US Won’t Meet Ethanol Goal Due Cellulosic Shortfall

The United States will not meet Congress’ mandate to produce more ethanol from waste products over the next 15 years, resulting in an overall shortfall in ethanol production requirements contained in a new energy law, a government forecaster said Tuesday. The new energy law requires the United States to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels […]

Nanotechnology’s role in next generation biofuel production

Years of engineering research and design, together with uncounted billions of dollars from government and industry, went into the development of the modern petroleum industry. It would be unreasonable to expect that we can replace this industry with greener alternatives without a similarly expansive and sustained effort. Point in case is a recently published roadmap […]

World turns to renewable energy for sustainable supply

Delegations from more than 100 countries descended on the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) Tuesday, vowing to push forward the development of renewable energy sources to combat climate change and ensure energy security. “Our task is to develop the policies, incentives, and forms of international cooperation that will realize the full benefits of renewable […]

Oil’s Well

As mentioned here earlier, some scientists are closing in on a chemical process to extract climate-ruining emissions of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and change it back to fuel again. If that was groundbreaking news for the planet, here’s something better. Well-known geneticist Craig Venter, famous for mapping the human genome, announced at a conference […]

Pemex to up oil-field investment 28 percent

State oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said Friday it will increase investment in oil exploration, production and refining by 28 percent this year, amid projections that output will drop dramatically at its largest oil field. Investment will total about 220 billion pesos ($20 billion), finance director Esteban Levin said during a conference call with analysts.“This a […]

You can afford the house, but the bills’ll send you broke

Mortgages and rents might be more affordable, but people will really struggle to pay higher bills for transport and energy. It’s not far from here to the scenario described recently by world-renowned Australian transport planner, Professor Peter Newman, of eco-enclaves for the rich, surrounded by Mad Max suburbs. His warning is clear: unless we start […]

Heralding The End Times

Leaving aside the half-baked geopolitco-cranko-economic analysis that “informs” Mr. Kunstler’s vision of a Peak Oil Ragnarok, it’s hard not to occasionally feel something like that same distaste for our dense, messy way of life. Say it happens when you’re stuck in traffic, surrounded by honking imbeciles, or when you see a sea of unsightly bodies […]

Australia: Radical plan to drive cars from key roads

SPEED limits will be dropped on key routes, lanes removed and traffic lights changed to favour public transport and pedestrians under a new strategy for Melbourne’s inner north to be launched by Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky today. Darebin Council’s new transport plan The plan places the council on a potential collision course with VicRoads, […]

Kjell Aleklett: Uninvited observations

I understand that the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO) will not always be invited to speak at CERA Week (Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual conference in Houston), but if I had been invited I could have discussed the CERA 2006 forecast of future oil production (Journal of Petroleum Technology, February […]

Jean Laherrere: Revisiting “The End of Cheap Oil”

Prior to writing the article After publication, our article was chosen as one out of 25 stories in the book Censored 1998, published by Sonoma State University. Their write-up describing the article included the following note: 21. Global Oil Reserves Alarmingly Overestimated Colin J. Campbell and Jean H. Laherrere, two independent oil-industry consultants, predict that […]

Australia: Petrol ‘will go to $3 a litre’

As ridiculous and outrageous as it may seem, the country’s biggest petrol company says it will happen, and believes Australians should think themselves lucky they aren’t already paying more to fill up their tank. The cover of the latest issue of Caltex’s magazine The Star features a cover predicting some time in the next decade […]

Can We Stay in the Suburbs?

…Will these places simply devolve into slums with roving bands of thieves stripping building materials and other valuables from abandoned homes and formerly homeless drug addicts burning them down while trying to keep warm? They That is to say, this is already a problem. And with more people defaulting on their mortgages and losing their […]

Crude May Rise to $120 in Six Months, Taqa CEO Says

(Bloomberg) — Crude oil may rise to $120 a barrel within six months due to the dollar weakness and global political tensions, the chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. said. “I think a trading range between $80 and $120 a barrel this year is about right,” Peter Barker-Homek, the head of the […]

Australia oil output to peak in ‘08, then fall-govt

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s oil production is forecast to rise 7 percent this year as new fields come onstream, but is seen falling as soon as 2009, a government report said on Tuesday. Crude production is forecast to increase to 483,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2008/09, versus 449,190 bpd last year, boosted by new […]

‘Big shift’ to rail urged for UK

The UK needs a “modal shift” from road to rail if greenhouse gas emissions from transport are to be curbed, a report concludes. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) says changes are needed to government policies on transport pricing, energy and town planning. A train journey can produce about one tenth of the carbon emissions […]

Speculation adds to oil price surge

Market speculation on energy prices may have added as much as 10 percent to crude oil costs and the peak may be yet to come, a top Energy Department official said Tuesday. Guy Caruso, head of the department’s Energy Information Administration, told a Senate hearing that supply and demand would suggest a price of about […]

Bush urges OPEC to weigh pain of high oil prices

U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Tuesday it would be a “mistake” for OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna to ignore the pain record-high oil prices are inflicting on the United States, the world’s top energy consumer. In some of his strongest language to date, Bush turned up the heat on the Organization of the […]

Imports from Latin America may help US meet energy goals

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 4, 2008 — Latin American nations could become important suppliers of ethanol for world markets in coming decades, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory study released recently. The report, available at the website noted below, provides supply curves for selected countries and feedstocks projected to 2012, 2017 and 2027. Highlights […]

Nuclear cannibals

Nuclear energy production must increase by more than 10 percent each year from 2010 to 2050 to meet all future energy demands and replace fossil fuels, but this is an unsustainable prospect. According to a report published in Inderscience’s International Journal of Nuclear Governance, Economy and Ecology such a large growth rate will require a […]

Will global warming increase plant frost damage?

Widespread damage to plants from a sudden freeze that occurred across the Eastern United States from 5 April to 9 April 2007 was made worse because it had been preceded by two weeks of unusual warmth, according to an analysis published in the March 2008 issue of BioScience. The authors of the report, Lianhong Gu […]

UN warns of climate change in Mideast

CAIRO, Egypt – Climate change is likely to reduce agricultural production and exacerbate water shortages in the Middle East, threatening the region’s poor, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization warned Monday. Many countries in the Middle East already suffer from a shortage of arable land and limited access to water necessary to irrigate crops. But […]

Rush of investors to oil costly for all

The surge of mainstream investors into commodities is driving record crude prices – and we’re all feeling the pain. NEW YORK (CNN) — The economy is stumbling, energy supplies are rising, yet oil prices are hitting new records. What’s going on here? Oil’s surge to an all-time high of nearly $104 a barrel Monday is […]

US urges oil producers to keep market ‘well supplied’

WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) – The White House urged OPEC to keep world markets ‘well supplied’ ahead of the cartel’s production meeting tomorrow. Spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment specifically until OPEC formally announces a decision, with record oil prices sparking consumer calls for increased production. But she reiterated past US appeals that ‘oil producing countries […]

Vehicle Sales Fell by 10% Last Month

DETROIT Sales of light trucks plunged 26 percent at Chrysler and 23 percent at General Motors, according to the Autodata Corporation, which tracks industry statistics. The carmakers largely blame the housing slump for the lackluster demand, particularly for the pickups used by building contractors, but steadily rising gas prices are yet another concern. NY Times

Oil Tops Inflation-Adjusted Record Set in 1980

Capping a relentless rise in recent years, oil prices hit a record high during the day on Monday, then pulled back to close below the record. The day The surge in energy prices is taking place as investors seek refuge in commodities to offset a slowing economy and a declining dollar. Analysts pointed out that […]

For Qatar, relations with West are a balancing act

DOHA, Qatar: For Sheik Hamad bin Jasim bin Jaber al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and chief diplomat, it’s natural to play host to the U.S. military while sharing one of the world’s largest natural-gas fields with Iran. Qatar’s royal leadership has learned to balance contradictory political interests as a means of national preservation for the tiny […]

Tesla: Little electric roadster that could

SAN CARLOS, Calif. Tesla’s groundbreaking distinction is under its carbon-fiber skin. The $98,000 Tesla is the first production high-performance electric car. It is powered entirely by electricity, a plug-in that will never use a drop of gasoline. And it’s billed as being able to go 221 miles in mixed city/highway driving on a full battery […]

Saudi Arabia

1. Saudi Aramco has effectively used propaganda methods for at least the last fifteen years to convince many governments, corporations and individuals to believe their statements. 2. In 2004, Saudi Aramco stated that its oil initially in place (OIIP) has been growing steadily since 1982. There is considerable doubt about the validity of this increase, […]

Review: World Made by Hand by James Kunstler

Robert Earle, the main character in James Howard Kunstler Robert finds solace in his job as the town carpenter, trout fishing in the nearby creek, playing fiddle during year-round rehearsals for the annual Christmas carol service and attending Sunday church (a lively affair with preaching and hymns). He dreams of one day owning his own […]

Ukraine says it could cut Europe’s gas

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s natural gas company on Tuesday warned that if Russia further cuts its gas supplies, it could begin diverting shipments intended for western Europe. Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom on Monday reduced shipments to Ukraine by about a third and on Tuesday threatened a further 25 percent cut if Ukraine did not […]

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