24/7 Wall St.: Will The Recession Stop Global Warming?

This year will still be hot by historical standards, but, if energy use continues to fall 2009 and 2010 it could cut even further into the trend of global warming.

It won't bring the polar ice cap back, but it could keep Manhattan from being four feet under water.

Douglas A. McIntyre

24/7 Wall St.: Biodiesel Refinery Goes on the Block (NSC, BRK-A)

Bad news doesn't surprise anyone any more, especially in the bio-refining business. Shareholder value in ethanol companies has all but evaporated. Now, we get news of a biodiesel plant going on the auction block.

A company called Mid-Atlantic Biodiesel Company, LLC, is being forced to auction its five million gallon/year refinery, which went into operation in 2006. The plant only produced B100 (100% biodiesel), and only did so for about six months. Then the cost of feedstock caught up with Mid-Atlantic, and the company closed its doors. Now, according to the auctioneer's web site, the plant will go under the gavel on January 22, 2009, in a "lender ordered collateral sale."

Icy cold covers much of U.S. - CNN.com

(CNN) -- A blast of Arctic air Tuesday morning has much of the nation -- from the Great Lakes to Oregon and down to Texas -- in its cold, icy grip.