There are two givens in the auto industry these days (well, three, actually, since the automakers are in a heap of trouble): Cars must become more environmentally friendly and the best way to make eco-friendly cars that people want is to make them fun to drive. Racing is fun and brings all sorts of ...

Time Magazine: Iowa is the ethanol capital of the nation, and President-elect Barack Obama has been a reliable supporter of biofuels, so it's no surprise that former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, his choice for Agriculture Secretary, has been an even more reliable supporter of biofuels, even chairing a...

Time Magazine: Iowa is the ethanol capital of the nation, and President-elect Barack Obama has been a reliable supporter of biofuels, so it's no surprise that former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, his choice for Agriculture Secretary, has been an even more reliable supporter of biofuels, even chairing a...

A Time Magazine article [ark] late last year highlighted well our objections to industrial agrofuels [search], indicating there are some hard choices to be made on ethanol by President Obama and his Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Both have been strong supporters of biofuels. Yet there is strong ...

Talk about getting kicked while you’re down. Already, the biodiesel industry has seen its margins squeezed since petroleum prices plummeted last fall. Now, the news coming out of Brussels earlier this week is that the European Union plans to slap punitive tariffs on imports of U.S. biodiesel for s...

cleantech, energy, wind Luke Timmerman wrote: British Columbia is bigger in land area than Washington, Oregon, and California combined, but has about one-tenth the total population. Yet pound-for-pound, our neighbor to the north appears to have its share of entrepreneurs thinking hard about energy a...

Well, it's actually overcast and finally snowing as the train departs WRJ, but this is cool: U.S. Rep. Peter Welch says he hopes Vermont-based solar energy companies will be given a boost by a provision he got into the recently passed federal stimulus package. A new round of solar energy incenti...

“Oh, God,� why did he have to use that word? According to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the GOP “outsourced� the Republican response to a young, successful Indian-American governor who “had nothing to do with Congress.� They had to outsource the response tonight, the Republican party. They h...

With many of the next-generation ethanol makers being forced to drag their heels on plant construction during the downturn, it’s becoming rare to hear about progress on cellulosic ethanol plants. But here’s a small step for a small demo plant: Next-gen ethanol maker ZeaChem says it is st...

Nobody could have anticipated... AUSTRALIA may have just had a horrifying preview of what climate change has in store for its people. Even early warning couldn't stop last weekend's bush fires in Victoria claiming 170 lives and over 700 homes. Climate models based on figures from the Intergo...