If we are to seriously encourage a move to biofuels, incentives are going to be required because the economics of biofuels just can't compete with petroleum (regardless of what Vinod Khosla thinks). Eventually depletion will cause petroleum to become very expensive, and then the economics of certain biofuels (especially ...

In a bid to keep 1st generation biodiesel technology competitive with the more desirable 2nd generation variety, politicians have voted to keep a $1/gal tax credit for biodiesel made from food, but deny the credit for green diesel made from waste fats:US Senate Bill Kills Tax Credit ...

First, thanks to all who contributed ideas. You may have an entirely different opinion on the most important energy stories. Feel free to share it. Many of these stories were contributed by various readers. Comments by readers are italicized. If you want to know who wrote what, you can see ...

While Platts has done a great job listing all of the major oil company stories of 2007, I am working on a Top 10 list for energy in general. I am about to be offline for a few days, so I thought this would be a good opportunity ...

I have been saying this for months, and others are starting to realize the same thing:Renewable Diesel: Biodiesel' s NightmareI first heard of this process last October at an NREL presentation (they called it "Green diesel" and could not identify COP as ...

Should We Ever Subsidize an Oil Company?“Of course not!” might be the immediate reaction of most people. But doesn’t it depend on the objectives you are trying to achieve or the behaviors you wish to influence? Are there no cases in which it would be warranted? What if ...

As someone said to me just now by e-mail, "It ain't about the fuel... it's about a piece of the pie."Democrats Plan to Reverse Tax Break for ConocoPhillips, TysonApril 20 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats in Congress plan to reverse an Internal Revenue Service ruling that allowed ...

Let me be clear that I strongly support biodiesel. It has a better energy return than does corn ethanol, and diesel engines are far more efficient than gasoline engines. Each gallon of biodiesel displaces far more fossil fuel than a gallon of ethanol. Therefore, I am much more in ...