The Oil Drum: How Oil Conservation Hurts Governments

In thinking through the role of government responses to Peak Oil, and I’ve come to a realization that wasn’t obvious to me: Governments suffer financially when conservation occurs, because tax revenues drop. This gives most governments a disincentive to push conservation.Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

ASPO Newsletter, December 2005

The December 2005 issue of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas newsletter is now online. Articles include:Automobile manufacturers awake to Peak Oil Rimini Conference BP Forecast of Oil Price Saudi Reserves Country Re-Assessment

The Truth About Fuel Economy Ratings

The fuel economy estimates for new cars, provided in large black type on window stickers, can overstate fuel mileage by as much as 34 percent, according to the Bluewater Network. The network is a California-based environmental group that petitioned the U.S. government more than two years ago to change the way fuel mileage is calculated.

MSN

Free Power for Cars

Converting heat directly into electricity is nothing new; it has been possible since 1821. But thermoelectric materials have been too inefficient to make them practical for anything but a few niche uses, such as in deep space probes. Recent advances using nanotechnology, however, have revived this moribund field, and have car makers such as General […]

North Korea dreams of oil-funded security

Its capital Pyongyang lies nearly dark at night for lack of power, but North Korea could be sitting on enough oil to revive its moribund economy and fuel Chinese-style reforms, analysts and geologists say. Years of isolation, which have earned it the nickname “the Hermit Kingdom”, mean most of its potentially oil-bearing areas are virtually […]

Mission to save planet is ‘failing’

The world scored an abysmal two out of 10 for its efforts in trying to save the planet from environmental mayhem this year. That is the stark view of the World Economic Form (WEF), which has blasted governments for failing to make progress on global warming and on the safeguarding of the world’s endangered environment. […]

China coal fever seeks a late cure

China fever has taken hold of the Australian coal mining services industry, but the rush for deals may be too little too late. The narrow window for foreign sales of equipment and technology to China’s outdated coal sector, which some optimistic players estimate could earn Australia “tens to hundreds of millions” of dollars a year […]

Running out of juice

..“Blackouts are still rare events, but they won’t be rare when the system doesn’t have the spare capacity it needs.” South Africa’s peak demand this winter stood at 33 600MWe (megawatt electrical) from an overall capacity of 38 000MWe, including a 10% safety margin. But, by July 2002, there was already little room to manoeuvre. […]

UAE Oil Min Says, Sees OPEC Meeting Higher 06 Oil Demand

The United Arab Emirates Oil Minister has said global oil demand is expected to increase by 1.5 million barrels a day in 2006 and OPEC should satisfy this demand, Kuwaiti al-Qabas newspaper reported Sunday. Asked what is the global oil supply and demand forecast of 2006, Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamili said in an interview with […]

More jobs to go in factories as energy prices rise, say employers

Britain’s manufacturing industry is on course to lose about 100,000 jobs this year and employment in the sector could dip below 3m next year, according to a survey. Although output is continuing to grow, albeit only slowly, margins remain under heavy pressure as companies find it hard to pass on higher energy prices, the survey […]

A ‘Great Pipeline Race’ in Canada

Soaring energy prices and profits have revived plans for two massive pipelines — the biggest private construction projects in North America — to bring natural gas hundreds of miles south from the frozen Arctic Ocean, through vast untouched forests and under wild rivers, to the United States. The plans would flood isolated areas of Alaska […]

The rising price of oil may impact IT budgets

Next year has the potential to be one of the most positive years in IT spending since the burst of the dot-com bubble. Whether we actually see an IT spending recovery in 2006, however, depends largely on the price of oil. Computer World

Neoreality: Peak Oil And Iraq

If Saddam’s Iraq really did threaten even one more 9/11 scale terrorist attack then present American casualties preventing such an attack – 2,100 dead, 16,000 wounded – would be considered a reasonable use of American soldiers. But much more to the point, what level of American casualties should be spent to keep America from economic […]

NGB Technologies to generate power from household waste

NGB Technologies For Industry & Conveying Ltd. has started representing Vista International, which is proposing alternative energy projects in residential neighborhoods. Under the proposal, the company will collect garbage and sludge resulting from sewage treatment, and incinerate it to generate electricity. The company plans to sell the electricity to residents, as alternative energy. Each $3.5 […]

US manufacture of solar energy devices surged in 2004, says DOE

The US manufacture of both solar thermal collectors and solar photovoltaic power devices surged in 2004, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). An EIA report released recently shows a 23 percent growth in 2004 in shipments of solar thermal collectors, a market heavily dominated by low-temperature collectors for applications […]

G7 finance ministers: Global growth at risk from oil prices, protectionism

Economic officials from the world’s richest countries said Saturday greater flexibility in China’s exchange rate would improve global stability and warned global economic growth is at risk from high oil prices, protectionism and inflationary pressures. theglobeandmail

Debate Over Coastal Drilling Sound Familiar?

A congressman issues what sounds like a dire warning: Let oil companies drill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the military will have to close five vital bases in Florida. A governor long opposed to drilling treads the middle ground: With fuel shortages and rising prices, he says, Floridians should accept the inevitable. Big […]

Preparatory Measures Taken to Sell Oil in Euros (Iran)

The Chairman of the Majlis Energy Commission, Kamal Daneshyar said here, on Friday, that preparatory measures have been taken to sell oil in euros instead of dollar, adding that such a measure is quite positive and should be taken as soon as possible. Speaking to the Persian service of Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), he […]

U.S. doing better than Canada without Kyoto

Canada did sign on, agreeing to reduce our CO2 rates to where they were 15 years ago.  But our rates now are nearly 25 per cent greater than where they were in 1990. We are, apparently, not alone among the cheerleaders of Kyoto to fail in this manner. The U.S., on the other hand, has […]

November Job Ads Increase With Decrease In Fuel Price

From Australia: A group that monitors the number of jobs advertised on the Internet has reported a 2 per cent rise over the past month. The Olivier Internet Job Index says more than 183,000 positions were posted on major job sites in that time…. Mr Olivier says the November increase corresponds with a decrease in […]

Carmakers face threat over rise in gas guzzlers

CAR manufacturers are facing financial penalties for selling fuel-hungry vehicles after a report showing that greenhouse gas emissions from new cars have risen for the first time. Motorists are shunning smaller, environmentally friendly models and instead choosing cars with extra interior space and more gadgets. Both factors add to weight and reduce fuel efficiency. timesonline

North Sea oil fills Brown’s ‘black hole’

NORTH Sea oil is expected to save Gordon Brown from humiliation today, as he finally admits that mainland Britain is suffering its worst economic growth for at least a decade. The Chancellor will today concede that the economy is moving at almost half the speed he predicted in his Budget – and give figures showing […]

Where they hide the cash

Five trillion dollars has been corruptly removed from the world’s poorest countries and lodged permanently in the world’s richest countries. That is the “conservative estimate” not of a leftwing anti-globalisation activist but of a leading American businessman and enthusiast for capitalism who has just completed a major study of how multinational corporations, wealthy individuals and […]

Some oil executives worry prices may fall

NEW YORK Hold on to your gas guzzlers: Cheap oil may once again be just around the corner. Even as consumers worry about high gasoline prices and rising heating bills, oil executives in London, Texas and Saudi Arabia seem to be concerned about a prospect of falling oil prices. “The big issue is what demand […]

More of Third World fit for wind power: UN study

Windmills have far bigger than expected potential for generating electricity in the Third World, according to new U.N. wind maps of countries from China to Nicaragua. “Our studies show about 13 percent of the land area has potential for development,” Tom Hamlin of the U.N. Environment Program told Reuters on the fringes of a U.N. […]

Aust ‘may sign’ son-of-Kyoto

AUSTRALIA would sign onto a future global regime to reduce greenhouse gas emissions provided such a deal was comprehensive and included the majority of greenhouse gas emitting nations, Environment Minister Ian Campbell said today. Senator Campbell, who is heading off to the Montreal conference on climate change, said Australia would participate in discussions on building […]

Kyoto always was a fantasy

The interview had a surreal air of unreality. Mr. Dion, who’s hosting the giant climate conference that started yesterday in Montreal, is the environment minister of a defunct government. But that’s not the weird part. The weird part is watching everyone involved — Mr. Dion, the CBC, the environmental groups, the 10,000 delegates to Montreal, […]

Kyoto Goes Local

Presbyterian Oil Depletion activist

Recent sightings of Peak Oil sticker on gas pumps in Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, California, and Georgia. Recently at a filling station in North Carolina, USA, I encountered a label proclaiming peak oil on the gas pump and on all the pumps at the station. Although the phrase “peak oil” was not used specifically, there […]

World growth brightening, IMF to lift forecast – G7

World economic growth is gathering pace, overcoming the worst oil price shock in over two decades and rising global interest rates, financial policymakers from top industrial nations said on Saturday. The International Monetary Fund said it expects to upgrade its world growth forecast for 2006, already a robust 4.3 percent rate compared with a 3.9 […]

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