. While occasionally falling below $40 in […]

Gazprom aims to invest $2.5 billion in Nigeria gas

ABUJA (Reuters) – Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) wants to invest at least $2.5 billion in the development and production of Nigeria’s natural gas reserves, the world’s seventh largest, a company source told Reuters on Friday. The world’s largest gas firm is in talks with state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) on joint venture projects […]

Warming will shift West’s weeds, study finds

Some will vanish, creating opportunity to restore areas, researchers say SALT LAKE CITY – Climate change will likely shuffle some of the West’s most troublesome invasive weeds, adding to the burden faced by farms and ranchers in some areas and providing opportunities for native plant restoration in others, according to a new study. In many […]

Oil stocks still growing at sea as price stays low

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil companies are still building up vast floating reserves of unsold crude oil on supertankers at sea because oil for immediate delivery is much cheaper than futures prices, traders and shipping brokers said on Friday. The stockpile, mostly on Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) in the North Sea, U.S. Gulf, in the […]

Why sustainable power is unsustainable

Renewable energy needs to become a lot more renewable …The efficiency of solar cells is measured as a percentage of light energy they convert to electricity. Silicon solar cells finally reached 25% in late December. But multi-junction solar cells can achieve efficiencies greater than 40%. Although touted as the future of solar power, those and […]

China Suffering Worst Drought Since 1951

Olympic glory aside, 2008 will be remembered in China as a year of massive natural disasters. Between the crippling ice storms that left millions stranded during the Chinese New Year holiday last January and February and the Sichuan earthquake in May that killed 88,000, catastrophes touched a wide swath of the country and caused nearly […]

Credit crunch mustn’t stifle climate change action

The world’s financial and climate crises have a common cause – and our leaders cannot successfully put capitalism back together without at the same time fixing the environment. So argued an elite group of scientists and parliamentarians, meeting in London last week. The meeting marked the revival of the Club of Rome, the think tank […]

New biomass charcoal heater: A ‘new era’ of efficiency and sustainability

WASHINGTON Using waste biomass charcoal, their heater recorded a thermal efficiency of 60-81 percent, compared to an efficiency of 46-54 percent of current biomass stoves in Turkey and the U.S. EurekAlert

The Great Acetonitrile Shortage

Now here Those properties mean that acetonitrile/water mixtures are ubiquitous in analytical and prep-sized chromatography systems. …Labs working under regulatory-agency controls (GLP / GMP) have a very hard time changing analytical methods without triggering a blizzard of paperwork and major delays. So why are we going dry on the stuff? There seem to be several […]

‘Cash for Clunkers’ pulled from stimulus

An amendment to spend $16 billion to encourage buyers to purchase new, fuel efficient autos was pulled from the bill. WASHINGTON (Reuters) — One proposal to help jump start U.S. auto sales was withdrawn late Thursday and the fate of another was unclear, despite a vigorous endorsement from President Barack Obama, as Senate consideration of […]

The Growth Imperative

KMO welcomes Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down, back to the program to discus the potential, connectedness, and resilience of adaptive systems like ecosystems and economies. Is restoring the growth trajectory of the global economy a viable means of securing long term prosperity? What impact is technology having on employment, and is full […]

Drought threatens Chinese wheat crop

Low rainfall in the north has put nearly half of the country’s harvest at risk A severe drought in northern China …Sun Zhengcai, the agriculture minister, blamed low rainfall since October for the problems. The meteorological administration says no rain is forecast over the next week. But environmental campaigners warned the lack of rainfall had […]

Ice collapse ‘could raise sea levels 20 feet’

Global warming could lead to sea level rises of more than 20 feet — far higher than current estimates, and enough to swamp densely populated coastlines of north America and Europe, say scientists. A team of experts has calculated that if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses — as many expect it to — the […]

Exxon: Juggernaut or Dinosaur?

Cautious, rigid, and uninterested in alternative fuels, the wildly successful oil behemoth is lumbering ponderously into the future Like the ever-expanding universe, ExxonMobil (XOM) seems to know no bounds. Its $45 billion profit in 2008 was the biggest haul recorded by a public company in the history of the world. The runner up? Exxon, in […]

Venezuela behind on payments to oil contractors

CARACAS, Venezuela With prices plummeting by more than half, PDVSA is trying to renegotiate some contracts. But analysts say hardball tactics to reduce charges from crucial service providers could backfire by lowering Venezuela’s oil output. And foreign debt markets are reflecting jitters about Venezuela’s finances. Oil accounts for 94 percent of Venezuela’s exports and funds […]

‘Oil prices can not go above $40 now’

…We suggest that people contain any oil purchases between $35 and $40 So, if people are still willing to look out three to five years versus three to five days, I think oil is a better risk-reward at this point than the U.S. equity market. TER: Are you talking about buying oil as a commodity […]

Time to toll the warning bells

In the midst of rapidly falling oil consumption At stake now are the future projects. For OPEC, and for international oil companies, low oil prices naturally lead to significant cutbacks in future expansion plans. Oil companies are keeping a wait-and-see stance justified by the easing of pressure on supplies. A number of projects are no […]

Sweden changes course on nuclear power

STOCKHOLM (AP) The agreement was made possible after a compromise by the Center Party, a junior coalition member which has long held a skeptical stance toward nuclear power. “I’m doing this for the sake of my children and grandchildren,” said party leader Maud Olofsson. “I can live with the fact that nuclear power will be […]

EOG sees lower U.S. natural gas output in 2009

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) – EOG Resources Inc (EOG.N) Chief Executive Mark Papa said he expects U.S. natural gas production will begin to drop by mid-2009 and will end the year down 2.5 billion cubic feet per day, or about 4.3 percent, from 2008. Weak demand from industrial users will more than offset the […]

Middle East oil demand to stay robust in 2009

DUBAI (Reuters) – Oil demand growth in the Middle East will slow but stay robust in 2009 as governments in the world’s top exporting region boost spending to cushion the impact of the global economic slowdown. The deteriorating world economy was expected to burn less oil for the second consecutive year in 2009. But while […]

Tom Whipple – The Peak Oil Crisis: Leadership

A year or so ago, the world was consuming some 31 billion barrels of oil and oil-like liquids annually. Even if the current economic troubles cut this to 28 billion, or 25 billion or 20 billion, we will still be going through our hydrocarbon heritage at a prodigious rate. At some point a decline in […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy