Energy companies jumping into alternative fuels; two going public

In today’s energy news, a new biodiesel fuel company launches in Houston and two ethanol producers, VeraSun Energy and Aventine Renewable Energy, have initial public offerings in the works. According to a news article on MarketWatch.com today, Brookings, S.D.-based VeraSun Energy has filed to raise $250 million in its initial public offering. VeraSun recently reached […]

Los Alamos experts to debate future of energy

Nuclear power, says Ben Luce, policy director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, has drawbacks that make renewable energy the better choice for feeding an electricity-hungry world. But many of those drawbacks are exaggerated and would nearly disappear with a new generation of nuclear power plants, says Donald Petersen, a retired scientist […]

Hit the road, Jack, but it will cost you $7,800

That’s the average cost for tires, gas, insurance and everything else that goes into owning and driving your car. AAA has studied driving costs every year since the 1950s, and it almost always finds it gets more expensive every year. If you want to add it up for yourself, AAA has copies of its driving […]

Saab BioPower Hybrid Concept: World’s First Fossil-free Hybrid Vehicle

The innovative Saab BioPower Hybrid Concept, making its world premiere at the Stockholm Motor Show (March 30 – April 9, 2006), delivers zero fossil CO2 emissions, enhanced performance and a range of energy-saving features by combining the use of pure bioethanol fuel and electric power generation for the first time. As the world’s first fossil-free […]

Young Amendment Could Be Resolved Today

A Cape Wind newsletter says that the Young Amendment could be resolved today. This is the Amendment that would kill the offshore Cape Wind project, the only proposed U.S. offshore wind farm, because of very sketchy grounds. For those who don’t know, the Young Amendment (proposed by Rep. Don Young of Alaska) was snuck into […]

Market for wind power picks up speed

It’s just half a percent of total energy consumption in the U.S., but wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy source out there — in terms of usage and capacity. Demand is so brisk that GE has sold out 100 percent of 2006 production and 80 percent of 2007. In fact, there’s a building […]

Toyota Plans Gasoline-Electric Hybrids for All Vehicle Classes by 2012

Japangreencarcongress

GM in race to make clean-car investment

General Motors needs to give a green light to heavy investment to develop a mass-market hydrogen-powered car within the next 18 months to ensure the US carmaker fuelcellsworks

Peak Sugar – Entropy Will Not Be Mocked

…Looming peak oil spreading to other resources as we scramble to maintain our addiction… A quick summary of my diary is thus: – demand is skyrocketing, because of our need for energy, and oil-substitutes. An indirect sign of peak oil, if that was ever needed. And it’s happening really, really quickly… – production is already […]

Iran’s plan to weaken the dollar will fail

Tehran lacks the freedom and transparency needed for a successful oil exchange. JERSEY CITY, N.J. Tehran’s plan of attack has the virtue of economic logic at least. Iran’s planners recognize that the heavy use of the dollar in international trade sustains its foreign exchange value by forcing people to hold greater dollar balances than they […]

Hybrids burn up more energy in the making

You want to get more miles per gallon? It’s a no-brainer. Check out the Honda Accord or Civic or Toyota Prius hybrids and forget those big sport-utility vehicles, the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Hummer H2, Ford Expedition, Cadillac Escalade or Lincoln Navigator. But while hybrids consume less fuel than SUVs, it takes more […]

Oil Heads Back Toward $70 a Barrel

WASHINGTON – Oil prices appear headed back toward $70 a barrel, a level not seen since Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and sporadic shortages sent gasoline at the pump above $3 a gallon nationwide. While last summer’s price spike triggered outrage in Congress and hurt sport utility vehicle sales, it caused only a hiccup […]

Private Funds Needed to Bolster Output

Petroleos Mexicanos, the worldEl Universal Online

Why Global Oil Demand is Shifting to Nigeria

The rise in acts of terrorism, political instability, uncertainty on the actual amount of proven oil reserves, United States of America’s frosty relations with many Arab nations, and the need for energy security have been identified as major reasons why the once revered Persial Gulf no longer plays its dominant role in global oil demand. […]

China Death Threat for Oil Theft

Chinese police have vowed to clamp down on pipeline oil theft, even threatening to impose the death penalty. According to police oil theft cost the industry more than 1bn yuan ($124.6m, BBC

The Oil Drum: Rig Prices, Rig Depth, and How to Get a Job

One of our oil industry insiders has sent us some interesting data on rig rates, well type/depth changes, and more on the oil situation in the GOM, as well as how the industry in Texas and the GOM is staffing its rigs. Lots of interesting stuff under the fold.Much more after the jump to The […]

The New Face of an Oil Giant

If Rex W. Tillerson has his way, Exxon Mobil will no longer be the oil company that environmentalists love to hate. Since taking over as Exxon’s chairman three months ago from Lee R. Raymond, his abrasive predecessor who dismissed fears of global warming and branded environmental activists “extremists,” Mr. Tillerson has gone out of his […]

Belarus hit by Russian gas hike

The head of Gazprom, Russia’s largest gas company, has said Belarus will have to pay five times more for the fuel. Gazprom boss Alexei Miller told the Belarusian energy minister that Russian gas “must be supplied at prices equivalent to the European level”. Belarus currently enjoys a significant reduction compared to the price other European […]

Iran Says It Won’t Use Oil As a Weapon

GENEVA – Iran’s foreign minister said Friday his country would not use oil as an economic weapon against those countries pressing Tehran over its suspect nuclear program. Iran is second to Saudi Arabia as an oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran had medium- and long-term obligations […]

Venezuela takes on ExxonMobil

Crude-rich country tells oil industry to give more profit share Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez on Wednesday said Exxon Mobil Corp. was one of the companies that would

Plan now for an energy crisis

There was very little reaction to the increase of commercial gas prices beyond the $1-per-litre mark earlier this month. Unlike the mass outcry registered the last time the cost of gas peaked into the magical three-digit range, consumers simply kept on gassing up and driving off. It’s an alarming sign, for it is apparent that […]

Man sees electric bikes as answer to high fuel prices

DAVIS ISLANDS, FL – Stanley Freeman offers some relief for gas pump shock. Four cents charges one of his electric bicycles for 20 miles of smooth cruising, or more if you do some pedaling. “It’s the perfect urban transport vehicle,” says Freeman, who was bored with retirement and set up a workshop where he builds […]

Coal-Powered Jets

Researchers have powered a turboshaft jet engine, the type used to drive helicopter rotors, with a coal-based fuel that could eventually replace military and commercial jet fuels, says Harold Schobert, director of the Energy Institute at Pennsylvania State University. The successful development of the coal-based fuel, which was described this week at the American Chemical […]

Soil crisis is holding back African recovery

The fertility of Africa’s soil is being depleted at a rate that threatens to undermine the continent’s attempts at eradicating hunger with sustainable agricultural development. ..”With little access to fertilisers, the farmers are forced to bring less fertile soils on marginal land into production, at the expense of Africa’s wildlife and forests.” Julio Henao and […]

China Grapples With Growing Water Shortages

China is running out of water. The figures are stark. Per capita water resources in the world’s most populous country are less than a third of the global average, and falling.More than a decade of near double-digit economic growth coupled with a still expanding population has put an almost unbearable strain on water demand in […]

Botswana: Air Ticket Prices Go Up

As fuel costs rise globally, air travellers, including those here at home, are beginning to feel the pinch. According to the Acting Commercial Manager of Air Botswana, Phillip Nkokou, the organization introduced a fuel levy in April and September last year. “High fuel prices have a negative impact on airline operating costs. This remains one […]

Oilman Pickens Says Oil Price Could Easily Hit $100

Crude oil getting to $150 a barrel isn’t outside the realms of possibility, legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens said Thursday. In an interview with CNBC, Pickens again espoused his theory that oil prices could easily get to $100 a barrel given the many potential supply disruptions on the horizon. “I think you’ll see $75 […]

Can we afford to go nuclear?

The official body charged with the clean up of Britain’s nuclear sites today revealed that the estimated costs for dealing with the country’s radioactive legacy has soared again. The Nuclear Decomissioning Authority (NDA) now says that there could be an additional .. Friends of the Earth recently published energy scenarios that can deliver up to […]

BP plans wheat-based ethanol factory

Australia’s first wheat-based ethanol plant is set to be built south of Perth, and could be helping to fuel West Australian cars by 2008. BP Australia and Primary Energy have announced plans to establish the plant adjacent to BP’s Kwinana Refinery, in order to produce 80 million litres of biofuels every year. ABC Australia

Energy policy a contradiction in Bolivia

President Evo Morales warned of an undocumented dark conspiracy last month against him by the natural-gas industry, only days after taking office, and has also called for “nationalizing” the foreign-owned operations. Yet Morales and other senior government officials have welcomed more foreign investment in Bolivia’s natural-gas industry and indeed want to use tax dollars generated […]

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