The ethanol industry’s growing appetite for corn has pushed prices for the grain to their highest levels in a decade amid a surge that agricultural experts say could lead farmers next spring to plant their largest corn crop in 60 years.
Farmers who plant more corn in 2007, however, will be betting that the nation’s burgeoning [...]
The nation’s two largest railroads have hauled record amounts of coal from the mines in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana this year, but Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. still struggle to keep up with utility demand and existing contracts.
If utilities run low on coal during the high demand of winter, they [...]
The ethanol industry’s growing appetite for corn has pushed prices for the grain to their highest levels in a decade amid a surge that agricultural experts say could lead farmers next spring to plant their largest corn crop in 60 years.
Farmers who plant more corn in 2007, however, will be betting that the nation’s burgeoning [...]
Oil prices rose Wednesday, as traders assessed declines in U.S. supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel.
Other factors prompting traders to buy were the possibility of further
OPEC production cuts; the specter of cold winter weather; and the feeling that the newly empowered Democrats won’t be shaking up the oil industry anytime soon.
“There’s some relief over the [...]
The U.S. wind energy industry is on track to install a record 2,750 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity in 2006, which will produce about as much electricity as is used by the entire state of Rhode Island and help strengthen energy security, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said in its Third Quarter Market Report. [...]
U.S. citizens are beginning to come to terms with the country’s energy needs and are finding an answer blowing in the wind, according to electric power industry experts.
“Last year, and again this year, wind is going to be the second largest source of new power generation coming online,” said Christine Real de Azua, a spokesperson [...]
Crude oil futures stayed around $60 a barrel Wednesday ahead of a weekly U.S. oil data release, with an expected increase in the country’s inventories dampening bullish sentiment.
Despite last week’s decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output, rising global crude stocks have had a bearish effect, at least for the near [...]
Of the major coal-producing states, Virginia has led the nation in production growth this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
So far this year, coal production in the seven Southwest Virginia coal-producing counties stands at 25.87 million tons. That is a 15.4 percent increase over the 22.42 million tons mined during the same period [...]
Thanks to the high prices of oil and natural gas, the electricity industry is turning back to coal, America’s oldest and most abundant fossil fuel, to drive a new generation of power plants. The upshot is that even as politicians take the threat of global warming more seriously, the problem may get much worse.
Utilities are [...]
Texans may consume more electricity than other Americans, but they’re suddenly debating the wisdom of doubling the number of coal-fired power plants in the state — plants critics say will worsen air quality and increase health risks.
The threat of more smog-forming emissions from 12,000 new megawatts of coal-fired generation on the books for Texas has [...]
