UK motorways hard shoulder experiment

The Highways Agency is to try out the idea of using the Hard Shoulder (currently reserved for emergency vehicles only) as an extra lane on motorways during congested periods. More details here: highways

‘Pop goes the bubble! The Great Housing Crash of ‘07′

This month’s figures prove that the so-called “housing bubble” is not only real, but that its cratering faster than anyone had realized. As the UK Guardian reported just yesterday, “the orderly housing slowdown predicted by the Federal Reserve will (soon) become a full-blown crash”. The housing bubble is a $10 trillion equity balloon that will […]

Lugar on Energy:

midwestbusiness

Peak Oil Forecasters Win Converts on Wall Street to $200 Crude

That’s not the prophecy of some apocalyptic cult. Kadijk, a hedge fund adviser, had flown from Amsterdam to attend a conference on a geologic theory known as peak oil. Proponents of this controversial idea say global oil production is now at or near its zenith. Once the flow crests and starts to decline — and […]

EPA Brags About Going 100% Green

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has closed a deal making it the first federal agency to purchase renewable energy, or “green power,” equivalent to 100 percent of its annual electricity needs. The agency signed a contract with 3 Phases Energy Services to purchase more than 100 million kilowatt hours (kWh) in renewable energy certificates, […]

Sharp expects solar power costs to halve by 2010

Japan’s Sharp Corp., the world’s biggest maker of solar cells, expects the cost of generating solar power to halve by 2010 and to be comparable with that of nuclear power by 2030, Sharp’s president said. “By the year 2010 we’ll be able to halve generation costs,” Katsuhiko Machida said on Thursday. “By 2020 we expect […]

Sanctions scenarios over Iran’s nuclear quest

The United States has called for swift resort to sanctions against Iran if it ignores a U.N. Security Council deadline on Thursday to stop enriching uranium, a process that can yield fuel for nuclear power plants or bombs. The following outlines the basis for sanctions, steps to impose them and what they may entail, as […]

Brazil to Increase Ethanol Exports 15% This Year

Brazil, the only major exporter of ethanol, may increase its ethanol exports by 15 percent this year on growing international demand for the fuel, Agriculture Minister Luis Carlos Guedes Pinto said. Brazil may export 3 billion liters (792 million gallons) of ethanol this year, compared with 2.6 billion liters sold abroad in 2005, Pinto said […]

Mammoth $200M wind farm proposed in Iowa

Northern Iowa could have one of the nation’s largest wind farms by 2008. Iowa Winds LLC wants to build a 200- to 300-megawatt farm covering about 40,000 acres in Franklin County. yahoo

Gulf Oil Discovery Lifts Hopes for New Geological Play

A deepwater discovery reported Thursday underscores the growing importance of a geological formation in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that’s only recently become accessible to crude oil and natural gas producers. A consortium led by BP PLC (BP) found hydrocarbons at the Kaskida well, right in the middle of the Keathley Canyon offshore area, 250 […]

UTC Power Leads Industry Team Building New England’s First Fuel Cell Bus

Hartford will have New England’s first fuel cell-powered transit bus by early next year — and breathe easier because of it. The Greater Hartford Transit District announced today at a Union Station press conference that it has contracted with UTC Power of South Windsor, Conn., for the company and its partners to provide a 40-foot […]

California to Cap Greenhouse Gas Emissions

California legislative leaders and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reached agreement on a compromise version of an assembly bill (AB 32 greencarcongress

Hybrids Bound for Formula One

Gizmodo – Our beloved blood brothers at Jalopnik tell us that hybrid vehicles may be soon winding their way into Formula One racing, where overlords of that heady luxo-sport world are sniffing around the technology. Two big players who build such Formula One dream machines, N.Technology S.p.a. and Tatuus s.r.l., have teamed up to build […]

Solar World: Silicon Deal Amid Scarcity

(UPI) — The major silicon supply contract signed Wednesday between Germany’s ErSol Solar Energy AG and Wacker Chemie AG highlights one of the biggest problems in the solar industry: the extreme scarcity of the product’s main ingredient. “For 2006 … there are roughly 13,000 to 15,000 tons of high-grade silicon available,” Erik Thorsen, the president […]

Will the End of Oil Be the End Of Food?

AlterNet – Farmer Richard Randall doesn’t believe in the notion of “peak oil,” the argument that civilization will soon experience an acute — and irreversible — petroleum scarcity that will fundamentally alter our way of life. A 61-year-old wheat and sorghum grower from Scott City, Kan., Randall says he’s seen high oil prices before, and […]

Ocean plankton absorbs less CO2 than expected

Even phytoplankton are letting us down when it comes to global warming. These microscopic ocean-dwelling plants, which were thought to be gobbling up atmospheric carbon dioxide, are apparently not doing as well as was hoped. In the past, satellite images of ocean colour were the main tool for measuring photosynthetic biomass: the greener the ocean […]

The ASPO USA 2006 Boston World Oil Conference

Time for Action: A Midnight Ride for Peak Oil Co-Hosted by ASPO-USA and Boston University is going to be held Thursday, October 26 and Friday, October 27, 2006 (plus pre- and post-conference events) and will be held at Boston University, Boston. There are about 22 confirmed impressive speakers starting with Matt Simmons. The link to […]

Fill Up on Corn if You Can

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.

PODCAST: The Nuclear Option

Could nuclear power be the next source of green energy? With the threat of global warming looming and the need for renewable resources pressing, environmentalists are finding an unlikely bedfellow in nuclear power. We’ll talk with Popular Mechanics contributing editor Alex Hutchinson about new reactor designs, we’ll hear an argument for nuclear power from Greenpeace […]

BP may resume pipeline production soon

PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska – BP officials are growing increasingly optimistic that Prudhoe Bay oil production may be returned to normal levels earlier than expected, believing a portion of the pipeline idled by corrosion concerns may be useable at least temporarily and that other sections can be bypassed. The flow of oil from Prudhoe Bay has […]

Analysts: Venezuela move hurts profits

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela’s moves to tighten terms on foreign oil companies operating in the Orinoco River basin may jeopardize investment and will likely cut into the companies’ share of profits in lucrative heavy oil projects, analysts said Wednesday. The tar-soaked basin’s immense potential has kept the companies from pulling out, but President Hugo Chavez’s […]

Cash-strapped Cambodia eyes black gold

US oil giant Chevron is poised to prove Cambodia is sitting on oil reserves worth $1 billion annually. SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA In the coming weeks, US oil giant Chevron will ferry them hundreds of miles offshore, and use them to reconfirm what many already believe to be true: Cambodia is sitting on a billion-dollar gold mine. […]

Absence of an ill wind blows some good

GLOBAL warming’s failure so far to produce a repeat of last year’s serial hurricane assault and battery of the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico is the swing factor in the suddenly soft price of oil. A year ago today, New Orleans was inundated by floodwater, and oil refineries on the Gulf coast and rigs and platforms […]

Will the End of Oil Be the End Of Food?

American agriculture is fatally dependent on oil. A few forward-thinking farmers are trying to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. Farmer Richard Randall doesn’t believe in the notion of “peak oil,” the argument that civilization will soon experience an acute — and irreversible — petroleum scarcity that will fundamentally alter our way of life. A […]

Oil Safari

What does it take to quench America�s mighty thirst for gasoline? Pulitzer-winning correspondent Paul Salopek traced gas pumped at a suburban Chicago station to the fuel�s sources around the globe. In doing so, he reveals how our oil addiction binds us to some of the most hostile corners of the planet�and to a petroleum economy edging toward crisis.

Chicago Tribune

Nigeria: Kerosene Scarcity – What the People Say

Kerosene, an essential product in most households, has suddenly become expensive and scarce at major fill-ing stations in the Federal Capital Territory. This is against the directive of President Olusegun Obasanjo who earlier this year said that the pump price of kerosene should not be higher than the pump price of petrol. The prices at […]

Ghana: ‘Save Power’ Says VRA

The current load shedding regime that Ghana is experiencing may continue for a long time if Ghanaians do not practice energy saving in their various homes, workplaces and industries. Though the Volta River Authority (VRA) has announced that the current regime of power rationing would be reviewed as soon as possible, ADM can reveal that […]

Bangladesh bows to protestors, cancels British coal mining project

The Bangladesh government said it has bowed to demands from protestors that it cancel a 1.4-billion dollar plan by London-based Asia Energy to build an open-pit coal mine. “We have agreed to all the demands (of the protestors),” Asadul Habib Dulu, junior minister for food and relief, told AFP after almost a week of deadly […]

Ukraine May Face Gas Price Hike

preparing for a more than 40 percent hike in gas prices next year, even as Moscow and Kiev hold talks aiming at averting another pricing dispute and supply disruptions, an official said Tuesday. The government is anticipating an increase from US$95 (euro74) per 1,000 cubic meters to US$135 (euro105) — a 42 percent hike, said […]

Malaysia, China team up for biofuel R&D

Malaysia has teamed up with China in a bilateral research and development (R&D) cooperation to further develop biofuel and biomass production technologies. Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and the Department of High-Tech Development and Industrialisation of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology have entered into a memorandum of understanding aimed at exploring new biomass technologies. […]

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