Churches go ‘green’ for Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is going “green.” This year, more than 2,130 congregations across the USA, including Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians, will use “eco-palms” that are harvested in a more environmentally friendly way, says Dean Current, program director at the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management at the University of Minnesota. The number […]

Two Explanations for Surging Oil Prices

Here are two European insights on current developments in the price of oil. One is from Barclays and the other by Chris Skrebowski who maintains a list of global oil fields under development (megaprojects) and edits Petroleum Review. The reports are in close agreement. The Oil and Gas Journal (2/11/08) reported that Barclays Capital, the […]

Hunt CEO: ‘Higher Price Here to Stay…Market Will Sort Things Out’

Hunt Oil Co. chief executive Ray Hunt is an economist, not a geologist or an engineer, like so many of his peers. So when he says of oil markets, “This higher price regime is here to stay,” he talks about gross domestic product, not difficult drilling conditions or expensive oilfield equipment. Mr. Hunt said in […]

Oil spokesman says it could take weeks to rectify refinery problems

CALGARY Gordon Wong, a spokesman for the company, says the disruptions could last for the next few weeks. The company is considering shipping in gas from Ontario to help keep service stations open. Winnipeg Sun

Bush’s Hypocrisy, OPEC’s Arrogance, The Oil Mess We Are Living

Yesterday’s New York Times had a front page article “President Fails to Budge OPEC on Production.” In its inimical manner, the Times reported OPEC’s rebuff to the president’s pleas to OPEC to increase production in the straight-faced uncritical manner visiting on us with what could have been an OPEC flack handout. You see it isn’t […]

The Fed fed oil inflation, not OPEC

With oil moving to well over $100, the instant headline became: Oil at $150? Well, what the hell. I say oil could hit $200. Or maybe not, since it is surely impossible to imagine that the real cause of the oil price explosion, the U.S. Federal Reserve, will actually sit back and watch while its […]

Oil jumps to new record above $106

NEW YORK – Oil prices jumped to a new record above $106 Friday in choppy trading after the dollar fell to a new low against the euro. Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 71 cents to $106.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices changed direction several times before setting a new […]

Scraping the barrel

The predictions of the ‘peak oil’ doomsday cult have been wrong in the past – and they’re wrong again now There are good reasons why the world should wean itself from oil – but the doomsday cult of peak oil isn’t one of them. The theory has been around for as long as people have […]

Coal cost soars in supply ‘apocalypse’

FLOODING in Queensland’s Bowen Basin has resulted in a “supply apocalypse” for coking coal, with contract prices likely to hit $US300 per tonne – three times the price in 2007 – as steel mills scramble for the key ingredient. Investment firm Merrill Lynch estimates flooding in the Bowen Basin has taken about 15 million tonnes […]

Turning Glare Into Watts

BOULDER CITY, Nev. It is not the kind that features shiny panels bolted to the roofs of houses. This type involves covering acres of desert with mirrors that focus intense sunlight on a fluid, heating it enough to make steam. The steam turns a turbine and generates electricity. The technology is not new, but it […]

Shell Says Canada Fuel Supply ‘Tight’ on Lower Runs

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said fuel supply in western Canada is “tight” because of lower output from refineries. Shell cut crude processing at its Scotford refinery in Alberta because of reduced supply from a plant used to convert oil sands into crude. The drop will further trim fuel supplies […]

Heard the One About the Farmer

After motherhood and apple pie, energy independence probably qualifies as the most popular political slogan in the land. It is, as they say, a no-brainer. Robert Bryce agrees: You have to have no brain to think it is possible or even desirable. In With all the gusto of a hunter clubbing baby seals, Mr. Bruce […]

Peak Oil? Peak Soil!

You don What few people grasp is the connection between oil and the food supply. Put simply, the food and farm economies of industrialized countries run on the stuff. Oil and its derivatives are used to power farm equipment, to create synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, to run food processing equipment, and to transport food from […]

John Michael Greer: The Next Agriculture

Archdruids take breaks from time to time, but the peak oil debate does not, and during my recent vacation a lively discussion sprang up on The Oil Drum about the future of agriculture in a postpetroleum world. The point at issue was whether today If this view was correct, he claimed, rising fuel prices would […]

‘Environment going bust because of too many people’

Overpopulation in developing countries and the mishandling of natural resources are the main causes for the rising environmental degradation and global climate changes, said national and international environmental experts. “Managing the urban environment is a particularly serious issue for Asia, as its population is migrating to cities at an unprecedented rate,” said Dr Margherita Turvani, […]

Outlook for Oceans Bleak as Sea ‘Deserts’ Grow

The region of the ocean known as “the desert of the sea” has expanded dramatically over the past decade, according to a new study. Scientists looking at the color of the ocean from space have found that vast areas that were once green with plankton have been turning blue, as marine life becomes scarcer. If […]

Lester Brown Puts Cost of Saving Planet at $190 Billion

What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming? About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of US annual military expenditure, a prominent environmental economist says in a new book.“Once you accept that climate change, population […]

Global Warming Not Cooling Travellers’ Wanderlust

Global warming’s threat to the existence of the exotic resorts and beaches tourists crave has not dented holidaymakers’ appetites for pollution-producing, long-haul trips, experts said at Berlin’s annual tourism fair. In his opening speech to the International Tourism Exchange fair earlier this week, German Economy Minister Michael Glos said climate change was a serious problem […]

EU Warned of Climate-Induced Polar Security Threat

European Union leaders will receive a stark warning next week of potential conflict with Russia over energy resources at the North Pole as global warning melts the ice cap and aggravates international security threats. A report to the leaders by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the executive European Commission describes climate change as […]

Emission worry hits oil-sands plan

A Federal Court decision has sent Imperial Oil’s $7 billion Kearl oil-sands project in northern Alberta back to a review panel over greenhouse gas concerns. Yesterday’s ruling will force harmful emissions to be much more carefully considered in future assessments, says a lawyer who argued the case.“This is something which will clearly apply to every […]

With all resistance removed, sky is now the limit for oil

There have been many firsts in the Bush Administration-led United States. And now the administration can add another, but it may not be one they’d like to brag about. In the industrial, modern and now postmodern eras, oil has never cost more than it has in 2008. Oil has no more resistance above it, psychologically […]

Chicken Wings and Peak Oil

I take a night class at school where the professor (a really nice guy) brings us in two pizzas to share during class time. The class has a small group discussion format, and the pizza really hits the spot at the end of a long day. Tonight, however, the professor apologized for not bring in […]

SHADES OF GLOOM: PEAKNIKS AND DOOMERS Life after the oil crash

The apocalypse is coming – it’s time to recycle your manure and get a socially responsible vasectomy. Peak-oil buffs are preparing for a future where oil is so scarce that people will go hungryThe grab-your-gun-and-head-for-the-hills scenario goes something like this: In the next year or so, world oil production will peak and then promptly plummet, […]

Headwinds becoming ever stronger at BA

Standby for more fuel surcharges from British Airways. As the oil price surges ever higher, we can expect a lot more of them Here’s a frightening statistic to illustrate the nature of the problem. If the oil price were to rise to $120 (So far, BA has been able to recover around two thirds of […]

Shipping emissions three times higher than thought

Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping are nearly three times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study. It calculates that emissions of greenhouse gases from ships have reached 1.12 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year and amounts to 4.5 per cent of all global emissions. By comparison the aviation industry, which has […]

Rush for biofuels threatens starvation on a global scale

The rush towards biofuels is theatening world food production and the lives of billions of people, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser said yesterday. Professor John Beddington put himself at odds with ministers who have committed Britain to large increases in the use of biofuels over the coming decades. In his first important public speech since […]

ASPO Newsletter – March 2008

1012. Nuclear Energy 1013. Bush Telegraph 1014. Faulty Maths 1015. Deepwater Brasil 1016. ASPO-ITALIA 1017. The Bubble Bursts 1018. Peak Oil Video Game 1019. Mr Lawson ASPO-Ireland (PDF)

Sewage-based fertilizer safety doubted

AUGUSTA, Ga. – It was a farm idea with a big payoff and supposedly no downside: ridding lakes and rivers of raw sewage and industrial pollution by converting it all into a free, nutrient-rich fertilizer. Then last week, a federal judge ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate a farmer whose land was poisoned by sludge […]

Plutonium Shortage May Thwart Future NASA Missions

WASHINGTON — NASA is facing the prospect of having to explore deep space without the aid of the long-lasting nuclear batteries it has relied upon for decades to send spacecraft to destinations where sunlight is in short supply. “Looking ahead, plutonium is in short supply,” Griffin told lawmakers during the first of two days of […]

Global Wind Power Capacity Reaches 100,000 Megawatts

At its current growth rate, global installed wind power capacity will top 100,000 megawatts in March 2008. In 2007, wind power capacity increased by a record-breaking 20,000 megawatts, bringing the world total to 94,100 megawattsEarth Policy

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