Tropical Storm Gustav reorganizes and threatens Gulf Coast oil facilities; compressed air energy storage for windfarms; and what’s your water footprint?

Gustav take an unexpected jog to the south, increasing threat to petroleum facilities: Early Thursday, an Air Force reconnaissance plane discovered Tropical Storm Gustav had reformed to the southwest overnight, pushing forecasts tracks westward toward the heart of the Gulf Coast’s oil platforms and transit facilities. Oil prices have pushed steadily upward over the past 48 hours on fears that the storm — now forecast to reach Category 3 intensity — might cause serious damage to the belt of offshore platforms and shipping terminals which stretch from Texas to the mouth of Mobile Bay. Industry officials say a major strike could halt production of up to 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day. (National Hurricane Center)

Ford Spends $75 Million to Retool Michigan Truck Plant for Small Car Production: Ford Motor Company appears to be keeping its promise to retool truck and SUV assembly plants to produce a new generation of smaller vehicles. Company officials announced this week it will spend $75 million to convert a Michigan plant’s Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator line to produce their new C-Class passenger car. It’s a major project, and production isn’t expected until the 2010 model year. Ford says it will move to consolidate its model line, producing some of their successful European models in North America and Asian markets. (Treehugger)

Compressed-air storage coming to wind power: One of the traditional problems with windpower is producing base electricity — the juice which must be available to customers at all times, regardless of whether the wind happens to be blowing. Storing electrical energy on an industrial scale is not currently practical. But a New Jersey company thinks they have a solution: storing that energy in the form of compressed air. Energy Storage and Power plans to invest $20 million developing a system which would pump compressed air into underground caverns, such as depleted natural gas well or salt domes. The compressed air could then be released on demand to run turbines and generate electric power. (CNET)

Swift Enterprises Joins Race for Alternative Jet Fuel: The race to find an economical replacement for jet fuel is picking up steam. Indiana-based Swift Enterprises has developed aviation fuel made from landfill waste, sorghum, algae, and woodchips. It’s crazy expensive for now: about $60 per gallon. But that cost is expect to drop to about $1.80 per gallon once fullscale production gets underway. (CleanTechnica)

Our Water Footprint is Deeper than it Looks: Most people are familiar with the term “carbon footprint” by now. How about a water footprint? Social media and Green living blogger Max Gladwell explores the similarity between the two concepts. Consuming a glass of beer has a footprint of about 75 liters, while a kilo of corn weighs in at about 900 liters. A similar amount of beef accounts for nearly 1600 liters of fresh water. WaterFootprint.com has more. (Max Gladwell)

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