Energy Among The Top Presidential Campaign Issues

With crude oil, gasoline, and home heating oil prices near all-time highs, energy security in the US is one of the most common themes among the presidential candidates. While Democratic and Republican candidates alike agree that energy security should be high on the next president’s agenda, their plans for achieving that goal vary widely. “For […]

Analysis: IEA stirs old controversies

The Paris-based International Energy Agency recently awarded the United States high marks for its energy policy but warned stronger action is needed to mitigate climate change and decrease foreign oil imports. Tanaka, IEA’s executive director, commended the increase in fuel-efficiency standards for cars mandated by the 2007 law, but said the deadline for car manufacturers […]

Warnings over future food crisis

A world food crisis can be expected in the coming decades as our demand for food outstrips our ability to produce it, a UK government advisor has warned. New chief science adviser, Professor John Beddington, said the crisis could be as serious as climate change and may hit sooner. The world’s 6.5 billion population is […]

Not a lot Bush can do on oil prices – White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – There is “not a lot” President George W. Bush can do in the near-term to tame record high oil prices after OPEC declined to boost output, the White House said on Thursday. “We did try to encourage (an increase in OPEC output). But if OPEC has decided they are not going to […]

Nicaragua cuts ties with Colombia

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega says he is breaking off diplomatic relations with Colombia. The move comes amid a growing crisis over a Colombian raid into Ecuador to kill leftist Farc rebels. Venezuela and Ecuador have already broken off diplomatic ties and moved troops to their borders with Colombia. Mr Ortega said “we are breaking off […]

Survey of New Yorkers on climate change finds majority worried about impacts

New York (March 4, 2008) …According to recent studies, global warming is projected to have significant impacts on the city, which may lead to serious consequences for lives and livelihoods in the area. Regional summer temperatures are projected to increase 3.82

‘Thirsty’ electric cars threaten water resources

They may not be gas-guzzlers, but electric cars have a raging thirst for water. A comparison of the volume of coolant water used in the thermoelectric power plants that provide most of our electricity and that used in extracting and refining petroleum suggests that electric vehicles require significantly more water per mile than those powered […]

Falling Dollar Pushes Oil Prices Up, Weakening Economy

…I would point to the concerns out there that are really growing about whether we’re going to have proper supplies five, six years down the road. Will oil supplies continue to be able to meet demand? Or will there be a moment when demand might possibly exceed supply? And this particular concern, which is a […]

Boom in Asia means oil price will continue to rise above $100 a barrel

The good news about oil is that Opec is not going to cut production; the bad news, that it will not increase it. So, oil stays above $100 a barrel? Or, thanks to the impending global downturn, falls back a bit? Or, thanks to the booming demand from Asia, continues on its upward path? It […]

OPEC inaction sets oil up for further spikes

LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC’s decision not to pump more oil when prices are at record peaks almost daily could leave the oil market vulnerable to further price spikes. U.S. oil hit a new record of $105.97 a barrel on Thursday, a day after members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) left their […]

Downward spiral

The government insists that the UK has “considerable” coal reserves, but declines to be more precise. However, reserves are clearly nothing like what they were believed to be less than 30 years ago. In 1980, the UK claimed “proved recoverable reserves” of 45bn tonnes to the World Energy Council (WEC). This figure has been continually […]

Lump sums

Oil production may soon ‘peak’, but what about coal? David Strahan reports on the recent figures that suggest global reserves may not be nearly as plentiful as the industry and governments have led us to believe For weeks, South Africa has suffered rolling blackouts caused in part by a shortage of coal. Gripped by unusually […]

High Oil Squeezing British Airways Margins

LONDON – Oil prices are showing no signs of cooling, and airlines are not finding the struggle any easier– British Airways has warned that it will miss operating margin targets for 2009, as higher costs eat into its bottom line. “Fuel will become our single largest cost next year,” Finance Director Keith Williams told reporters […]

Oil speculators ‘riding roughshod’ over OPEC, say analysts

VIENNA, March 6, 2008 (AFP) – OPEC’s move to keep oil output unchanged was a message to the market that crude supplies are sufficient, a view not shared by speculators who pushed the price of crude to fresh record highs on Thursday, analysts said. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which produces 40 percent of […]

”World Made By Hand” Reviewed

Earlier this week, I received James Howard Kunstler’s new 317-page hardcover novel entitled “World Made By Hand.” A number of books have been written on the subject of oil depletion, but this novel offers a different approach. It is a fictional story which takes place in the future, at a time when the fuel for […]

Fed helps fuel high gas prices

Under the forces of supply and demand, gasoline prices should be falling, giving a break to households and placing a cushion under the falling U.S. economy. Under the forces of 2008, the nation has more gasoline in the tank than at any time since early 2002 – yet gas is $3.15 a gallon with no […]

Two time zones ‘to save South Africa power’

South Africa could be split into two time zones to ease a crippling energy crisis, a top official has said. This would stagger peak demand across the country, the director of public enterprise told parliament. Portia Molefe said the move could lead to an energy saving of about 200 MW but that the idea needed […]

Colombia Pipeline Bombed by FARC After Ecuador Attack

(Bloomberg) — Colombian rebels bombed an oil pipeline and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he may seize local assets of the neighboring country’s companies after a Colombian raid into Ecuador killed a rebel leader. The bombing and Chavez’s nationalization threats may be the start of reprisals for the March 1 air raid on Ecuadorean soil […]

The Disconnect Between Oil Reserves and Production

If a person looks at published oil reserves, it is easy to get the idea that there are huge amounts of oil left to be extracted. One would think that there is no way that peak oil should be a concern. Once we look at the situation a more closely, we discover that published oil […]

Dutch environmental body questions EU biofuel plans

In a study presented to the European Parliament yesterday (4th March) the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) has questioned proposals to replace current transport fuels by biofuels. The report, “Local and global consequences of the EU renewable directive for biofuels: testing the sustainability criteria” argues that since existing techniques for biofuels are based on food […]

Report: Biofuel Production Has Driven Milk Prices Up in China

The report, “China Dairy- Market Review & Outlook 2007-2008 Proposal” finds that China’s dairy industry is greatly influenced by the trends in international dairy markets. Consequently, it has been affected by the rising prices of corn, which is now being used to manufacture biofuels. Raw milk prices have risen, being directly linked to the fact […]

Indonesia scraps $5.9bn biodiesel plans

Indonesian palm oil growers are scrapping or amending plans to make biodiesel after the commodity’s surge to a record made the projects unviable, executives say.Palm oil prices have more than doubled in the past year, undermining the economic rationale for turning the vegetable oil into diesel even as governments worldwide mandate greater use of alternative […]

UK: Nuclear ‘is energy future’

Britain will become increasingly reliant on nuclear power for its energy needs over the next two decades, Business Secretary John Hutton said. In an interview with the Financial Times, he said that he had been “very encouraged” by the response from investors to the Government’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.He […]

Sweden aims for renewable sources for half its energy

Sweden will aim to get nearly half its energy from renewable sources by 2020 as part of an EU-wide plan, Energy and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson said on Wednesday. Olofsson said in Washington that Sweden had been tasked with increasing its share of renewable energy to 49 percent from a current 40 percent as part […]

What Does Oil’s New High Mean?

The fact that the world is having a hard time expanding oil supply fast enough to keep up with even modest demand growth is beginning to be accepted in some corners of the oil industry. The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell and the U.S. industry-dominated National Petroleum Council have both stated that supply constraints are […]

Peak Oil – True Or False

The arguments are so one-sided, it’s practically a given that “peak oil” is real and threatening. Or is it? This article examines both sides. It lets readers decide and deals only with supply issues, not crucial environmental ones and the need to develop alternative energy sources. First some background. The name most associated with “peak […]

Get ready for oil at Us$150

This week’s victory by Premier Ed Stelmach in Alberta, over the objection of the oil industry, is another predictor for $150-a-barrel oil by 2010. Alberta was the type of political event that one analyst has dubbed “reverse elasticity” –or the fact that high oil prices feed on themselves because they actually lead to a reduction […]

China’s Guangdong faces severe power shortage

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s manufacturing hub, Guangdong province, will give heavy subsidies to small power producers and speed up the addition of new capacity to tackle a severe power crisis this year, an official said on Thursday. Li Miaojuan, head of the Guangdong’s Development & Reform Commission, said generating stations fuelled by oil and gas […]

Kjell Aleklett: ASPO and Peak oil theorists challenge Saudi Arabia

In Paris, March 2, 2008, Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for the world’s largest crude producer, Saudi Arabia, and one of the oil industry’s most influential figures, has been discussing Peak Oil. He has stated that Saudi Arabia, which already has the world’s biggest proven oil reserves, plans to add another 200 billion barrels of oil […]

The Bumpy Pathway to an Energy Breakthrough

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett is one of the founders and, one might say, the lion of Congress’s peak oil caucus, a group of lawmakers concerned about the world’s oil supply running out. With leonine intensity, the Maryland Republican took on the Bush administration on its funding priorities for energy research and development. “Why are we interested […]

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