Word: planting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...billion-dollar profits, by turns accused of holding the world economy hostage, precipitating a global food crisis and endangering the planet. Now imagine the public relations nightmare facing an oil company that uses technology responsible for powering Nazi Germany, that propped up apartheid for decades and that operates a plant with the dubious distinction of being the world's biggest single-point source of carbon dioxide. Only a die-hard optimist could talk up such a company, right? Meet Pat Davies, head of South African energy giant Sasol, and listen to him speak about its prospects. "We're coming into...
...crude at one point this year reaching $147 per bbl., interest in alternative sources of oil is unprecedented. A big part of that interest comes from the U.S., India and China, which all rely on oil imports and have massive coal reserves. Feasibility studies for Sasol to build two plants in China, each projected to produce 80,000 bbl. a day by 2012, are at an advanced stage. In the U.S., Sasol is courting interest from several states, including Montana, Illinois and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. military, which is attracted by the security advantage of a U.S.-based...
...course, nothing's ever that simple in the energy business. Sasol's end product is cleaner than the average diesel fuel or gasoline, emitting less sulfur and less nitrogen when it burns, says Barrows. Coal-to-liquid plants can also be used to clean up the mountains of coal left over at old mines. But in terms of carbon emissions, Fischer-Tropsch is dirty. A sliding scale of emissions from fossil fuels, goes: coal, petroleum, methane. Coal emits the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy obtained. The resultant fuel also emits more carbon dioxide when burned...
When Tata Motors unveiled designs last year to build the Nano - a cheap, two-wheel drive car for the people - it proudly declared its hopes for India's mass market. It's getting a dose of mass protest instead. Last week, Tata Motors shut down its plant in Singur, West Bengal, citing "obstruction, intimidation and confrontation" by protesters that had been demonstrating at the site for the past month...
Like so many protests in India, this is about land: Local farmers are upset that, under a 2005 policy to create a series of special economic zones, the state government acquired about 1,000 acres of land in Singur and sold it to Tata Motors for the plant. The farmers say they were not adequately compensated for their land and allege that in some cases, the sales were forced. They and their political supporters are demanding 400 acres back. The issue has been smoldering for almost two years, but the protests reached an intense pitch last month, until finally...