News from September 2007

Riding an Israeli electric car to peace

The electric car is being resurrected. Amid the global threats of pollution, oil funded terrorism, and ‘peak oil’, the Western world is looking to replace fossil fuels with clean, renewable sources of energy. Cornucopians are becoming extinct; scientists, engineers, politicians, and oil tycoons have recognized that we have used 50% of the world’s oil supply [...]

Hold onto your wallet

THE squeeze on the ordinary American promises only to get worse as the world price of oil goes up, the U.S. economy fails to create jobs, mortgage foreclosures increase, and the value of the dollar falls against other currencies. After the recent shock of the roller-coaster ups and downs of U.S. and world stock markets [...]

Operators balance safety with production

Earlier this month, a tropical depression in the Atlantic caught the attention of local residents who thought the storm might be the area’s first hurricane since Rita. But the storm, which at one point was predicted to cut across most oil fields in the Gulf, was particularly worrisome for oil companies. Coming on the heals [...]

New oil law is not in Iraq’s interest

Iraq’s draft oil and gas law, which was approved by the Iraqi government in April and which is scheduled for parliamentary approval, is one of the most dangerous laws issued since the occupation of the country began in 2003. The permanent constitution, passed in 2005, is another dangerous document that threatens the future of Iraq. [...]

As Prices Soar, U.S. Food Aid Buys Less

Soaring food prices, driven in part by demand for ethanol made from corn, have helped slash the amount of food aid the government buys to its lowest level in a decade, possibly resulting in more hungry people around the world this year. The United States, the world

D.C. region produces more carbon dioxide than many countries

WASHINGTON (Map, News) – The Washington region, with its crawling traffic and several coal-fired power plants, produces more carbon dioxide than several medium-size European countries, according to a new study of pollution. Estimates produced by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments show 65.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide were emitted in the region in [...]

Wind power only part of the solution

…But all of those efforts — from wind power to biodiesel to high-tech light bulbs — aren’t enough to preserve what James Howard Kunstler calls our “happy motoring culture.” Kunstler, a New York author and frequent speaker at environmental conferences, said he sees more similarities than differences between the “greenies” and the giant corporations, land [...]

How Economy Could Survive Oil At $100 A Barrel

The world economy has managed, with some indigestion, to swallow the rise of oil prices past $80 a barrel. How well could it survive $100 a barrel? The answer is quite well — so long as several conditions still hold true. The price rise would probably have to be gradual. Inflation couldn’t get so bad [...]

Corn-to-Ethanol: US Agribusiness Magic Path To A World Food Monopoly

Eight years of Biofuels (ethanol) policy and legislation has cemented in place the first world wide food cabal, which promises a humanitarian disaster, a famine more serious than those caused by any tsunami, earthquake or drought. This crisis is not in the dim future, it is here. Congress has, in a series of acts passed [...]

The Once and Future American Car

How long is the collective American memory? About ten years. As evidence, I offer the example of what happened after the Arab oil embargo of 1973. America reacted with a swiftness and force that included a national 55 mph speed limit along with tough and tightening standards for vehicle fuel economy. We were so close [...]