LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) - A draft G20 commitment to end fossil fuel subsidies in the "medium-term," pushed by U.S. President Barack Obama, could be a step to help a new U.N. climate deal in December. The Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh planned to agree on Friday to phase out subsidies on oil, gas and coal, and so curb global greenhouse gases by about a tenth by 2050, said a draft text seen by Reuters. Scrapping fossil fuel support could highlight cheap emissions cuts for developing nations... Read Full Story
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - The Group of 20 will agree to phase out subsidies on oil and other fossil fuels in the "medium term," but will not set a firm timetable for the move aimed at combating global warming, a draft statement said. The G20 will also intensify efforts to reach a U.N. deal on climate change later this year, said the draft communique obtained by Reuters at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The leaders will ask their finance ministers to come up with a range of options for climate... Read Full Story
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States is still working toward an agreement with G20 partners to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, a top White House adviser said ahead of this week's G20 summit. Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser and top G20 aide to President Barack Obama, said the United States was hoping to reach an agreement about the issue at the Pittsburgh summit on Thursday and Friday. "We've put on the table the desirability of reaching an agreement to phase out... Read Full Story
By subsidising fossil fuels, the world’s leading economies are “artificially suppressing clean energy” and bringing the world “closer to irreversible and catastrophic climate change,” members of the Green Economy Coalition wrote today in a letter to ministers of finance for G-20 countries.
The letter (pdf) praised the G-20 for last September committing to a medium-term phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies that “encourage wasteful consumption,” and added a list of five recommendations for... Read Full Story
Written by Nick Chambers
The technology to make biobutanol , a non-food based biofuel, cost-competitive with gasoline isn’t here yet, but companies in the know say that it could be by 2010.
Regardless of how the debate between corn ethanol and second-generation, non-food ethanol ( cellulosic ethanol ) pans out, we may be arguing about the wrong thing. “Why’s that?” you might ask. You see, as a source of fuel, ethanol poses several serious problems. » Read more on Butanol For starters... Read Full Story
This from the 300-350 Show: Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies A pre-requisite for making the transition to a clean energy future is to switch subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy projects. If that’s the case, why are we still bank-rolling dirty energy projects in developing countries? World Bank lending for fossil fuels rose by 94% between 2007 & 2008 to over $3 billion which far outweighs the $476 million they gave to “new renewables” energy projects. World Bank lending for coal... Read Full Story
Almost everyone agrees we have to do something about our energy problem . Even those Republicans who, for some unknown reason, believe that Big Oil is their friend, are beginning to realize there is a problem, when they have to give up their first born child for a full tank, see suicide bombers on the news, and endure the threats of Petro-megalomaniacs . Al Gore is advocating a power to the people approach . He is hoping to stir people from around the world to arise and force their leaders... Read Full Story
By Brendan Moore 04.20.2007 I was looking through the Reuters news items yesterday and came across an article about the prices of gasoline in different countries and how those compare to the extremely low prices charged for a gallon of gas in the United States. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), gas is an average $2.86 per gallon (3.785 liters) for regular unleaded in the United States. Reaction in the U.S. to the recent rises in the retail price of gas which drove the... Read Full Story
University of Tokyo is leading a study on the feasiblity of sake powered cars. With hulls from the rice, researchers will create an ethanol biofuel that when burned in the engine leaves the sent of unfiltered sake and reduced amounts of greenhouse gas. With Japan just as oil dependant as the US, sake may be the fuel of the future for Japan. With gas prices in certain parts of the US reaching $3.79 a gallon , maybe the US should jump on the ethanol bandwagon. Most gas in the Midwest is... Read Full Story
Economist: Ethanol, schmethanol . ‘Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong.
SOMETIMES you do things simply because you know how to. People have known how to make ethanol since the dawn of civilisation, if not before. Take some sugary liquid. Add yeast. Wait. They have also known for a thousand years how to get that ethanol out of the formerly sugary liquid and into a more or less pure form. You heat it up, catch the vapour that emanates... Read Full Story
