An urban legend to comfort America: oil is oil, even if it is not oil

…A common reply to warnings about peak oil is that we have vast reserves of oil. True, but misleading and of limited significance over short- and medium-term horizons. When the world relied mostly on oil from the wonderful super-giant fields, the distinction between different types of oil was trivial except to those in the oil […]

Hurricane Ike and Oil Refineries / Infrastructure Thread #2

Hurricane Ike’s current track predicts landfall in central Texas. Any further model tracks north bring it close to large refining areas – just to the east of the current swath (graphed below) is 5 million bpd in refining capacity. (Perspective: 5 MMBBL is about 30% of US capacity (about 15 MMBBL), and a bit less […]

IEA cuts oil demand growth forecasts

…The IEA, adviser to 27 industrialised nations on energy policy, noted anecdotal evidence of a more permanent downward trend in demand in the United States, the world’s biggest energy consumer. These included a marked shift to more efficient vehicles, changing mobility and driving habits, signs that suburban living was gradually losing its appeal, the agency […]

Anxiety about staying warm this winter spreads

Record high heating oil, natural gas projected; people already seeking aid HARRISBURG, Pa. – Homeowners already pinched by high food and gas prices have grown increasingly anxious about staying warm this winter. At state assistance offices and at community organizations, phones are ringing off the hook as people seek help with what are expected to […]

OPEC agrees to surprise output cut, oil price rises

VIENNA, Austria – OPEC oil ministers agreed Wednesday to trim overall output by more than 500,000 barrels a day in a compromise meant to avoid new turmoil in crude markets while seeking to bolster falling prices. The news sent oil prices rising. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 97 cents to $104.23 a barrel […]

Sarah Palin, the pastor and the prophecy: judgment day is not far away

At the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, Sarah Palin He declined to set an exact date for the Rapture, or the

Like Peak Oil Advocate, Toyota Warns of Supply Shortages, Resource Exhaustion

…The phrase Toyota makes it clear in its report that reducing the number of cars and trucks on the road isn

Four projections for what’s going to happen in the markets

Plus, four reasons why this may be the worst crisis since the 1930s. …3. Rising oil prices affect According to the Peak Oil calculations, we have already used about half of the energy stored over the last 100 million years. Against that, we have a steady increase in demand emanating from population growth and economic […]

Climate inaction ‘costing lives’

Failure to take urgent action to curb climate change is effectively violating the human rights of people in the poorest nations, an aid charity warns. A report by Oxfam International says emissions, primarily from developed countries, are exacerbating flooding, droughts and extreme weather events. As a result, harvests are failing and people are losing their […]

Donations Sought For Winter Heating Assistance

…With energy costs rising, officials expect this winter will place unprecedented demand on the state’s heating aid programs. “We really need everyone’s help,” said the executive direcotr of Operation Fuel, Patricia Wrice, recounting the story of an elderly man in eastern Connecticut who received aid for the first time last winter. “The following week, he […]

Richard Heinberg: Is Peak Oil ‘A Misleading Concept?’

George Soros has just published an interesting article in the New York Review of Books for September 25, titled The Perilous Price of Oil. In the course of explaining the recent spike in the barrel price of petroleum he writes that “the cost of discovering and developing new reserves is increasing, and the depletion rate […]

Power bills ‘bad news’ warning

Consumers face “appalling news” when increases in electricity and gas prices are announced on Wednesday, Northern Ireland’s utility regulator has warned. Iain Osborne said people were facing a very serious situation this winter. He warned it would be “deeply improbable” that fossil fuel prices could drop back to previous levels. The utility regulator confirmed the […]

Could 100-dollar oil become a new OPEC price floor?

VIENNA (AFP) – With the oil market falling rapidly, questions have been raised at a gathering of OPEC producers in Vienna this week about whether 100-dollar oil should be a minimum price to defend, analysts say. For the past five years, crude prices have been on a steep upwards path, peaking in July at 147 […]

The New Trojan Horse

During her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Gov. Sarah Palin Few things have spurred globalization, or been more affected by it, like the energy market. It

The Start of a New Semester: Some Changes in My Lecture Slides

Although the days are still relatively hot and the sun high in the sky, this summer is coming to an end. The order has gone in for the wood that will help us heat the house this winter, and the students have arrived for a new semester. Which means, a little late as usual, it […]

Hurricane Ike, Shut-In Production and Energy Infrastructure

Hurricane Ike is forecast to be in the Gulf of Mexico later this week, less than 2 weeks after a weakening Hurricane Gustav moved ashore in Louisiana, shutting in oil and gas production and causing damage to transmission lines as JoulesBurn writes above. (As of two nights ago, the LOOP came back up on one […]

Storm Warning: Ike

While armchair meteorologists are plotting Hurricane Ike That

Will rising fuel costs reverse globalization?

As much as we would like it to be, the world is never a stable place for very long. After the technology bubble and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the early years of this decade, we managed to eke out about five years of relative economic stability. Now we understand that the U.S. was […]

OPEC to cut real output by 500,000 bpd

VIENNA (AFP) – OPEC will agree to cut its real output by up to 500,000 barrels per day at its meeting on Tuesday while leaving its official production policy unchanged, energy consultancy PFC Energy said, citing unnamed sources. “PFC Energy has learned that OPEC has in principle agreed to trim production from current levels above […]

Survey: Public transit pressures could hurt riders

Cash-strapped public transit systems are cutting services and raising fares even as more Americans ditch their gas-guzzling cars for trains and buses, a survey of transit agencies out Tuesday finds. People took 2.8 billion rides on public transit from April through June, up 5.2% over that period last year, reports the American Public Transportation Association […]

Geoengineering solution No. 9: The Flying Dutchman solves global warming

If mimicking a massive volcanic eruption by spraying sulfur dioxide into the air or flying thousands of mirrors into space to shade Earth to halt climate change doesn’t cut it for you, how about this? A fleet of 1,500 automated ships, dubbed “albedo yachts,” spewing saltwater into the sky to make denser clouds that reflect […]

Google sees energy solution in the math

SAN FRANCISCO–Google CEO Eric Schmidt outlined an energy plan Monday to reduce America’s dependence on oil and create green jobs. …He said that, if by 2030, the U.S. were to adopt renewable energy sources for 100 percent of its power generation, replacing energy production from coal-fired plants, and replace at least half of its cars […]

Warnings against claims made by International Biochar Initiative

Campaigners today warn that an international conference on biochar, which will be held in Newcastle, UK from 8 to 10 September, will be misleading governments and the public with claims that biochar – a by-product of second generation agrofuel production – can curb climate change and improve soil fertility.The International Biochar Initiative (IBI), which is […]

Change Everything Now

One of the nation’s most mainstream environmentalists says it’s time to get a lot more radical …It I spoke with Speth at Yale earlier this year. Jeff Goodell: In the opening chapter of your new book, you say, quite bluntly, that

Kunstler: Last Ditch

Why do the big deals always happen over the weekends? So the big boyz in government and finance can take off their neckties when they bargain with each other? So the markets will be closed and unable to register a response one way or another? So the shrinking fraction of the US public that pays […]

Chavez nationalises fuel distribution

Auckland – Lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez gave final approval on Friday to a bill allowing the Venezuelan government to seize total control of the nation’s fuel distribution. Distributors including subsidiaries of British Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron, will have 60 days to negotiate the sale of their businesses to the government or face […]

Yucca license application accepted for review

WASHINGTON (AP) Still the NRC’s determination that the license application was complete enough to be “docketed” for review was a step forward for the Energy Department, which submitted the application in June after years of delay. Associated Press

Ford ready to seek loans guaranteed by government

DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co is ready to seek low-interest loans backed by the U.S. government for new fuel-saving technologies, CEO Alan Mulally said, as industry backers press for up to $50 billion of such funds. Mulally, declining to confirm whether he would lobby personally in Washington this week for loan guarantees, said […]

China and India slowdown fuels tougher race

TOKYO (Reuters) – A sudden slowdown in car sales in China and India is threatening to shrink the global auto market this year, promising tougher times for an industry leaning on the two most populous countries to pick up the slack in the West. Early this year, industry executives had been optimistic that demand in […]

New bacteria could make cheaper ethanol

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Genetically engineered bacteria could make cellulosic ethanol cheaper to manufacture, researchers reported on Monday, in a finding that may unlock more energy from the waste products of farming and forestry. Ethanol from cellulose, the kind of sugar in the likes of cornstalks and sawdust, is being promoted as an environmentally friendly alternative […]

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