Article Archive

Prior to February 7, few energy watchers were familiar with Tim Searchinger. But as the lead author of an article in Science that appeared on that date, concluding that corn-based ethanol and other biofuels likely produce far more greenhouse gases than gasoline, Searchinger was suddenly being quoted in major media outlets all over the world.

Napoleon famously said that an army marches on its stomach. That may have been true for his 19th-century force. But the modern American military runs on jet fuel—and lots of it.

That increased energy efficiency will save us has become an article of faith. Last year, Congress passed “The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.”

Now that the big climate conference in Bali is over, hard questions are arising about how (or whether) the U.S. and other countries can reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

Arthur L. Smith has been an energy analyst for more than three decades. In 1984 after spending nine years on Wall Street doing institutional equity research, he acquired control of John S. Herold, Inc., a research-only firm focused on the energy sector.

Since last March, when I wrote a story about the apparent suicide of Col. Ted Westhusing in Iraq, I had believed there was nothing else to write about his tragic death.