Paul Douglas Weather Column: A Report That Won't Make Climate Skeptics Happy

Doubting The Climate Skeptics. Global banking giant Deutsche Bank just released a report that won't make many lingering climate skeptics happy.
...Deutsche Bank has $700 billion in investments worldwide - they are already shifting many of their investments out of the USA, which they believe is doing too little, too late. One of the few exceptions? D.B. is investing in Minnesota wind farms. "Coal is basically out of the game." Their assessment of U.S. efforts to take the threat seriously? "They're asleep at the wheel on climate change, asleep at the wheel on this industrial revolution in the energy industry," the authors of the paper write. Of $7 billion in climate change investments, only $45 million is earmarked for the USA.

E-85 loses its way; Demand cools as new energy alternatives arrive - TwinCities.com

In a state that lacks fossil fuels, E-85 had been heralded as a homegrown alternative that Gov. Tim Pawlenty once called 'one of the most important issues and economic tools for all of Greater Minnesota.'

Now, the gas station that's nearest the Governor's Residence has shut down its E-85 pump.
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E-85 has another strike against it: It doesn't pack the same energy punch as gasoline. Tiffany, the U professor, calculates that E-85 has about 26 percent less energy than gasoline. In Minnesota, every gallon of gasoline must contain 10 percent ethanol.

For motorists looking to save money, that means E-85 needs to be priced at least 26 percent less than a gallon of gasoline. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. But both gas and ethanol prices jump around a lot, so calculating which is the better buy can seem more trouble than it's worth.