Exxon Mobil looks to Canada for heavy-duty project

As harsh oil outposts go, Canada would not appear to rank high on the list. After all, energy companies battle rebels in the swampy thickets of Nigeria and Ecuador and spar with governments in capitals from Caracas to Moscow. But off the east coast of Newfoundland, the companies wage war with the elements in their […]

Mass media often failing in its coverage of global warming

“Business managers of media organizations, you are screwing up your responsibility by firing science and environment reporters who are frankly the only ones competent to do this,” said climate researcher and policy analyst Stephen Schneider, in assessing the current state of media coverage of global warming and related issues. “Science is not politics. You can’t […]

US petroleum dependency factor of history

When the Drake Oil Well in Titusville, Pennsylvania began seeping crude oil 150 years ago, humanity allowed itself to become engulfed in the ecology of oil, according to a Penn State environmental historian. Now in the midst of an energy transition, the U.S. and the world need to keep moving forward toward alternative methods of […]

Climate change likely more devastating than predicted, warns IPCC scientist

Without decisive action, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, according to a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC scientist Chris Field of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science points to recent […]

It’s too late for Planet Earth, says James Lovelock

The Gaia thinker’s latest book warns that climate disaster is imminent You may feel, as job losses soar and parts of the world descend into turmoil, that you’re apocalypsed-out for February. If so, you may not immediately leap at James Lovelock’s forthcoming book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia. His warning that climate change is spinning […]

The ”Nightmare Scenario”. Thank you Saudi Arabia For Looking After Our Future

Saudi Arabia has such concern and respect for The United States and the perceptiveness of its citizenry that they feel compelled to ply us with instruction and advice. The very same nation that through its loquacious Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi regaled us back in December that it was Saudi Arabia’s “Noble Cause” to see to […]

Fire Strikes Kuwait Petroleum Refinery in Rotterdam

(Bloomberg) — Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state- owned oil and refining company, said a fire occurred in a desulfurization unit at its Europoort refinery in Rotterdam. Parts of the refinery were shut because of the blaze, Ian McConnell, the plant McConnell declined to comment on units affected. No one was reported injured or missing, he […]

World oil production potential weakening: Total

LONDON (Reuters) – The oil price collapse has weakened the industry’s capacity to increase output and future production may top out at a lower level than earlier expected, the chief executive of major oil company Total (TOTF.PA) said. Christophe de Margerie said that world oil output may hit a plateau below 90 million barrels per […]

OPEC states struggle to pump less yet keep spending

LONDON (Reuters) – Uncertainty about how far world fuel demand and oil prices will fall has made it harder than ever for OPEC members to agree on how to balance group output policy against the divergent needs of their individual budgets. Oil’s collapse from almost $150 a barrel last July cut OPEC earnings by $356 […]

Matt Simmons: What’s Going On With Oil? (video)

…Inventories at the storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma — the delivery point for U.S. crude futures — have surged a whopping 139 percent taking the tanks to near capacity. Analysts say that once the hub’s tanks fill to the limit — which at current rates could happen any time — the scramble by suppliers to […]

‘Peak-Oil’ Limits Horizons

New finds such as the 33 billion barrel find by Petrobas off the coast of Brazil, the Dnieper-Donets Basin in Russia (sixty-one wells drilled

Norwegian Oil Firm Goes to Energy’s Last Frontier

A Norwegian oil company has gone to the ends of the earth — almost literally – to get at some of the world’s last untapped energy resources. StatoilHydro ASA operates a pioneering venture deep inside the Arctic Circle, energy’s final frontier. The company pumps natural gas from under the freezing waters of the Barents Sea, […]

New Shock Absorber Harvests Energy From Bumps In The Road, Increases Fuel Econom

ScienceDaily

Economists paint gloomy picture

In a freewheeling discussion about The good news:

The Complexity Theory

…Complexity Theory comes with its hint of doom, ominously reminding us that no civilization has ever survived the stresses of history, with the possible exception of China and Byzantium — in a much reduced state for 450 years following the 15th century Arab invasions. But Sumer, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Maya and even Rome all collapsed, […]

OPEC Cuts Global Oil Demand Forecast as Recession Deepens

(Bloomberg) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reduced its 2009 demand forecast for a sixth consecutive month as the economic slump causes a

Crude Cassandra

As the price of petroleum plunges, the prince of Peak Oil finds himself a contrarian again. Matthew Simmons has given 30-plus speeches in the past year, to audiences as diverse as the Pentagon and the Colorado School of Mines. One talk was tortuously titled: “Quo Vadis Energy? (Will Dawn Follow Darkness as Twilight of Energy […]

Plunging Values of Used Vehicles Foil Rebound in New-Auto Sales

(Bloomberg) — Doug Fox, owner of a Michigan Acura dealership, watched a deal evaporate last month when the 2006 pickup that a shopper planned to trade was appraised at $6,000 less than he owed. Falling used-car prices have erased about 6 million potential buyers from the U.S. new-car market as they struggle with loan balances […]

Next Challenge on Stimulus: Spending All That Money

Minnesota’s Sage Electrochromics Inc. has been ready for months to move on just the sort of project the Obama administration hopes will bolster the U.S. economy: a $65 million factory that would make energy-saving windows and generate 250 new jobs. So what’s holding it up? The Energy Department, whose fledgling loan-guarantee office has yet to […]

CO2 hits new peaks, no sign global crisis causing dip

Atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gas are hitting new highs, with no sign yet that the world economic downturn is curbing industrial emissions, a leading scientist said on Thursday. “The rise is in line with the long-term trend,” Kim Holmen, research director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said of the measurements taken by a […]

Tata’s global dream turns nasty

“Be prepared for hard decisions,” Tata group chairman Ratan Tata warned in a New Year letter addressed to 350,000 Tata employees worldwide, acknowledging the unprecedented troubled times facing the 140-year-old Tata dynasty, one of Asia’s oldest and most respected conglomerates. The challenges faced at Bombay House, the stately 84-year-old corporate home of the Tatas in […]

Iran dismisses report it faces raw uranium shortage

Iran dismissed on Wednesday a British newspaper report that the Islamic Republic was running short of raw uranium for a nuclear program the West fears has military aims. The Times said last month Western powers believed Iran was facing a shortfall of raw uranium and were urging producer nations not to sell it to Tehran.“Such […]

Oil Industry Ready to Work on Global Warming

Houston – Confronted with a sharp change of priorities in Washington, international oil executives are expressing an eagerness to work with President Obama to fashion new policies to tackle global warming. At an industry conference here this week, the executives struck a conciliatory tone on how to limit the emissions that are contributing to climate […]

Russia’s Energy Minister Fears 8% Fall in Oil Output

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to consider more incentives to reverse declining oil output, as the energy minister delivered the grimmest outlook yet for the industry. Crude output will drop by nearly 8 percent from last year’s level through 2013 if the government doesn’t provide further aid to producers, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko […]

Solar: What Happens When Polysilicon Prices Collapse?

Yesterday afternoon, MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) disclosed in an SEC filing after the closed that it had struck a revised silicon wafer supply agreement with Suntech Power (STP) which cuts the price Suntech is paying per wafer, but increasing volume to maintain the revenue targets under the deal for both 2009 and for the remainder […]

China’s new king of solar

Suntech’s Shi Zhengrong built one of the world’s biggest solar-power companies. Now, with economies slowing, he faces the challenge of a lifetime.The deepening global economic crisis has changed the dynamics of Shi’s industry abruptly. Rapid growth is now yesterday’s story; significant overcapacity is today’s. The global financial crisis has hurt the ability of solar customers […]

Samsung, LG to unveil solar-powered mobile phones

Mobile-phone users can soon be free from the hassles of being enslaved by power sockets to recharge their cell-phone batteries. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expected to showcase solar-powered mobile phones at the Mobile World Congress 2009 scheduled to take place from Feb. 16 to 19 in Barcelona, Spain, industry sources said yesterday.A solar-power-generating […]

In Europe, Wind and Solar Feel Financial Crisis

Last week I wrote about the struggles of the solar and wind industries in the United States, as the financial crisis deepens. European renewables are also affected — though not to the same extent — as bank lending has slowed.For solar, the dark spot is Spain. Solar there had been growing at a breakneck pace, […]

Cheap gas is history, again

Americans feel the squeeze of higher pump prices, although there’s little chance of a repeat of last summer’s record. The days of cheap gas are retreating into the rearview mirror, as prices continue to roll uphill, flirting with the $2-per-gallon mark.The national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline reached $1.952 Thursday, according to […]

China Government May Build Fuel Stockpiles, Business News Says

(Bloomberg) — China The proposal needs final approval from the State Council, or China

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