According to the World Energy Outlook fossil fuel consumption subsidies have reached $544 billion in 2012, up from $523 billion in 2011. This news has caused the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) to criticize leaders of the most developed nations for failing to reduce fossil fuel subsidies despite their commitment to eliminate them four years ago. This weekend marked the …
Book Review – Ruminations on the Distortion of Oil
I recently finished reading the book, “Ruminations on the Distortion of Oil Prices & Crony Capitalism,” by Raymond J. Learsy. The book was a historical review of his writings dealing with Big Oil and why oil prices are so high. In other words, “an overview of…our enslavement to oil and the money inextricably tied to it.” A former commodity trader, …
Big Oil Reaps $23 Billion In One Day
Americans United for Change said that the oil industry scored a big victory on Friday, November 15, 2013 when the U.S. EPA released a draft rule that – if allowed to stand – rolls back the highly successful Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Following the announcement that calls for gasoline to include more oil and less biofuel next year, stock values …
November 2013 Short-Term Energy Outlook
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its November 2013 Short-Term Energy Outlook and Winter Fuels Outlook. The report comes at the same time the 2013 World Energy Outlook was released by the International Energy Agency. Here are some highlights from the report: The weekly U.S. average regular gasoline retail price has fallen by more than 40 cents per …
Fossil Fuels Still Dominate Energy Consumption
According to new Vital Signs Online trend report released by Worldwatch Institute, coal, natural gas, and oil accounted for 87 percent of global primary energy consumption in 2012. This occurred as the growth of worldwide energy use continued to slow due to the economic downturn. The analysis shows the relative weight of these energy sources keeps shifting, although only slightly. …
Busting Big Oil’s Bogus Claim with Real Ethanol Test
Members of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) made a 1,000-mile trip from Des Moines to Washington, D.C. to use a real world situation to bust a bogus claim by Big Oil. In an effort to scare consumers away from ethanol in general and E15 in particular, the oil companies put together a report that showed vehicles using ethanol had …
Ethanol Group Wants Apology After Big Oil Compares RFS to Cancer
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any lower, Big Oil manages to take it to another level… a much lower level. In a story from Reuters, the American Petroleum Institute’s Jack Gerard is quoted as comparing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to cancer. While talking about how Congress should address ethanol Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), Gerard is reported saying, …
Former Phillips 66 Marketer Shuns Big Oil for E15
A man who used to market fuels under the Phillips 66 name has decided to forgo the Big Oil brand so he can offer consumers the choice of E15 ethanol. “They changed the rules mid-stream for what they would allow me to do once E15 came out,” said Scott Zaremba, a Kansas retailer who sold fuel under the Phillips 66 …
BIO Tells EPA to Just Say No to Big Oil’s RFS Waiver
Big Oil is trying to get out of its obligations under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), but an organization with close ties to the biofuels industry is calling on the government to stand its ground. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is asking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to reject the recent petition from American Petroleum Institute and American …
DF Cast: Ethanol Battles for Info & Against the Gov’t
Understanding what the auto industry wants and needs… and how ethanol can meet that… all while battling Big Oil and even the government… that’s the daunting task the ethanol industry has been facing for some time. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk with Dave Vander Griend, the co-founder and president of one of the world’s largest …