oil
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Obama administration moves against Alaska oil drilling
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is moving to grant increased protection to areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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Critical List: The Navy and USDA invest in biofuels; Norway's big oil find
The Navy, USDA, and Energy Department are investing in biofuels that come from plants we don't eat.
As Shell fought an oil leak in the North Sea, Norway's biggest oil company announced it had found a huge oil field there. Oh awesome, nothing can go wrong with this!
Shell's also helping Iraq to double its capacity to produce natural gas.
U.S. solar manufacturers say it's hard to compete against China's low-priced workers. -
Mark Ruffalo wants you to fight the tar sands
Actor Mark Ruffalo explains why you should join him and thousands of others in protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 20.
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'Carbon recycling' makes fuel directly from air
At Sandia National Laboratories, a giant array of mirrors heats rings of metal oxides to 2,550 degrees F, allowing a beer-keg-size reactor to produce carbon monoxide or hydrogen gas out of CO2 or water. The result is known as syngas, and it can be further processed into the kind of hydrocarbon-based fuels (think gasoline and diesel) upon which our transportation infrastructure depends.
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After North Sea oil spill, Shell plans to continue Arctic drilling
The Interior Department acknowledges the effects of climate change in the region but approves more drilling for fossil fuels there.
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Critical List: Energy panel supports fracking disclosure; Walmart's move to wind power
An Energy Department panel wants to require natural gas companies to disclose what chemicals they're using in hydrofracking projects.
Green groups have an idea for how to cut the country's debt: stop subsidies to oil and gas companies.
But (of course!) most of the members of the Super Congress are opposed to regulating greenhouse-gas emissions. -
Oil monarch's $1.5 billion Star Trek theme park will run on green energy
King Abdullah of Jordan is probably the world's richest Star Trek fan, which explains why he's able to drop the GDP of Burundi on a theme park to celebrate his pop culture obsession.
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Tar-sands emissions could negate all other Canadian carbon cuts
A report from Canada's environmental agency predicts that the rise in greenhouse-gas emissions associated with mining tar-sands oils will be more than double the decrease in the country's emissions from other sources.
Environment Canada said in its emissions trends report that the country could avoid 31 megatons in emissions by 2020. Most of those savings come from switching out natural gas for coal in electricity generation. But in that same period, emissions from tar-sands oil could rise by 62 megatons, the report said. -
Critical List: Wind turbines get bigger and better; tree-killing fungi are thriving
Wind turbines are becoming bigger, more efficient, and more powerful.
Drilling in the Arctic is not such a hot idea, as any spill will be tricky to clean up.
The Southeast is the only region in the country that hasn’t put renewable energy mandates in place.