Tag archives for fuel
Posted by I’ve just arrived in Moscow for a meeting — the subject will be soot. You may hear it called black carbon or even elemental carbon. Scientists getting technical will call it the “light-absorbing part of particles suspended in the atmosphere.” Let’s just keep it simple and call it soot.* (More on black carbon.) Soot: pollution…
Hoping for lower prices at the pump? Don’t hold your breath. Here’s why. During presidential election years, pretty much anything can become a political football. And so it‘s not surprising that with gasoline prices well above $3 a gallon, the cost of gasoline has become a topic on the stump. Mitt Romney and his fellow…
On a recent visit to Pennsylvania, I saw signs of a natural gas boom on the wane. Googling “Pennsylvania ‘natural gas rush’” this morning got me 356,000 hits. Some may call it a gas boom instead of a rush, but, regardless, it seems to be a happening thing. The development of the technology that combines…
When assessing green energy subsidies, a little history helps. With Solyndra grabbing headlines (see here and here), “federal subsides” for green energy is beginning to challenge “regulations” as the epithet du jour among those proffering the sacrifice of America’s environment on the altar of the economy and jobs. (A false dichotomy in the opinion of…
In the past, it was unions vs. mining companies. Today, environmentalists are lining up against mining companies over the practice of large-scale surface mining, aka mountaintop removal, in the Central Appalachians. Environmentalists claim the process permanently scars the land and pollutes the water. Mining interests maintain that pollution is limited, the land can be reclaimed, and coal mining is critical to West Virginia’s — and the nation’s — economic health.
Ethanol has had its highs and lows. Which way is it headed now? Fermentation. What would we do without it? It’s a little trick that microbes figured out billions of years ago as a way of getting energy from carbohydrates. Then way back in prehistoric times, we humans figured out how to hijack that microbial…
Posted by The rhetoric about energy can get a little apocalyptic, and the latest debate over ethanol subsidies is no exception. According to the Iowa Corn Growers Association, going through with the Senate’s tentative moves to end ethanol subsidies last week would be a huge mistake. Here’s their forecast: “Cutting the legs out from under the corn…
Posted by Car buyers in the United States will soon see a change on vehicles when they shop: All will carry a new window sticker unveiled Wednesday by the EPA and the Department of Transportation. The black label, which will be required starting with 2013 models of all passenger cars and trucks, will include details on the…
Are cook stoves a hotter climate-change item than international negotiations? Climate Talks Wrap – Progress or Retreat? Last week in Cancun, Mexico, officials from the 190+ nations wrapped up international climate talks at the 16th Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (a k a COP-16). The somewhat upbeat…
