The Peak Oil Crisis: The Portland Report

Last week Portland, Oregon became the first governmental body in the US to not only acknowledge that imminent peak oil is a reality, but also to publish a plan as to what the city should be doing to cope. Breaking new ground has both its perils and its rewards. The peril is that you have […]

The Methane Economy

What is required is a long term supply of Natural Gas that will not run out and can supply all the needs of the electricity generation industries, chemical industries and home consumers. A recent advance by a team of researchers at the University of NSW has pointed the way forward. Their work combined with two […]

UN breakthrough on Iran sanctions

Diplomats at the UN have reached agreement in principle a package of new sanctions against Iran, following its refusal to stop enriching uranium. bbc

War, Neoliberalism and Empire in the 21st Century

As far as the U.S. economic interests I think we have to make a distinction. The primary interest, and that’s true throughout the Middle East, even in Saudi Arabia, the major energy producer, has always been control, not access, and not profit. Profit is a secondary interest and access is a tertiary interest. zmag

Exxon Mobil Plans 20 New Projects

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Wednesday it plans to begin more than 20 new global projects in the next three years, investments expected to add 1 million oil-equivalent barrels a day to its volumes. topix

Energy to burn: fossil fuels

Oil is not running out. You heard it from Mark Jaccard first. In his new book, Sustainable Fossil Fuels, Jaccard, a professor in the school of resource and environmental management at Simon Fraser University, explains why there’s no need to worry about our dependency on non-renewable energy. He believes oil, natural gas and coal will […]

Hydrogen Storage: Researchers Achieve Technology Breakthrough

Researchers at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton have made a breakthrough in hydrogen storage. They have successfully condensed hydrogen gas into a usable solid under mild conditions. sciencedaily

Brazil Plans to Triple Ethanol Exports in 7 Years

Brazil plans to almost triple ethanol exports in the next seven years and will need investments of about $13.4 billion to boost output, said the nation’s Agriculture Minister Luis Carlos Guedes Pinto. Brazil plans to more than double production of ethanol to 35 billion liters, Guedes said via a translator in an interview with Bloomberg […]

Unconventional Oil, Gas Sources Limited

Unconventional reserves are big but suffer from often very low recovery factors and the need for high energy and water inputs. Nevertheless, that they are in the early days of development means there is considerable scope for improvements in extraction rates. Low recovery factors along with the capital- and energy-intensive nature of unconventional oil extraction […]

The Oil Drum: Energize America and Congress

At this stage, I’d like to use this thread to test the appetite of the TOD community to work on Energize America; if there is strong interest, the idea will be to crosspost discussion diaries over here on a regular basis to get the specific TOD input in addition to the DailyKos input. So tell […]

Climate change will heat Switzerland swiftly: scientists

Switzerland will suffer regular heatwaves and drought by 2050 as average temperatures rise swiftly and disrupt living patterns in the heart of Europe, a report predicted Wednesday. The report commissioned by the interior and environment ministries forecast that average temperatures in the Alpine country would rise by at least 2.0 degrees Celsius (35.6 F) in […]

White House seeks to cut geothermal research funds

The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power just as many U.S. states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output. The move has angered scientists who say there is enough hot water underground to meet all U.S. electricity needs without greenhouse gas emissions. yahoo

Giant cold water eddy off Sydney lowers sea level

Australian oceanographers have discovered a giant cold water eddy off Sydney which has lowered sea levels almost one meter and impacted a major ocean current. yahoo

GAO Report: Safety Consequences of Terrorist Attack on LNG Tanker

The United States imports natural gas by pipeline from Canada and by tanker as liquefied natural gas (LNG) from overseas. LNGThe three studies that considered LNG explosions concluded explosions were unlikely unless the LNG vapors were in a confined space. Only the Sandia study examined the potential for sequential failure of LNG cargo tanks (cascading […]

EU Energy Comissioner: biofuels make feed and meat cheaper

According to EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs animal feed and meat products will become cheaper when bioenergy is implemented on a large scale over the coming years.Biopact.

German scientists find method to increase biomass yield of energy crops

Scientists from the Max-Planck Institut fur molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie and the University of Potsdam have discovered [*.pdf/German] important clues for the development of a new plant breeding method that could revolutionise the creation of energy crops that produce high amounts of biomass. The energy contained in this plant matter can be converted into useable liquid, gaseous […]

The Oil Drum: The Cassandra of Toledo: A Requiem For Mitigation

I have a lasting impression of Geology Professor Craig Bond Hatfield, University of Toledo, circa 1980: a no-nonsense man in white shirt and skinny tie, flattop buzz cut, and tortoise-shell glasses. At the outset of each class, he would draw a map of North America’s coastline as it currently looks in freehand on the blackboard, […]

Crude Addiction – an interview with Samsam Bakhtiari

If you believe a number of growing voices on the subject, our industrialised, oil based global economy teeters precariously on the verge of a spectacular crisis. If you believe the peak oil theorists, 2006 marks the year of peak oil, the global peak of crude oil production. For the peak oil set, the theory is […]

Major oil stockpiles heading for 10-year low

The International Energy Agency (IEA), an adviser to 26 industrialised states, said yesterday oil stockpiles in industrialised countries were heading for their biggest fall in 10 years because of cold February weather and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) supply cuts. Business Day

Venezuela moves to nationalize ConocoPhillips

VenezuelaExaminer-Enterprise.com

Capitalism Put on Trial, Buffett Eats: New Nonfiction

“Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future” by Bill McKibben (Times, $25). In a vein similar to Barber’s, McKibben offers a clear-eyed reassessment of the meaning of growth, arguing that it’s no longer making the world wealthier but instead is “generating inequality and insecurity” and “bumping against physical limits, like climate change […]

World population may reach 9.2 billion by 2050

UNITED NATIONS – The world Hania Zlotnik, the division

Demand for Ethanol to Drive up Food Prices

Blame ethanol as food prices creep higher this year and next. Increased use of the renewable motor fuel may help to reduce the U.S. economy’s dependence on foreign oil, but it will come with a price at the supermarket checkout line. Kiplinger

Idaho

Spurred by concerns about “peak oil,” dissatisfaction with industrialized farming methods, and a growing demand for local produce, about 40 organic farmers and ranchers, entrepreneurs and community leaders met in Hagerman in late February to establish the “Idaho’s Bounty” food cooperative. The co-op organizers plan to link regional growers and food producers from the Magic […]

Survey: Climate change seen as threat

CHICAGO – A survey on climate change conducted in more than a dozen countries found that a majority of people in nations including South Korea, Australia, Iran and Mexico Among the other countries where the question was asked, the Ukraine was the only nation where less than four in 10 participants found global warming to […]

Is OPEC Set To Pump Again?

OPEC’s campaign to boost oil prices by constraining supply has worked. As oil ministers meet this week, signs are mounting that the group will soon have to begin pumping more crude. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are scheduled to meet Thursday in Vienna to review oil-output levels. The cartel cut production at […]

Nausea – Kunstler

I went around some neighboring towns here in upstate New York to look at the real estate yesterday. I was impressed by how uniformly crummy everything was… In the old houses priced above $300-K, the rotting sills and delaminating surfaces are plain to see. Of course, the buildings are worth something, but my guess is […]

Britain aims for CO2-limit target dates

LONDON – The British government proposed bold new environmental legislation Tuesday that would set legally binding, long-term limits on carbon emissions “This is a revolutionary step in confronting the threat of climate change,” Prime Minister Tony Blair said. “It sets an example to the rest of the world. Britain’s political parties have jostled in recent […]

Biodiesel made from palm oil might not be as ‘green’ as hoped

WASHINGTON – America’s drive for energy independence and clean air could threaten orangutans, Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses and the world’s largest butterflies. All could be hurt as the rainforests of Southeast Asia are cleared to produce palm oil for use in biodiesel. It’s the downside of the crash effort to rein in global warming. And […]

World Bank chief calls on U.S. to remove ethanol tariffs

Joining those who call for a removal of the U.S. ethanol tariff is an important figure on the international political and economic stage, namely Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank. Wolfowitz’s statement came at a conference in London on financing low-carbon energy, and it will increase the pressure on President George W. Bush […]

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