Egypt Crisis, Engineered Algae, Palin's Pipeline - 2.6.11

The civil unrest in Egypt by opponents of President Hosni Mubarak may seem far away to Americans, but it could have huge implications on the global oil market and gasoline prices in the U.S. Energy analysts Phil Flynn of PFG Best and Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover tell Susan McGinnis about the worst-case scenarios for U.S. energy prices and how the nation can change its policies to minimize the threat from similar crises in the future.

Plugged In: Natural gas drilling companies are accused of illegally injecting diesel fuel into the ground. President Obama announces new incentives to make commercial buildings more energy efficient. And an auto industry study says the public may not be ready to embrace electric cars.

Breeding A Better Biofuel: The Energy Department is already enthusiastic about the next generation of biofuels, especially petroleum that's produced by algae. But the most promising application for those fuels could be from genetically engineered strains of algae. Chief correspondent Tyler Suiters visits the heart of the synthetic biofuel industry in California and finds out what this seemingly unnatural phenomenon could be a logical breakthrough in energy.

Palin's Pipeline: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was instrumental in pushing through plans for a giant pipeline to connect Alaska's vast natural gas reserves to the Lower 48. But that was years ago, when gas prices were high and energy alternatives were fewer. Now with shale formations providing a wealth of natural gas, and prices at near historic lows, is the pipeline practical? Correspondent Dan Goldstein travels to the Last Frontier and talks to lawmakers, public policy analysts and energy experts who explain whether the pipeline could really be just a pipe dream.

Hot Zone: With bright lights, TV cameras and heating for tens of thousands of fans, this years Super Bowl could be an energy extravaganza. But in this week's Hot Zone, we explain how it will be the greenest ever, thanks to offsets purchased from a North Texas wind farm ...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• algae
• biofuel
• Cameron Hanover
• DOE
• Egypt
• energy prices
• Hosni Mubarak
• natural gas
• oil
• Peter Beutel
• PFG Best
• Phil Flynn
• Sarah Palin

[NeoSapien2]

Actually it is renewable because algae produce co2 as well when it is burned and burning it doesn't hurt anything if you recycle the waste.

[Skoda130]

China uses CO2 from coal plants to feed their algae? So basically they still have to burn fossil fuels to produce these algae. So much for "renewable ehergy".