Bill McKibben: How close to catastrophe?

Much more deeply researched, and much more hopeful, data come from the investment banker Travis Bradford. MIT Press has just issued his first book, Solar Revolution, which argues at great length and in great detail that we will soon be turning to solar panels for our power, in part for environmental reasons but more because […]

A new acceleration additive for making ‘ice that burns’

Japanese scientists are reporting discovery of an additive that can speed up the formation of methane hydrates. Those strange substances have sparked excitement about their potential as a new energy resource and a deep freeze to store greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. physorg

Oil Inventories On the Rise: Where’s the Shortage?

Since last September, Marathon’s inventory is up $500M, from $3.3B to $3.8B. How can that be? Don’t they know there’s an oil shortage? Don’t they know OPEC can barely keep up with demand? OPEC Spare Capacity Chart — SHOCKING (and from OPEC themselves)! While inventory did draw down $300M in the post Katrina/Rita Q4 last […]

Oil giants’ three-year profits boom over

OIL giants BP and Shell are expected to report a fall in underlying third-quarter earnings this week, ending a three-year boom of record earnings on the back of surging oil prices. Analysts believe higher oil prices in the quarter will have failed to offset soaring oil field costs, higher taxes, a fall in refining profit […]

Cosmic Rays Linked to Global Warming

Earth’s recent warming trend might in part be due to a lack of starlight reaching our planet, a new study suggests. But other scientists are not so sure. This work does not mean that there is no human influence on climate, Svensmark told LiveScience. “But it might be necessary to revaluate the climate sensitivity to […]

Tokyo Researchers Developing Lower-Cost Catalysts for Fuel-Cell Electrodes

Nikkei. A research group at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology reports that it has developed a new fuel-cell electrode catalyst that uses molybdenum and nickel as its chief materials rather than platinum. greencarcongress

Monbiot: Micro generation can

In seeking to work out how a 90% cut in carbon emissions could be achieved in the rich nations by 2030, I have made many surprising findings. But none has shocked me as much as the discovery that renewable micro generation has been grossly overhyped. Those who maintain that our own homes can produce all […]

The Oil Drum: The Tragic Consequences of the High Discounting of Oil Extraction

Over the longest possible term, since 1870, oil prices have not reflected predictions made by economic theories of finite (fixed stock) non-renewable resources like conventional oil. Consider the following quote from On the Economics of Non-Renewable Resources by Neha Khanna, an excellent introduction to the subject. From an economic perspective, there is no immediate coal […]

Swiss bank targets top companies’ impact on climate change

GENEVA (AFP) – Investors can now assess how the world’s 1,800 biggest companies and their products are contributing to climate change before investing in them, say the developers of a new rating system. The “Envimpact” rating weighs the most environmentally-sensitive phase in the life cycle of the products or services delivered by 140 corporate sectors, […]

Saudi cuts Asia oil sales up to 8% after OPEC deal

TOKYO – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia began to implement OPEC Oil prices retraced some losses on Monday

Energy depletion & the US descent into fascism

First Warnings In October of 2001, a little over a month after 9/11, I wrote an article titled The Background is Oil. The hypothesis laid out in this article was that the 2000 US presidential election resulted in a coup of neocons and oil interests who had taken control of the US in order to […]

What’s Up?? OPEC Agrees To Production Cuts Yet Prices Are Down!

A funny thing happened last week on the way to the oil market casino. The Organization Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) , agreed to cut its daily output by 4.4 percent or 1.2 million barrels a day starting November 1. The leading proponent for this surprisingly large production cut (1 million barrels had been anticipated) was […]

Mr. Market, manic-depressive: Is there a cure?

…For society as a whole, however, the manic-depressive nature of markets can have serious and even potentially dangerous consequences. Wild price swings make it difficult for people, companies and governments to plan. It is just such behavior which has characterized the energy markets in recent years. And, there are reasons to believe that we should […]

Was Tanzania’s Cabinet reshuffle sparked by current power crisis?

As Tanzanians study the implications of the recent Cabinet reshuffle, it is beginning to emerge that a solution to the crippling energy crisis was a key motive in the mind of President Jakaya Kikwete when he effected the changes. The EastAfrican has learnt that the removal of Dr Ibrahim Msabaha from the critical Ministry of […]

Peak Oil: Sell oil stocks?

…Has global oil production actually peaked? And if so, how should investors respond?… – A few months ago we posed the question “Does Peak Oil Matter?” In other words, has global oil production actually peaked? And if so, how should investors respond? – We posed this question in the context of the fact that North […]

It

Blossoms baffle gardeners THE weather really is going haywire. Britain Tony Kirkham, head of the arboretum at Kew Gardens, southwest London, said:

Total Says Executive Questioned Over Iraq Oil Deals Is Innocent

The French oil company Total rallied on Friday to the defense of its second in command and designated chief executive, Christophe de Margerie, after he was taken into custody and questioned about possible illegal payments for Iraqi oil. Mr. de Margerie, 55, and a former Total executive, Bernard de Combret, 63, were released on bail […]

Oil and gas discovered in Zambia

Zambia has announced its first discoveries of oil and gas reserves. The discoveries were made in north-western Zambia, an area that also has one of the world’s largest reserves of copper. President Levy Mwanawasa said that samples from 12 sites have proved positive in tests conducted in Germany. Exploration had been carried out for the […]

Shell is going to the wall for oil

Piceance Creek – In an arid, sage-dotted valley here, Shell Exploration & Production Co. has begun work on what could be the final technological challenge to large-scale production of oil from shale. Shell already has figured out how to melt kerogen – the oil-like substance – from underground shale deposits with electric heaters to produce […]

EU MP’s call for ban on use of palm oil for biofuels, criticize soya, sugarcane

The European ParliamentBiopact

Defusing Iran’s oil weapon

Oil prices have fallen from above $78 per barrel in mid-July to less than $60 in early October. The drop – due in no small measure to an easing of tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme – is costing the Iranian government money, compounding the regime’s domestic problems. Inflation in Iran is rising, perhaps to as […]

Forget oil, look at food prices

Oil has been such an economic bogeyman in recent times, hogging the headlines, that not noticed is as severe a threat — food inflation. Food staple maize has been trading internationally at record highs, driven by the world’s move to energy diversification to produce bio-fuels as an alternative to fossil fuels.Kirsten said grain prices had […]

New hippies are fighting to replace oil

The generation of activists who fought for civil rights, against an unpopular war, and started the environmental movement is poised for one last hurrah, one more attempt to cure the ills of American society. They’re older now, and perhaps a little wiser. They’re settled into their communities, some of them already retired. And they’re scared […]

Interview: Ciaran Hancock: Ballsbridge

Chevron An extensive Chevron press advertising campaign this year featured a letter from O

Pluspetrol says losing $2.4 mln/day in Peru protest

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) – Argentine oil company Pluspetrol said on Saturday it was losing about $2.4 million a day in revenue after suspending operations this week because hundreds of indigenous protesters occupied its oil wells. Pluspetrol has said some of its workers were being held hostage at its oil fields in the Amazon region of […]

Sunny Side Up

General Motors liked the idea of using the sun to power its buildings. But until recently, one immutable economic fact held G.M. back: The upfront costs were simply too high to justify the ultimate payoff. G.M. is not alone. Even solar energy But now, G.M. and a small but growing number of other companies and […]

Biofuels — the answer to the wrong question

Biofuels such as ethanol have been presented by alternative energy entrepreneurs and many environmentalists as a “clean, green” alternative to fossil fuels. But recently a growing chorus of scientists have warned of the dangers of biofuels. The habit that really needs to be kicked is not simply fossil-fuel use — it is the massive overuse […]

International Oil Companies Drawn to Untapped Oil Riches in Macedonia

Norwegian, Turkish and Kazakh oil and gas companies plan to come to Macedonia to see just how much oil is bubbling under the surface at the untapped Engilija field near Sveti Nikole in the east of the country, reported Skopje daily Vreme on October 21. Although it has been known since at least the 1960’s […]

Iraq’s oil industry: Guarding a nation’s future

ABOARD THE USS PHILIPPINE SEA — Rising off the southern coast of Iraq is a metal monstrosity rusted in places and nicked with bullet holes from past wars in this tense part of the world. The Basra oil terminal churns out black gold in the Persian Gulf miles from land, representing, many say, Iraq’s hope […]

UK: Business ‘not adapting to climate’

Analysis of more than 165 responses to the FTSE 350 survey undertaken by the Carbon Disclosure Project, finds that more than 90% of companies have a concern about the changing climate. But while some sectors, such as insurance and some utilities, show an understanding of the likely impacts of climate change, and are taking some […]

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