Sweden’s Saab leads drive to ethanol

By 2020, the Swedish government wants every new car on the road to run on fuels that can be replenished, and one of its car companies is already speeding toward that ambitious goal. That means fossil fuels with limited supply, such as gasoline and diesel, will be out and that agriculturally produced biofuel — ethanol […]

Nuclear power no panacea for reducing global warming

In the United States, 104 nuclear reactors at 65 power plants in 31 states produce more than 19 percent of our electricity. It’s an important part of our nation’s energy portfolio. But when it comes to solving environmental problems and filling our long-term energy needs, nuclear power is no panacea. There hasn’t been a permit […]

India: ‘Renewable energy can ease power shortage’

Bangalore: If the present rate of growth in India’s economy is to be sustained, the supply of electricity has to meet the demand, Vilas Muttemwar, Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, said here on Friday. Addressing the valedictory session of “Solar India 2007” conference and exhibition, organised by the World Institute of […]

Chip aims to cut household energy waste

An intelligent computer chip designed to control electricity consumption could be the answer to a current chronic energy wastage from household appliances. The chip, designed at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology, promises to dramatically reduce the consumption of appliances on standby and warn users when malfunctioning devices use too much power. Energy watchdogs have welcomed […]

Live Earth and Al Gore’s oil connection

The corporate media has heaped praise on Al Gore following the international rock gig Live Earth. But to ask the U’wa people, from the tropical cloud forests of north-eastern Colombia, what they thought about Gore and Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), the oil company from which his personal fortune is derived, would be to receive a very […]

Oil Development and Endangered Whales Collide in Russian Far East

Sakhalin Energy has completed the installation of its third and final oil and gas production platform off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Company officials were jubilant at completion on July 5, but whale conservationists warn that some of the world’s most endangered whales have been driven off their feeding grounds by the construction […]

World energy needs a boon for state

Wyoming’s booming economic performance has created an increase in employment openings in a number of sectors. CHEYENNE – Due to the increasing global demand for its energy resources, Wyoming’s economy performed second best in the nation last year, officials say. The increase in employment opportunities, vigorous natural-gas production, a consistent low housing foreclosure rate and […]

Four foreign employees killed in Saudi refinery fire

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, said Saturday that four of its foreign employees died in a fire this week at the Ras Tanura terminal on the country’s east coast. The company’s Web site carried a statement which said the four included two Filipinos, an Indian and a Sri Lankan […]

The New Face of Nuclear Power (Same as the Old)

Atomic Blowback by RALPH NADER Here they go again. After thirty years without a firm order, the atomic power companies are pushing their radioactive, costly technology for a comeback on the backs of you the taxpayers. The old argument in the Seventies was that nuclear powered electricity would reduce our dependence on foreign oil. With […]

EU electricity consumption grows despite efficiency drive: report

Despite measures to improve energy efficiency and curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Europe, a study has found that these efforts are being outstripped by the growing economy where electricity is more and more in demand. The report, from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), shows that between 1999 and 2004, Europe’s electricity consumption […]

Taking the fossil out of fossil fuel

Over 1.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas were extracted in New York state last year, yet there remains a certain element of mystery about the stuff’s origins. Conventional natural gas deposits are thermogenic, meaning they formed under intense heat and pressure hundreds of millions of years ago. McIntosh (pictured at work, below) is looking […]

Japan: New warning on oil

Brace for another energy crisis. A new authoritative assessment forecasts sharply higher demand that will raise prices and increase reliance on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and unstable regions for oil supplies. While some experts dismiss the analysis as alarmist, we need to prepare for a world characterized by increasing energy scarcity […]

The Oil Drum: An Extension of the World Import/Export Land Model

There are many people on either side of the Export Land Model issue: those who think the internal consumption of an exporter will continue to increase at the detriment of exports and those who think there will be enough pressure, be it economic or otherwise, to stifle internal consumption so that net exports don’t suffer. […]

Hydrogen powered car set for production

Towering oil prices and the threat of global warming make a new hydrogen-powered car an exciting brand for the future Not since the days of the ill-fated Ellert has Denmark been a car producing country. But now dwindling oil supplies and the threat of global warming have sped up plans for the production of a […]

Biden calls ethanol ‘a good start’

It’s not a long-term answer on energy, he says Washington, Ia.- Sen. Joe Biden said Friday that Iowa’s burgeoning ethanol industry is a positive when it comes to curbing the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, but it’s no solution. “I hope you don’t all bet on the long-term solution to our energy problem being corn-based […]

Culture death

A few weeks ago, one of the readers of The Archdruid Report posted a comment asking whether I thought the white race would survive the decline and fall of industrial civilization. At the time I more or less brushed the question aside; since The concept of race as a source of collective identity was itself […]

Peak Oil By Any Other Name

This week, the National Petroleum Council (NPC) finally coughed up a report that we’ve been awaiting for two years, ever since U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman asked them to determine “what the future holds for global oil and gas supply” and whether “incremental supplies can be brought on-line, on-time and at a reasonable price that […]

Lots of energy, shortage of policy

The U.S. National Petroleum Council’s new report on global energy markets, believed to be one of the most extensive studies of its kind, received mixed reviews this week from greens and others whose policy ideas depend on an ever-present looming catastrophe. Especially put out by the 470-page report, titled Facing the Hard Truths About Energy, […]

Oil Prices: where now?

On Webdiary we’ve gone round the the Peak Oil loop more than a few times over the last few years (eg here). A new point of interest has arisen over this week: for the first time in the last few years the oil futures price has come out of its persistent state of contango as […]

ConocoPhillips Chief Urges Cooperation on Energy Policies

The sometimes adversarial relationship between the U.S. government and oil industry should become more collaborative to hammer out an energy policy, the head of Houston-based ConocoPhillips told business leaders Thursday. “If we want to retain our world leadership, we must have sound energy policy that enhances our competitiveness and economic strength,” Chairman and CEO James […]

Uranium Mining in Niger at Risk

We would not wish to trade places with Nick Tattersall, the Reuters wire serve reporter providing outsiders a glimpse of the chaos now unfolding in the Republic of Niger. Nearly all of Niger Earlier this week, the only newspaper in northern Niger

Shell ordered to suspend Arctic drilling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A federal appeals court has ordered Shell Oil to stop its exploratory drilling program off the north coast of Alaska at least until a hearing in August. The order, issued Thursday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, comes after the federal Minerals Management Service in February approved Shell’s offshore exploration […]

Accidents dim hopes for green nuclear option

The recent earthquake in Japan and accidents at two German power plants raise questions on the safety of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative. As concern about global warming has swelled in recent years, so has renewed interest in nuclear energy. The main reason: Nuclear plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases tied […]

Ghana: What is the True State of the Energy Problem Now?

The government has, since last year, been battling to solve the serious energy crisis that has engulfed the nation culminating in a load-shedding or what is commonly referred to as power rationing exercise since August last year. The consequences have so far been grave, but the efforts by the government in dealing with the situation […]

President of Shell Oil urges more oil drilling

The United States is living on the “knife’s edge of a (energy) shortage,” but the country has plenty of energy sources for the future if Congress and other policymakers open more areas to oil drilling and provide incentives for developing other forms of energy. That’s what John Hofmeister, 59, president of Houston-based Shell Oil Co., […]

Swedish oil could supply one fifth of nation’s demand

Around 50,000 barrels of oil a day could be extracted in the Swedish area of the Baltic Sea, enough to cover 20 percent of Sweden’s needs for 20 years, local media reported on Friday. Test-drillings close to Gotland and the mainland have showed clear traces of oil. Now Swedish company Oljeprospektering AB plans to carry […]

Russia to Expand Asian Oil Link after 2015

Russia is on track to open the first 600,000 barrels per day phase of its Asian pipeline next year, but it is unlikely to expand to the full 1.6 million barrels per day capacity before 2015-2017, an official said on Thursday. Deputy Energy Minister Andrei Dementyev told a government meeting that Russia needs to discover […]

Petroleos de Venezuela May Make Shoes, Build Ships, Grow Beans

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company that controls the biggest reserves in South America, may begin making shoes, building ships and farming soybeans as President Hugo Chavez widens the government role in the economy. Chavez has approved the creation of seven subsidiaries that range from oil services to agriculture, according to a written […]

Developed world ‘having second thoughts’ about globalisation

For the past decade, one of the big economic buzzwords has been “globalisation” and its critical role in tearing down trade barriers around the world. But the seemingly unstoppable rise of China and India as challengers to the domination of the United States and Europe has started a debate on whether globalisation has gone too […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: Peak Oil Zombie Attack Redux

Both sides it seems have some amazing properties. They are able to see below the ground for a start. They are all able to see exactly how many barrels of reserves are subsoil. It is an amazing feat. Sad to say that the free marketeers see vast quantities of oil, especially in places like Saudi […]

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