Recent Gas News

Bloomberg -- Qatar Petroleum International, a unit of the emirate’s state-run oil company, plans to build two petrochemical plants costing about $9.8 billion in Asia by 2015 to tap demand in the world’s fastest-growing region.

Qatar will partner Cnooc Ltd. and a Chinese petrochemicals maker to construct a $5.8 billion plant in China’s Hainan province, Chief Executive Officer Nasser al-Jaidah said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. Another project in Vietnam will cost as much as $4 billion and both ventures will use Qatari liquefied petroleum gas to produce chemicals, he said.  (go to article)

mboyer@enquirer.com -- Year-old federal income tax rules also offer credits of $5,000 or more for the purchase or lease of certain plug-in electric vehicles that go no faster than 25 miles per hour. Models from about 10 low-speed electric vehicle makers have been qualified for the tax credits by the IRS. Golf carts don’t qualify for the credit. Eligible vehicles, which can run for up to operate 30-40 miles between charges, are limited to streets posted at no more than 35 mile per hour and can cost $12,000 or more depending how they’re equipped.

If authorized by local ordinances, state motor vehicle laws also allow traditional golf carts, when inspected and equipped with proper vehicle safety equipment, to be licensed and registered for use on roads posted at 35 miles per hour or less.  (go to article)

E&P News -- Has the oil business slowed down in Oklahoma? Not so fast jumping to that conclusion.

While there may be some pumps idled on the side of the road, that isn't a sign things are bad in the industry, said Enid oilman Lew Ward.

"Drilling is down quite a bit, activity is a little slow," he said. "The rig count was over 220 in September and August of 2008, and it dropped down to about 70. Now, they are back up over 100."  (go to article)

DDN -- MONROE — Former Cincinnati Reds second baseman Joe Morgan said he is hoping the economy improves next year by the time he opens his new auto dealership off Ohio 63.

“We’re not going to open until next summer and we’re hoping that by then the economy will have changed a little bit, and the environment will have changed: Morgan said Tuesday, Nov. 17, during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on Garver Road.

The dealership bears the name of the former Hall of Fame second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, who is the majority owner of the project. It will be located in the Warren County area of Monroe on about 4.5-acres just south of Treasure Aisles — formerly known as Turtle Creek Flea market.

Morgan and his wife attended the groundbreaking ceremony at the site along with several Ho  (go to article)

NASCAR -- Twenty-fifth place.

That's all that stands between Jimmie Johnson and his historic fourth consecutive Cup Series championship. If Johnson finishes 25th or better in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, ABC), the Cup title is his.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co., preparing for a market decline in Germany after the end of the country’s “cash for clunkers” program, are cutting prices at a near-record pace that dealers say may put them out of business.

Ford is offering zero-percent financing and a 2,000-euro ($3,000) rebate for the Focus, Fiesta and Ka compacts.  (go to article)

REUTERS -- NEW YORK/HOUSTON -- By Joshua Schneyer and Bruce Nichols - Analysis -- Saudi Arabia's new method of pricing oil bound for the United States reflects the world's growing reliance on sour crude, which is harder to refine.

The sour grades of crude may eventually displace tried-and-true light, sweet crude to become a benchmark.

That could help producers and refiners manage risk as they deal with increasing volumes of higher-sulfur oil, and it may also cut speculators' influence on oil prices, analysts said.

Starting in January, Saudi Arabia will price U.S.-bound barrels against the Argus Sour Crude Index of three sour crudes produced in the U.S. Gulf. That will end 15 years of pricing against West Texas Intermediate, the reigning light, sweet benchmark.

The vast majority of oil futures contracts are based on WTI and Europe's Brent oil. . . .  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The elite are in trouble. Those exotic carmakers who produce fewer than 10,000 cars a year are looking at future fuel regulations and are realizing they need a plan. Fast.

Coming up with an alternative-fuel powertrain is a big leap, especially since it’s harder than ever to move $200,000 cars right now.

So it is with Bentley, the once-English brand now owned by Volkswagen Group. Its best-selling models are the souped-up Speed models of its Continental GT coupe and convertible. Now, the follow-up is the uber-alpha-zoom-zoom model, the $273,000 Continental Supersports, which hits 60 in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed of 204 mph.
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UPI -- Crude oil prices dropped to nearly $79 per barrel overnight in part because the weather has been nice, industry analysts said.

The price of December delivery light, sweet crude "fell below $80 per barrel, as the U.S. dollar rebounded against the euro, and unseasonably mild weather in the United States raised concerns about crude oil demand levels," wrote analysts at Sucden Financial Research, MarketWatch reported Thursday.

Overnight, crude oil prices shed 54 cents to $79.04 per barrel. Heating oil prices lost 0.0077 cents to $2.0409 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline lost 0.0092 cents to $2.0022 per gallon. Natural gas prices dropped 0.042 cents to $4.212 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.638 per gallon Thursday,  (go to article)

Detroit News -- Lots of people have challenging jobs at Chrysler Group LLC, but few are tougher than the one occupied by Doug Betts.

He's the senior vice president for quality, a veteran of Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. trying to quarterback a cultural change inside the Auburn Hills automaker that could make or break its latest -- final? -- shot at sustainable revival
 (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider -- Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, said General Motors would have been far better off if it had formed a transcontinental alliance with the French-Japanese auto partnership in 2006.  (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider -- Chrysler Group LLC is backing claims that it will be a quality leader by the end of 2012 with a revamped, refocused and much larger quality team, tougher standards and a commitment to achieving sustainable quality gains crucial to its long-term success by changing company culture

Uneven product quality has been Chrysler's Achilles heel for decades and addressing the problem a top priority under a series of corporate owners and chief executives  (go to article)

reuters -- U.S. crude oil futures fell more than $2 a barrel on Thursday on a strengthened dollar and a slump in equities on Wall Street as well as continued concern about demand as oil inventories remain above year-ago levels.
U.S. natural gas storage continued to add supply last week, the government reported last week, adding to energy markets' bearish tint on Thursday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, at 10:35 a.m. EST (1535 GMT), December crude CLZ9 was down $1.76, or 2.21 percent, at $77.82 a barrel, trading from $77.50 to $79.87. (Reporting by Robert Gibbons)
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Bloomberg -- The U.S., China and other major economies may more than double stimulus spending on clean energy next year after holding back most of the money promised for projects, an analyst said.

Stimulus spending on ventures such as wind parks and solar farms may more than double to $57.8 billion in 2010 from $24.3 billion this year, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of New Energy Finance, a London-based consulting firm. Green projects may secure $55.6 billion in stimulus funds in 2011.

Countries are still holding about 91 percent of the $177 billion promised for clean-energy development because most projects haven’t been evaluated, a New Energy Finance report in October showed. Of the remaining stimulus money, $20 billion may be spent in 2012 and $5.2 billion in 2013, Liebreich said.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, is scaling back on jet-fuel hedging after swings in oil prices contributed to a quarterly loss.

Fuel costs now will be hedged over two years instead of four, and the carrier will lock in purchases for only 80 percent of its annual consumption instead of two full years, Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said in an interview in Paris yesterday.

The drop in jet fuel from a record $1,451 a ton in July 2008 to $386 in March 2009 in Amsterdam trading worked against airlines whose contracts kept prices higher than those on spot markets. Air France would have been profitable in its fiscal second quarter without the drag of fuel hedges, Gourgeon said.  (go to article)

Reuters -- "... U.S. ethanol output capacity stood at almost 12.5 billion gallon a year at the start of 2009, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly petroleum report. But with capacity outstripping demand, only about 10.6 billion gallons of capacity was in operation at the start of the year.

Ethanol output capacity tripled between 2006 and 2009, but the industry has hit some growing pains as rising corn prices and falling gasoline costs hurt profits.

"Today's surplus capacity is likely to be brought into operation in the future," the EIA said.

The agency added that economic turmoil will keep bringing some turnover in ownership of ethanol plants..."  (go to article)

EurActiv -- Alternative fuels could bridge the transition to low-carbon road transport as electric cars remain a thing of the future, a roundtable at the European Parliament heard yesterday (18 November).

The shift from fossil fuels to a sustainble transport model for Europe's roads will take decades, MEP Vittorio Prodi (S&D, Italy) told policymakers and car-industry representatives.

"The increased presence of immediately available gaseous fuels such as LPG and natural gas can play an important role in this process, helping to cut CO2 and pollutant emissions today and forming a bridge towards other technologies that will emerge in the future," he stressed.  (go to article)

Wicked Local -- Natick, Mass. - As we prepare for colder temperatures, your BBB offers advice on how to keep the cost of heating your home affordable over the winter months.

“Heating your home throughout the New England winter can become costly if you aren’t careful,” said Paula Fleming, vice president of communications and marketing for BBB. “Following these few steps can go a long way in heating your home affordably, saving money better spent elsewhere this season.  (go to article)

Canada.com -- Ford's Fusion, already a solid entry in the mid-sized sedan segment, gets added appeal for 2010 with the introduction of a hybrid model. It should be noted that this is no token nod to pacify the greenies -- the Fusion Hybrid is the real deal and more than capable of taking on the hybrid technology leader, Toyota.

For some buyers, it's important to make a statement with their choice to go the hybrid route, hence the unique look of the Toyota Prius and the next-generation Honda Insight. Their owners have made a deliberate decision to go green, are proud of it and want the world to know.

Then there are those who prefer to be less obvious, opting for a more conventional-looking sedan with a hybrid powertrain, such as the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and the Fusion.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Chrysler Group LLC may have to terminate as many as 145 more U.S. dealers unless the retailers can find lenders to finance their new-vehicle inventory.

GMAC Inc., which replaced Chrysler Financial as the preferred lender for the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker’s dealers, has been negotiating with Chrysler retailers, said Sue Mallino, a GMAC spokeswoman.

If dealers can’t get the financing from GMAC, they may lose their franchise agreement unless they can find another lender, said Kathy Graham, a Chrysler spokeswoman.

The outcome may mean fewer dealerships for Chrysler, which has about 2,400 U.S. outlets after terminating 789 as part of a government-aided bankruptcy reorganization.  (go to article)

Daily Mail UK -- As if we didn't know it and even worse feel it in our pockets.

Ship loads of Oil wait offshore for prices to rise even further.  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- Winter weather is around the corner and our roads soon will be wet, icy and potentially hazardous. With that in mind, it's worth considering automotive safety -- how far it has come in recent years, where it is going and how its progress can affect you.

If you are considering a car purchase, new or used, the good news is that vehicle safety standards have improved dramatically in the past decade. For instance, three-quarters of vehicles did not have side impact airbags 10 years ago; now just 10 percent do not offer them.

Just as important, considering that it is better to avoid an accident in the first place, is the fact that electronic stability control (ESC) systems are now widespread. Back in 1999, only 9 percent of U.S. market vehicles had ESC. This year 74 percent of cars ...  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co., preparing for a market decline in Germany after the end of the country’s “cash for clunkers” program, are cutting prices at a near-record pace that dealers say may put them out of business.

Ford is offering zero-percent financing and a 2,000-euro ($3,000) rebate for the Focus, Fiesta and Ka compacts. A package of cheap loans, insurance and servicing provides savings of as much as 1,330 euros on most of VW’s models. The discounting isn’t luring enough consumers back to showrooms and many sales are unprofitable, said Juergen Karpinski, the owner of Auto- Schmitt in Frankfurt.

“Dealers are being bled dry and many will fall by the wayside,” said Karpinski, who sells models made by VW and its Audi and Skoda units,  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Crude oil fell for the first time in four days as the dollar gained against the euro, dulling the appeal of commodities as a currency hedge.

Oil fell from a one-week high reached yesterday after the U.S. Department of Energy said crude stockpiles dropped unexpectedly last week. Stock markets fell across Europe on concern this year’s rally has outpaced the prospects for economic growth.

“When the dollar is strong and equities are lower, then the oil market goes lower too,” Frank Schallenberger, head of commodities research at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, said by phone from Stuttgart. “It’s unusual to be stuck so long in a range” between $75 and $80.

Crude oil for December delivery dropped as much as 82 cents, or 1 percent, to $78.76 a barrel  (go to article)

New York Daily News -- The 2010 Ford Fusion was named Motor Trend magazine's car of the year Tuesday, beating out the Toyota Prius, BMW 7-Series, Chevrolet Camaro and others in the closely watched competition.

It was yet another accolade for Ford Motor Co.'s midsize sedan, which got high reliability scores in the most recent rankings from Consumer Reports and was the top-selling car made by a Detroit automaker through October. U.S. Fusion sales were up 15 percent in the first 10 months of this year, to 148,045, despite a 25 percent drop in overall car sales.

Still, the mid-size Fusion continues to lag behind the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord - perennial leaders in the competitive U.S. mid-size market.
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my FOXdetroit.com -- Air bags and seat belts are two safety innovations that have saved thousands of lives. So, why not combine the ideas? That’s the thinking behind the world’s first automotive inflatable seat belts. The innovation, to be introduced by Ford Motor Co., mixes attributes of traditional seat belts and air bags to provide an added level of crash safety protection for rear-seat occupants.
The new restraint system is designed to help reduce head, neck and chest injuries for rear-seat passengers -- often children and older passengers, who can be more vulnerable to such injuries.  (go to article)

usa today/money -- The Obama administration signaled it is sticking with its promise to stay at arm's length from the carmakers in which the U.S. owns stakes.
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treehugger -- Now *That* Is a Tax Break
The state of Colorado is trying to encourage the adoption of "alternative fuel vehicles" by offering tax credits based on the difference in cost between the said vehicle and a comparable non-green version. This means you could get about $3k in tax credit on a 2010 Toyota Prius or 2010 Honda Insight, or even $3.8k on a Honda Civic GX that runs on compressed natural gas. But the real eye-popper is the rebate on the all-electric Tesla Roadster: $ 42,083. That's about 38% of the car's $109k sticker price!  (go to article)

my fox detroit -- LANSING, Mich. (AP) - General Motors Co. is promising to keep its headquarters in Detroit in return for expanded state tax credits approved Tuesday.
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The Michigan Economic Growth Authority gave the go-ahead to extend tax credits the company won in June for agreeing to build a new small car at its Orion Township plant near Pontiac. The tax credits now cover some workers at GM's Renaissance Center headquarters in downtown Detroit.
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The new agreement says GM must keep 22,500 employees in the state rather than just 20,000 to get the tax credits, including around 2,500 in the Renaissance Center. About 4,000 GM employees work there now, GM spokesman Greg Martin said.
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Wall Street Journal -- PARIS -- The global economic recovery will be stronger than previously expected, but it will take years to bring unemployment and government debt back to their pre-crisis levels, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.

The think tank said it now expects the combined output of its 30 developed-country members to grow by 1.9% in 2010, having forecast in June that it would expand by 0.7%. And it expects even stronger growth in 2011, with the gross domestic product of its members growing by 2.5%.

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Bloomberg -- Nigeria’s Warri and Kaduna oil refineries have been repaired and are ready to resume production once the pipelines that supply them are fixed, the nation’s Guardian newspaper reported, citing Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Odein Ajumogobia.

The pipes moving crude to the plants may be fixed by the middle of next month, allowing refinery operations to resume, according to the paper.

Once the plants are making fuels, Nigeria’s oil-products imports will drop by 40 percent, according to the report.

The plants have a combined capacity of 235,000 barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.  (go to article)

energyboom.com -- This past week, at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy in Honolulu, Hawaii, the U.S. DOE revealed its intentions to pursue advanced biofuels and those algae-based, that can be drop-in replacements for diesel and gasoline.

Valerie Reed of the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy spoke of the Department's emphasis on hydrocarbons and high-density biofuels over the first-generation cellulosic ones.

“We learned a lot over the past 20 years, and we believe we can apply that to a faster deployment phase,” Reed said, adding that biomass-based liquid transportation fuels are going to be the only adequate displacements for jet fuel.  (go to article)

WSJ -- Crude futures traded slightly higher Wednesday, paring strong earlier gains on a decline in U.S. oil and gasoline inventories as the focus switched to continued weakness in U.S. oil demand.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery recently traded 28 cents higher at $79.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, having hit an intraday peak of $80.33, the highest level since Nov. 10. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 31 cents, or 0.4%, higher at $79.28 a barrel.

U.S. gasoline stocks last week registered a surprisingly hefty decline of 1.755 million barrels, compared with forecasts of a 100,000 barrel increase by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. This caused prices to rally above $80 a barrel earlier in the session.

"The market got all excited at the Dep  (go to article)

LA Times -- Professional burglars working in the Westside and Mid-Wilshire areas have targeted more than 50 BMWs in recent months, making away with expensive auto parts but leaving behind cellphones and laptop computers.

Air bags that cost thousands of dollars to replace and high-end headlights are being carefully removed from BMW 3 Series and 5 Series models, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Auto supplier NTN Corp. knew its gasoline engine parts wouldn’t be needed in Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric car. So the component maker’s engineers built a mock model to test a motor-and-brake system it developed for electric vehicles.

“If old-guard companies like us just continue along the same beaten path, things will become difficult,” Chairman Yasunobu Suzuki said. “I told our engineers to try everything.”

As Nissan and General Motors Co. prepare to introduce battery-powered cars next year, traditional auto suppliers like Osaka-based NTN are trying to adapt by creating new lines of business. Engine components account for as much as 40 percent of a typical car’s total parts, so some suppliers are scrambling to come up with new products, said Takeshi Miyao,  (go to article)

The Observer -- Every boy’s got his favorite toy. For Howard Butts, it’s an electric meter that runs backwards when the sun shines.

Butts, a rural Summerville resident known for his involvement in green energy, finds great joy watching his meter spin in reverse, recording his energy savings.

Money saved on a power bill isn’t the issue, though. After all, his recently-installed photovoltaic system that makes energy from the sun will only save him about $200 a year.

For Butts, the heart of the matter is energy conservation. He was raised, as he says, to love the earth and conserve resources in every way possible.

It’s all about doing his part, and setting an example.

“The bottom line is, everybody should be responsible for their own energy consumption,” he said last week as he talked about his system,  (go to article)

FORBES.COM -- By Jerry Flint

Who will be the world's biggest carmaker? General Motors once was, but now it's a fight between Toyota of Japan and up-and-coming Volkswagen of Germany.

But here's the thing: The world is wide open. The world's auto industry isn't dominated by Detroit anymore, or Toyota City or Wolfsburg. The great U.S. market isn't that big right now. China and even Western Europe are bigger.

So VW is strong in Europe and China. Toyota is strong in Japan and the U.S. Fiat is big in Brazil. Ford isn't No. 1 in any place big, but it keeps creeping up. Hyundai/Kia takes giant steps and even pushes into the luxury car business.

What we're talking about is global power in the business: Who wants it and who's got it.

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Bloomberg.com -- By Bloomberg News

President Barack Obama is in Seoul today, giving him a last chance on his four-nation Asia trip to show he opposes protectionism. Standing in the way is a U.S. auto lobby that is blocking a free-trade agreement.

It’s a tall order. A top item on South Korea’s agenda is the trade accord, which was signed in 2007. The deal has been held up in Congress, where lawmakers are demanding wider access to Korea for Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., and neither side shows signs of compromise.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that failure to enact the accord means the loss of $35 billion in exports and 345,000 jobs.

Excerpt

U.S. automakers sold 6,980 vehicles in South Korea last year, or 0.72 percent of the overall passenger car market, according  (go to article)

AZCentral.com -- Arizona has wooed and won China's king of solar.

Zhengrong Shi, the son of dirt-poor peasant farmers who built Suntech Power into a multibillion-dollar giant in less than a decade, has chosen metro Phoenix as its first manufacturing site in the U.S.

Arizona didn't score this coup in one fell swoop; it happened through a series of right decisions and relationships nurtured over time.

"There's a big mix of stars aligning," said Rob Melnick, executive dean and professor at the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.

Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, credited the success to four equal factors:

• The tax incentive legislation, Senate Bill 1403.

• A policy of the Arizona Corporation Commission that requires that 15 percent  (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- By Edward Klump

Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth- largest U.S. energy producer, may have some explaining to do to investors who say bad bets on refineries are holding back the company’s growing exploration business.

Marathon is spending $6 billion on plant upgrades that began before refining profit margins collapsed, leaving it with less capital to exploit its oil and natural-gas fields. When Marathon meets tomorrow with investors and analysts in New York, it should address possibly selling refineries or justify keeping plants that will be less profitable than oil and gas wells, said Ted Harper of Frost Investment Advisors in Houston.

“Right now, I think investors are just a bit confused with respect to what is that strategy,” said Harper, who helps oversee $6.1 billion in assets. Frost’s  (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- By Ben Sharples and Ann Koh

Oil traded near $80 a barrel in New York after rising yesterday as a government report showed U.S. crude and fuel supplies dropped along with refinery production and imports.

Crude oil gained 0.6 percent yesterday and touched $80.33 after the Energy Department said crude inventories declined 887,000 barrels to 336.8 million last week. Stockpiles were forecast to increase by 300,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Fuel supplies fell as refiners operated at the slowest pace in more than a year.

“The big thing was the inventories data, which continues to show bullish signs with drawdowns in crude oil, gasoline and distillates,” said Ben Westmore, an energy and minerals economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. “Every time  (go to article)

gas 2.0 -- A new analysis from Accenture, Betting on Science; Disruptive Technologies in Transport Fuels, identifies 12 technologies that have the potential to be gamechangers, disrupting fossil fuel demand and reversing course on the disastrous climate changing trajectory that we are on. And, the report says, they could do it within five years.

But rather than simply cheering on these exciting developments, Accenture goes a step further and does a complete analysis of each one’s chances in the marketplace and legislative incentives; because the challenge of moving past fossil fuels can’t be left to the invisible hand.

The report assesses both the level of private venture capital available to move these disruptive technologies into the market in each country but, more importantly, it also analy  (go to article)

gas 2.0 -- Norwegian electric car maker, Th!nk, has seen some rough financial patches as of late—having gone through a bankruptcy and restructuring—but they seem to be clawing their way back to relevance these days. With a long wait list and more demand for the Th!nk City than they can meet in Europe, think has once again turned their eyes on the U.S. market.
Last year, Th!nk USA had been mulling over its options for places to site a new U.S. factory. During post-bankruptcy reorganization, Th!nk received $47 million of investment from a variety of companies, the largest amount of which came from Indiana battery supplier, Ener1. It should come as no surprise then, that, according to a Reuters interview with Ener1’s CEO, Charles Gassenheimer, Th!nk has chosen Indiana as the site for their EV factory.  (go to article)

wheels.blogs.nytimes.com -- As we draw closer to the end of the year, there’s a bit of chatter on the Internet about whether the “cash for clunkers” rebates are taxable income.

Some Web sites say you do indeed have to pay federal taxes on the rebates, but that’s not true. You do not. But things are not so clear when it comes to state taxes.

Under the program, about 677,000 vouchers worth either $3,500 or $4,500 were distributed. They went to people who got rid of gas guzzlers in favor of a new, fuel-efficient vehicle. The vouchers totaled about $2.8 billion.

So, what about taxes? The program’s rules say “the credit is not income for the consumer.”

That means no federal income tax, Peggy Riley, a spokeswoman for the Internal Revenue Service, said.

But the rules also say they are not addressing “any

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Marketplace -- A California utility is aggressively developing power sources cleaner than coal -- natural gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar ... and now even cow manure. But Pacific Gas & Electric isn't turning green totally on its own. It's the law  (go to article)

Williston Herald -- An energy company based in Colorado with ties to Divide County is looking at activity in the area with excitement, as well as with a desire to expand its capacity.

"We think it's an incredible opportunity for us to expand," said Smith. Smith said the interest in expanding in North Dakota began after taking Ambrose under its wing as a subsidiary. He said they've been paying close attention to the number of permits being issued in the county, as well as its potential for more wells.  (go to article)

Harvard Gazette -- The easiest way to reduce U.S. consumption of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels may not involve changing the way it is generated, but rather simply using less of it, an energy expert said.

Maxine Savitz, vice president of the National Academy of Engineering, former deputy assistant secretary for conservation in the U.S. Department of Energy, and a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said the energy efficiency gained through new technologies in buildings, cars, and industry could reduce energy use as much as 30 percent by 2030.

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kens5 -- HOUSTON—The Texas Department of Agriculture is investigating 16 Houston-area gas stations for allegedly mixing lower-octane gasoline with higher-octane, higher-priced gas.

The state launched its investigation after the 11 News Defenders told the agency about fuel delivery invoices we obtained—invoices from a major transport firm which delivers gas from local refineries to your neighborhood gas station.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Natural gas tumbled more than 6 percent, the biggest drop almost seven weeks, as mild weather trimmed demand for the heating and power-plant fuel.

Above-normal temperatures will cover the U.S. Northeast and Midwest into next week, according to the Commodity Weather Group in Bethesda, Maryland. About 52 percent of U.S. households rely on gas for heating. Inventories rose to a record 3.813 trillion cubic feet in the week ended Nov. 6.  (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider -- Arizona Sen. John McCain on Wednesday didn't back off his contention that Chrysler Group LLC won't survive but acknowledged that some unobjective people might not share his view

Peters added: "Sen. McCain's campaign slogan was 'Country First.' For some reason, that doesn't seem to extend to supporting American industries. The worst part is not just that Sen. McCain is vocally predicting failure for a great American company that supports millions of jobs across the country -- it's that you get the sense he's rooting for it."  (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider -- More than four months after the House voted to reverse the closing of more than 2,000 auto dealerships, time is running short to get a deal done this year.

GM and Chrysler and many members of Congress want a "non-legislative fix." The Obama administration also opposes efforts to reverse the dealer closings. One proposal is to have some arbitration process for an unspecified number of the closing dealers  (go to article)

Detroit News - Auto Insider - AP -- The European Union will host a high-level meeting between GM and EU governments next week to discuss restructuring plans and aid for the troubled Opel unit, officials said Wednesday.

He said GM was looking for around euro3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) in loans from European governments to finance redundancies as well as restructuring. He said this was less than the euro4-5 billion required by Canadian carmaker Magna, which had bid to buy GM's European operations  (go to article)