Brazil Nears Top Spot in Latin Oil Output

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil is poised to overtake longtime energy powerhouses Mexico and Venezuela as Latin America’s biggest oil producer, a result of both political flexibility and natural resources. Trends suggest Brazil could rise to the top of the heap by 2011, as its ultra-deep offshore fields start producing in the months ahead. Meanwhile, […]

Copenhagen climate change summit – final day live blog

World leaders are still trying to thrash out a last minute compromise climate deal. These are the final day developments so far: Follow live updates: Guardian

A Break at the Gas Pump

HOUSTON

Michael C. Lynch: Nonsense, Peak Oil, and Oil Prices

After the oil price collapse of 2008, the subsequent rise to $80 this year convinced many that people that oil traders were anticipating a tight oil market with the economic recovery. Meanwhile, others felt that speculators were reacting to financial factors like the weak dollar rather than market fundamentals. The former were very much encouraged […]

Energy-thrifty White House turns deeper shade of green

WASHINGTON In the complex that includes the White House, that means more efficient heating and cooling systems as well as organic paint, low-flow toilets and lights that turn off by themselves. Even the 800 Christmas ornaments adorning the 18-foot tree in the White House Blue Room were recycled from previous administrations in a nod to […]

Green building comes of age

Competition, oil prices, and concerns about global warming have caused the ’70s fad to go mainstream. Is green building finally coming of age? Green building is finally coming of age. Building sustainable, energy-efficient homes became a fad during the 1970s energy crisis, bolstered by tax incentives for solar energy and growing environmental awareness. But its […]

A Fish Oil Story

…But menhaden are entering the final losing phases of a century-and-a-half fight for survival that began when humans started turning huge schools into fertilizer and lamp oil. Once petroleum-based oils replaced menhaden oil in lamps, trillions of menhaden were ground into feed for hogs, chickens and pets. Today, hundreds of millions of pounds of them […]

Computer simulation strengthens link between climate change and subsea methane

A first-of-its-kind computer simulation that mirrors real-world observations of methane bubbling up from a seabed in the Arctic Ocean provides further evidence that warming oceans may unleash vast quantities of methane trapped in hydrate deposits buried beneath the seafloor. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. The simulations, conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National […]

Oil, gas co's to hike new project spending – survey

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Global spending on oil and gas exploration and production will rise 11 percent to $439 billion in 2010, reversing a drop in spending in 2009 as energy prices climb, according to a survey conducted by analysts at Barclays Capital. The increase shown by the survey of 387 oil and […]

Greer: The Political Ecology of Collapse, Part2: Weishaupt's Fallacy

…The study that led to the 1973 publication of The Limits to Growth was one product of this movement. Sponsored by Peccei’s Club of Rome and carried out by a team led by one of Forrester’s former Ph.D. students, it applied systems theory to the task of making sense of the future, and succeeded remarkably […]

Climate deal looks close, but may not halt warming

A deal at the UN climate summit looks more likely following a frantic day of behind the scenes diplomacy. China signalled concessions on monitoring of emission curbs, and the US said it would commit money for developing countries. Leaders are likely to have big choices to make when they meet on Friday. However, a leaked […]

The End of the Oil Age is Coming

Chuck Taylor has held senior management positions with Nabisco Brands, Ryder System Inc., Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad, Mercer Management Consultants, Tri Valley Growers, American National Can, ServiceCraft Logistics, and Norbridge Inc., and recently founded an organization called Awake! He founded Awake! out of concern the supply chain profession is not informed about the critical changes […]

Fight to control Copenhagen climate change fund

The deadlock over who should cut carbon emissions and by how much may be dominating the headlines here in Copenhagen but behind the scenes an equally big issue is being thrashed out. It’s a fight for control of the massive new fund that will challenge our changing climate. So far there has been no agreement […]

Iran slams US at climate talks, lays claim to nuclear energy

COPENHAGEN “During this period, oil-rich regions of the world became the theatres of wars and military adventurism that led to foreign domination on their energy resources.” The United States, he said, gobbled up a quarter of the world’s oil and energy supplies yet had only five per cent of the world’s population. “Almost 40 percent […]

Danish Students Say Design Drives Sustainable Behavior

COPENHAGEN Slick, modernistic bicycles made of recyclable components; efficient motor scooters molded in space-age motif; high-fashion shoes using recycled rubber and even wood; and elegant evening dresses made from sustainable silk (the silkworm is not destroyed in the process) and sasawashi

China welcomes U.S. climate cash offer

China said on Thursday a U.S. pledge to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate funds was a “good step,” and signaled Beijing was seeking compromise with Washington on its demand for checks on Chinese emissions curbs. But Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, bearing a message from Premier Wen Jiabao, warned that the U.N.-led negotiations […]

Why Britain faces a bleak future of food shortages

Britain faces a ‘perfect storm’ of water shortage and lack of food, says the government’s chief scientist, and climate change and crop and animal diseases will add to future woes. Science is now striving to find solutions It was an ecological disaster that occurred on the other side of the planet. Yet the drought that […]

That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy

The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000. Other recent studies have found that even some […]

U.S. Offer of Long-Term Aid Pushes Climate Talks Forward

COPENHAGEN Mrs. Clinton

Roll up, roll up to see the Irish perpetual motion machine!

Remember that zany Irish company Steorn, who claimed to have built a working perpetual motion machine that could produce clean, free energy out of a few magnets and some plastic discs? Well, they’re back again. Undeterred by the fact that their own hand-picked jury of scientific judges unanimously agreed that the technology didn’t work, Steorn […]

Unplugging from the world's power lines

London, England (CNN) — You won’t hear much about it in the vast conference halls of the Copenhagen climate change summit, but living “off-grid” — beyond the water and power lines that intersect much of the modern world — could hold a solution to some of the planet’s worst environmental woes. Initially adopted by hippies […]

Iraq Is Wild Card in World Oil Supply

Ten years ago, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was hinting at a potential release of oil from the country’s strategic reserves to cool prices, then at the heady level of $25 a barrel. As 2009 draws to a close, many regard Friday’s price of $69.87 as a buy. Surging demand from countries like Brazil, Russia, […]

Iran defiant in face of new US gasoline sanctions

As tighter sanctions on Iran’s gasoline purchases move through the US Congress, Iranian officials say they have plenty of alternative suppliers, such as China and Venezuela. But some analysts say that prices will rise for Iranian consumers. New US sanctions on international companies that sell gasoline to Iran would raise Tehran

Jeremy Leggett:

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. And it wouldn When a whistleblower told the Guardian that the International Energy Agency in the US had been deliberately distorting figures to underplay the looming oil shortage and avoid panic buying, commentators turned to Leggett, who is a regular on CNN, Newsnight and BBC Radio Four

Venezuela May Slow Refining as Drought Hits Dams, Curim Says

(Bloomberg) — Venezuela, site of the biggest refinery complex in the Americas, may process less oil as a drought reduces power generation, said the chief executive officer of Curim Capital Advisors LLC. Venezuela provides crude and heating oil to China National Petroleum Corp. to pay off an $8 billion loan. Most of the oil is […]

Spy agencies keep an eye on changing political climate

Australia’s spy agencies are giving top priority to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen to give Prime Minister Kevin Rudd a critical negotiating advantage. Intelligence and diplomatic sources have told The Canberra Times that Australia’s spy agencies, especially the top-secret Defence Signals Directorate, collected and channelled intelligence on the negotiating positions of other […]

Six reasons why Earth won't cope for long

The world faces a dangerous convergence of environmental and resource crises, not all directly climate related. All, however, are increasingly difficult to resolve in a rapidly warming world. Taken together, they are not amenable to a business-as-usual political response. Here, in no particular order, are six: …4. Peak oil: This month, the International Energy Agency […]

Apollo 14 Astronaut Urges America to Rethink its Approach to Sustainability

When former astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell addressed a group of Rotarians at an international conference in the early 1970s, he warned that peak oil was on the horizon and that the American economy wouldn “Now we

IPCC forecasts 9m sea-level rise if temperatures meet 2C threshold

Global sea levels could rise by up to 9m in the next few hundred years, even if the world manages to stabilise average temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new study. In this scenario, hundreds of millions of people around the world would be affected as low low-lying coastal areas became inundated. […]

U.S. Dairy Industry Plans 25% GHG Emissions Cut by 2020

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy are working together to help the U.S. dairy industry reach its goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent over the next decade. One part of the strategy is to turn methane gas from livestock manure into electricity. Under a […]

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