DOE National Laboratory Expert Notes Energy Benefits of Ethanol

DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory announced on August 23rd that one of its researchers recently completed a study that defends the energy and environmental benefits of producing ethanol from corn and other biomass sources. Argonne researcher Michael Wang presented research at the National Press Club confirming that ethanol fuel substantially helps reduce fossil fuel and petroleum […]

Fuel Cells Might Get Hydrogen From Water, Organic Material

A novel technique for producing hydrogen from water and organic material has been found recently at Purdue University, a discovery that could help speed the creation of viable hydrogen storage technology. The technique requires only water, a catalyst based on the metal rhenium (REE-nee-um) and an organic liquid called an organosilane, which can be stored […]

Renewable Energy in the EU

The EU’s Renewables Directive has been in place since 2001. It aims to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES) in the EU to 22.1 per cent by 2010, thus helping the Union reach the RES target of overall energy consumption of 12 per cent by 2010. EurActiv

Shell Oil Shale Extraction Technology Economically Viable?

The development of an economically viable way to extract oil from oil shale would put a ceiling on oil prices and would extend the oil era by decades. It would also increase the odds of significant global warming. Well, in light of all that a variety of media outlets are reporting that Shell Oil thinks […]

Pylons protest goes to landmark

About 250 people marched to the Wallace Monument in Stirling to protest against plans to erect huge pylons across Scotland. Opponents used the 700th anniversary of William Wallace’s death to voice concerns about the pylons which they said would ruin historic landscapes. The Scottish and Southern Energy project has been designed to take power from […]

High Street gloom as sales slip

Falling demand for furniture, carpets and electrical goods has hit sales on the UK High Street, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Like-for-like sales fell 1% in August, as consumer spending was squeezed by rising petrol prices and fuel bills.BBC

Forbes warns of oil bubble

Mr Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, said the price of oil, which peaked at more than $US70 a barrel on Monday as Hurricane Katrina headed for the US Gulf Coast, was unsustainable.

He said factors such as inflation and increased demand for oil from China and India accounted for only a small part of the price hike from $US25-30 a barrel three years ago.

“The rest of it is sheer bubble speculation,” he sa

Herald Sun

Frenzy over gas shortages resumes

GULFPORT, Miss. “People get crazy about gasoline when we’re not here,” said Gulfport police officer Travis Sheaffer, standing guard at a gas station near Interstate 10. “They were cutting in line, pulling guns

The Endogenous Oil Shock – Stephen Roach

In the macro world, strikes, wars, and natural disasters have long been thought of as classic exogenous shocks — those out-of-the-blue disruptions that jolt economies and markets. For stable economies, the impact of the exogenous shock is fairly predictable — a temporary reduction in growth followed by the rebound of recovery. Such are the impacts […]

UK Govt to Grant 150 Exploration Licenses Tomorrow; Most for 40 Years

The surge in demand comes in spite of UK production being in decline. Depending on the estimates, between half and three-quarters of the resources in the ground have already been extracted. The remaining oil and gas fields are far smaller and more difficult to exploit, though extraction technologies have improved.Rigzone

Katrina: Damage to Oil Fields Worse Than Ivan

Damage to oil platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Katrina could be three times as bad as when Hurricane Ivan struck the area last year, warned international energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Eugene Kim, senior energy analyst at WoodMac’s Houston office said efforts to inspect damage to offshore installations and subsea […]

Katrina, New Orleans, and Peak Oil – By Richard Heinberg

And all of this is occurring at a time when the global supply of oil is barely able to meet demand. Indeed, many petroleum analysts were already looking to the fourth quarter of 2005 as the likely moment of the all-time world oil production peak. The head of International Energy Agency forecast on Saturday that […]

Half of Damaged Refineries Near Restarting

As half of the Gulf Coast refineries damaged by Hurricane Katrina begin to ramp up production this week, industry experts have this message: be patient. “What you’ve got are a whole series of requirements and processes and that takes days, if not weeks,” said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute. The going […]

Tanzanian plastic industry hit by soaring oil prices

Soaring oil prices coupled with depreciated shillings have hit the plastic industry in Tanzania where plastic products are likely to sell at 70 percent more than their usual prices. Plastics are produced using mainly petrochemicals which are derived from crude oil that reached an unprecedented price level of 70 US dollars a barrel on the […]

The Oil Drum: Carbonates are not a drink

For those new to this site, on Saturdays I often post a ‘techie’ talk which is going through the process of drilling an oilwell, and explaining some of what goes on. It was in part motivated to give a scientific explanation for the depletion that Matt Simmons and others discuss elsewhere. Since these are getting […]

‘The American Conservative’ Recognises Peak Oil

Poster’s Comments: The American Conservative Magazine, media locus of old-school anti-establishment conservative thought, and co-founded by one-time Presidential candidate and Republican Bad-Boy Pat Buchanan, has just published an article by James Howard Kunstler (author of “The Long Emergency,” Atlantic Monthly Press). “End of the Binge” is a snappy four-page summary of Peak Oil and it’s […]

High Cost of Diesel Plagues Trucking Industry

If filling up a 15- or 30-gallon gas tank has become aggravating at today’s prices, imagine buying fuel by the tanker load. “It’s a huge problem for motor carriers,” said C.M. “Bud” Coleman Jr., the president of Commercial Carrier Corp., an Auburndale trucking firm with more than 1,000 diesel-hungry engines to fill daily. “Nobody knows […]

What About the Gulf’s Oil Workers?

Before the rigs and pipelines can get back into operation, energy outfits have figure out how to get their employees safely back in place From Platts Oilgram News As oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico begin the arduous job of restoring operations to their facilities in Hurricane Katrina’s wake, they face a […]

Villepin announces measures for ”post oil era”

In a carefully crafted speech announcing the second phase of action of his government, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said it was time to “face reality” about energy. “We have entered the post oil era. I want to draw all the consequences and give true impetus to energy savings and renewable energies.” EurActiv

Katrina’s economic toll may be felt well into ‘06

Catastrophe likely to hinder global growth, economists say NEW YORK – The physical and psychological damage caused by Hurricane Katrina is likely to reverberate across the global economy in ways that will curb growth well into 2006, economists say. A spike in already-high energy costs in the United States and around the world tops the […]

Russia’s oil is key to development of global economy

The future development of the global economy is impossible without Russia’s energy resources, a Russian oil expert said in an interview with RIA Novosti. Gennady Shmal, president of the Union of Oil and Gas Industrialists of Russia, said, “The goal of our participation [in the Days of Russia’s Oil and Gas organized in the context […]

Oil Boom Bolsters Imports

For the third year in a row in 2005, Saudi Arabia is witnessing robust growth in oil export revenues, liquidity, and economic activity, thanks to rising oil prices, low interest rates and low inflation. In our earlier reports, we have documented how this massive liquidity-injection has increased the country’s national income and wealth. MENAFN

Japan considering reducing oil reserves as it prepares to send fuel to U.S.

Japan is considering reducing the minimum requirement for the nation’s oil reserves as the country prepares to send some of its emergency supplies to the United States, a senior trade official said Monday. Refiners, importers and wholesalers in Japan are now required to hold an equivalent of 70 days of imports, but that made be […]

Petrol giants prepare for the

Britain’s biggest petrol retailers have begun preparing for the price of fuel to break through the 100p a litre barrier, it emerged yesterday. BP said it had already started to convert price displays and signs in its petrol stations to cope with higher prices – in many garages, petrol pumps and forecourt signs cannot currently […]

Europe, US, China eye Russian oil as prices rise

Russian oil companies and the government are facing a predicament most would envy: What to do with the excess export revenues due to the high oil prices? Russia appears uncertain how to use this monetary increase of extra revenues to stimulate growth in the real sectors of its industry, including the oil sector. Russia is […]

EU oil reserves needed to prevent global oil shock

With IEA director Claude Mandil warning of a looming world energy crisis, EU Energy Commissioner Piebalgs will on Tuesday 6 September present new measures to deal with high oil prices and possible supply problems. EurActiv

Energy minister gets ready to feel the heat

Malcolm Wicks has just taken delivery of his new Toyota Prius, the energy-saving hybrid car much favoured by Hollywood celebrities “It’s only a small thing but in terms of cleaner energy or energy efficiency, we do need to engage public institutions in more of a debate about how they can use energy efficiently,” the energy […]

CO2 rise threatens Britain’s hope of meeting Kyoto target

Britain is burning so much oil, gas and coal it may miss its international target to reduce global warming gases, according to government figures which show carbon dioxide emissions rising by 2.5% in the first six months of this year. The figures from the Department of Trade and Industry, analysed by Friends of the Earth, […]

Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and Peak Oil – By Shepherd Bliss

New Orleans will probably never be rebuilt. One wonders if this could be a preview of how some American cities-especially the poorer ones with racial tensions-will be impacted by Peak Oil crises. Various writers–including James Howard Kunstler in “The Long Emergency”-have predicted severe problems, especially in urban and suburban areas, as the supply of petroleum […]

Experts: Too many people in nature’s way

The dead and the desperate of New Orleans now join the farmers of Aceh and the fishermen of Trincomalee, villagers in Iran and the slum dwellers of Haiti in a world being dealt ever more punishing blows by natural disasters. ..The prospect of more vulnerable populations on a more turbulent Earth has U.N. officials and […]

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