Free Republic

If Barack Obama were to marshal America’s vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new Manhattan Project, he might reasonably hope to reinvent the global energy landscape and sketch an end to our dependence on fossil fuels within three to five years. We could then stop arguing about wind mills, deepwater drilling, IPCC hockey sticks, or strategic reliance on the Kremlin. History will move on fast.

GENEVA (AFP) – Ballooning US demand and the handgun's surge in popularity drove up the global trade in small arms by more than a quarter between 2000 and 2006, a UN-backed study showed Thursday. Those weapons in the hands of civilians, security forces or armed groups were behind the deaths of 450,000 people, said the authors of the Small Arms Survey 2009. Pistols, revolvers, rifles and heavy machine guns accounted for 60 percent of deaths through intentional violence of any kind, including the use of bombs, knives or bare hands, whether in conflicts or crime, the experts said. By 2006,...

Who pays for new fuels? Obama says: You will! By Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver June 2009 Remember last summer when crude oil was bumping its head on $147 a barrel and you were smoking your Visa card as each necessary gallon of regular zoomed skyward of four bucks? Talk about panic. Public opinion across the nation narrowed to a single uncertainty: Was this a disaster or a catastrophe? Detroit still says that it was last summer's spike in gas prices that finally pushed the Big Three over the financial cliff. Suddenly, the line for the high-profit rides was none...

In recent years, we've heard that climate change could be catastrophic for nature and humanity. But it's becoming increasingly evident that over the next few decades, climate-change policies could prove even more catastrophic. Food riots have erupted in Mexico, Morocco, Egypt.... Supposedly climate-friendly policies in the United States and the European Union- subsidizing the production and consumption of such renewable biofuels as ethanol and biodiesel- have diverted such crops as corn, soybeans and palm oil from food to fuel. This, in turn, has increased prices for food worldwide at a time when the highly populous and newly prosperous East and...

Every week brings new claims that clean, free, inexhaustible renewable energy will soon replace the “dirty” fuels that sustain our economy today. A healthy dose of reality is needed. Over half of our electricity comes from coal. Gas and nuclear generate 36% of our electricity. Barely 1% comes from wind and solar. Coal-generated power typically costs less per kilowatt hour than alternatives – leaving families with more money for food, housing, transportation and healthcare. By 2020, the United States will need 100,000 megawatts of new electricity, say EIA, industry and utility company analysts. Unreliable wind power simply cannot meet these...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some alternative vehicle fuels such as liquid coal can cause more harmful greenhouse gas emissions than polluters such as petrol or diesel, scientists warned in a US study released Tuesday. "Liquid coal, for example, can produce 80 percent more global warming pollution than gasoline," said the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit environmental group, in a statement introducing its study. Liquid coal is viewed as a potential replacement to the oil on which countries rely heavily to fuel vehicles. "Corn ethanol, conversely, could be either more polluting or less than gasoline depending on how the corn is...

Alters Picture of Diesel Engine Benefits Black carbon—contained in soot from the combustion of biomass and fossil fuels—may be responsible for around 16% of the gross warming the planet is currently experiencing and may be the second-most significant global warming pollutant after carbon dioxide and ahead of methane, according to testimony provided by five scientists before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in October. Because of their increased fuel efficiency relative to gasoline-engined vehicles, diesels are seen as an improvement overs gasoline vehicles with respect to global warming issues. However, once soot warming is factored in, the...

U.S. Forest Service officials have released a plan to reduce destructive wildfire potential on about 8,100 acres of forest land east of Estes Park. The goal of the Thompson River Fuel Reduction Project is to reduce the spread and intensity of wildfires that could affect private property and municipal water supplies in and around the Big and Little Thompson rivers and to protect the forest’s ecosystem. Historically, small fires thinned forest undergrowth and kept the chances for a large wildfire to a minimum. But through much of the 20th century, people suppressed those fires. That left a more dense undergrowth,...

THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR OWN ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY GAS CAN AVOID PAIN AT THE PUMP BUT NOT THE TAXES. Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil. So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost. His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He's been told to expect another...

rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/wh051407_bush.rm President Bush on CAFE Standards and Alternative Fuels Pres. Bush makes remarks on alternative fuel and auto efficiency standards at the White House. 5/14/2007: WASHINGTON, DC: 5 min.

Silicon Valley’s technology investors have taken to the ramparts, threatening to tear down the oil and gas industries’ dominance with innovations that use ethanol, solar and wind. A chief champion of the cause has been Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the marquee venture capital firms. Its principals, John Doerr in particular, have passionately advocated development of alternative energies as a way to create energy independence and clean up the carbon-saturated atmosphere. But Kleiner has also poured millions of dollars into Terralliance, a company that makes technology to enable more efficient drilling of oil and gas. The investment underscores...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew immediate criticism Thursday for declaring that the state's Board of Chiropractic Examiners should represent chiropractors despite the panel's mission statement of protecting the public. The Republican governor made the remark as he tried to distance himself from his own chiropractic appointees, including two of his earliest bodybuilding friends, after the board took questionable actions last week that consumer advocates say favor the chiropractic industry. "They run their board by themselves, independent of us," Schwarzenegger said after touring the San Joaquin County jail in French Camp to promote his prison plan. "We don't give them directions. What...

SACRAMENTO - Pushing an aggressive agenda for his second term, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday called for a first-in-the-nation standard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicle fuels and also proposed even more borrowing ... In his annual State of the State address, delivered to a joint session of the Legislature, the Republican governor continued to buck the GOP establishment with his efforts to combat global warming and his pledge to provide health insurance for all Californians by placing new burdens on employers and insurers. --snip-- Continuing last year's $42-billion borrowing binge, Schwarzenegger said he'll seek authorization for another...

Showcase pipeline fuels global gas flames By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, Acergy Piper, North Sea The technology used to lay gas pipes deep under water is valuable At first sight, there is nothing hi-tech about the vast, rusty vessel that appears to float in the air above the choppy, three-metre waves. Seen from a helicopter, Acergy Piper is clearly too small to be an oil platform, but it does not look like a ship either. If anything it resembles a set from the movies Waterworld and Mad Max. Yet Acergy Piper is central to the heated debate about...

WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers, sensing that fuel prices will be a top voter concern in the fall elections, are rushing out two energy bills that would fund projects to develop alternative fuels or ease reliance on imported oil. With only about 25 legislative days remaining before Congress adjourns, the chances of either bill passing Congress are slim. House Republicans said they will try to pass theirs in September. Democrats say that their bill will be used to rally voters for elections... House Republicans are renewing a push to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil...

TAMPA - The introduction of a new, low-sulfur diesel fuel this fall promises to be the biggest advance in cleaning up the air since unleaded gasoline. Starting Oct. 1, retail fuel distributors will begin selling diesel fuel with sulfur levels of 15 parts per million, down from the current standard of 500 parts per million. The ultra-low sulfur fuel will allow millions of trucks and buses to use the latest pollution-control hardware. These filters will reduce soot and smog-causing gases from diesel engines by 90 percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The health benefits will be huge once...

Not too long ago, ethanol had about as much street cred as hemp and cold fusion. Though it had its backers, the substance wasn't widely seen as a viable energy source. Then world oil supplies tightened, fuel prices reared and U.S. lawmakers passed an energy bill laden with alternative fuel incentives. Forecasts for the ethanol industry have subsequently blossomed. The corn used to produce ethanol is expected to rise from 996 million bushels in 2003 to 2.2 billion bushels next year, says the USDA. And the broader market for biofuels — primarily ethanol and biodiesel — could grow to $52.5...

2/15/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- When fuel supplies are not available in the region, tactical and ground forces rely on the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron. A team is always on standby to fulfill an aerial bulk fuels delivery system request. The team consists of two fuels technicians who have undergone special training for this type of delivery, which involves hauling thousands of gallons of fuel in an aircraft. Staff Sgt. Erika Busbee and Senior Airman Michael Roberts from the 379th Fuels Management Flight make up one such team. “We both volunteered for this assignment,” said Airman Roberts, who...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has triggered a debate over the mix of drugs used to carry out death sentences, with the justices delaying three executions and giving hope of eleventh-hour reprieves to other inmates. Florida and Missouri were forced to cancel executions by lethal injection this week. Prisoners in California, Maryland and other states are trying to win stays this month. An announcement from the high court last week is giving new hope for their appeals. The justices will consider whether a Florida inmate was wrongly barred from pursuing a claim that the lethal drugs cause pain in...

I was just impressed that the President's speech included a mention of switchgrass, which could become an important feedstock for cellulosic ethanol production. "We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switchgrass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years."