http://www.energy-daily.com/index.html Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST en-us An oil platform explosion Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico forced the crew to dive into the sea and threatened further damage to waters still recovering from the BP disaster. Fire engulfed the offshore platform 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the Louisiana coast shortly after 9:00 am (1400 GMT) and massive plumes of gray smoke billowed into the sky as rescuers rushed to fish out the worker]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST Brazil further boosted its iron ore reserves with the announcement of a major new discovery of iron and phosphate deposits in the southwest state of Mato Grosso. The new mineral discoveries place Brazil further in the forefront as a major exporter of iron ore and manufacturer of steel - a key goal of President Luiz Inacio Lulza da Silva's economic regeneration program. Lula has ]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST A regional administrative court in Finland on Thursday rejected suits by environmental groups trying to block Nord Stream's construction of a massive natural gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. "The court rejects demands to overturn the decision (to grant the permit) on the basis of ... shortcomings of its environmental impact study," court documents said. In a decision that co]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST China's auto sales jumped 55.7 percent year on year in August, boosted by Beijing's new subsidies scheme for energy-saving vehicles, state media said Thursday. Sales in the world's largest auto market rose to 1.22 million units in August, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing figures from the China Automotive Technology and Research Centre. The figures were 15.1 percent higher th]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST BP on Thursday removed a massive cap which had stemmed the flow of oil from its ruptured well deep in the Gulf of Mexico in a key step toward killing the well once and for all, officials said. "Under the direction of the federal science team and US government engineers, BP has completed the capping stack removal procedure," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in a statement. Alle]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST A fuel tanker has run aground in Canada's far north, carrying nine million liters (2.4 million gallons) of diesel fuel but Canadian officials said Thursday none has spilled into the Arctic waters. The ship struck a sandbar in the famed Northwest Passage, southwest of the town of Gjoa Haven in Canada's Nunavut territory, on Wednesday. It was carrying fuel to resupply remote communities in the]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST Times may be difficult at home for US auto giant Ford, but business is looking good in China and India, according to sales figures published Thursday. The company said sales in the two emerging economic powers increased 37 percent in August versus the same month a year before, affirming their status as "the world's fastest growing automotive markets." Sales in India posted a whopping 220]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST Crews managed to extinguish a massive blaze on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday and have not been able to locate an oil slick spotted earlier in the day, the Coast Guard said. "The fire is out, and Coast Guard helicopters on scene and vessels on scene have no reports of a visible sheen in the water," Captain Peter Troedsson, chief of staff for the Eighth Coast Guard District, told report]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST China's largest home-grown carmaker Chery Automobile Co. is considering building a plant in Catalonia, the government of the northeastern Spanish region said Thursday. Catalonia "is the region best positioned to host the Chinese giant," it said in a statement, following a visit to China by the head of the regional government, Jose Montilla. Talks on a deal between Chery and Catalonia beg]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged China Thursday to create a better investment environment for European businesses and maintain a joint stand on the Iranian nuclear issue. Ashton met Premier Wen Jiabao a day after taking part in the inaugural EU-China High-Level Strategic Dialogue in the southwestern city of Guiyang - a forum intended to keep the two sides in contact on major i]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST A huge traffic jam stretching at least 120 kilometres (75 miles) reappeared in northern China Thursday, with thousands of cargo trucks stuck in a bottleneck, state media said. State television broadcast images of a long line of mostly cargo trucks inching slowly through Inner Mongolia on a major highway leading toward Beijing that has come to symbolise China's serious traffic problem. "Y]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST The heat in the upper six miles of Earth's crust contains many times the energy found in all the world's oil and gas reserves combined, experts say. Despite the abundance, researchers say, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide, Inter Press Service reported. The oil, gas, and coal industries have been providing cheap fuel]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST Concrete might heal its own hairline fractures - as living bone does - if bacteria are added to the wet concrete during mixing, European researchers say. Cracks in concrete surfaces make them vulnerable, allowing water and tag-along aggressive chemicals in, says Henk Jonkers of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Patching cracks in old concrete is a time-consumin]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST The next generation of thought leaders is gearing up to lead America's energy efforts. And biodiesel, our nation's only commercially available advanced biofuel, is front and center. Student scientists from Dartmouth College to Oregon State University are leading a new Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel initiative. The group has formed to demonstrate and grow support for biodiesel amo]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST It is not an easy task to compare the environmental effects of battery powered cars to those caused by conventionally fuelled automobiles. The degree to which manufacture, usage and disposal of the batteries used to store the necessary electrical energy are detrimental to the environment is not exactly known. Now, for the first time, a team of Empa scientists have made a detailed life cycl]]> Fri, 03 SEP 2010 15:33:27 AEST