GM outpaces Toyota on hybrid tech

So far, the two most intriguing and worthwhile debuts of 2007 Detroit Auto Show have been vehicles that we will never drive in their current guise. Both need further development and in one case, advanced battery technology. But the point is that they are here and exist within the halls and imaginations of two of […]

The Oil Drum: New Iraqi oil law – some facts on PSAs

The lefty blogosphere is all a-flutter after the article in the Independent about the new Iraqi oil law (flagged in this morning’s Salon), which will allow foreign companies to invest in the oil sector via PSAs (production sharing agreements). These are presented as unfair contracts, which will give the majority of the profits to the […]

U.S. puts squeeze on Iran’s oil fields

A campaign to dry up financing for projects poses a threat to Tehran’s ability to maintain exports, analysts say. LONDON The campaign comes at a moment of unique vulnerability for Iran’s oil industry, which also faces challenges from rising domestic energy consumption, international isolation, a populist spending spree by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and trouble closing […]

Resource Wars

…As to peak oil, predictions of the end of oil have been made often in the past and it is not clear that frightening scenarios will play out in the short run that some suggest. There are complex issues of geology, technology, and prospective efficiency considerations. The accepted definition of proven reserves includes what is […]

Scientific American and the Silent Lie

Editor’s note: As long as the forces of industrial expansion are able to spew pro-growth propaganda that denies the laws of physics and the reality of overpopulation, the sustainability movement is at a disadvantage in reaching the public. Professor Bartlett has long been a tireless communicator for common sense in the area of energy and […]

Misplacing the apocalypse

The main point of the “doomer” perspective (eg die-off.org) can be simply stated: the earth can only support around 1.5 billion people sustainably; the rest are being sustained by easy access to fossil fuels (something like ten calories of fossil fuels for each calorie consumed). Thus, when, following Peak Oil, the fossil fuels run out […]

Americans covet beach homes, but insurers fret over hurricane risk

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Many Americans dream of owning a beachfront home with ocean views, but big home insurance firms are retreating from the Atlantic coast amid fears that climate change will unleash more dangerous hurricanes. The insurers say the risk of a “perfect storm” causing vast damage to communities along the Atlantic coast has simply […]

Warm weather spells relief for homeowners

Balmy winter temperatures save hundreds for heating oil customers PORTLAND, Maine – That sound New Englanders are hearing in their basements That adds up to more than $200 in savings. “We usually try to top off our tank when prices drop,” Bowie said. “But we haven’t even had to do that for a month.” AP

Is the Anglo-American empire losing the ”Great Energy Game”?

In a second successful bid to tap Kazakhstan As revealed in the San Francisco Chronicle report, both China-Kazakhstan deals have come at a steep price (that China is willing to pay), and over intense and continuous opposition from Washington and western oil consortiums. China has agreed to build and finance the proposed 2,000-mile pipeline from […]

Goldman Sachs cuts oil forecast again

Bank drops crude outlook for second time in less than a month, expects prices to hit $69 a barrel this year due to warmer weather. SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Oil price bull Goldman Sachs has cut its 2007 U.S. crude forecast for a second time in as many weeks after persistently warm winter weather and a […]

Cold wave kills 16 people in Pakistan

At least sixteen people have died due to freezing weather that has gripped many parts of Pakistan in recent days, news reports said Monday. …The cold weather has highlighted acute shortfalls in the country’s energy supply, especially of natural gas, as households increase their use of gas heaters. Pakistan’s current energy crisis is expected to […]

Powered by Solar, Financed by Third-Party

Installed atop a bottling plant at Fetzer Vineyards in California is a shiny new 901-kilowatt photovoltaic solar array. The entire cost of the recent solar project to the Mendocino County-based winery? $0.MMA Renewable Ventures, a subsidiary of Municipal Mortgage & Equity, LLC, coordinated the financial backing to own, operate and maintain the Fetzer Vineyard system, […]

Gore mobilizes global warming activists

Hundreds of volunteers from across the country have flocked to Nashville this fall and winter and more are here today as part of a grass-roots training effort to spread the word on global warming. They are taking part in Al Gore’s The Climate Project, which mushroomedfrom his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. The goal had been […]

Belarus-Russia Row Cuts Oil Flow to Germany, Poland

Russian oil flows to Europe were cut off by a disagreement with Belarus, the third time in as many years that energy supplies have been disrupted because of a dispute between Moscow and nations that ship its crude and gas. The cutoff comes after Belarus introduced a transit tax in retaliation for higher charges imposed […]

GM’s New Electric Vehicle

Recently, General Motors (GM) has faced criticism for shutting down production of its EV-1 electric vehicle. Yesterday at the North American International Auto Show, in Detroit, it unveiled the EV-1’s successor, an electric-motor-driven concept car called the Chevrolet Volt. It’s the first example of a new “E-Flex” vehicle platform that the company is moving toward […]

Wal-Mart readies large-scale move into solar power

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores is thinking big about solar power. The company put out an RFP (request for proposal) last month to solar electric suppliers and expects to receive responses early this month, according to a representative. The move is part of a long-term plan to convert to renewable energy sources.Wal-Mart is keeping the details […]

Green Funds Appeal to German Principles and Pockets

Renowned for their recycling habits, booming solar and biofuel industry and boasting one of the world’s oldest Green parties, Germans are catching on to a global trend in green and socially conscious investing. Lured by often above-average returns, investors say interest is growing in Europe’s biggest economy for funds which invest according to environmental, ethical […]

China pushes ‘Green GDP’: A Scene Set For Change

It wasn’t exactly the Oscars. The entertainment kicking off the second annual “Green China Champions” awards show, televised in late December, was three tuxedoed tenors warbling on about the motherland’s “green dreams.” The room went pitch-black and then arose deafening sounds of power drills and heavy trucks, followed by a photo montage of dust storms […]

China: Confusion over energy

I am not one who has been shy to criticize the Chinese Communist Party’s approach to environmental sustainability. While there are those in the higher echelons of the party who are no doubt keen to see the country’s environment at least considered in the country’s headlong rush toward becoming an economic superpower, the lack of […]

Global craze for wind energy

Most of the several hundred thousand people employed by the global wind power industry are Europeans. European companies manufacture 80 per cent of wind turbine sold worldwide. The global large turbine market is expected to surplus $16 billion annually by 2007. And the investment firm Merril Lynch believes that wind power will grow 15 fold […]

Why India’s import pipelines have remained pipe dreams?

In less than 10 years from conceptualisation to start-up, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline of 1,760 km and the Shah Deniz Gas Pipeline of about 1,000 km have been built in the Caucasus. In India, for more than 20 years we have been talking about gas pipelines from Qatar, Iran, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Not one […]

The Oil Drum: A primer on reserve growth – Part 3 of 3

Will 730 billion barrels be added to the reserve pool from reserve growth between 1996 and 2025 as estimated by the United States Geological Survey? This post is the third part in a three piece series about the phenomenon of reserve growth in found oil fields. Insight in future reserve growth, often attributed to technological […]

The Oil Drum: Q & A With Paul Hanrahan, CEO of AES

This morning’s NY Times Business section features a very interesting Q & A with AES (a major, worldwide power company) CEO Paul Hanrahan about the future of power generation. He talks about a wide variety of subjects, from renewable energy sources like wind, to building new LNG plants on the East Coast to different ideas […]

Connecticut Needs A Long-Range Energy Plan

…Considering that the world has a finite quantity of oil and natural gas remaining, the state should develop a master plan accounting for inevitable depletion of fuel supplies leading to what James Howard Kunstler refers to in the title of his book, The Department of Environmental Protection is now embracing recycling in its solid waste […]

Chevy Volt electric car concept to debut

DETROIT – The company that supposedly killed the electric car will unveil a sleek new electric vehicle that someday could ease America’s addiction to gasoline at the Detroit auto show. General Motors Corp., accused in the 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” of conspiring to cancel its 1990s EV1 model, was to unveil the […]

Financial Sense Newshour Yearend Review

The two-part yearend review contains an overview of peak oil, and excerpts from previously-aired interviews with Stephen Leeb, Matthew Simmons and Jeremy Leggett. Downloadable audio in several formats, including RealMedia, MP3, and Windows Media Player. Financial Sense Newshour

Minnesota Poised to Go Green

Minnesota is barren of fossil fuels, with no crude oil, natural gas or coal reserves. Yet its renewable energy potential is gigantic, if so far mostly unused, awaiting the right conditions for that power to be tapped. In 2007, that moment has finally arrived. A potent mixture of economic opportunity, environmental alarm, national security anxiety […]

Oil and gas: What’s the story for 2007?

It’s funny how every bull market has to have a fundamental story wrapped around it before it can be sold for public consumption. Much like a candy bar at a convenience store, a bull market in stocks or commodities is always packaged with an enticing wrapper designed to lure prospective buyers and ensure its quality […]

Rats, not men, to blame for death of Easter Island

It was the first and most extreme ecological disaster. Easter Island, in the south Pacific, once lush with subtropical broadleaf forest, was left barren and vast seabird colonies were destroyed after the arrival of man. But now there is new evidence that human beings may not have been responsible for the destruction after all. Although […]

Tibet’s record temperatures spark climate change fears

BEIJING (AFP) – Temperatures in rugged Tibet have hit record highs in recent days, China’s state press has reported, as a scientific survey warned of the impact of global warming in the Himalayan region. Friday’s temperature in the Qamdo area of eastern Tibet was 21.8 degrees Celsius (71 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.7 degrees higher than the […]

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