Global Biofuel Market to Top One-Quarter Trillion

The dream of cellulosic ethanol powered vehicles and biorefineries is slowly coming to life, climbing through contentious issues of fuel versus food, low petroleum oil prices and sustainability. Brazil is growing quickly alongside the expanding biofuel market with predicted long term demand. The Pike report also predicts the world biofuel market to surpass $280 billion […]

The End Of Fossil Fuel

You will never see cheap gasoline again. You will probably never see cheap energy again. Oil, natural gas and coal are set to peak and go into decline within the next decade, and no technology can change that. Peaking is a simple concept. We generally exploit natural resources in a bell-shaped curve, with the rate […]

French panel to recommend carbon tax on fuel

PARIS (AFP) A government-named expert panel headed by former Socialist prime minister Michel Rocard is to report back on Friday on how much the levy should be, which products should be covered, and what taxes can be cut to offset it. Under Rocard’s recommendations, leaked in Les Echos business daily and confirmed to AFP, France […]

Solution shifts drillers' demand for water

Continuing efforts to shift oil and natural gas operators from groundwater to surface water sources during the shale fracturing process got a boost Thursday. The Louisiana conservation office announced it is developing rules to allow limited reuse of exploration and production wastewater. The proposal may undergo more revision before final publication, which could come by […]

Sweden Tries to Nudge E.U. Toward 'Eco-Efficiency'

Published: July 23, 2009 Beginning today, the Swedes are trying to get the European U-nion back on track toward improving its energy efficiency. At an informal meeting of energy and environmental ministers from the 27 E.U. member states that starts today in Are, Sweden, the host country hopes to refocus the other European states on […]

Rainfall to decrease over Iberian Peninsula

Scientists have recorded a decline in winter precipitation over the past 60 years in Spain, and they now forecast that precipitation will also decrease in spring and summer. A team from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) has studied rainfall data from 1950 to 2006 and the climate projections for coming decades, showing that less […]

UK: Police make more arrests at wind turbine factory protest

Police made more arrests overnight outside a wind turbine factory where climate change activists are staging a protest in support of workers occupying the site. Police said two men were detained close to the Vestas Wind Systems plant, on the Isle of Wight. Three people were arrested yesterday. Around 25 workers are staging a sit-in […]

Iran and Russia, scorpions in a bottle

“Unity in diversity” is not exactly what the Obama administration has in mind as far as Iran and Russia are concerned – no matter the zillion bytes of lofty rhetoric. Let’s start with the energy picture. Iran is world number two both in terms of proven oil reserves (11.2%) and gas reserves (15.7%), according to […]

Peak Fuel Report Offers Sober Assessment of SF's Energy Future

Somewhere amid the budget drama of the last several weeks, a peak oil and natural gas report (PDF) Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi called “a really big deal” got lost in the shuffle. So, when the Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force showed up before the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee today, neither the committee’s […]

Wind power plan blown off course

Closure of turbine factory undermines Government’s green pledges UK – The Government was facing a growing credibility gap over green jobs last night as environmental campaigners and trade unionists united to fight the closure of Britain’s sole major wind turbine plant. Only last week, ministers proclaimed a green employment future for the UK involving 400,000 […]

Solix Biofuels begins production of oil made from algae

Solix Biofuels Inc. said Thursday it has started the production of oil made from algae at its Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility, with full-scale commercial operation set for late summer. Solix, a startup based in Fort Collins, has been working on techniques to produce renewable, biologically based fuels from microscopic algae organisms. Algal oil production began […]

Oil-drilling proposal taking environmental heat

Environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers are mobilizing against a state budget proposal that would allow the first new oil drilling off the California coast in 40 years. A coalition of 53 environmental groups has announced its opposition to the drilling

'Super Bug' Increases Cellulosic Ethanol Yield

Sometimes, when you ask a question, you get a good answer. A recent post on a push to increase the U.S. gasoline blend rate ended with this thought-provoker: At this rate, will cellulosic ethanol, from non-food plant materials, ever get off the ground? Yes, replied Sam Salyer, a representative for a Massachusetts-based biofuel company called […]

Bet on it: Gas prices headed up

Crude oil and gasoline prices have taken us on a wild and crazy ride over the past two years. Crude oil prices rose from $51 a barrel in January 2007 to $145 in July 2008, a jump of 184 percent. Then prices plunged to $30 a barrel in December 2008, just five months later. Gasoline […]

Nigeria's Q1 oil revenue cut by half: official

ABUJA Sales in the first quarter of 2009 fetched the country 735.4 billion naira (4.9 billion dollars/3.4 billion euros), sharply down on the previous quarter, when oil returned 9.86 billion dollars, the National Bureau of Statistics said in its July publication. Agence France-Presse

When supposedly good bugs go bad

Using insects to tackle nonnative species can cause new problems SAN FRANCISCO – Imported insects have been deployed as foot soldiers in the fight against invasive bugs and plants that cause billions of dollars in damage each year. But some of those imports are proving to be pests themselves that upset the balance of nature […]

Labor tension up at Venezuelan oil company PDVSA

CARACAS (Reuters) – Rising dissatisfaction at Venezuela’s state-owned oil company over contract negotiations and alleged meddling from the socialist government could generate isolated industrial action in the OPEC country. Nearly 100,000 workers employed by Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, and some of its contractors are upset because of overdue pay, delays in renegotiating a new […]

Oil service companies surge on brighter outlook

NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. and European oilfield service companies brought a glimmer of optimism to the hard-hit sector on Thursday, beating earnings expectations and raising hopes that oil and gas producers could restart stalled spending programs. France’s Technip (TECF.PA) posted a surprise increase in second-quarter profit, while U.S.-based offshore driller Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc […]

U.S. oil curve steepens, revives storage play

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The premium for long-dated U.S. crude oil futures has grown dramatically since mid-July, which should spur traders to hoard more crude on land and at sea to turn a profit. The discount of front-month to second-month oil futures has nearly doubled since July 13, to $1.75 per barrel from 89 cents […]

Shop Locally

According to the 3/50 Project, for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that with a national chain, only $43 stays at home. Spend it online and nothing stays in the community.So, shopping locally is one of the best means […]

EU eyes binding targets to cut energy consumption

With the EU striving to meet its ambitious climate goals, the European Commission quizzed member nations Thursday on whether to make targets for cutting energy use legally binding. EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs opened a debate with ministers at a meeting in Aare, central Sweden, on the bloc’s goal to cut consumption by 20 percent […]

Study shows strong evidence that cloud changes may exacerbate global warming

The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun’s heat energy and making the earth warm even faster, or whether cloud cover will increase, blocking the Sun’s rays […]

Will electric cars ignite a lithium boom?

Some suggest the lithium supply could eventually be tighter than oil is today With such vast sums sloshing around, it’s no surprise that companies and investors are rubbing their hands over the prospect of a boom in the market for lithium. This unique metal, so soft you can cut it with a knife and so […]

Peak oil may solve climate change

Congress has recently passed legislation that would cap carbon emissions. The Administration strongly supports such controls. The EPA finds that CO2 endangers public health and welfare. Many studies postulate severe global consequences if CO2 concentrations are not constrained. Most climate change models assume that future CO2 emissions will grow exponentially over this century. Intuitively, anyone […]

Tar-Sands Oil Pollutes Less Than Thought, Report Says

(Bloomberg) — Tar-sands oil from Canada, the biggest supplier to the U.S., is cleaner than previously calculated, according to an Alberta government report that may benefit producers Nexen Inc. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Carbon-dioxide emissions from producing oil in western Canadian sand deposits are about 10 percent higher than competing U.S. crude imports, the […]

Military, Policy Experts See Climate Change as National Security Issue

Experts appearing before a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Tuesday told legislators that climate change should be treated as a grave national security threat, with retired Navy Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn saying The hearing, entitled Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats, and Diplomatic Opportunities, was chaired by Senator John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts […]

US vehicle efficiency hardly changed since Model T

The average fuel efficiency of the US vehicle fleet has risen by just 3 miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T, and has barely shifted at all since 1991. Those are the conclusions reached by Michael Sivak and Omer Tsimhoni at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor. […]

Why people don't act on climate change

At a recent dinner at the University of Oxford, a senior researcher in atmospheric physics was telling me about his coming holiday in Thailand. I asked him whether he was concerned that his trip would make a contribution to climate change – we had, after all, just sat through a two-hour presentation on the topic. […]

Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power

BELFAST, Me. As demand for clean energy grows, towns around the country are finding their traffic patterns roiled as convoys carrying disassembled towers that will reach more than 250 feet in height, as well as motors, blades and other parts roll through. Escorted by patrol cars and gawked at by pedestrians, the equipment must often […]

Oil-rich Venezuela moves to fix price on car sales

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s National Assembly moved closer on Wednesday to fix prices on car sales, the latest move to cap sharply rising consumer prices in the oil-rich Caribbean nation. The retail price tag of cars in Venezuela, where gasoline is cheaper than anywhere else in the world, is up to three times that of […]

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