Hybrid sales dip due to lower gas prices, consumer doubts

Americans are turning away in large numbers from hybrid cars at a time when automakers are preparing to flood the marketplace with even more of them. Hybrid sales were off by 10 percent in 2008, and things aren’t getting get any better so far this year. Nationwide, Toyota Prius sales dropped 30.8 percent last month, […]

Credit crunch threatens to sink Portuguese wave energy project

The world’s first commercial wave energy project is on the brink of collapse after its main backer went into administration last week, casting doubt over the future of a project that has already been dogged by technical problems. The Aguacadoura project was a joint venture between Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power, Australian energy developer Babcock & […]

Opposition grows to Norway’s Arctic oil search

Perched 200km north of the Arctic Circle, the Lofoten islands in Norway paint a picture-perfect image of serenity. High mountains plunge into the sea, villages of brightly painted wooden houses nestle on the shores of sheltered bays, while fishing boats pull gently on their anchors. But underneath the surface, the Lofoten islands are the latest […]

UK: Warning over renewables as economic crisis leaves funding gap

Green power companies are heading for “crisis” and Britain should no longer rely on them to meet its energy security and climate change obligations, some industry experts are warning. The difficulties – triggered by the credit crunch, recession and a collapse in the carbon price – have led to new demands this weekend to ministers […]

Nigeria: Russia, Govt Sign Energy Pact

Russia has signed an accord with Nigeria calling for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, including the construction of nuclear power plants and establishment of uranium mining in Nigeria. The two countries signed a memorandum of mutual understanding in Moscow during the third meeting of the Russian-Nigerian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Scientific […]

Afghanistan to Hold First-Ever Hydrocarbon Bidding Round

Thursday, March 19, 2009 – The Ministry of Mines for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan announced today that the country is holding the first-ever Afghan hydrocarbon bidding round. The round includes three large onshore blocks, which have established hydrocarbon accumulations. The three blocks are located in the northwest of the country and encompass the Jangalikalan […]

Nobel winner is getting an education

WASHINGTON: As a physicist, Steven Chu has observed atoms suspended in a powerful laser beam and DNA stretched out in a vacuum chamber. But in his new job as U.S. energy secretary, Dr. Chu is observing phenomena he never saw in the science laboratory. At a recent Senate hearing, for example, he witnessed a junior […]

Probe Finds Exxon Exposed Workers to Hurricane Hazards

HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil Corp. exposed its employees at the second-largest oil refinery in the nation to life-threatening conditions by failing to implement an emergency plan when Hurricane Gustav struck the U.S. Gulf Coast last year, according to findings of a federal investigation released Friday afternoon. Exxon did not shut down the Baton Rouge, La., […]

Chavez Expected to Announce Effort to Shore Up Economy

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected to unveil an economic plan on Saturday that includes steps to raise revenue to help his government navigate a financial crunch brought on by the global crisis and declining oil prices. Speculation grew on Friday that the program could include a devaluation of Venezuela’s currency, the […]

U.S. Offers $535 Million Loan Toward Solar Energy Plant

Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday offered a $535 million federal loan guarantee for Solyndra Inc. to support the construction of a manufacturing plant for the four-year-old company’s photovoltaic panels made of tiny cylindrical collection tubes. Chu said the project would put 3,000 people to work. Kelly Truman, Solyndra’s vice president of marketing, sales and business […]

Natural Gas, Suddenly Abundant, Is Cheaper

HOUSTON Energy experts and company executives say that means loads of gas from Qatar, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria that otherwise would be going to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Spain are beginning to arrive in supertankers in the United States, even though there is a gas glut here, too. With industrial and utility use of natural […]

Canadian Oil Sands cuts 2009 Syncrude estimate

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Oil Sands Trust said on Friday it is cutting its 2009 outlook for production from the Syncrude Canada Ltd oil sands venture, the world’s largest producer of synthetic oil. Canadian Oil, the joint venture’s largest owner, cut the production forecast to 109 million barrels from 115 million barrels. It said this […]

FACT CHECK: President Obama’s claim for the Model T Ford runs out of gas

WASHINGTON (AP) “Think about that: 100 years later, and we’re getting worse gas mileage, not better, on SUVs,” Obama said. Ford’s own Web site says the Model T’s mileage ranged from 13 to 21 miles per gallon. Some Tin Lizzie enthusiasts who still drive the vehicles report numbers closer to the bottom end of that […]

Michelle Obama starts White House vegetable garden

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground on a new White House vegetable garden on Friday, digging a plot on the mansion’s south lawn to help provide her children and visitors with fresh, healthy food. Obama, who has made a point of reaching out to the local Washington community since her husband’s inauguration, […]

Study: Nearly all native birds in Hawaii in peril

‘Borderline ecological disaster’ as 31 species are listed as endangered HONOLULU – Hawaii’s native avian population is in peril, with nearly all the state’s birds in danger of becoming extinct, a federal report says. One-third of the nation’s endangered birds are in Hawaii, said the report issued Thursday by the Interior Department. Thirty-one Hawaiian bird […]

OFID criticizes first-generation biofuels

LONDON, Mar. 20 — First-generation biofuels are threatening food security in developing nations, and there is no guarantee that this approach will reduce greenhouse gases and foster rural development, according to a report commissioned by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). Speaking at the fourth International OPEC seminar in Vienna, Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish, OFID […]

EU ‘jeopardising’ fight against climate change

Leaders insist emerging economies need to agree to substantial emissions cuts before money is given to developing nations Green campaigners today accused EU leaders of jeopardising the global fight against climate change by refusing to commit funds to the least developed countries. At a two-day summit, which ended today, the EU’s 27 leaders decided to […]

Iran diverting funds into oil production

VIENNA: Iran’s oil minister said Wednesday his country is diverting funds from other sectors of its national budget to support its oil industry “We have to bring money from other sectors to the oil sector,” Nozari told the Fourth OPEC International Seminar. He gave no figures but later told The Associated Press that while some […]

Obama: Investment in energy research creates jobs

POMONA, Calif. (AP) The president defended pumping billions of dollars into energy research, saying that sometimes great discoveries don’t happen in a flash of brilliance, but rather as the result of a deliberate effort over time. His economic message had the twin aim of touting the $787 billion economic stimulus plan and building support for […]

Petrobras oil workers say they’ll strike

RIO DE JANEIRO: Workers for Brazil’s state-run oil company approved a five-day strike starting next week, union officials said Friday. Some 60,000 of Petrobras’ 74,000 employees who work in oil production will participate in the strike, said Joao Antonio de Moraes, director of the National Oil Workers Federation. Neither the union nor officials with the […]

Pennsylvania says natgas drilling risks inevitable

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Pennsylvania’s top environmental official said on Friday that a natural gas drilling boom would inevitably result in some environmental damage including possible contamination of water supplies. Responding to concerns that drilling in some areas has caused toxic chemicals to pollute drinking water, John Hanger said the value of the gas underlying Pennsylvania […]

Alternative energy quest endangering birds

Steep drops in bird populations attributed to energy production, report says WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration pursues more homegrown energy sources, a new government report faults energy production of all types In almost every case, energy production is also playing a role. “Energy development has significant negative effects on birds in North America,” the […]

New simulation shows consequences of a world without Earth’s natural sunscreen

The year is 2065. Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s ozone is gone — not just over the poles, but everywhere. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered in the 1980s, is a year-round fixture, with a twin over the North Pole. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., is strong enough […]

Dying bees ‘were not a priority’

A top civil servant has admitted research into bee disease has not been a “top priority” despite mounting concern about declining populations. But Dame Helen Ghosh, of the environment food and rural affairs department, said more money was now being ploughed into solving the crisis. The registered bee population in the UK has shrunk by […]

US navy vessels collide near Iran

Two US navy vessels, including a nuclear-powered submarine, collided in one of the Middle East’s key oil routes today lightly injuring 15 sailors and causing oil prices to rise. The collision in the strait of Hormuz, between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, occurred in darkness when the submarine was submerged. The craft, the USS Hartford, […]

Chernobyl ’shows insect decline’

Two decades after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, radiation is still causing a reduction in the numbers of insects and spiders. According to researchers working in the exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl, there is a “strong signal of decline associated with the contamination”. The team found that bumblebees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and spiders […]

Steven Chu

Dr. Steven Chu, our new Secretary of Energy, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1997 for his research in cooling and trapping atoms with laser light. Not only is Chu a very smart guy, heWith the due praise part of this column out of the way, I want to bring up some urgent concerns […]

Mexico’s proven reserves down 2.7% to 14.3 bil boe

Mexico’s proven reserves of crude and equivalent stood at 14.3 billion barrels on January 1, down 2.7% on the year-earlier reserve level, President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday. The decline was Mexico’s lowest in at least five years and marked a sharp increase in the country’s reserve replacement rate, said Calderon at a rally to mark […]

Here Comes the Rally of the Year

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Libya says no need to cut oil output further

OPEC most likely does not need to cut oil production further, the top official of Libya’s National Oil Corporation said, according to German paper Handelsblatt. “As of today it looks as if we probably do not need a further cut in production,” said Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) told Handelsblatt in […]

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