GM says Volt to get 230 miles per gallon in city

DETROIT If the figure is confirmed by the EPA, which does the tests for the mileage posted on new car door stickers, the Volt would be the first car to exceed triple-digit gas mileage, Posawatz said. The Volt is powered by an electric motor and a battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a […]

UK: Family that's making the Transition to a better life for the world

Andy and May Mason are preparing to grow their own food as they set about transforming their Alvaston garden into a self-sustaining eco-system. The couple are part of Transition Derby – a group set up to tackle the issues of climate change. Elijah James and Catherine Oakes report. ANDY and May Mason hope they are […]

Low pricing key in solar sector crisis: UBS

Investors should look for solar companies offering their products at lower prices compared with their peers, as they are likely to emerge as winners from the current industry crisis, a UBS fund manager told Reuters. He aded European solar module makers will continue to lose market share to more aggressive Asian players who are offering […]

Controversies on Jatropha Water-Footprint

In an interview conducted by the 2nd JatrophaWorld Africa team, Mr. Ruud Van Eck, CEO and Founder of Diligent Energy Systems BV opened up and shared some views on the status of Jatropha cultivation today, running a profitable Jatropha business in Tanzania, and adopting sustainable agricultural practices. He also provided his view on the controversial […]

Land Policy Creates Tension in Ugandan Oil Region

A Ugandan government policy of giving more political rights to the traditional Banyoro inhabitants of the oil-rich Bunyoro region has led to tensions which may threaten exploration and production activities. Bunyoro lies alongside Lake Albert, through which runs the oil-rich Albertine Rift. Last month, the government appointed a ministerial subcommittee to sort out wrangles between […]

Solar tech – plastics convert light to electricity

Researchers the world over are striving to develop organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively as thin films that could be widely used to generate electricity. But a major obstacle is coaxing these carbon-based materials to reliably form the proper structure at the nanoscale (tinier than 2 millionths of an inch) to […]

China Imports Record Oil, Iron Ore as Economy Expands

China bought record volumes of oil and iron ore in July as automakers, steel producers and builders expanded output to meet rising demand driven by the nation’s $586 billion stimulus spending. Oil imports jumped 18 percent to 19.6 million metric tons, and iron ore purchases rose 5 percent to 58.1 million tons from a month […]

For Africa's poor, oil is no gift

In 2008, the U.S. imported 1.05 million barrels of oil a day from Nigeria — almost as much as it bought from Saudi Arabia, making the West African country its fifth biggest oil source. Angola to the south, was sixth at 468,000 barrels. Overall, Angola this year edged out Nigeria to become Africa’s biggest producer. […]

Thoughts from Alcatraz

More than a month has passed since the ASPO/TheOilDrum summit at the Libera UniversitWhilst avoiding that sort of social breakdown is the underlying motivation of all those giving their time to the energy problems, it may be exactly there that Society is set to go. As Nate would explain in his wrap-up address, with everyone […]

Climate Change as Security Threat Is Nothing New

A front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times proclaimed Climate Change Seen as a Threat to U.S. Security, describing how climate change could lead to “profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics.” The […]

Peak oil, energy security and food supply in the UK

Are general concerns over resource depletion rising in the UK? Last week we saw the IEA peak oil story, the Wicks report on energy security, and The Economist publish an alarming cover story about the future of the country Both are members of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, a group […]

Climate, Security and Politics

John Broder has a story above the fold in Sunday The story notes that lawmakers pursuing climate legislation are seeking to use the security risks embedded within climate change to build support among hesitant lawmakers. The Pentagon is clearly taking the security risks related to human-driven climate change seriously. But do they hold up as […]

Peak oil review – Aug 10

1. Production and prices 2. The FTC Rules 3. Peak Coal in Appalachia 4. Briefs 1. Production and prices For yet another week, hopes for an economic recovery and the course of the dollar continued to overshadow oil market fundamentals. Despite rising inventories, higher OPEC production, and weak demand, oil prices continued to gyrate between […]

The Peak Oil Debate

For the past half-century, a debate has raged over when The lack of a common definitional framework also confuses the debate. The author provides definitions of frequently used terms, delineating types of reserves and conventional versus nonconventional resources. She also discusses how technological innovations, government policies, and prices influence oil production. Regardless of the exact […]

Pickens: I'm long oil

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Oil man turned wind power fan T. Boone Pickens sees the price of a barrel of oil rising slightly to $75 by the end of this year and $85 next year. “I’m long oil,” said Pickens in an interview on the sidelines of U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Nevada Democrat Harry […]

Oil seen above $100 by 2011 on shortages: Bernstein

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices may rise above $100 a barrel by early 2011, as global demand rises and producers fail to boost supply, Bernstein Research forecast on Monday. Oil prices in the near-term should remain at or below $75 a barrel, moving higher in 2010 as global demand grows, and into triple-digits by […]

US and Mexico probe Pemex oil thefts

The US and Mexican governments are probing a scheme to steal millions of dollars worth of crude oil and refined products from Mexico’s state-owned producer Pemex and sell it to US refiners, according to reports. “There is a cooperative effort by the US and Mexican governments to investigate the theft of petroleum products from Mexico,” […]

Coal's Future Wagered on Carbon Capture

At a bend in the Ohio River, a bulky new device is being attached to a 30-year-old coal plant near the small town of New Haven, W.Va. The device is being housed in a building four stories tall and bigger than a football field. A 150-foot-tall exhaust stack — so wide that it would take […]

Food crisis could force wartime rations and vegetarian diet on Britons

The British people face wartime rations and a vegetarian diet in the event of a world food shortage, a new official assessment on the UK Supplies in future may also be disrupted by animal disease outbreaks, disruption of power supplies, trade disputes and interruptions for shipping and at ports. The UK however has one of […]

Mexico gov't doubts mount on Chicontepec oil project

MEXICO CITY, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The multibillion-dollar megaproject that Mexico hopes will turn around its slumping oil industry is being questioned by some officials as results fall short, according to a source familiar with the issue. State oil monopoly Pemex has banked on an $11 billion plan to tap the unconventional Chicontepec crude deposit […]

Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat

TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories “Forty years ago, it was 40 miles (64 kilometers) out,” said Gruben, 89, patriarch of a local contracting business. Global average temperatures rose 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degree Celsius) in the past century, but Arctic temperatures rose twice as much or even faster, almost certainly in good part because of manmade greenhouse […]

US government to loan Petrobras $10 billion

The U.S. government is prepared to provide up to $10 billion in loans to finance the development of massive hydrocarbon reserves off Brazil He said the U.S. Export-Import Bank already has signed a letter of intent in that regard with Brazilian state oil company Petrobras. The loan is equal in value to a similar credit […]

Psychological factors help explain slow reaction to global warming

TORONTO It cites a national Pew Research Center poll in which 75 percent to 80 percent of respondents said that climate change is an important issue. But respondents ranked it last in a list of 20 compelling issues, such as the economy or terrorism. Despite warnings from scientists and environmental experts that limiting the effects […]

Oil-short Cuba returns to use of oxen on farms

SAN DIEGO, Cuba He recently suggested expanding a pilot program that gives private farmers fallow government land to cultivate

Global Populations to Accelerate Demands For Fossil Fuels, Renewables

By 2025, the world will add another 1.4 billion people creating an energy hungry workforce of the nearly 700 million new middle class people. China alone represents 350 million with India adding 100 million to the total emerging middle class population. The rapid growth will almost triple worldwide energy demands within the next 15 years. […]

Oil-rich Brunei to have solar power plant

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP) Osamu Ito, general manager of Mitsubishi’s operations in the tiny kingdom, said construction was under way after a groundbreaking ceremony this week, and that the facility will be operational by mid-2010. Although Brunei is blessed with abundant natural energy reserves, the government is keen to pursue energy conservation, he said. “The […]

Angola praised on Asian oil deals

One of Africa’s largest oil producers, Angola, is much tougher in negotiating deals with Asian firms than critics might suggest, a new report claims. UK-based think-tank Chatham House says the country does not fit the stereotype of weak African states being exploited by resource-hungry Asian tigers.Their report contrasts Angola with Nigeria, which it says has […]

Clinton Meets Angolans as Minister Calls $70 Oil 'Not Bad'

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Angola to expand efforts to increase transparency in reporting petroleum revenue as the country’s oil minister expressed satisfaction with the current price of about $70 a barrel. Clinton, aiming to improve U.S. relations with Africa’s leading oil-producing nation, stayed overnight in Angola’s capital city of Luanda, becoming the […]

Health Care's Oil Problem

Today’s idea: Health care faces a threat from oil — and not just the deep-frying variety. Medicine’s dependence on fossil fuels and inevitable higher oil prices will give the American health system a shock, an article says: “Think massive heart attack.”Medicine | Petroleum gets pretty much zero attention in the debate over fixing health care, […]

Britain wants "radical rethink" on food production

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain must find ways to grow more food while using less water, energy and fertilisers to help feed a growing world population and offset the effects of climate change on agriculture, the government said on Monday. A senior minister said last year’s sharp rise in the cost of food and oil and […]

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