U.S. must not forget need for alternative fuels

Remember a few months ago when gasoline was selling for $3 a gallon and everyone was talking about ethanol and biodiesel? It's funny, isn't it, that gasoline prices started coming down and the talk about alternative fuels went away. This week, gasoline has been selling for $2.20 to $2.30 a gallon in the Huntington area, and no one is talking about ethanol.

That's a mistake. Alternative fuels are still part of the nation's energy future. We can't go to sleep now just because gasoline prices are more tolerable.

Sustainable development: Big not boring

"If you want to keep your guns, your property, your children and your god, then sustainable development is your enemy!"

I just love that quote from the American Policy Centre.

IAEA blocks aid for Tehran reactor

Vienna - The United Nations nuclear watchdog's board of governors on Thursday indefinitely blocked Iran's bid for technical aid for a reactor project over concerns it could be secretly used to yield bomb-grade plutonium.

U.K.: North Sea 'absolutely critical' to UK energy security - Darling

U.K.: City leader's 'disaster' alert on road pricing

CONGESTION charging will be disastrous for Yorkshire unless the Government pays for alternatives to driving to work, a council leader warned yesterday.

Organizing for sustainability

"Sustainability" is the new green buzzword - the rallying cry of a groundswell of people across the globe concerned about the viability of our planet, both in the near future and for generations to come. In 1987 a report from the United Nations' World Commission on Environment and Development defined a sustainable society as one that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Peak Oil Passnotes: Where Is the Money?

Some people are calling this the most boring crude oil market for ten years. Since the decline in August and September the market has remained fixed solid. Stuck between $55 and $61. It is easy to see why, as we have gone over these problems many times.

Despite many instances of scaremongering, and many genuine problems, nothing has convinced the herd to move off from its current watering hole. Each news event fails to stir the loins of the market makers. Sure this is a good thing for small businesses, consumers and those who wish to plan fuel consumption long term. But they are not important in the oil market. What’s important is profits.

Aramco eyes Karan development

Saudi Aramco is to develop the offshore Karan gas field with the hope of producing 1bn cubic feet per day of gas by 2011, reported Reuters. The Khursaniyah gas plant will double its capacity to 2bn cfd in order to process the Karan gas. The Karan field, which lies 160km north of Dhahran, was first discovered back in April.

Iran Finds New Oil, Gas Reserves in Ahvaz Field

Iran has discovered new onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan with an estimated value of $7.3 billion, an Iranian oil official said Wednesday.

No ‘Miracles’ in the Desert: America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier, by Robert Vitalis

...Vitalis argues that the American oilmen who built their empire early last century did so, in part, by instituting a “Jim Crow system” in the Dhahran oil camps. Further, he argues that social progress and change was enacted at the camps only because the oil powers’ hand was forced—and not because its leaders were progressive thinkers.

Solution to Guinea, Senegal, Gambia energy crisis in sight

Households and the business environment in Guinea, Senegal and The Gambia are increasingly plagued by frequent power outages, to such a degree that it has become a top political issue. Now, technicians from the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation, OMVG, promise that a "final solution" to the regional energy crisis is in sight.

Sky falling and fast, warn scientists - Pollution warms surface of Earth, but cools and shrinks upper atmosphere

Forget the fable of Chicken Little — the sky is indeed falling. The upper zone of Earth’s atmosphere is cooling and shrinking, an international team of scientists said today.

George Monbiot: Drastic Action on Climate Change is Needed Now - and Here's the Plan

It is a testament to the power of money that Nicholas Stern's report should have swung the argument for drastic action, even before anyone has finished reading it. He appears to have demonstrated what many of us suspected: that it would cost much less to prevent runaway climate change than to seek to live with it. Useful as this finding is, I hope it doesn't mean that the debate will now concentrate on money. The principal costs of climate change will be measured in lives, not pounds. As Stern reminded us yesterday, there would be a moral imperative to seek to prevent mass death even if the economic case did not stack up.

Chinese investment slump threatens oil prices

Chinese investment flows are slowing down which could spell the end of the current investment cycle, and signal a recession ahead. Given the importance of emerging markets like China in sustaining oil price growth in recent years this is unwelcome news on top of the continuing crisis in US housing.

Bigger Push for Charging Drivers Who Use the Busiest Streets

Congestion pricing, the idea of charging drivers for bringing vehicles into the busiest parts of Manhattan, has become a kind of holy grail for transportation advocates and urban planners in New York — a coveted prize that has remained out of reach.

Think-tank gives doomsday scenario for Hong Kong transportation

A local think-tank examining the possible effects of global warming painted a doomsday scenario Thursday for Hong Kong's MTR system with thousands of passengers left stranded for hours at a time.

In a 45-page report on climate change, Civic Exchange also warned sudden storm surges and rising sea levels could destroy roads and flood the runway at Hong Kong International Airport. Alexandra Tracy, lead author of the Civic Exchange report, said the subway system is vulnerable to flooding, while power outages will mean commuters will be trapped.

Now hot in Brazil: 'carbon credits' to fight global warming

SAO PAULO (AFP) - Programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are blossoming in Brazil, with the "carbon credit" system winning interest from companies in industrialized countries.

Plastic paper to 'cut' emissions

Toshiba has developed a printer that uses plastic "paper" that can be re-used hundreds of times.

Natural building, the way of the future

The pressing question for anyone contemplating their fate in a post-heated, post-peak oil world is "How am I going to live?"

Brunei: Public Urged To Adopt Low Energy-Consuming Lifestyle

Bandar Seri Begawan - The government is calling on the public to adopt a "low energy consumption lifestyle" and on parents to instill it on their children early on. Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Yahya Begawan Mudim yesterday said educating the public should not be limited to schools only but also in families.

"What better way to start than in the homes and with the parents? We must inculcate low energy-consuming lifestyle", Pehin Yahya urged in his remark at the opening of an exhibition on sustainable energy use, after noting "the complacency of those in Brunei regarding the use of hydrocarbon resources, even though such energy sources are in finite supply".

The handwriting on the greenhouse wall: Energy firms coming to accept regulation of warming gases as inevitable

While the political debate over global warming continues, top executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable.

The Democratic takeover of Congress makes it more likely that the federal government will attempt to regulate emissions. The companies have been hiring new lobbyists who they hope can help fashion a national approach that would avert a patchwork of state plans now in the works. They are also working to change some company practices in anticipation of the regulation.