Energy, Fuel | featured news

Falling oil prices are typically good news for airlines as fuel accounts for more than a third of their operating costs, but not all carriers are benefiting due to fuel hedging.

Delta Air Lines said on Monday that it will buy a refinery near Philadelphia in the hope of slicing $300 million a year from its jet fuel bill.

A group of high-tech tycoons wants to mine nearby asteroids, hoping to turn science fiction into real profits. The plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020.

Families canceling vacations. Fishermen watching their profits burn up along with their boats' gasoline. Drivers buying only a few gallons of gas at a time because they can't afford to fill the tank. From all corners of the country, Americans are irritated these days by record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon in some states and could top $5 by summer. And the cost is becoming a political issue just as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear.

Airlines are getting rid of these planes — their least-efficient — in response to the high cost of fuel. Delta, United Continental, and other big airlines are expected to park, scrap or sell hundreds of jets with 50 seats or fewer in coming years. Small propeller planes are meeting the same fate.

United Airlines flew the first U.S. commercial passengers Monday on a Boeing 737-824 powered partly with Honeywell biofuel made from algae, a Honeywell subsidiary announced. Flight 1403, scheduled to arrive in Chicago's O'Hare airport at 1:00 p.m. CST from Houston, used a blend of petroleum-based jet fuel and aviation biofuel made from algal-oil, provided by Solazyme, according to Honeywell's UOP.

Students have begun making bio diesel fuel by converting used cooking oil from the dining hall.