Gasoline

It sounds too good to be true: A residential system that allows people to make fuel from old beer, leftover wine and other waste products and use it to run their vehicles. That's what inventors of the E-Fuel MicroFueler claim, and there's support for the idea in government, industry and pop culture. MicroFueler buyers are eligible for a $5,000 tax credit. Former L.A. Laker Shaquille O'Neal is an investor in the system's distributor. The $10,000 E-Fuel MicroFueler consists of a 250-gallon tank for organic feedstock, such as waste wine and beer, and a still that converts it to pure ethanol, or E-Fuel.

Three gas stations vie for customers along Interstate 5 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, but Cheryl Ahern-Lehmann usually bypasses the Chevron and Arco in favor of a station she once spurned as too pricey. That station in north San Diego County, a Texaco for years, won her business after it became a Valero in 2003. "It just appeared here . . . I didn't know what it was," Ahern-Lehmann said of the gasoline brand.

Hundreds of drivers here will serve as guinea pigs in a test that's part sociology experiment, part environmental advocacy and part Driver's Ed 101. It poses the question: When motorists see how their own aggressive driving burns gasoline, will they stop the tailgating, hard braking and speeding that increases their fuel consumption and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions? Sponsored by EnCana Corp.

Something was wrong with Sally Ann. ? For months, she sputtered and choked, and Barry Treahy's remedies weren't working. He kept changing her fuel filters. Then he rebuilt her carburetor. Finally, he cut into her gas tank, cleaned out the mysterious caramel-colored gunk and patched her up -- twice.? Disaster struck on a summer day in San Diego, when Treahy's beloved 20-foot fishing boat was parked street side with the outer hull plug open to drain any residual water.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Saturday called a proposal by Sen. John McCain for a federal gas tax holiday the "latest scheme" from the Republican presidential nominee-to-be. Obama suggested that such a holiday from federal gas taxes would weaken the nation's highway and bridge infrastructure, potentially putting lives at risk. "It will save you about $25," Obama said, presumably citing a three-month saving for average consumers. "Remember that bridge in Minneapolis?"

When the gas gauge on Jada Burns' Kia wagon was on empty Tuesday afternoon, she lucked out, catching her neighborhood Chevron station at a time when its pumps were open. But the clerk, Mamadou Diallo, said he expected to be sold out by rush hour. With drivers already forming a line, it was about 20 minutes before Burns could fill up. "This is the first time I've had to actually wait," said Burns, 33, who earlier had passed by a station where the line was much longer. "This is crazy, isn't it?"

Fuel maker Tesoro Corp. on Tuesday sued California air regulators to block a new regulation that is expected to sharply boost ethanol use in the state's gasoline starting in 2010. The San Antonio-based company, which operates refineries in Los Angeles and the Bay Area city of Martinez, said the new fuel specifications could conflict with the state's push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and could have ramifications for the environment and U.S. food prices.

Iran's top leader said Saturday that the country's oil and gas reserves eventually will dry up and defended the drive to produce nuclear fuel, asserting that it was the only way to avoid dependence on the West for energy. "Oil and gas reserves won't last forever. If a nation doesn't think of producing its future energy needs, it will be dependent on domination-seeking powers," state television quoted supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.

As President Bush flew here Thursday on Air Force One, thousands of protesters shouting "Out, Bush!" marched down this city's main drag, Avenida Paulista. Hundreds of riot police flanked at least 6,000 demonstrators near the city's financial center, and the scent of tear gas hovered along the march route. At least three protesters and a news photographer were reported hurt as baton-wielding police and demonstrators clashed, but there was no immediate word on their condition.

One California regulatory agency advocates approval of an $800-million liquefied natural gas terminal off the Ventura County coast, and another says that the project would be harmful to the coastal environment. The staffs of the California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission have reached vastly different conclusions based on the environmental impact report of the BHP Billiton project.