In the enthusiasm for renewable energy and taking care of our environment, it is easy to assume that making fuel from plants (biofuel) must be by definition “green” and renewable. However when it comes to energy issues, easy assumptions can be dangerous assumptions. In previous years some politicians and advocates in Europe have made these assumptions without sufficient thought and research and secured government subsidies for companies importing palm oil from South East Asia to make biodiesel for transport and for use in electricity generation.

The demand for palm oil in Europe has soared in the last two decades, first for use in food and cosmetics, and more recently for fuel. This cheap oil can be used for a variety of purposes, including as an ingredient about 10 percent of supermarket products, from chocolate to toothpaste.

Promoted by hundreds of millions of dollars in national subsidies, the Netherlands quickly became the leading importer of palm oil in Europe, taking in 1.7 million tons in 2006, nearly double the previous year.

Now it is increasingly difficult to ignore the mounting body of scientific evidence that palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, rather than preserving the environment are in fact actively destroying it. By subsidising biofuels, European governments have artificially raised demand for palm oil in Europe, and accelerated the destruction of huge areas of rainforest in South East Asia.

Gasoline is the bloodline that keeps America moving. Our personal vehicles alone guzzle 140 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel each year, up 3.2 percent from a year ago.

Tracking gas prices can feel like a roller coaster ride. They’re down a little one month, up the next, before shooting up more than 50 percent in a year. Plus, they’re different depending on where you look. Other countries, and even other states and cities, can have very different gas prices from your local Gas-N-Go. To the average person, it probably seems as though there’s little rhyme or reason to how gas prices are determined. In this article, we will look at the forces that impact the price of gas at the pump, and we’ll find out where your gas money actually goes.

Americans have an insatiable thirst for gasoline, and with sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) continually growing in popularity we are only getting thirstier. Just look at the roads and highways and you’ll see that a severe gas shortage would practically cripple the country. Americans drive more than 2.5 trillion miles per year in automobiles, light trucks and SUVs, according to a MEMA report. That’s equal to 14,000 round trips to the sun. Today, we drive almost twice as much as we did in 1980 (1.5 trillion miles).