Mass transit demand rises, costs soar

Fuel prices and smaller government subsidies are squeezing transit budgets. NEW YORK – In Seattle, transportation officials plan to add to their daily schedule another three round-trip trains to nearby Tacoma. In Washington, D.C., commuters on the Metro will soon see many trains expand from six cars to eight. In New York City, the transportation […]

StatoilHydro says oil prices eating into demand

OSLO (Reuters) – The global economy has been more resilient than expected during the oil price surge of the past five years but current high prices have started to hit demand, the boss of Norway’s StatoilHydro told Reuters. Chief Executive Helge Lund said on Wednesday that production of conventional oil from non-OPEC countries would probably […]

Store wind energy for later? Idea still inefficient

Experts try to improve on two underground vaults that use compressed air Wind power is unreliable. No one can turn up the wind every time electricity demand peaks. So some utilities are looking at ways to bottle up the wind’s energy and store it underground for later use. “The wind blows a lot at 2 […]

For ethanol, cutting edge goes way beyond corn

Corn husks, not kernels, and other nonfood biofuel are the goal TORONTO – In the search for renewable energy, turning low-value materials like switchgrass and corn husks into ethanol to fuel cars is something of a Holy Grail. In theory, these materials would replace corn as the main feedstock for ethanol in North America, reducing […]

ASPO Newsletter – June 2008

1044. The Scottish Parliament draws attention to Peak Oil 1045. An Arms Race for Oil 1046. Further Revision 1047. The Changing Role of OPEC 1048 Date of ASPO-7 International Conference 1049. Russian Oil Production 1050. The Atlas of Oil and Gas Depletion 1051. Growing Awareness of Peak Oil. 1052. ASPO SWITZERLAND 1053. ASPO-USA 1054. Britain […]

China builds plant to turn coal into barrels of oil

ERDOS, China (Reuters) – With oil prices at historic highs, China is moving full steam ahead with a controversial process to turn its vast coal reserves into barrels of oil. Known as coal-to-liquid (CTL), the process is reviled by environmentalists who say it causes excessive greenhouse gases. Yet the possibility of obtaining oil from coal […]

Canada: Guzzling up their way of life

Fuel costs may be frustrating city-dwellers, but in rural Canada it’s a much grimmer picture. Gas prices are virtually doubling community budgets and driving farmers to question their profession Prices at the pumps have shattered records across the country in recent weeks, with experts seeing no signs of reprieve in the near future. But while […]

Magellan Shuts Kansas City Pipeline System After Fire

(Bloomberg) — Magellan Midstream Partners L.P., a U.S. oil products distributor, shut its main pipeline system in Kansas City after a fire erupted in a gasoline storage tank, cutting supplies to consumers in Iowa and Nebraska. The fire, which started after a lightning strike at 7:30 p.m. local time yesterday, “has almost burned itself out,” […]

Oil falls after government says gas demand is down

NEW YORK – Oil prices extended their drop from record highs Wednesday, falling to the $122 level after the Energy Department said gasoline demand fell sharply last week. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, rose to a new record above $3.98 a gallon and are likely to hit $4 in coming days, although oil prices have retreated […]

Bernanke: Country won’t spill into 1970s-like oil shocks

WASHINGTON Back then, the economy suffered from a dangerous combination of stubborn inflation and stagnant growth. There are fears today that the U.S. may be heading in that direction again. “We see little indication today of the beginnings of a 1970s-style wage-price spiral, in which wages and prices chased each other ever upward,” Bernanke said […]

Drivers choose cars over trucks as auto sales plunge

Cars outsold the top-selling Ford F-series truck in May for the first time since 1992, a sign of the rapid shift in customers’ preferences from trucks and SUVs to small cars that is forcing painful production cuts and plant closures at General Motors and Ford Motor . For a generation, pickups and SUVs have symbolized […]

Seven Questions: The New World Energy Order

Why are oil prices soaring so high, and will they ever return to Earth? Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency in Paris, explains why peak oil is real, why biofuels are indispensable, and how China determines what you pay at the pump. Foreign Policy: The Wall Street Journal recently reported that your […]

Texas wind farms choked off from grid due to insufficient power lines

Thousands of wind turbines in the US are sitting idle or failing to meet their full generating capacity because of a shortage of power lines able to transmit their electricity to the rest of the grid. The issue of transmission capacity will be high up the agenda as 10,000 wind power industry executives descend this […]

China to import grain as economy grows

China could be forced to become a major grain importer to feed its increasingly wealthy population at a time of record global food prices, a leading environmentalist said Wednesday. As one of the world’s top grain producers, China imports little wheat or corn, but may soon have to buy from abroad as citizens change their […]

Sidney Pollack, Scott McClellan, and the Wars for Oil

OK, let’s connect the dots: The Iraq War & Occupation. Scott McClellan’s memoir. The death of film director Sydney Pollack. When I heard about the death of Pollack last week, I happened coincidentally to be rewatching one of his earliest films, from 1971, “Three Days of the Condor.” In it, Robert Redford plays a bookish […]

Data show Antarctic ice stream radiating seismically

A seismologist at Washington University in St. Louis and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom have found seismic signals from a giant river of ice in Antarctica that makes California’s earthquake problem seem trivial. Douglas A. Wiens, Ph.D., Washington University professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & […]

Reports: United to Ground 737s, 747s to Save Fuel

United Airlines to Ground Dozens of Fuel-Guzzling Aircraft in Cost-Cutting Move United Airlines plans to ground dozens of its least fuel-efficient aircraft in an effort to conserve cash and cope with spiraling fuel prices, according to published reports. The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday night that United escalated the plan in mid-May as the Chicago-based airline […]

Predictions for Canada

Canadian natural gas is important in a number of ways: It provides 17% of total US NG consumption and today contributes roughly 11% [see calc at bottom] of the energy content in a barrel of tar sands oil (which will only increase with in-situ recovery growth). By no means (conventional or unconventional), can Canada be […]

Falling Water Tables, Falling Harvests

Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs. The drilling of millions of irrigation wells has pushed water withdrawals beyond recharge rates, in effect leading to groundwater mining. The failure of governments to limit pumping to the sustainable yield of aquifers means that water tables are now falling […]

Oil crisis, meet water crisis

Almost three decades ago, President Jimmy Carter said the following words in a nationally televised address: “The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts, and we simply must face them.” America saw the facts and looked away. Now, 30 years on, we’re […]

Fuel costs a major concern for schools

While Arkansas lawmakers are deadlocked over whether to provide relief to school districts suffering from increased fuel costs, the state Forrest City Superintendent Lee Vent said transportation is about a $3 million chunk of the school district

Need for fuel and materials transforming Ohio agriculture

Columbus — Globalization has hurt some of Ohio’s former industrial giants, created new high-tech industries and now is changing the state’s largest industry: agriculture. Understanding those global forces — the demand for food, biofuel and bio-based chemical feedstock — is the focus of a three-day conference hosted here by Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research […]

Power-hungry gadgets add hundreds to electricity bills

ENERGY-GUZZLING gadgets are costing households hundreds of dollars a year, yet most people have little idea of the cost. While energy-rating labels have been mandatory for whitegoods since the late 1980s, computing goods remain immune. Some, such as a Sony PlayStation 3, cost five times as much to run as an average-sized refrigerator. That translates […]

Energy habits are fuelling food crisis

WORLD Environment Day this year should pierce the minds of more Australians than ever before. As we feel the pinch at the petrol pump our leaders are flinging solutions at us such as tax cuts and biofuels. In the meantime, across the globe, there is a massive food crisis brewing that is already threatening 100 […]

Self-Reliance: The Solution To Peak Oil

Some believe that the way to solve our energy problems is to retain the same economy and lifestyle by using a different fuel, such as ethanol, nuclear power, solar, or hydrogen. Unfortunately, these easy sacrifice-free fixes generally have one or more major drawbacks: they are too expensive, can’t realistically produce enough energy to quench our […]

Fliers in for pain as airlines pack it in

The USA’s air-travel map is shrinking fast, dropping scores of routes and flights that airlines simply can’t afford anymore in a world of $130-a-barrel oil. A USA TODAY analysis of fall airline schedules shows the nation’s most popular vacation destinations will be among the biggest air-service losers. Many flights to Honolulu, Orlando, Las Vegas and […]

Shura member calls for oil production curbs in Saudi

Saudi Arabia’s Shura council (parliament) will hold a series of meetings over the next two weeks to discuss a controversial proposal by a key member to curb oil production to save reserves for better prices, Saudi media reported. The council will listen to a report by deputy chairman of the Shura water and public utilities […]

Food Prices, Mass Hunger’ll Continue for Next Decade – UN

The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revealed that in the next 10 years food prices will remain well above the levels of the last decade. According to a new report released by the groups last week in Paris, France, current high prices […]

Fuel tank blaze erupts as storms sweep area

A lightning strike apparently ignited a petroleum tank in Kansas City, Kan., this evening, sparking flames and billowing smoke that could be seen for miles. The fire started about 7:30 p.m., when lighting hit the Magellan pipeline terminal at 410 E. Donovan Road, Kansas City, Kan., fire Capt. Stanley Castaneda said. Magellan

Farmers switch from diesel-powered irrigation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Under pressure from diesel prices that have doubled in the last year, farmers in the arid regions of the United States are increasingly abandoning the fuel in favor of electricity to run their irrigation systems. “Farmers are just switching off (their diesel engines) as fast as they can,” said Wade Hill, […]

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