BEIJING (AP) — After word spread about an environmental protest that was planned for Saturday in the central Chinese city of Chengdu, drugstores and printing shops were ordered to report anyone making certain purchases. Microbloggers say government fliers urged people not to demonstrate, and schools were told to stay open to keep students on campus.
Analysts at IHS CERAWeek say the growth in natural gas drilling has supported the U.S. chemical industry, allowing access to low-priced resources and helping economic recovery, FuelFix reports.
As the world's third most-used vehicle fuel, liquid propane use is expanding worldwide as businesses seek to develop engines and convert vehicles that can run on the fuel, The Associated Press reports.
The head of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers is laying down a post-election challenge to President Barack Obama: make good on your energy platform by approving the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
"Very soon there's going to be what I consider to be the bellwether for his second administration, and that's called the Keystone XL pipeline," AFPM President Charles T. Drevna said in an interview with Energy Guardian.
NINGBO, China (AP) — After three days of protests by thousands of citizens over pollution fears, a local Chinese government relented and agreed that a petrochemical factory would not be expanded, only to see the protests persist.
Molly Morse of Mango Materials won the 2012 Postcode Lottery Green Challenge for her company's development of a closed-loop process of methane-based, biodegradable plastic production, The New York Times reports.
MIR ALI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's effort to cut off the flow of fertilizer to militants using it to make bombs in this key tribal sanctuary along the Afghan border has outraged local farmers, who complain the policy has cut their crop yields in half.
The blowback in North Waziristan could prove costly as the army grapples with how to tackle enemies of the state holed up in the remote, mountainous area, a task that is likely to be more difficult if the government is unable to mobilize support from local tribesmen.
Scientists, working with Starbuck's, have developed a new biorefinery that converts the chain's coffee grounds and stale baked goods into detergent ingredients and bioplastics, Science Daily reports.
ExxonMobil Corp. said it would refocus its research on algae-derived biofuels after it invested $100 million over the last four years with few solid results, Bloomberg reports.
The United States and the European Union plan to negotiate settlements with China for the import of cheaper Chinese solar panels into Western markets, The New York Times reports.
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case from an Alaskan village arguing it should be allowed to sue energy companies for climate change damages, Reuters reports.
