After the tortilla crisis: Mexico to cooperate with Brazil on biofuels

Even though biofuels were in no way to blame for the ‘tortilla crisis’, which affected Mexico, mainstream media perceived it as such. The main causes of the increase in corn prices are (1) the protection by tariffs of inefficient corn-based ethanol in the U.S., (2) the subsidisation of this fuel, (3) the vast corn subsidies […]

Hell and Hydrogen

By the time Klaus Draeger, BMW’s manager of research and development, took the microphone at a Berlin hotel last fall, the assembled journalists’ bellies were full of mint juleps–and it all started to make sense. Maybe the world’s oil crisis and the threat of climate change could be sensibly addressed by using hydrogen as a […]

Ghana: Replace all energy consuming bulbs

The Energy Commission has recommended the replacement of six million incandescent lamps with contact fluorescent lamps throughout the country as a measure to conserve energy and help save the nation from the current energy crisis. The worsening energy situation in the country has necessitated a national commitment to conserve energy in order to save the […]

Energy companies rethink palm oil as biofuel

Once, palm oil was seen as an ideal biofuel, a cheap alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming. But second thoughts are wracking the power industry. Can the fruit of the palm tree help save the planet — or contribute to its destruction?Now, amid global efforts to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, power companies […]

Scientists weigh risks of climate ‘techno-fixes’

Faced with the specter of a warming planet and frustrated by the lack of progress on this time-sensitive issue, some scientists have begun researching backup plans. They seek a way to give humanity direct control over Earth’s thermostat. Proposals run the gamut from space mirrors deflecting a portion of the sun’s energy to promoting vast […]

World Biodiesel Output Growth May Slow

Global biodiesel production rose sharply in 2006, but growth should slow in the coming year as new German taxes cut demand, analyst F.O. Licht said in a report on Wednesday. Overall worldwide production of the renewable fuel source was 5.4 million tonnes last year, up 80 percent from 3.0 million tonnes in 2006. The report […]

Ethanol: Time to steer away

. A new paper by The Heritage Foundation’s Ben Lieberman road tests the latest boondoggle from Washington and finds that its earth-friendly claims are seriously overblown. So, too, is the notion that using more ethanol reduces oil imports and lowers prices at the pump. Worse, increased ethanol use drives up other consumer costs.Well, you may […]

Canada wary of nuclear power for oil sands

Plans for nuclear power plants to supply electricity and steam to the Alberta oil sands should be put on hold until the full repercussions of using the technology are known, a Canadian parliamentary committee advised. In a report on the sustainable development of the oil sands released this week, Parliament’s natural resources committee steered clear […]

EU, Central Asia Officials to Boost Ties

Officials from the European Union and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations agreed Wednesday to boost ties as Europe tries to increase its clout in the strategic, energy-rich region. The EU is eager to tap extensive oil and gas reserves in the vast region bordering Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran. However, the EU’s relations with Central Asian […]

Why Iran matters to oil markets

As tensions mount with Iran, oil markets around the world remain fixated on the Persian Gulf, ready to send prices soaring on the slightest hint of escalation. Exhibit A was Tuesday when crude oil jumped $5 a barrel, or about 8 percent, on rumors, later denied, that U.S. warships had clashed with Iran’s naval vessels. […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Alternatives #1

The year 2007 is shaping up as one filled with bad news. ItFallsChurchNews

GAO report on peak oil to be released

Washington, DC — Congressmen Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and Tom Udall (D-NM), co-chairmen of the Congressional Peak Oil Caucus, announce a Capitol Hill news conference on Thursday, March 29, 2007 between 11:30 am and 12:00 noon in HC-9 of the Capitol to discuss the release of an embargoed GAO report. The report will reveal the United […]

A water supply in a box

One year has passed since General Electric agreed to acquire water-technology pioneer Zenon Environmental, part of an industry-wide consolidation that, in part, is being driven by an expectation of regional conflict over water The situation is getting worse, and faster than originally predicted. Last August the International Water Management Institute, based in Sri Lanka, revealed […]

Does Food Trade Save Water?

Few people realize that we International Water Management Institute (PDF)

Consciousness and Culpability in the Mind of George Bush

… Lancaster notes: ‘I once made the mistake of suggesting to Bush that he use the phrase cheap energy to describe the aims of his energy policy. He gave me a sharp, squinting look, as if he were trying to decide whether I was the stupidest person he “More or less the only conclusion one […]

Big U.S. oil supply to offset Mideast Gulf disruption

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States could use its large Strategic Petroleum Reserve to counter a short-term disruption in Middle East Gulf oil shipments caused by tensions with Iran, the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. “We have substantial emergency supplies” of oil to offset problems in Gulf shipping,” EIA’s Guy Caruso […]

Major solar power plant opens in Portugal’s south

SERPA, Portugal (Reuters) – One of the world’s largest solar energy plants, covering the hills of a valley dotted with olive groves in southern Portugal, started delivering electricity to about 8,000 homes on Wednesday. The solar panels, which are raised around 2 meters off the ground, cover an area of 60 hectares (150 acres) and […]

Unique study analyses consumption and carrying capacity of ecosystems

How does the spatial distribution of human consumption of carbon (as embodied in food, fiber, and wood/biofuel products) compare to the ability of land-based ecosystems to produce it? This is an important question, the answer to which may yield insights into the bioenergy production potential of different regions of the planet. Ecosystems that can easily […]

Global talks on new climate deal must start now, commissioner says

EU environment minister Stavros Dimas wants increased European efforts to help kick-start an international post-Kyoto climate deal aimed at limiting the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. He explained that from meetings with China and India, it has become very clear that if the world’s number one CO2 polluter euobserver

Whistleblower Group Details Bush Interference with Climate Change Science

The Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower and watchdog group in DC, released a report (.pdf) today detailing a top-down government campaign to suppress climate change research that deviated from policy positions within the Bush administration. In particular, the administration tried to bury research that showed human activity contributes to global warming and stronger storms. wired

George W. Bush, Meet M. King Hubbert

By: Jeffrey J. Brown George W. Bush needs no introduction. Increasingly, neither does M. King Hubbert, a renowned geoscientist who used some mathematical modeling techniques to predict, in 1956, that US Lower 48 crude oil production would peak between 1966 and 1971. In 1956, he estimated that world crude oil production would peak no later […]

Brazil’s growing biofuels output does not threaten rainforest – expert

The dangerous opportunity cost of not using efficient biofuels on a massive scale, is accelerated climate change, which may result in far bigger damages to the planet’s (rain)forests and ecosystems. Global warming is set to lead to a mass extinction of species, not just in Brazil, but across the world (earlier post). What’s more, it […]

Geothermal Industry in the US Remains Up-beat for Future Expansion

Geothermal heat is a significant provider of energy in a small number of countries, all located in regions subject to earthquakes and volcanoes. This report provides an excellent introduction and understanding of the three technologies for exploiting geothermal energy; power generation, GSHPs (ground source heat pumps), direct use (excluding GSHPs). It the industry businesswire

Warm Up to Solar Energy?

Rising fossil fuel prices boost solar’s appeal daily. Bank of America, for one, expects solar energy production to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 35% through 2010. So as an investment theme, solar energy stocks are no-brainers, too, right? Well, hardly. Even the experts who analyze these companies for a living can’t agree […]

EU forging closer ties with US on clean energy

The EU and US are making progress on developing a joint strategy on cleaner fuels, energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said on Tuesday. After a meeting with US Energy Secretary Bodman in Washington, the commissioner said new technologies were only part of the energy mix to secure long-term fuel supplies. financenewsonline

Crude Awakening: Long-term, Prices Should Continue To Rise

The last time we looked at the oil chart was in a post about CanRoys. At the time, there were plenty of oil bears on CNBC predicting $20-30 oil, but I was pretty sure that $50 was going to hold. Fast forward two months, oil Personally I cringe every time I hear geopolitical events being […]

China May Raise Natural Gas Prices by 5%-8% Annually

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s industrial watchdog, may start raising the country’s artificially low domestic natural gas price by 5% to 8% annually within three years until it reaches parity with international levels, due the country’s growing dependence on imports, state media reported. resourceinvestor

Faustus and the monkey trap

One of the factors that make the crisis of industrial society so difficult to deal with is the way that crisis unfolds out of the most basic assumptions we use to make sense of the world. Albert Einstein Of the dozens of good examples in the daily news, the one that seems most worth noting […]

Oil and the empire

THE OIL men of the Bush administration are trying to set up one of the biggest swindles in history–the great Iraq oil robbery. The cabinet of the new Iraqi government–under pressure from the U.S. occupiers who put them in power–approved a law that would undo Iraq The oil companies would be guaranteed super-profits–on a scale […]

New Zealand: Making tourism sustainable

A comprehensive strategy update for the New Zealand tourism industry has climate change and peak oil firmly in its sights, Tourism Minister Damien O’Connor said today. Mr O’Connor was commenting on a recent study by Lincoln University climate expert Susanne Becken. He visited the university earlier this month and discussed the research with Dr Becken. […]

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