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<p>WASHINGTON - The Senate called yesterday for a comprehensive inventory of offshore oil and gas resources, despite concerns raised by most senators from coastal states that such a study could lead to ending a 20-year ban on drilling in most US coastal waters.</p>

Ballyhooed hydrogen fuel cells may have environmental drawback WASHINGTON (AP) Widespread use of the hydrogen fuel cells that President Bush has made a centerpiece of his energy plan might not be as environmentally friendly as many believe. Scientists say the new technology could lead to greater destruction of the ozone layer that protects Earth from cancer-causing ultraviolet rays. Researchers issued a report Thursday saying that if hydrogen replaced fossil fuels to run everything from cars to power plants, large amounts of hydrogen would drift into the stratosphere as a result of leakage and indirectly cause increased depletion of the ozone....

NEW YORK - Oil prices hit 11-week highs above $31 a barrel today as OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela sought assurances that nonmember Mexico would follow the cartel in any move to tighten supply. Renewed signs that looting and sabotage will disrupt the resumption of Iraq's oil exports further bolstered prices, which have gained 20 percent in the last month. U.S. crude futures jumped 54 cents to $31.28 a barrel, hitting its highest price since March 19. In London, benchmark Brent crude was 34 cents higher at $27.78 a barrel. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and his Venezuelan counterpart...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Politicians hail ethanol, the corn-based gasoline additive, as a boon to the environment and a way to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. But ethanol also comes with its own environmental problems and scientists disagree over whether producing ethanol actually uses more fossil energy than it replaces. The Senate this week will decide whether to double the amount of ethanol to be used in gasoline, to 5 billion gallons a year. Critics say the plan is just one more subsidy for corn growers. Supporters make the case that the proposal is essential to an energy policy that...

A look at ethanol as a gasoline additive: An ethyl alcohol made from fermenting and distilling starches from corn and other crops. Used for wide range of purposes from a gasoline additive to making beer and whiskey. Today, 90 percent of ethanol used in gasoline comes from corn. Researchers hope in the future it can be processed from cellulose biomass (grasses and various plant waste). 2.13 billion gallons were made last year, mainly in five states - Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana. One bushel of corn yields 2.5 gallons of ethanol. Ethanol is more expensive to produce and transport...

In the 1990s, natural gas was hailed as the growth fuel of the future. It was relatively cheap, burned cleanly and polluted less. Power plants that used the fuel were easy to build with reliable construction schedules. But it's become apparent that the early hosannas extolling the wonders of natural gas were overblown. Prices are now about $6 per million British thermal units (Btus), up from an average price of $2 in the 1990s. On May 21, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called attention to the problem in his testimony before Congress. "I'm quite surprised at how little attention the...

£30m power station goes bankrupt after eight days, leaving growers high and dry After producing electricity for only eight days the government's £30m renewable energy project, a wood burning power station in Yorkshire, has gone bankrupt and been sold for £3m to an American who may dismantle it and ship it off to India. The sale is a disaster for Britain's green energy policy, which plans to have wood burning and other biomass projects account for half of all renewable energy generated by 2010. The Department of Trade and Industry said yesterday that it had no idea who had bought...

BP Egypt makes biggest Gulf of Suez find in 14 yrs CAIRO, May 29 (Reuters) - BP Egypt, the local arm of British energy firm BP Plc , on Thursday announced the largest oil discovery in the Gulf of Suez in 14 years, of the Saqqara well with estimated reserves of 80 million barrels. BP said annual average plateau flow rates from there were likely to be between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day. "Besides being the biggest discovery in the entire Gulf of Suez area in 14 years, the Saqqara discovery is significant because it penetrated the Nubia...

<p>On a sunny Saturday morning 30 years from now, you may decide to take your family for a ride to the country. You'll still be driving a car, and you may still get stuck in traffic. But that's OK, because the only thing you'll be breathing in is water vapor from the car in front of you.</p>

How space could liberate us from Mideast oil March 25, 2003 As we wage war in the oil-rich Middle East, we are also painfully investigating the deaths of our peacetime heroes aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Important debates are now under way over the wisdom of the missions for which we endanger the lives of both astronauts and soldiers. By ERIK BAARD HoustonChronicle.com Little considered, however, is how much space could contribute to real national security if we were to use solar power stations in Earth orbit to achieve energy independence at home. That goal, which is within our technological...

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A new renewable energy source has emerged in Australia with the development of the world's first power station to be fueled by waste macadamia-nut shells. Construction began this week on the A$3 million ($2 million) power plant in the northern state of Queensland, which will use 5,000 tonnes of shells annually from Australia's native macadamia nuts as fuel for the 1.5 megawatt generator. The biomass co-generation plant, which is a joint venture between Queensland state-owned Ergon Energy and macadamia nut producer Suncoast Gold Macadamias, will generate 9.5 gigawatt hours of electricity annually to supply more than 1,200...

I just got a call from someone on behalf of the local power company. The guy wanted to let me know that we now have options for how our power is generated. He proceeded to say that most of our current power comes from old technologies like coal and nuclear and "we all know how bad that is for the environment." At that point I interrupted him and said nuclear was an excellent choice for the environment. He admitted it is a clean source of energy but that disposing of nuclear waste is a problem. I told him that it...

The Natural Resources ministry urged the government on Monday to approve its ambitious Arctic shelf exploration program, saying local and Western majors were ready to invest billions of dollars in the country. Rinat Murzin, the head of the ministry's offshore hydrocarbon department, said Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, Gazprom and Yukos, and France's Total were studying the documents and ready to take part in tenders to acquire Arctic oil riches. "The only thing we are lacking so as to proceed with the plan is the government's final approval," Murzin told reporters. Last year, the ministry said it planned to tender...

Port Angeles, Washington - May 16, 2003 [SolarAccess.com] In what is the first example of a U.S. public utility securing a power purchase agreement with an ocean energy company, Clallam County PUD finalized an agreement to purchase electricity generated by an offshore wave energy pilot plant, to be developed by Mercer Island, Washington-based AquaEnergy Group, Ltd. "We applaud Clallam County PUD for being the first public utility in the nation to execute a power purchase agreement for offshore wave energy," said Alla Weinstein, CEO of AquaEnergy Group Ltd. "We are glad that the Pacific Northwest will be part of the...

PHILADELPHIA - The versatile turkey has been chopped, pressed and processed into foods as diverse as burgers and bacon. Now a Long Island entrepreneur wants to put a turkey in your tank. Brian S. Appel, chief executive of Changing World Technologies, has developed a process for cooking and pressurizing waste turkey parts - and lots of other things - into a golden liquid that can be refined into heating oil, diesel fuel or gasoline. He has attracted the attention of former CIA Director James Woolsey, who says the process can reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. An adviser to Appel's...

Sunnyvale, California - Solar Cell manufacturer SunPower Corporation has produced photovoltaic (PV) cells with an efficiency of more than 20 percent, the company announced Monday. The cells were produced on a pilot line located in Round Rock, Texas in a facility adjacent to a manufacturing plant operated by Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, a major investor in SunPower. The company intends to increase production on the line to its 2 MW capacity this summer. The new, 125 mm, single-crystal cell, dubbed the A-300, owes its increased efficiency in part to its rear-contact design, which maximizes the working cell area, hides wires...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Crude oil prices rose to their highest level in four weeks yesterday after the International Energy Agency said inventories had tumbled 10 percent from last year. Bombings in Saudi Arabia, the world's top producer, also contributed to the rally. Oil supplies held by the 30 nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ended March at 2.34 billion barrels, down 260 million barrels from a year earlier, according to the agency, which advises industrialized countries on oil policy. Prices have gained 10 percent this month on expectations of further drops...

The world's first crewed aircraft powered by fuel cells could be ready for test flights by December 2003. The experimental one-person craft, being built by US aerospace company Boeing, will rely entirely on a 25-kilowatt fuel cell for propulsion once airborne. The fuel cells will provide electrical power for propeller motors. However, the aircraft will need to use batteries to accelerate to the required speed during take off. "If there was ever a way to demonstrate that fuel cells are safe and usable, this is it," says Judith Agar of Intelligent Energy, the UK company chosen by Boeing to build...

The American military is studying a new Chrysler fuel cell- powered vehicle to see if the system can reduce the armed force's dependence on conventionally fuelled vehicles. The Chrysler Town and Country Natrium is DaimlerChrysler's fuel cell concept vehicle running on clean, non-flammable and recyclable sodium borohydride fuel. The Natrium is the first to operate on the fuel, a product made from borax which is a mineral available in abundant supply in the Western US. Borax is commonly used in laundry soap. In the Natrium this technology delivers the environmental benefits of a fuel cell vehicle without the loss of...

More Equal Than Others By Herbert Inhaber TCS It is difficult to pick up a magazine or check out a website dealing with energy or electricity without finding an uncritical article extolling the merits of renewable energy. But, as George Orwell would have put it if he had lived long enough, not all kilowatt-hours (kWh) are created equal. Some are more equal than others. For the record, a kilowatt-hour of electricity is consumed if a 100-watt light bulb burns for ten hours. It will cost eight to nine cents on average in this country. How could one unit of electricity...

LONDON (Reuters) -- OPEC said Friday it has invited seven rival exporters, including Russia, Norway and Mexico, to attend its June 11 meeting in Doha, Qatar, at which ministers are expected to discuss output cuts to make room for Iraq. A spokesman for OPEC at its Vienna headquarters said it was the first time non-OPEC countries had been invited to an extraordinary conference.

October 28, 1980 Presidential Debate: President Carter Promises to drill for more oil wells in response to crisis: ---snip---- We will drill more oil and gas wells this year than any year in history. We'll produce more coal this year than any year in history. We are exporting more coal this year than any year in history. And we have an opportunity now with improved transportation systems and improved loading facilities in our ports, to see a very good opportunity on a world international market, to replace OPEC oil with American coal as a basic energy source. This exciting future...

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said Wednesday that his administration would work to reduce foreign oil dependence by two-thirds in 10 years and put the nation on a path to eliminate it completely within 20.</p> <p>Lieberman's goal relies heavily on lowering the amount of fuel used by vehicles and an emerging process for turning coal into pollution-free hydrogen.</p>

Daschle to offer renewable fuels amendment JACK SULLIVAN Associated Press WASHINGTON - Sen.s expect to debate a measure Thursday that would triple the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels over the next decade. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and others will offer the proposal as an amendment to a broader energy bill. Daschle and Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said Republicans and Democrats alike support the measure, which would create a nationwide standard for the use of renewable fuels. It also would ban the fuel additive MTBE in four years and provide funds to clean up MTBE contamination. MTBE, a petroleum...

Not long ago I wrote a commentary, "The Great Hydrogen Myth," in which I opined that throwing another billion dollars at more research for the purpose of replacing oil, coal, or natural gas was a huge waste. Recently, that commentary was posted on an Internet site for those who work in industries that provide and use various forms of energy. It's a favorite among the many engineers and scientists whose lives are devoted to energy issues. Here are some of the responses my commentary received. The names of the innocent have been protected because their jobs depend upon it. "I...

June (NYMEX) soars 43.4 cents Heating demand in the Northeast and cooling demand in the South and West combined to spark a huge rally on the June NYMEX futures contract, which surged 43.4 cents on Monday to settle at $5.689/MMBtu. Alaron Trading analyst Phil Flynn said low gas storage inventories also were a supporting factor in Monday's run-up. "The market is vulnerable to the supply side of the equation. The supply issue is still at the back of traders' minds." he said. Heating-degree days were higher than originally forecast, said IFR Pegasus analyst Timothy Evans, and a stronger petroleum complex...

<p>The climate-change debate rages on with ever more twists and turns. Scientists with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics now find that the 20th century is neither the warmest nor that with the most extreme weather of the last 1,000 years. Harvard scientists also report that the sun may dim in mid-century, producing cooler temperatures.</p>

Energy giants begin tapping Sakhalin's vast oil and gas reserves 16 minutes ago Add Business - AFP to My Yahoo! CHAYVO BAY, Russia, May 4 (AFP) - Against a backdrop of wintry tundra and the grey-blue hues of a frozen sea, a huge blue tower rises from a beach on the northeast coast of the Russian island of Sakhalin. On a brief flight by helicopter, the compact mass of an oil platform looms up amid the pristine white ice floes. AFP Photo Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 8582.681502.88930.08 +128.43+30.32+13.78 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   The drilling rig on...

By Associated Press MOSCOW - The Russian government has an enviable if ticklish dilemma to consider this week: Two Asian powers are lobbying for a first crack at eastern Siberia's oil, and Moscow must decide which gets preferential treatment. The Kremlin is expected to try to satisfy both China and Japan, an approach reflecting both a delicate geopolitical compromise and Russia's insatiable ambition when it comes to its key export commodity. The Russian Energy Ministry plans to recommend to the Cabinet Thursday that the Japanese and Chinese proposals be combined into one project, said spokesman Yuri Nogotkov. The pipeline would...

Proposed law would exempt tribal energy projects from environmental regs Some EPA rules stall projects Sam Lewin 05/01/2003 A plan by Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell to exempt energy projects on Indian land from federal environmental regulation passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday. The measure is now part of a massive Indian energy bill that could be heard on the Senate floor as early as next week. Campbell chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and is a senior Republican on the Energy Committee. The Republican-dominated Senate has the power to strip provisions from the energy bill,...

A Japanese scientist could soon become stinking rich with an invention to be ready by 2005 that would use Panda dung to create electricity. Fumiaki Taguchi, emeritus professor of Kitasato University in Tokyo, embarked on the project five years ago when he asked Ueno Zoo for a bucketful of one of their most popular residents' faeces. Bacteria inside the panda's belly must be pretty special to be able to digest tough bamboo leaves and shoots, he reasoned. "If a panda can support such a big body by eating bamboo leaves, it's really different from other animals," Professor Taguchi said. "There...

<p>Danny Locke drinks a glass of water beside the largest solar-powered irrigation pump in the world, unveiled last week on his Mendota farm west of Fresno. The AquaMax pump uses a 108-foot-long solar array to power a 36-kilowatt, 50-horsepower pump.</p>

Iraq may have to leave the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries so it can pump out extra oil to pay for the country's reconstruction, says a former Iraqi oil minister who is now a key adviser to the American government. The extra oil needed would be more than twice Iraq's pre-sanctions Opec quota and almost triple the present output of about 7 million barrels a day, said Fadhil Chalabi, who rejected a US invitation to become interim head of his country's oil sector. Chalabi, who served on the US State Department's Future of Iraq Oil and Energy Working Group, says...

The largest solar energy rooftop system in New Jersey was dedicated at Janssen Pharmaceutica April 15. Company's system is comprised of 2,856 electric tiles that cover 40,000 square feet of the roof of the firm's main building, located in the Titusville section of Hopewell Township.    The largest solar energy rooftop system in New Jersey was dedicated at Janssen Pharmaceutica April 15, with state Bureau of Public Utilities (BPU) President Jeanne Fox, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell, Hopewell Township Mayor Fran Bartlett and other officials on hand for the ceremonies.   Janssen's system is comprised...

OPEC Agrees to Cut Output By Two Million Barrels A Day Thu Apr 24, 4:33 PM ET VIENNA -- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers agreed to cut two million barrels a day from current output levels at their emergency meeting here Thursday, but also decided to increase their output ceiling to 25.4 million barrels a day from 24.5 million barrels a day. Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 8440.041457.23911.43 -75.62-8.93-7.59 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   Meanwhile, OPEC (news - web sites) (News - Websites)President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah warned Thursday that the oil-producer group would look at...

Iceland opened the world's first hydrogen fuel station on Thursday to provide vehicles with clean energy instead of polluting fossil fuels. "This opening is a major step toward a hydrogen society," Icelandic Commerce and Industry Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir said at a ceremony at the station in Reykjavik. The station, run by the Royal Dutch/Shell oil company, will be used to fuel three DaimlerChrysler buses in Reykjavik under a project partly funded by the European Union. Iceland wants other vehicles, including cars and boats, to use hydrogen fuel which only emits water. Fossil fuels produce poisonous fumes including carbon dioxide, which...

Clear Skies, Hazy Logic By Joel Schwartz The Bush administration contends coal-fired power plants kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. The administration claims its Clear Skies Initiative, which would cut power plant emissions by about 70 percent, will reduce this toll by 12,000 per year and eliminate 370,000 asthma attacks, conferring more than $90 billion worth of health benefits on the American public. Environmental groups counter that Clear Skies will kill tens of thousands by not reducing emissions faster and further. All of these claims are false. Clear Skies will raise electricity prices while providing few or no...

NEW YORK -- World oil prices tumbled on Wednesday as a wave of crude swamped the US market, overwhelming fears of an imminent Opec output cut. New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for June delivery slid US$1.34 to US$26.65. In London, the price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for June delivery slumped US$1.20 to US$24.26. Crude oil inventories soared 9 million barrels, or 3.2 per cent, to 286.2 million barrels in the week to April 18, the Department of Energy said in a weekly report. The news dragged down prices, outweighing expectations that the 11-member Organisation of...

<p>SOMERSET, Pa. -- A developer is deciding whether to go to court or simply to drop plans to erect Somerset County's third and largest array of power-generating windmills.</p> <p>Fight or surrender were the only options left after a county planning board rebuffed the project Monday night, heeding pilots' concerns that some of the windmills, which are about 26 stories high, would endanger airplanes approaching Somerset County Airport.</p>

FR posted articles on UN Food for Oil program MASTER list THIS TOP ONE IS THE LATEST REPORT OUT OF THE USELESS NATIONS ON THE OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM UN OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM REPORT (what UN is really raking in) 2/22-28/03 UN deal leaves Iraq Kurds at Baghdad's mercy Oil, Food and a Whole Lot of Questions The Oil-for-U.N.-Jobs Program Kofi Annandersen: Enron-style accounting at the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program William Safire: Follow the money Bum's Rush for Butcher's Big, Bad Debts Don’t expect UN to clean up Iraq (a sane German alert!) U.N. crambles to Reclaim Role Amid Debate...

In an industrial park in Philadelphia sits a new machine that can change almost anything into oil. Really. "This is a solution to three of the biggest problems facing mankind," says Brian Appel, chairman and CEO of Changing World Technologies, the company that built this pilot plant and has just completed its first industrial-size installation in Missouri. "This process can deal with the world's waste. It can supplement our dwindling supplies of oil. And it can slow down global warming." Pardon me, says a reporter, shivering in the frigid dawn, but that sounds too good to be true. "Everybody says...

When the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met five weeks ago to set its spring export levels, it faced an uncertain world, one clouded by the prospect of a war in Iraq. When it meets again on Thursday, it will face more uncertainty now that the main fighting is over. Before the war, most of OPEC's members pumped oil at maximum levels to make up for an expected curb in Iraqi exports — something that in fact occurred — and prices moved higher. They had climbed through the winter, not only in expectation of war but also because of...

Threat of switch to Euro currency inspired war April 18, 2003 Dear Editor,Oil has been traded with U.S. dollars since 1971. Other countries must stockpile dollars to be able to purchase oil, which gives America the dominant economy. The only economic bloc to contest America's power is the European Union. Yet, the EU still has to hoard dollars to buy oil, making the Euro's power limited indeed.Iraq switched to the Euro in 1999. Of course, America didn't take this seriously, since the Euro was relatively weak. However, within two years the Euro was gaining on the dollar. Venezuela also has...

<p>This calls for a $243,000, three-year study, of course.</p> <p>Iowa State University researchers are checking to see whether birds are dying in collisions with the wind turbines that are popping up in the Iowa countryside like prairie grass. Bats and birds, even golden eagles, have died after colliding with wind turbines across the West and Midwest.</p>

Iraq Oil Production Can Resume in 7 Weeks By PATRICK McDOWELL .c The Associated Press KUWAIT CITY (AP) - The oil well fires are out, looted equipment is being recovered and damage was less than feared, leading U.S. officials to predict Iraq's southern oil fields could be producing 1.1 million barrels a day within seven weeks. Revenues from renewed oil sales would be a big boost for Iraq's 24 million people as they rebuild after the war and years of decline under Saddam Hussein. At first, oil revenues would go into a revamped version of the oil-for-food program mandated by...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. LOS ANGELES, April 16 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush's call Wednesday for the lifting of U.N. sanctions moved Iraq a step closer to resuming its oil exports, although it remained a good bet that world crude supplies would become tighter before any significant amounts of Iraqi oil hit the market. The president told a Missouri audience that the time had come for the removal of the sanctions imposed on Baghdad some 10 years ago, which had caused not only hardship for Iraqis but had also caused Iraq's once-thriving oil sector...

In an industrial park in Philadelphia sits a new machine that can change almost anything into oil. Really. "This is a solution to three of the biggest problems facing mankind," says Brian Appel, chairman and CEO of Changing World Technologies, the company that built this pilot plant and has just completed its first industrial-size installation in Missouri. "This process can deal with the world's waste. It can supplement our dwindling supplies of oil. And it can slow down global warming."

CARACAS, VENEZUELA - At the gleaming offices of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country's state-owned oil giant, a corporate revolution is under way. Nine-to-fivers have come to think of themselves as patriots. Senior managers now eat at the same cafeteria tables as secretaries. And former soldiers have left the battlefield for the boardroom. After PDVSA workers walked off the job last December in a bid to force Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez from office, the fiery populist hitched his social revolution to the $110 billion business: He purged the company's ranks and installed his own people. What was widely regarded as...

In its ongoing war against Iraq, the Bush administration's firm determination, quick action, tough language and rude diplomacy are rarely seen in international relations. The arbitrary action by the great and powerful nation claimed to be responsible for international faith was not taken on impulse but was out of careful consideration, it is pursuing a super-strategic goal with major influence on the United States and the whole world. In its ongoing war against Iraq, the Bush administration's firm determination, quick action, tough language and rude diplomacy are rarely seen in international relations. The arbitrary action by the great and powerful...

CARACAS - United States-based oil companies will get the lion's share of the petroleum business in Iraq once the war there is over, undermining the interests of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), say oil industry experts, who also warn that an end to the war will not immediately translate into abundant supplies of inexpensive crude. "There is no doubt that the military occupation of such an important oil exporting country, with a nationalist government, is creating cracks in OPEC and affecting the mid- and long-term interests of its other members, like Venezuela," says Víctor Poleo, a professor of graduate...