Naked Juice Brings PET Bottles to the Mainstream

Mainstream beverage distributors haven't managed to muster up the energy to produce 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles--until now. Naked Juice became the first nationally distributed brand to use PET (polyethylene ...READ»

Pickens Drops Wind Plan, Cites Transmission Costs

T. Boone Pickens has dropped his much-ballyhooed plan, chronicled in our pages, to build the world's largest wind farm, in favor of a handful of smaller wind farms scattered around the Midwest. He cites many of the same factors that ...READ»

Drill: The U.S. Oil Industry Turns 150

Before 1859, America had no oil business. August 28 marks the 150th anniversary of its first commercial well. Today, the U.S. is the world's third-biggest oil producer and largest consumer. Join us for a tour of this gas-guzzling nation.READ»

• Now July/August 2009
• Watch: Harry Potter 6
• Numerology: Hawaii Five-O

How Can We Feed 9 Billion People?

It's difficult enough trying to feed everyone on the planet now, but how much more difficult will it get when the world population balloons to nine billion people in 2050? That's the question Deutsche Bank tried to answer in a new ...READ»

Genomatica Figured Out How to Make Spandex From Sugar Cane

Unstable oil prices have sent companies on a treasure hunt for the next big petrochemical replacement. One such pioneer is San Diego-based start-up Genomatica, which has developed a process that converts sugar (derived from sugar ...READ»

The Next China?

The ambassador to the UN from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) told me recently that every government agency in his country has a sustainability plan out to the year 2030. The most significant part of that policy exercise is the fact they need to develop an economy beyond oil - - because they expect to run out of it by then.READ»

Forget TV Dinners: Microwaving Tires is the Next Big Thing

Disposing of the nearly 300 million car tires that are ditched every year in North America isn't easy. Burying them takes up way too much space, and recyclers are often hard to find. We've seen tires upcycled by enterprising ...READ»

I Hate to Say It, But…

Writing “Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction” in 2005, I predicted that by 2010 the Detroit automakers would be in bankruptcy and reduced to selling foreign-made cars under their once proud nameplates. As GM and Chrysler careen toward the Chapter 11 cliff (and Chrysler frantically begs Fiat for a product line), I’m compelled to point out something I hate to say - - I told them so.READ»

Shell Ditches Wind, Solar, Hydrogen Energy

The recession has finally caused oil companies has to pull back promises of renewable energy, as Royal Dutch Shell announced that it won't make any more large investments in wind, solar, or hydrogen technology. Tough times have sent ...READ»

All’s Well That Ends A Well?

The California State Lands Commission recently voted to reject new offshore oil drilling even though the proposal had wide support, both from the “drill, baby, drill” crowd and enviros. There’s a sentence full of enigmas - - the ...READ»