oil

Gushing About L.A.'s Cleverly-Disguised Urban Oil Fields

Alissa Walker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:37:57 -0500

Anyone who arrives at Los Angeles International Airport is immediately introduced to our oil wells, a series of slow-moving creatures nodding throughout the hills heading down into the basin. But those highly-visible pumpjacks are only the tip of the Texas tea, as it were. L.A. has 41 lesser-known active oil fields in the city--and one famous one, the La Brea Tar Pits--pumping more than 20 million barrels out of our palm-fringed streets annually.

Yee-haw! Texas Dominates Best-Performing Cities Index

Dan Macsai — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:28:32 -0500

Perhaps that famous photo illustration should read, "Everything's bigger--and better!--in Texas." Lone Star cities, led by Austin (#1) and Ft. Hood (#2), lassoed nine of the top 16 spots on this year's Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best-Performing Cities Index, which ranks U.S. metros based on their ability to create and sustain jobs.

Plot Jewelry Is Neckwear for Data Fiends

Addy Dugdale — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:38:52 -0500

A couple of employees of ad agency W+K have come up with one of the kookier ideas in recent memory: data-driven jewelry. After scores of meetings, planner Lisa Prince noticed that data was being packaged up in ever increasingly-beautiful ways. So she teamed up with fellow W+K employee, art director Nicholla Long, to create Plot jewelry, described as "a brand that takes interesting data and transforms it into wearable art."

By Serving Many Ethonomics Happens Naturally

Kaihan Krippendorff — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:05:39 -0400

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.

[Illustration by Roderick Mills]

Texas, America's top producer, is home to 24% of the country's oil reserves. One million barrels are produced each day in the Lone Star State.

Drilling Dreams and Nightmares

Terry Tamminen — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:32:07 -0400

In early 2006, Mexico announced the discovery of a massive new oil patch that would ease the growing global shortage of black gold. The only problem was that it lay beneath 3,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico and under another 2.5 miles of rock and seafloor. Specialized drills would be needed to maneuver around bedrock that had never previously been penetrated. It may be another decade before any of that oil sees the light of day. It may be never.

Head in the Tar Sands? The New York Times Runs Anti-Peak Oil Op-Ed

Anya Kamenetz — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:19:51 -0400

Oil-Coated Ruddy Duck in the San Francisco Bay, by wolfpix, on Flickr

Brightsource Brings Solar Power to the Oil Industry

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:55:27 -0400

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "solar power"? Chances are, you don't picture a Chevron oil field. Yet that's exactly where BrightSource Energy wants to put a 29-megawatt solar thermal plant by the end of 2010.

American Petroleum Institute Demonstrates How to Screw Up a Grassroots Event

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:00:48 -0400

It's no secret that oil and gas companies don't like the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. After all, Exxon and its ilk stand to lose a lot of cash if they have to buy emission permits for all the greenhouse gases they let loose.

Toyota's Big Electric Car Blunder

Chris Dannen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:52:52 -0400

Bill Reinert hates the plug-in electric car. He hates ethanol too. And what Bill Reinert hates matters to every car-buying American: he's Toyota's national sales manager and in-house energy sage, and he knows his stuff. But is he too smart for Toyota's good?

Naked Juice Brings PET Bottles to the Mainstream

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:49:13 -0400

Pickens Drops Wind Plan, Cites Transmission Costs

Anya Kamenetz — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:53:05 -0400

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.

Drill: The U.S. Oil Industry Turns 150

Kate Rockwood — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Infographic: Drill: The U.S. Oil Industry

Texas, America's top producer, is home to 24% of the country's oil reserves. One million barrels are produced each day in the Lone Star State.

How Can We Feed 9 Billion People?

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:11:51 -0400

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 study.

Genomatica Figured Out How to Make Spandex From Sugar Cane

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:13:55 -0400

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 cane or beets) into commercial grade 1,4 butadeniol (BDO), an industrial plastic commonly used to make fibers like Spandex.

The Next China?

Terry Tamminen — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:39:35 -0400

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.

I Hate to Say It, But…

Terry Tamminen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:07:29 -0400

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 oil prices plunging, and as a result, Shell no longer feels pressured to invest in alternatives.

All’s Well That Ends A Well?

Terry Tamminen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:02:52 -0500

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 likes of Exxon and Sierra Club on the same page, but state regulators putting up the barricades?

Houston Is Recession-Proofing Its Economy -- With Wind Power

Ryan Blitstein — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:00:35 -0500

When Vestas, the world's largest wind-turbine manufacturer, announced plans for a new U.S. research center, 42 states lined up to make sales pitches. The winning location would be rewarded with hundreds of jobs, millions in tax revenue, and green-business cachet. Finn Strøm Madsen, president of the Danish firm's tech division, wanted a site near big-name universities, so Massachusetts (MIT) and California (Caltech, Berkeley) seemed obvious choices. Portland, Oregon, was already home to Vestas Americas' headquarters. But in June, Vestas picked Houston.

Newt Gingrich: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less

Kelly Jad'on — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:07:01 -0400

by Kelly Jad'on

Book Review: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less—A Handbook For
Slashing Gas Prices And Solving Our Energy Crisis (Regnery Pub., 2008)
by Newt Gingrich

Reports of the Death of Renewable Energy are Greatly Exaggerated

Glenn Croston — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:45:00 -0400

The reports of the death of renewable energy are greatly exaggerated.

Green Design in the age of 'Drill, Baby, Drill'

David-Henry Oliver — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:53:12 -0400

Bail-out or Build-out?

Terry Tamminen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:57:30 -0400

As Washington and Wall Street dicker over a financial rescue plan, everyone is missing the real opportunity to fix the problem. Some see the variously proposed plans as bailouts of dumb borrowers and dumber lenders, while others view it as a chance to restore liquidity to the marketplace so we can all have access to credit again, whether it’s for student loans or to finance the acquisition of industrial machinery.