A Biofuel Process to Replace All Fossil Fuels

Joule’s process seems very similar to approaches that make biofuels using algae, although the company says it is not using algae. The company’s microorganisms can be grown inside transparent reactors, where they’re circulated to ensure that they all get exposed to sunlight, and they are fed concentrated carbon dioxide–which can come from a power plant, […]

Apocalypse Soon

Oct. 1, 2020 Thousands of people pour out of Manhattan onto an armada of ships. “October Surprise” hit with a vengeance — a massive hurricane has paralysed New York City. World leaders watch the disaster unfold as they’re airlifted from the United Nations General Assembly on the banks of the overflowing Hudson River. Meanwhile, on […]

Ebb and flow of wind power stress NW power grid

YAKIMA, Wash. — In the space of one hour last month, electricity generated at wind farms in the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge shot up by 1,000 megawatts – enough to power some 680,000 homes. Less than an hour later, it plummeted almost as much. … But the marriage of wind and water […]

The Relationship Between Gold, Oil and Your Stomach

Humans eat or humans die and with the Peak Oil specter looming, this issue is becoming very pressing for about 923,000,000 people. The Internet is an amazing series of tubes. A friend told me that Nate Hagens, MBA, former Managing Director at Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers and editor of The Oil Drum, used my liquidity […]

Algae: A promising biofuel

WASHINGTON – SOME call it pond scum, but algae is drawing increasing attention as a source of biofuel that can help replace petroleum or fuels made from crops like corn or soybeans. The notion of using algae to produce fuel has been around for decades, but has garnered new interest and investment amid a search […]

Renewable Energy Use Growing, Coal Use Falling

While total energy consumption fell in 2008, compared to 2007, renewable energy use grew, while fossil fuel use fell, according to data released by the Lawrence Livermore National Labratory earlier in the week. Solar, nuclear, biomass and wind all grew, while coal and petroleum fell. Natural gas rose slightly and geothermal was flat. Business Insider

'$20 Per Gallon' by Christopher Steiner

Christopher Steiner looks ahead and projects, $2 at a time, how rising gasoline prices will transform civilization. During the summer of 2008, Americans found out just how much was too much to pay for gas. On July 11, a barrel of oil hit $147.27, which translated into $4.11 for a gallon of regular gas at […]

Germany calls carbon tariffs "eco-imperialism"

ARE, Sweden (Reuters) – Germany called a French idea to slap “carbon tariffs” on products from countries that are not trying to cut greenhouse gases a form of “eco-imperialism” and a direct violation of WTO rules. The issue of greenhouse tariffs has met bitter opposition from developing countries such as China and India, who count […]

Hydrocarbons in the deep Earth?

The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth’s crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter. Now […]

Windpower Could Provide 40 Times Earth's Power Needs

A team at Harvard decided to reinvestigate the potential for windpower around the globe, and found their new results to be significantly different than previous studies. According to the new study, we’re capable of someday producing 40 times more power via wind than we currently consume overall. This finding corresponds with recent research suggesting that […]

Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide

Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months. The pictures, kept secret by Washington during […]

Nuclear power goes solar

Last night Greenpeace was invited by the Austrian authorities to hang a banner from a nuclear power station, unlikely but true. The Zwentendorf nuclear plant was never operated and has been mothballed since the 70s. Today it is to open as a solar power station: our banner simply stated: Greenpeace News

Algae: The next biofuel bet

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on pond scum as a future source of renewable energy Algae, it appears, are the new green in the quest for a sustainable biofuel that can run cars, put airplanes in the sky and be made into shopping bags. Dozens of start-ups have sprung out of universities, […]

Can fossil fuels become clean energy?

There is a fine line which is often blurred when people discuss clean energy. Some “energy“ spokespersons say it’s clean when it is burned at the power plant, reactor, or refinery if it gives off little to no air pollution, such as greenhouse gases (GHG) leading to global warming, or the release of chemicals harmful […]

Mexico June oil output down 11.1 pct vs year ago

Mexican oil output fell below 2.6 million barrels per day for the first time since 1990 in June, hit by the relentless decline of the Cantarell field and maintenance, state oil monopoly Pemex said on Friday. Oil production slid 11.1 percent compared to June 2008 to 2.519 million bpd. Exports of crude were down 12.7 […]

Turkmens in Contested Oil-Rich Province to Boycott Iraq's National Census

Political parties representing the ethnic Turkmen population in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk said Thursday that they planned to boycott Iraq’s national census scheduled for October, throwing into question whether a count of people in the disputed province would resolve growing tensions there. The Iraqi government has hoped the long-delayed census will conclusively determine the […]

Tuvalu Sets Goal of 100 Percent Clean Energy by 2020

Amid worsening climate change-related problems for small island states, Tuvalu has established a national goal of being powered entirely by renewable energy sources by 2020. Government officials and the donors of Tuvalu’s first large-scale solar energy system alike hope the moves help inspire much larger nations later this year in negotiations of a successor to […]

New energy metals promising

New energy metals will have a bright future, said experts with nfmetal.com, a Chinese ferrous metal website. The demand for lithium will expand with new breakthroughs and a wider application of technologies for large-capacity batteries and storage batteries, the website said.The rare earth industry will enter a new stage, bolstered by demand from the wind […]

Oil's Customers Will Go Away Before Oil Does

Over the last few decades, the U.S. has built a vast portfolio of powerful technologies to save and replace oil. Yet nobody had totaled exactly how much oil these new technologies could save, until my team at Rocky Mountain Institute did in 2004. Our largely Pentagon-funded study Winning the Oil Endgame showed these technologies could […]

BP: Iraq Oil Deal is Start of Something Big

The June 30 auction in Baghdad for development rights to oil and gas fields in Iraq has been portrayed as a dud. That’s understandable. After all, the Iraqis managed to award only one of the eight fields up for bid. But the .125 batting average is somewhat deceptive. The field the Iraqis did award, Rumaila, […]

Don't Bet On $800-A-Barrel Oil

A tsunami of fuel innovation will be unleashed well before gasoline costs $20 a gallon. It is a strange thing in this recession: For the first time since 1983, worldwide oil use has declined in two consecutive years. Maybe that’s no surprise “in this economy,” to use the now universal mantra. But despite the decline […]

Schlumberger CEO: $70/Bbl Oil Price Needed To Boost Activity

Although the price of crude has seen a significant rebound from its lows at the beginning of the year, it needs to be higher for a sustained period for global exploration activity to undergo a major boost, Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) Chief Executive Andrew Gould said Friday. Gould said that $60 barrel “is OK, but it’s […]

Recession? What recession?

Thanks to the combined effects of the “trusty” relationship of Allan Greenspan with the US banks – and unaffordable oil wars – the world is now plunged into recession with the current Federal Reserve Bank Chairman talking of lessons learned from the Great Depression. Mentioning the very words is sending shudders down the spines of […]

Corncobs may play major role in ethanol

SANTA ROSA, Texas, July 24 (UPI) — Secret testing in a secluded field near the Mexican border is aimed at meeting an expected huge need for ethanol — made partly with corncobs not corn. In tiny Santa Rosa, Texas, a few miles northwest of Harlingen, the nation’s largest producer of ethanol, usually with corn, is […]

Kern County oil flop – Occidental Petroleum – peak oil

Soon you’ll be calling it the Kern County oil flop. In a year, you’ll completely forget this discovery was made. Two days ago, I was informed by several readers that all our oil supply troubles were over. Apparently they became a little too excited after reading about Occidental Petroleum’s “huge discovery.” Admittedly, I should have […]

Audit: Energy Department could save energy

‘Setback controls’ lacking, broken or unused at 35 of 55 large facilities KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The U.S. Department of Energy is wasting enough electricity to power more than 9,800 homes a year by failing to turn down the heat or air conditioning when its workers leave for the day, auditors said Thursday. “In spite of […]

Philadelphia likes solar-powered 'BigBelly'

City finds it can stuff more trash with compactors, saving money PHILADELPHIA – Is it any surprise that a city known for its love of cheesesteaks, soft pretzels and cannolis would embrace a solar-powered trash compactor called a BigBelly? In the largest rollout yet, Philadelphia has replaced 700 downtown trash bins with 500 of the […]

Cleaner shipping rules to hit fuel oil market

LONDON, July 24 – New regulations that will force the shipping industry to switch to cleaner fuel could snuff out nearly a quarter of European demand for fuel oil by 2015. The package of measures will add to the woes of the dirtiest and least profitable oil product: sludgy, bottom of the barrel fuel oil […]

Gasoline glut, weak demand, to pressure prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. gasoline prices have probably peaked for 2009 and could face increasing downward pressure as seasonally higher summer driving demand fades into the rear-view mirror. Motor fuel inventories have climbed for six straight weeks, gaining even around the Fourth of July holiday, traditionally the peak of demand in the United States. […]

Oil rises above $68 on economic optimism

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil rose to top $68 a barrel on Friday on optimism a turnaround in the global economy would lift battered fuel demand. U.S. crude settled up 89 cents at $68.05 a barrel, the highest settlement since July 1. The gains extended a rally that has pushed prices up more than 14 […]

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