FuelMonger

www.cnn.com
The building that has been dubbed the greenest museum building in the world opened to visitors Sept 27. The building is part of the California Academy of Sciences and works to incorporate as many green aspects as possible into its design.

www.time.com
Hart Bochner, star of a cable TV series, just might be the greenest celeberity out there. He earns his title because not only does he live a green lifestyle, but he does the dirty work behind the scenes pushing for his industry as a whole to be more green.
For more information on which celebs are going green see our Green is the New Black editorial!

Help attract birds to your neighborhood by creating habitats for birds that need the most help in your area. Whether you live in an urban, suburban, or rural setting there are birds that are native to that area. Visit www.audubonathome.org/birdstohelp/ in order to find out what birds need the most help in your area and how you can attract them to your neighborhood.

AP at Wall Street Journal
Yesterday the House passed an agreement allowing the US to sell materials for nuclear energy to India. The Senate still has to pass it to go through, but President Bush has already expressed his support. Supporters say this will allow closer inspection and scrutiny on India’s nuclear program.

Bloomberg
Russian and Venezuelan presidents agreed on a joint venture of oil and gas with intentions to expand with China, Iran, Cuba, Bolivia, and beyond. The process includes everything from extraction to shipping. In return for Venezuelan expertise, Russia agreed to a billion dollar loan for military weapons and coorperation on Venezuela’s nuclear program.

New York Times
Kate Galbraith discusses the personal missions of BP’s T. Boone Pickens and Chesapeake Energy’s Aubrey K. McClendon and their traditional strategy of getting their energy message to the masses.

Technology Review
Technology Review’s Kevin Bullis sits down with Steven Koonin, BP’s chief scientist, to discuss strategies on energy and where BP is headed.

Energy news is picking up. With all that’s going on, I wanted a forum to talk about the latest trends in one key editorial. This is that editorial summarizing the top issues of fourth quarter fiscal year 2008.

1. Economics, economics, economics. When the hurricane hit Houston, most Americans figured the price of gas would go up. And it did, but only a few pennies near the gulf. Now it’s simmering down along with the rest of the global stock markets. Do you remember when a barrel was just $8? That was only twenty years ago. Commodities have a habit of being a little volatile, but almost $150 a barrel was ridiculous. Whether you blame questionable accounting, warmongers in the Middle East, or money-grubbing CEOs, it’s without a doubt we watch (and bid) on crude. Does anyone really see an end to paying this much for a tank?

Which leads to our next trend…a method to prevent those gas prices from affecting the state of our emotions…

2. Advancement in technologies and marketing in electric and hydrogen vehicles escalated. We’ve fully been aware of the upcoming Chevy Volt. But another hurting American company, Chrysler, has finally introduced its plans to integrate three, count them three, electric models into the American market beginning with the first in 2010. Electric seems to be the choice of Americans with vehicle-foresight. Hybrids was a way of the past…a passing phase to assist in the transition of emission-less transportation. And now we see the second and third order effects of ethanol, so hybrid comes to mean an electric/gas vehicle instead of an ethanol/gas vehicle.

3. I nominate remote drilling as our third major trend this quarter. With the announcement of the Republican Vice Presidential candidate and her ties and support to extensive Alaskan drilling, the choice is clear. It compares nicely with the oil ties of our current war. But how far back does this idea of energy independence go? My best guess is the 1920s (reference the Teapot Dome scandals). Why would we even ponder the idea of scraping the bottom of the oil barrel in remote, hard-to-reach places if foreign oil dependence was never a fear? (If you have a better guess, leave a comment).

Thankfully these electric cars and visions of Alaskan drilling come simultaneously (at least, well, now). And maybe the bubble was due a burst. As we wait to see the end result (ie a blissful emission-free chewy center), we look for interim solutions with a seemingly trial and error status quo.

Scotsman.com
EDF (Electricite de France) buys out British Energy which has a plant and 1,400 jobs in Scotland. EDF claims it plans to keep the plant open, but Scottish policy against nuclear energy feeds fears of the plant closure. This is the third FTSE 1000 company bought out with plants in Scotland.

Science Daily
A researcher at the University of Alberta proposes a method to extract oil from hard-to-reach deposits in the earth…with fewer emissions.