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Alternative energy often means the better-known sources like solar, wind power, or biofuels. A new form of alternative fuels recovers energy from post-consumer or post-industrial plastic wastes that cannot be recycled efficiently. Technologies for creating these fuels attempt to solve two big problems: the overabundance of unrecycled plastic in landfills, and the creation of domestic energy sources. Several of these plastics-to-fuel (PTF) conversion processes are on the verge of commercialization in the US. The waste-to-energy (WTE) industry began by approaching polymer wastes as a problem to be eliminated, but failed to come up with financially feasible methods, Jay Schabel, CEO...

Hydrogen gas offers one of the most promising sustainable energy alternatives to limited fossil fuels. But traditional methods of producing pure hydrogen face significant challenges in unlocking its full potential, either by releasing harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere or requiring rare and expensive chemical elements such as platinum. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new electrocatalyst that addresses one of these problems by generating hydrogen gas from water cleanly and with much more affordable materials. The novel form of catalytic nickel-molybdenum-nitride – described in a paper published online May 8,...

University of Queensland researchers have planted five hectares of Pongamia trees at Hope Vale, north Queensland in a bid to create a commercially viable plantation for sustainable regional development and biofuel production in northern Australia. In conjunction with Cape York's traditional land owners and partners, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (CILR) is aiming to plant a further 3000 hectares within the first three years of the partnership, which will ultimately yield an estimated 10 to 15 million litres of biofuel. The seeds from the oil-rich Pongamia pinnata (also called Millettia) tree provide a sustainable solution to...

The numbers are in, and Paying at the Pump, the one hour special hosted by Sarah Palin and Eric Bolling owned the 10pm [eastern] time slot. 1,840,000 tuned in to see the show, which was also re-run several times over the weekend. It was the second highest in cable news viewership Friday night, bettered only by Bill O’Reilly’s show, The O’Reilly Factor. At 10pm CNN’s Anderson Cooper brought in 526,000 viewers, MSNBC had 458,000 and HLN’s Nancy Grace had 262,000. It should be noted Cooper’s show was a re-run, though he only pulled 426,000 viewers at 8pm, giving him 952,000...

WASHINGTON – Under pressure to take action on rising gasoline prices, President Obama wants Congress to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, increase penalties for market manipulation and empower regulators to increase the amount of money energy traders are required to put behind their transactions. The White House plan, which Obama was to unveil Tuesday, is more likely to draw sharp election-year distinctions with Republicans than have an immediate effect on prices at the pump. The measures seek to boost spending for Wall Street enforcement at a time when congressional Republicans are seeking to limit the reach of federal financial...

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The Obama administration, facing political heat over high gasoline prices, may delay new rules that would cut pollution from cars but also could bring higher prices at the pump, environmental and industry leaders said. The rules would require refiners to make cleaner-burning gasoline and auto makers to build cars that emit fewer smog-forming pollutants. The Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to roll out the rules before April, but it hasn't yet submitted them for White House review. "We expect that timing will begin to slip, perhaps for political considerations" said American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard. The new standards are...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose for the eighth straight day on Saturday to $3.835. That is now only about 7% below the record high of $4.11 from July 2008. The average price rose by four-tenths of a penny, according to the survey of gas stations conducted for the motorist group AAA. Gas prices are now up more than 17% this year. The nationwide average was $3.52 a gallon a month ago and $3.76 a gallon on March 9 -- the day that prices started rising again after a few days of...

Scientists in Hong Kong have reported, in ArXiv, their experiments to make a graphene battery that they say generates an electrical current by drawing on the ambient thermal energy in the solution in which it is immersed. Researchers led by Zihan Xu of the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Research Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, attached silver and gold electrodes to a graphene sheet, typically 7 mm x 7 mm in area, mounted on a silicon substrate. The assembly was then immersed in a saturated solution of copper chloride (CuCl2), and was found to produce an electrical...

A class of chemical compounds best known today for fragrance and flavor may one day provide the clean, green and renewable fuel with which truck and auto drivers fill their tanks. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to generate significant quantities of methyl ketone compounds from glucose. In subsequent tests, these methyl ketones yielded high cetane numbers – a diesel fuel rating comparable to the octane number for gasoline – making them strong candidates for the production of advanced biofuels. “Our findings add to the list of naturally...

WASHINGTON _ The Senate on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a sweeping measure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other protected areas to oil drilling, as well as to approve construction of the Keystone pipeline project. Tuesday's vote was the first time in four years that the Senate has voted on a measure including ANWR drilling, and it failed miserably.

President Obama Suggests Romney Shoveling 'A Load of You-Know-What'By Jake Tapper | ABC News – 12 hrs ago As Michigan Republicans headed to the polls Tuesday morning, President Obama delivered an aggressive defense of the bailout of the auto industry and his presidency in general, harshly criticizing GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney - though he never mentioned him by name. "I've got to admit, it's been funny to watch some of these folks completely try to rewrite history now that you're back on your feet," the president said to a raucous crowd at the United Auto Workers Convention. "The same folks...

News report: President Obama declares that rather than drilling for new sources of oil, or building the pipeline, we should get fuel from algae. Algie saw the bear The bear saw Algie The bear was bulgy The bulge was Algie -- Red Skelton

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San Francisco, California – Proposed U.S. fuel economy rules will mean that seven million Americans will not be able to afford to buy a new car or truck in 2025, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). NADA director Forrest McConnell, a Honda and Acura dealer in Montgomery, Alabama, said that proposed fuel economy rules by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will create a US$3,200 increase in vehicle prices over those in 2010, and will limit the ability of many consumers to buy the vehicles they want or need. Testifying at an EPA hearing regarding the rules, McConnell said...

According to a recent NY Times article, gasoline refineries will pay a $6.8 million penalty for failing to meet the fuel blending requirements under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. There is only one problem: the quantity of commercial biofuel needed to meet the blending requirements does not exist. In a press release issued by the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association on this issue, Association President Charles T. Drevna stated: “Once again, [the Environmental Protection Agency] has acted unwisely to make a bad law worse with regulations not based on reality and science. Once again, refiners are being ordered...

Key US oil supplier may cut off spigot SundayCHRIS KAHN, AP Energy Writer Saturday, January 14, 2012 NEW YORK (AP) — One of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States may shut off the spigot this weekend, pushing crude and gasoline prices higher for Americans. Nigeria, which supplies 8 percent of U.S. oil imports, could see production halted if striking workers walk off the job Sunday. Workers are demanding the return of a vital government fuel subsidy that has kept gasoline prices low in that impoverished and restive nation of 160 million people. It’s unclear how much of...

BISMARCK, N.D.—North Dakota granted a fourth extension of state aid for study of a plan to build a coal-to-liquid fuel factory, while the project's developers wait to see if the political climate in Washington changes after the presidential election. Dallas-based North American Coal Corp. and Headwaters Inc. of South Jordan, Utah, formed American Lignite Energy LLC in 2007 to oversee construction and operation of the $4 billion plant at a yet-to-be chosen site in western North Dakota. David Straley, a North American Coal Corp. spokesman said a decision on whether to start construction depends on a change of political climate...

WASHINGTON — When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist. In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required...

James Woolsey is one of the green movement's more intriguing leaders. Since leaving public service - his career includes being head of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1993-1995 - he has become an energy expert and Clean Tech Investor for VantagePoint Venture Partners and Lux Capital. Behind his clean technology focus lies a desire to reduce the United States' dependence on fossil fuels imported from the Middle East. He is one of the driving forces behind the Open Fuel Standard Act. The Open Fuel Standard Act, if enacted as law, would require auto manufacturers to ensure that an increasing percentage...