biofuel

Stories 61 - 76 | << Prev 

Iowa-Minded Candidates Learn to Love Ethanol

Doubts take back seat to politics

(Newser) - To a presidential candidate who has an eye on Iowa—and who among them can afford not to?—ethanol is a political home run. The Hawkeye State hosts 28 refineries, and every one of the ’08 hopefuls has duly supported some form of ethanol subsidies. This despite the fact...

Ethanol More Mean Than Green
Ethanol More Mean Than Green
Jul 31, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

Ethanol More Mean Than Green

How biofuel steals from the hungry and hurts the environment

(Newser) - Far from the solution to America’s energy crisis, corn ethanol is “one if the great political boondoggles of our time,” Rolling Stone says in a scathing broadside. The “dangerous” and “delusional” hype over the corn biofuel raises the price of food for the needy because...

High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor
High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor
Jul 24, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor

Relief groups find resources, ability to help stretched thin

(Newser) - For the world's poorest people, the quantity and quality of food are increasingly at risk. Wholesale prices of  basic foods are 21% higher now than in 2005, with grain surging more than 30%. What's more, the total volume of food delivered by US-funded groups has declined 52% in the last...

Bush’s Biofuels Beat Castro’s Cautions

Slate ’s William Saletan makes the poor man’s case for ethanol

(Newser) - The feud between biofuel booster George Bush and naysayer Fidel Castro is reviewed by Slate’s William Saletan—who says in the end Bush's position is the more progressive one. In fact he calls the erstwhile compassionate conservative a “revolutionary.” Castro argues that biofuel will take food out...

Scientists on the Brink of Artificial Life

Synthetic genomes close to creating new bacteria

(Newser) - The first artificial life could be created within months as researchers emboldened by "species transplant" experiments prepare to insert synthetic genomes into a host bacterium, the Daily Telegraph reports. Maryland scientists have been replacing one bacterium's DNA with another, transforming the host  into the invader, and now plan to...

Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel
Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel
Jun 21, 2007 4:48 AM CDT

Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel

To get to core of gas problem, pick apples over ethanol, say studies

(Newser) - Simple sugars found in fruits like apples and oranges can be converted into a new type of bio-based car fuel that provides more energy than ethanol, the current hip gas alternative. US researchers say the dimethylfuran can store 40 percent more energy and is less volatile than its corn-based cousin,...

OPEC Members May Seek More Foreign Funding

Soaring world demand breaks down resistance to international deals

(Newser) - OPEC's new secretary-general says cartel members may be forced to attract more foreign investment to meet the world's expanding oil needs, the Wall Street Journal reports, a reversal of some countries' traditional opposition to cooperation with major Western producers. Oil-rich nations, currently riding high, may find themselves at a disadvantage...

Peasants Booted for Biofuel Bucks
Peasants Booted for Biofuel Bucks
Jun 5, 2007 4:40 PM CDT

Peasants Booted for Biofuel Bucks

Green crop brings black days for displaced Colombian farmers

(Newser) - Paramilitary gangs are driving thousands of Colombian farmers from their land to make way for the nation's latest lucrative crop: palm oil to produce biofuel, the Guardian reports. The violent land grabs have helped create some 3 million displaced Colombians. "It's the dark side of biofuel," said a...

Brazil Rejects Bush Climate Proposal

US plan not a viable alternative to Kyoto accord, says Lula

(Newser) - Brazil's president bluntly dismissed the climate-change plan offered by George Bush last week as "voluntarism" in a situation where "multinationalism" is needed. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose fast-developing country is critical to any international deal on emissions cuts, said the proposal for a new international framework was...

Biofuels Bump Pump Prices
Biofuels Bump Pump Prices
May 24, 2007 11:51 AM CDT

Biofuels Bump Pump Prices

Government's ethanol push helps slow refinery expansion, boosting costs

(Newser) - Four-dollar gas? Blame biofuels, the oil industry says. Construction of new refinery capacity is on hold thanks to government regulations that will soon require oil companies to produce biofuels such as ethanol. Uncertain standards for biofuels, which may render new refineries useless, have led oil companies to rethink expansion plans—...

Castro Says He's on the Mend
Castro Says He's on the Mend
May 24, 2007 7:36 AM CDT

Castro Says He's on the Mend

Recovered from 'very grave' condition, he's busy 'reflecting and writing'

(Newser) - Fidel Castro says he's on a steady road to recovery, finally off IVs and holding his weight, almost a year after a series of operations on his digestive system. In a statement emailed to reporters today, the 80-year-old Cuban president didn't mention if or when he might return to office.

Livestock Pigging Out on Junk Food
Livestock Pigging Out
on Junk Food
May 21, 2007 3:41 PM CDT

Livestock Pigging Out on Junk Food

Farmers are turning to leftover sweets as biofuel drives up the price of corn

(Newser) - The biofuel craze has doubled the price of corn in just a few years, forcing farmers from Pennsylvania to California find alternatives to feed their livestock. What they're coming up with is cookies, candy bars, cheese curls, breakfast cereal and french fries, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Coconut Oil Powers Papua New Guinea

On one island, mini-refineries are turning coconut oil into diesel

(Newser) - It's the ultimate in energy independence. On Papua New Guinea's Bougainvillea island, residents are battling expensive and unreliable oil imports by making their own perfumed alternafuel—from local coconuts. The refined coconut oil functions as diesel, residents say, and has already generated inquiries from as far away as Iran.

Chicken Fat Doubles as Diesel
Chicken Fat Doubles as Diesel
Apr 17, 2007 10:05 AM CDT

Chicken Fat Doubles as Diesel

Tyson, ConocoPhillips team up to produce biofuels

(Newser) - Two corporate giants are teaming up to produce biofuels and boost their bottom lines. Tyson Foods, the world's biggest meat producer, and third-largest U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips will be using about half of Tyson's animal fat to make a renewable diesel fuel, which will account for about 3% of...

Ethanol Could Fuel Recession
Ethanol Could Fuel Recession
Apr 9, 2007 1:38 PM CDT

Ethanol Could Fuel Recession

Demand for grain triggers shortage

(Newser) - Demand for grain for biofuels like ethanol is spurring global food shortages and sending prices soaring—and could trigger a recession, warns the Wall Street Journal. Food prices are already skyrocketing in economies as diverse as India, China, Germany, the U.K., and South Africa. American consumers are likely to...

Hold the Fries; Just Some Grease Please

Two kayakers drive from Alaska to Chile on local biofuels and fast-food grease

(Newser) - Mexican pig lard, Alaskan fish oil, and lots o' fast food grease powered what two professional kayakers are calling the longest road trip ever made without gasoline. The 21,000-mile trek from Alaska to the tip of South America—in a converted Japanese firetruck—took nine months, with the duo...

Stories 61 - 76 | << Prev