Archive for the 'Energy' Category
GE Invests in Electric Vehicle Producer Think and Battery Manufacturer A123 Systems to Commercialize Electric Car
March 8th, 2008Imagine my shock. Via: Business Wire Press Release: GE announced it is ramping up its efforts to enable global electrification of transportation by investing in Norwegian electric car manufacturer Think, which unveiled a five-seat crossover concept car in Geneva today. To power its vehicles, Think has signed a commercial supply agreement with lithium-ion battery manufacturer […]
GM and Toyota Dismiss Fuel Cells for Mass Use, Going with Battery Systems Instead
March 8th, 2008No kidding. Here are just some of the highway capable, pure EVs in the pipeline: Phoenix Motorcars SUT and SUV MilesEV XS500 Aptera Typ1 ThinkEV City Tesla Motors Roadster Mitsubishi i-MiEV Subaru G4e There are more, but you get the idea. Via: Energy Blog: The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General […]
Pakistan: Millions Without Electricity in Karachi Over Unpaid Bill
March 6th, 2008Unpaid power bill of half a billion dollars. Via: AFP: A row over unpaid bills sparked a huge power blackout in Pakistan’s biggest city that left most of Karachi’s 12 million residents without electricity, officials said Thursday. The outage came after Pakistan’s main power utility accused the electricity company supplying the southern port of refusing […]
Oil Advances to Record $105.96 as Dollar Drops to All-Time Low
March 6th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Crude oil rose to a record $105.96 a barrel in New York as the U.S. dollar fell to its lowest ever against the euro. Gold and copper also advanced to all-time highs as the sinking dollar made commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper. Oil closed at a record yesterday after OPEC refrained […]
Bush: Use Ethanol to Get Off Oil
March 6th, 2008I see dead people. Via: CNN: President Bush said the United States should “get off oil” Wednesday as crude prices hit record highs and renewed his support for ethanol use despite concerns the corn-based fuel is driving up food prices and isn’t more environmentally friendly than gasoline. “We gotta get off oil, American has got […]
The Price of Wheat is More Than 80% Higher Than a Year Ago
March 4th, 2008A couple of points: 1. Those bulk grains we bought turned out to be our best investment yet. 50KG sacks of maize (left), 25KG sacks of hard wheat berries (right) 2. The corn based ethanol strategy is working perfectly; if potential for kill off is the metric in question. Via: New York Times: According to […]
Chavez Warns of War with Colombia
March 3rd, 2008It’s an energy story. Keeping an eye on the oil. Via: AP: Venezuela and Ecuador ordered troops to their borders with Colombia, sharply raising tensions after Colombia killed a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil. President Hugo Chavez on Sunday promised Venezuela would respond militarily if Colombia violates its border, where he ordered tanks as […]
Oil Hits Inflation-Adjusted Record High
February 29th, 2008Via: Reuters: U.S. oil surged to a new inflation-adjusted record high on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of $102.53 set in 1980, according to the International Energy Agency. The following table from the BP Statistical Review of Energy picks out key moments in oil market history. It gives average annual dollar-denominated oil prices in money […]
Indian Biogas Digester
February 28th, 2008Outstanding! I’d like to order one. Via: Fortune: Sintex Industries, a plastics and textiles manufacturer in Gujarat, India, is betting it can find profit in human waste. Its new biogas digester turns human excrement, cow dung, or kitchen garbage into fuel that can be used for cooking or generating electricity, simultaneously addressing two of India’s […]
New Propulsion System for Boats Ditches the Diesel
February 28th, 2008Via: Popular Science: This month, 69-year-old Japanese sailor Ken-ichi Horie will attempt to captain the world’s most advanced wave-powered boat 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan. If all goes as planned, he’ll set the first Guinness world record for the longest distance traveled by a wave-powered boat and, along the way, show off the greenest […]
