Save the planet – and save some money, too

If you’re among the people who saw “An Inconvenient Truth,” felt shaken up by its message and then never got around to doing anything about it, consider this little jolt of motivation:

You stand to save some serious money while you’re saving the planet.

P&G going green

Liquid detergents will come in smaller packaging with double concentrate as the company moves to become enviro-friendly, according to a published report.

Global Oil Production Peaking: What Happens Now?

Peaking of Ghawar will occur sooner rather than later. Recent horizontal multi-lateral wells indicate the coming of a peak. Unlike vertical wells, which are able to capture the oil from its natural geologic pressure, horizontal wells are used to extract oil between the injected water and the gas cap which has formed above the oil column. This is an indicator of peaking. However, no field as large as Ghawar has been found so it is difficult to speculate the decline rates or how long a plateau can be maintained.

The U.S. Solution to Peak Oil: Ten Billion Barrels or Bust

The U.S. government's latest plan to save us from peak oil comes from the Department of the Interior. The latest ploy is to exploit offshore oil targets in Federal waters. It may not help, but at least our government's last stand against peak oil gives us another chance to reap the benefits.

Gas shoots up on tight supplies

Most terminals in Iowa ran out of unleaded gasoline on Sunday and Monday and had to turn delivery drivers away, Crowe said. But the supply problem is expected to be solved within a week, he said, and gas should be in ample supply at conveniences stores and gas stations.

Supplies are tight because of increased demand, a refinery fire in Oklahoma, annual refinery switches from winter to summer blends and production cuts by the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Crowe said.

Oregon Fuel Prices Churn Stomachs

With the price of gas soaring so high in Oregon it’s become painful to even drive past the fuel pumps, it’s time for Bend residents to take action that will protect their bank accounts and mental health. Our advice: don’t drive at all.

The Nuclear Option

Popular wisdom holds that safety concerns, fueled by the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, Penn., eventually shuttered nuclear construction by the Tennessee Valley Authority—the most ambitious commercial nuclear power program in United States history. Not so, says David Freeman, the former TVA chairman largely credited with putting the brakes on the utility’s nuclear construction in the 1980s. “We had to shut them down, even though they were under construction, because they cost too much,” he recalls. “We didn’t shut those plants down on account of their being unsafe. That should have been a reason, but it was the economics.”

Nigeria Group MEND: Chevron Hostages May Be Released on May 30

A well-known Nigerian militant group on Tuesday said it would release six foreign oil workers of U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. (CVX) on May 30 so long as no rescue effort is undertaken to procure their release.

Take a broader look at local ownership of biofuels

Unfortunately, local ownership has now become an increasingly divisive topic that threatens to slow the rate of renewable-energy development more broadly, just as the scientific community is telling us we have to accelerate the deployment of zero-carbon energy. Much of the divisiveness stems from how we think about this issue.

Biofuels Money 101: Mixing public, private

Q. What’s the right balance between local and outside ownership?

A. Experts disagree. Some say the industry shows better promise of expanding with a mix of investors. But research at Iowa State University also shows rural economies benefit more when an ethanol plant is owned by local investors, because those investors reinvest their earnings locally.

Aussies make solar power cell breakthrough

Researchers at the University of New South Wales ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence have developed a means of increasing the cell's light-trapping ability by up to 50 per cent.

Vancouver Company May Make Ultraclean Jet Fuel in Ohio

-A Vancouver-based energy company has generated newspaper headlines in Ohio this week with its proposed coal and biowaste fuel plant valued at $4 billion.

India may buy Algerian crude for planned stockpile

India, Asia’s third-largest oil consumer, may build strategic reserves for oil and liquefied petroleum gas to protect itself from supply disruptions and may import crude from Algeria to fill the tanks.

Ministers act to stop lights going out in 2015

Fears that Britain could be plunged into an energy crisis by 2015 will result in the green light being given by Christmas for a new generation of nuclear power stations, senior Whitehall sources are indicating.

Intl. committee to study Iran’s heavy oil

Iran and some foreign companies have established a committee to study on Iran’s heavy oil, said a member of National Iranian Oil Company’s (NIOC) board of directors here Tuesday.

Turbulent days ahead on labour front, TUC predicts

Earlier, workers defied the early morning heat and went on a procession from the Nkrumah Circle through Adabraka, UTC and High Street before finally converging at the Independence Square. Some of the workers carried placards, which read, “Solve the Energy Crisis,” “President, Ghana Consolidated Diamond Workers are Dying,” “50 Years of Light Off. Why?”

What’s Possible in the Military Sector?

The military is the only sector of the economy where emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) can be reduced by greater than 100%. This is because militarism is the only type of activity whose primary purpose is destruction.

Compost Nation - Kunstler

Another issue is the choice of materials. As you march down the decades from the 1950s, the materials-of-choice for finishing the exterior are more and more materials not found in nature. Aluminum siding was a big favorite for a while -- and you can always spot it because of the dents below the three-foot high level, where the lawnmower has shot stones at the panels for decades. After the 1980s, there is a distinct acceleration in the use of vinyl for practically everything. The vinyl clapboards, soffits, window-surrounds, et cetera, are often little more than stapled onto the house. And naturally they begin to sag and pull apart instantly. After twenty-odd years of that you end up with a house that looks like a birthday present wrapped by a five-year-old.

A Different Kind of Alternative-Energy Portfolio

No, I didn't go for unprofitable fuel-cell startups such as Ballard Power, or the new ethanol plays. I like my stocks dripping with cash flow and profit growth. But I've found other ways to invest in the energy sector while getting steadier charts than the usual suspects offer. Here's a list of lesser-known energy names I own that you might want to consider for your own portfolio.

Esteemed Scientist's New Book Urges Nuclear Power in Battle Against the Clock to Overcome Global Warming & Peak Oil

Dr. J.W. Eerkens' new book, The Nuclear Imperative, examines the various alternatives to fossil fuel from a scientific angle, and shows why nuclear power must be a crucial component in solving the impending energy crisis.

Pentagon study says oil reliance strains military

A new study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil -- the lifeblood of fighter jets, warships, and tanks -- will make the US military's ability to respond to hot spots around the world "unsustainable in the long term."

Gulf of Mexico oil output expected to soar

Action in the Gulf of Mexico's deep waters is growing so much that oil production could grow by more than 50 percent in the next decade, the federal agency that oversees oil and gas activity off the nation's coastlines reported today.

Iowa refinery snags may raise gas prices

Refinery snags that left two Iowa storage facilities short of fuel over the weekend are a reminder of how tight the U.S. gasoline market has become and why average prices could soon top $3 a gallon, experts said Tuesday.

..."We're in big trouble," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. He noted that inventories stand at 194.2 million barrels — or slightly above the levels reported in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 — and he predicted that that the average prices this summer will surpass the 2005 record of $3.06 a gallon.

Feds Clear Way for UT Oil-Shale Project

The federal government gave its approval Monday for the reopening of an oil-shale mine in Utah, one of the experimental works intended to boost domestic oil production on Western lands.

Energy: The Grim Future For Our Global Community

In our global community, the markets are intertwined. The energy market is the largest market in the world. Energy effect’s everyone’s day to day life. Decreasing supply and increasing demand has cause political strife and social determent even beyond inconvenience of three dollar per gallon of gasoline.

Raymond J. Learsy: Saudi Arabia's 'Oil Plot' Arrests: Targeting al-Qaeda or Our Congress?

172 Islamic militants were arrested by Saudi Security forces in an advanced stage of readiness to attack energy and high impact targets according to the Saudi Interior Ministry. "They had the personnel, the money and arms". Quick cut to Saudi television, broadcasting images of neatly lined up rapid fire armaments with ammunition clips and orderly stacks of Saudi riyal's.

Real life or stage props? Please consider the following...

Ford Charts Fuel Savings Impact of Reduced Speeds

Ford UK has provided performance data illustrating the effect of driving a cross-section of its Transit van models at governed speeds of 60 and 65 mph as a means to demonstrate the utility of a low-cost (£25) road speed limiter (RSL) it offers on its lineup.

On a Transit 260 or 280S 2.2-liter low-roof van, for example, driving 60 mph rather than 70 mph could save more than 19% on fuel consumption at cruising speeds—alongside a similar percentage cut in CO2 emissions.

Nuclear storm gathers as climate change experts meet

Few issues are as divisive as nuclear power, and the furore over its use threatens to resurface as leading scientists meet in Thailand to thrash out a plan to reduce the impact of climate change.

Melting Greenland ice could raise ocean seven meters

The world's oceans could rise by up to seven meters if Greenland's ice cap entirely melts because of global warming, climate scientists said Tuesday.

Prince Charles: climate change battle is like World War II

Addressing representatives from firms including Barclays Bank, British Airways and Rolls-Royce at Saint James's Palace, Charles said that "we need to act very rapidly indeed" to avert environmental disaster.

"We can do it, just think what they did in the last war. Things that seemed impossible were achieved almost overnight," the heir to the throne added.

Experts target rice as climate culprit

Methane emissions from flooded rice paddies contribute to global warming just as coal-fired power plants, automobile exhausts and other sources do with the carbon dioxide they spew into the atmosphere.

In fact, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting this week in Bangkok concludes that rice production was a main cause of rising methane emissions in the 20th century.

Can the "Axis of Oil" Topple the US Dollar?

Were it not for its "reserve currency" status, slowly turning into a post-World War II relic, the US dollar would have already collapsed by now. A string of $4.4 trillion of US trade deficits since 1996, and a heavy reliance on foreign money to fund its external imbalance, has severely weakened America's global economic leadership over the past five years. The US dollar survives, due to America's political stability, its military might in the Persian Gulf, its large $12.5 trillion economy (28% of global GDP), and deep and liquid financial markets for bonds and stocks.