Russian deal at risk

Russia’s military actions in Georgia could jeopardize commercial natural gas deals with Russia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper hinted yesterday. Gazprom announced in May it was joining Enbridge, GazMetro and Gaz de France in developing an $840-million liquefied natural gas project in Quebec that’s scheduled to go ahead in 2014. Negotiations are ongoing and the deal, […]

Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith

Rocky Twyman says God, not market forces, brought prices down A prayer group in Washington DC is claiming the credit for the recent sharp drop in the US price of petrol. Rocky Twyman, 59, a veteran community campaigner, started Pray At The Pump meetings at petrol stations in April. Since then, the average price of […]

OPEC, peak oil and the end of cheap gas

Since the beginning of the modern oil age in 1859, pessimists have warned that the oil wells would soon dry up or that oil production would peak and not be able to keep up with ever-increasing demand. Again and again, the pessimists have been proven wrong, often embarrassingly so, as science and technology have allowed […]

Energy plan lacks clear goals

In “Deep Survival: Who lives, who dies, and why,” Laurence Gonzales describes a climb up Yosemite’s Cathedral Peak that brothers Rob and David Stone and their friend Steven Pinter planned on June 25, 2000. They’d timed things from their 4 a.m. start to get to the summit and back the same day. As Gonzales says, […]

How to build a wind turbine

Step-by-step photo jounal of the construction of a 1.5 MW wind turbine at the Spearville Wind Farm. Back Roads Touring (PDF)

Energy Demand Destruction & Brittle Systems

I’ve seen a number of comments, both at TheOilDrum and elsewhere, suggesting that the US is now less susceptible to supply disruptions because we have reduced our demand for oil by several hundred thousand barrels per day over the past year. In general, I get the sense that people think we can insulate ourselves from […]

The Economist Hosts Online Debate About Energy Security

The Economist Debate Series announces its eleventh online debate (www.economist.com/debate) focused on the current issue of energy security. The proposition for this debate is: “This house believes that we can solve our energy problems with existing technologies today, without the need for breakthrough innovations.” The proposition will be debated over the course of two weeks […]

Pirates seize Malaysian tanker off Somalia’s coast

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Armed pirates seized a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew off the coast of Somalia An international terrorism task force dispatched a warship to intercept the tanker, which was heading toward Somalia territorial waters, he said. “We have had no communication with the vessel so far. The distress call was […]

In Rural New York, Windmills Can Bring Whiff of Corruption

…Lured by state subsidies and buoyed by high oil prices, the wind industry has arrived in force in upstate New York, promising to bring jobs, tax revenue and cutting-edge energy to the long-struggling region. But in town after town, some residents say, the companies have delivered something else: an epidemic of corruption and intimidation, as […]

Plenty of Pipeline Options. All Bad

Commentators have been quick to point out that Russia’s defeat of Georgia has pretty much killed the chances that new oil and gas pipelines will be built to increase the security of supplies to Europe. It’s clear that there is little to stop Russia from rolling its forces up to the existing pipeline or knocking […]

New science looks at big picture for global future

A branch of science that has emerged over the past two decades is attempting to encompass both fundamental understanding and practical applications with a fascinating goal: to learn the degree to which humans are living in harmony with their environment and how they can continue to do so over the long term. Unlike many specialized […]

Birds can’t keep up with climate change: study

The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers in France also found that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times more quickly than previously suspected, with […]

Can Biofuels Be Sustainable?

ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2008) Scientists with the USDA-ARS Agroecosystem Unit located at the University of Nebraska examined the long-term sustainability of using corn stover as a biofuel crop. When corn stover is not harvested as a biofuel crop, it can be left on the fields to restore vital nutrients to the soil. Full-scale harvesting of […]

Microorganisms That Convert Hydrocarbons To Natural Gas Isolated

ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2008) … While biocorrosion and biodeterioration can be problematic, anaerobic hydrocarbon metabolism also has an upside. The OU researchers found that they can use their organisms to convert hydrocarbons in oil reservoirs to natural gas.

Court says EPA air pollution rule is illegal

States, local governments were barred from toughening monitoring WASHINGTON – A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a two-year-old rule that may […]

Warming climate threatens Alaska’s vast forests

KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Here in a 13,700-year-old peat bog, ecologist Ed Berg reaches into the moss and pulls out more evidence of the drastic changes afoot due to the Earth’s warming climate. Rooting through a handful of mossy duff, Berg, an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows remains […]

NYC mayor calls for wind turbines atop skyscrapers

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wind turbines would top New York City skyscrapers and bridges and dot the city’s shorelines, while the mighty tides that drive the Hudson and East Rivers would also generate power under a new plan Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented on Tuesday. “I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when […]

Australian ”hot rocks” offer 26,000 yrs of power

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia scientists estimate that only one percent of the nation’s untapped geothermal energy could produce 26,000 years worth of clean electricity. The Australian government announced on Wednesday a A$50 million (US$43 million) project to help develop technology to convert geothermal energy into baseload electricity. “Geothermal energy which is sometimes known as hot […]

Business leaders: Make renewable energy cheaper

LAS VEGAS: Representatives from Google Inc. and General Electric Co. said Tuesday that widespread use of renewable energy in United States would be possible Reicher spoke to a group of politicians and energy experts at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. The meeting’s attendees said they hope to develop a national energy agenda […]

Peak oil bigger problem than climate change

Peak oil is a much more immediate problem than climate change, delegates at a Finsia seminar heard yesterday. But the potential ramifications of climate change just make the problem worse, said Ian Dunlop, a former petroleum engineer who is now the deputy convenor for the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil. This makes […]

The End of Oil? Not Yet!

There are some things most people today know about oil. * Global oil output is going to plummet * Prices are going to rise forever * The transition to alternative energy will be long and painful * There will be more `oil wars’ and industrial civilization may collapse * Oil and gas will cause catastrophic […]

Russia’s Return Bites the Neocons’ Grand Energy Scheme in the Ass

By James Howard Kunstler You have to ask what were they smoking over at the Pentagon and the CIA when they thought they could control Russia’s close neighbor. The feeble American response to Russia’s assertion of power in the Caucasus of Central Asia was appropriate, since our claims of influence in that part of the […]

Driven: Shai Agassi’s Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road

Shai Agassi looks up and down the massive rectangular table in the Ritz-Carlton ballroom and begins to worry. He knows he’s out of his league here. For the last day and a half, he’s been listening to an elite corps of Israeli and US politicians, businesspeople, and intellectuals debate the state of the world. Agassi […]

Unraveling the Unraveling

Within the relatively small community of Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain said:

Bill Clinton: 10 Things the U.S. Government Should Do For Clean Power

The 42nd U.S. President, Bill Clinton, delivered a top 10 laundry list of actions that the U.S. government should take to help solve the energy crisis during a speech to kick off the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday night. Along with the list, which advocated various incentives to accelerate the proliferation […]

Saudi oil subsidy at stake over Musharraf exit

SAUDI Arabia thrust itself into the Pervez Musharraf impeachment drama last night when it warned that a huge oil subsidy that provides life support for the moribund Pakistan economy was at risk unless he was given an “exit with dignity”. …No country exerts greater influence than Saudi Arabia on Pakistan, which is frequently seen as […]

Gas Master

Russia, home to generations of chess masters, has made a series of brilliant moves in a game that its Western European opponents don’t even seem to know that they’re playing. While Russia’s troops still sit in neighboring Georgia, making an elaborate point about who wields the military power in the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia, […]

Kunstler: Suburban Legend

The American suburb was the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world We

The Secret Deal For Iraq

Four months before the United States invaded Iraq, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney In October of 2002, Halliburton was saddled with a multibillion-dollar asbestos liability as well as a serious slowdown in domestic oil production. The company

Australia – Fuel adding to all farm costs: SAFF

The South Australian Farmers Federation (SAFF) says high fuel prices are driving up the cost of nearly every aspect of farming, and could even affect interest rates. The Federation has given a submission today to a select committee on the impact of peak oil. Federation president Peter White says while petrol has fallen in price […]

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