The end of civilization and the extinction of humanity

…Oil supply — at the level of the field, county, state, country, or world — follows a bell-shaped curve; the top of the curve is called “Peak Oil,” or “Hubbert’s Peak.” We passed Hubbert’s Peak for world oil supply and began easing down the other side about two years ago. We’ll fall off the oil-supply […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: Debt Contagion in Crude?

There are a series of issues that are confusing the oil market at the moment, and just to add to the confusion come the problems with U.S. debt. The main difficulty with U.S. debt is the same as predicting the path of the storm 94L, which is threatening to become a tropical depression, then tropical […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Quiet Time

On the surface, very little happened during the past week. Hurricane Dean did little damage to oil production and the next major hurricane of the year has yet to form. Oil prices gyrated in the low seventies in response to changing credit crunch news. For a while, Wall Street decided the credit crisis was coming […]

USGS Greenland Survey Shows Much Lower Resource Potential

The northeastern shore of Greenland could provide the U.S. with significantly fewer billions of barrels of oil and gas resources than previously thought, the U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday. The lower resource estimate will mean that, as domestic production declines, the U.S. will have to increasingly rely on other major producers such as Russia, Venezuela, […]

Reflective Mirrors Seen Raising Solar Potential

Reflective dishes may be the answer to make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of power, Israeli scientists say. A global race is on to find energy alternatives as subsidies tip the balance in favour of renewable sources of power, which answer security and climate change concerns about fossil fuels.New-found demand for one such renewable […]

‘Dead-end’ Austrian town blossoms with green energy

For decades, the Austrian town of Guessing was a forgotten outpost not far from the rusting barbed-wire border of the Iron Curtain. Now it’s at the edge of a greener frontier: alternative energy. Guessing is the first community in the European Union to cut carbon emissions by more than 90 percent, helping it attract a […]

Israeli researchers planning algae reactors for biofuel

An Israeli company has been developing algae as a source of fuel. Israel’s Seambiotic is employing algae as a biofuel that could also reduce pollution from coal power plants. Executives said the method channels carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning smokestacks through pools of skeletonema algae, which in turn converts to fuel.Executives said Seambiotic’s prototype algae […]

Brazilian president proposes biofuel to help reduce African poverty

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday proposed that a minimum usage of biofuels be applied in Africa to aid the continent’s economic development. He said the plan should be added to the United Nation’s millennium development goals.Biofuels could generate income and employment in Africa when rich nations begin to use them, he said. […]

China Plans New Crops For Biofuel Project

The Chinese government is planning to mass cultivate sugarcane, sweet sorghum, cassava and rape to provide feedstock for biofuels projects. Under its newly announced agricultural Biofuel Industry Plan, the government wants to reduce the use of ethanol and food grains for ethanol production. There have been growing complaints that the use of food crops for […]

Brazilian government must ensure oil bonanza continues

Brazil has long and deservedly been renowned as a global commodities powerhouse. It is the leading exporter of iron ore, sugar, ethanol, beef, poultry, orange juice, coffee and tobacco; it could soon take the lead in soybeans and cotton. But over the past 10 years Brazil has also shown itself to be a promising new […]

Grain will not become oil

Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeyev will discuss a possibility of creating an OPEC-like grain cartel with his colleagues from Australia in September. He said the United States is reviewing the idea, and somewhat earlier Ukraine and Kazakhstan accepted it as a rational suggestion. But agricultural experts are not too optimistic about the idea to […]

China gambles on Somalia’s unseen oil

CNOOC has acquired a reputation for risk-taking – a reflection of the fact it is serving China’s strategic need for oil rather than commercial objectives. CNOOC’s willingness to strike an oil deal with the fragile government of Somalia, which has been a failed state for more than a decade, has provided stark evidence of China’s […]

Eni’s fading Caspian dream shows shades of Sakhalin

Oil fields don’t come much bigger than Kashagan, the colossus of the Caspian that is also threatening to become the nemesis of Eni SpA, the Italian oil company that has incurred the displeasure of Karim Masimov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. His government has suspended work on the Caspian Sea project for three months for […]

Global oil reserves up only 1% last year: Canada’s Oilsands Sole Booster

Record global oil and gas profits of US$243-billion and record spending of US$401-billion have resulted in a marginal 1% increase in world oil reserves last year –all of it coming from a 1.9-billion-barrel addition from Canada’s oilsands, according to a new study. Without Canada’s contribution, 228 public oil and gas companies active globally and included […]

Chevron’s Unethical Tactics to Avoid Judgment In $10 Billion Rainforest Trial

Series of Legal Setbacks In Ecuador Haunt Oil Giant; Charges of Fabricating Scientific Evidence QUITO, Ecuador, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Coalition to Defend the Amazon issued the following statement: Amazon leaders are accusing Chevron of fabricating evidence and engaging in a “campaign of intimidation” in Ecuador to derail a class action rainforest pollution trial as […]

Peaking Oil Production

Blindsided by Peak Oil The longer we wait, the worse the consequences will be. I can’t but wonder how many people will be saying over the next decade, “We should have done something about this years ago.” I’m growing more restless with each passing day. And after the conversations I’ve been having with readers for […]

Gas prices expected to keep more drivers home

Fewer people planning on taking to roads over Labor Day, AAA reports NEW YORK – Fewer Americans plan to travel by car this Labor Day weekend, AAA says, despite gas prices that are about a dime lower than a year ago. … Still, the overall number of people planning to travel more than 50 miles […]

Greenhouse Gases Likely Drove Near-Record US Warmth In 2006

August 28, 2007 The NOAA team also found that the probability of U.S. temperatures breaking a record in 2006 had increased 15-fold compared to pre-industrial times because of greenhouse gas increases in Earth

German Foreign Minister Warns Against Exploiting Arctic

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has cautioned against countries breaking the law in attempts to reap the Arctic’s natural energy resources. The warning comes shortly after Russia laid claims to the area. “I very much believe that everybody should respect international law,” Steinmeier said while visiting a research station at Ny Alesund on Spitzbergen, a […]

Offsets, the Indulgences of Today?

What do political heartbreaker turned environmental heartthrob Al Gore, British rockers Coldplay, and multinational banking giant HSBC have in common? They are all seeking to make personal and business activities carbon neutral. More and more, wealthy individuals and companies are offsetting their carbon consumption out of a sincere concern for the environment, for good public […]

Antarctic Ozone Hole Appears Early, Growing

GENEVA (Reuters) – A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has appeared earlier than usual in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said it would not be clear for several weeks whether the ozone hole, which is expected to continue growing until early October, would be […]

Heat wave will stress California electric grid

Electricity demand in California surged past forecasts Tuesday, setting a new peak for the summer and prompting calls for conservation as a heat wave was expected to push demand near all-time record highs on Wednesday and Thursday. “We set a new peak today and we’ll blow through that record pretty quick tomorrow,” said Gregg Fishman, […]

The Twelfth Hour

One of the things II

Public backs nuclear energy to help power Britain

Survey shows groundswell of support for a new generation of plants to replace ageing facilities reaching the end of their life An overwhelming majority of people believe that nuclear power will have a role to play in meeting BritainNearly two thirds of those surveyed by Populus said they believed that nuclear power will form part […]

Black-Gold Booster

Energy’s Future: A onetime oilman admits we need alternatives, but says there’s plenty of petroleum left. Lee Raymond succeeded as an oilman by staying focused on oil. (In the mid-1980s, he was responsible for unwinding the alternative-energy program at his former company, Exxon.) Now chairman of the National Petroleum Council, Raymond says that petroleum remains […]

The other side of carbon trading

Planting trees in Uganda to offset greenhouse-gas emissions in Europe seemed like a good idea – until farmers were evicted from their land to make room for a forest. (Fortune Magazine) — Planting trees in Mount Elgon National Park in eastern Uganda seemed like a project that would benefit everyone. The Face Foundation, a nonprofit […]

Nuclear just too hot for Alberta

Why Would Oilsands Court More Controversy? After at least a decade of trying to gain a foothold in Alberta, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. has teamed up with an obscure private company with a mystery customer to launch a gigantic nuclear power plant — the first one in Western Canada — to fuel the oilsands. […]

The Oil Drum: How To Get A Pipeline Built

There are regularly stories in the media or in the blogosphere about various pipeline projects that are announced with much publicity, and are seen to have major strategic consequences, or conversely about projects that are more discreet but are seen as the “real” justification for various military or diplomatic acts. For instance, the announcement last […]

The last straw? Alongside debt, rising food prices threaten industrial growth

Just when the world economy seemed to have found immunity to rising world fuel prices, the rising world grain price may be the shock that finally ends its long upturn, as costlier food baskets eat into household budgets. A surge in world oil prices – to over $70 per barrel this month, almost double the […]

Gaz de France to convert salt caves into gas store

Gaz de France has unveiled a The UK desperately needs to develop more storage space so that there is fuel available to top up supplies on cold winter days when demand is at its highest. Production from the North Sea fields is falling, leaving the country increasingly reliant on imports and sparking concerns about a […]

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