Keen-to-be-greener airlines really do want biofuel to fly. Lufthansa was set to start using it from April, for a six month trial period, in a 50/50 mix with kerosene on…
Michigan State University researcher David Kramer a Hannah Distinguished Professor of Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics leads an effort to improve fuel and food producing plants saying, “This is critical since it’s…
As I noted in a previous essay, rising gas prices inevitably mean that our political leaders start looking to assign blame. The annual ritual has been to call the…
In the days of olde, the prices of agricultural commodities were determined by the birds, the bees, and Mother Nature. No more. The Mississippi River basin is suffering once in…
There are those among the Peak Oil community who suspect that we could be facing a failure of our interdependent society that may be sudden, profound, and complete. I have…
Japan could increase installations of renewable power capacity by up to 3.5GW a year, HSBC Global Research calculates, as the country rethinks the role of nuclear power in the light…
Tired of high gasoline pump prices? Wondering why, with our fearsome energy hunger, all the energy seems to be in the Middle East? That was yesterday's story. Almost overnight --…
On May 10th Toyota celebrated the opening of the first pipeline-fed refueling station in the US. Located in Torrance, California, it is the first hydrogen station to be directly connected…
All global asset classes are within a hair’s breadth of completely breaking down. The S&P 500 sits perilously on its neckline. Just below here there are a ton of sell…
The Reuters Jefferies CRB Index is down 8% so far in May with almost every single commodity in the index registering red. Even the ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle…
There was a time (and I can remember it) when the streets of Shanghai at rush hour were a manic surge of bicycles either waiting at lights or streaming across…
With gold crashing through to $1,500 this morning, I thought that I would once against re-examine the fundamentals for the barbarous relic. That is most easily done by reading the…
Lately I have been grappling with a question: I keep hearing that once "non-conventional oil" is accounted for, we have trillions of barrels of oil. Counting coal-seam methane we have…
A study has been undertaken by Duke University of methane levels in water from 68 private wells above the Marcellus and Utica shales in Pennsylvania and New York. The details…
The glow of many a hot and bothered commuter will be harnessed for local heating in Stockholm and Paris. Swedish realtor Jernhusen is investing SEK 1 billion in the regeneration…
A report from Reuters attributes the wild commodity price moves last week to algorithmic stop-loss trading. Jim Brown offered these details on the oil trading: Those funds interviewed…
No sooner had we breathlessly reported April’s record highs for gold and silver, at over $1,500 and close to $50 per troy ounce respectively, than commodities stage a ‘flash crash’,…
Yes, we are all in the instant gratification business. We all want to ride an uptrend for nine months, sell at the top tick, and stay short for the entire…
Like a roller coaster ride, 2011 saw oil prices climb gradually, only to fall dramatically this last week. Here I offer my thoughts on some of the key contributing factors.…
To say that the partial meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima plant has put a chill on the global nuclear industry would be a vast understatement. Lead stock Cameco (CCJ)…