Capitalism

…It is not just one crisis, of course. The banking crisis coincides with other major global developments which increase its severity and make it far more difficult to resolve or even mitigate. These can be identified as follows: First there is the impact of emerging countries such as China and India Secondly, the approach of […]

Oil Industry Strives to Limit Its Layoffs

As oil companies cut costs amid slumping energy prices, they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s oil bust, when mass layoffs left the industry ill-prepared for the eventual rebound. The lack of a clear consensus on how long the slump will last has presented the industry with a difficult choice. Companies […]

Obama’s energy-draining policies

…Delivering the standard leftist litany, Obama criticized Mobil, Exxon and “the arms merchants in our own country” and declared that the battles we need to fight are “the battles against ignorance and intolerance, corruption and greed, poverty and despair.” Obama also told the crowd that we have to “fight to wean ourselves off Middle East […]

Climate change: Acid oceans transform marine life, says study

PARIS (AFP) The amoeba-like organisms, about the size of a grain of sand, live in the surface waters of oceans around the world. They are an important part of the ecological chain and also provide a bulwark against global warming. They transform carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air into calcium-based shells. When they die, their […]

Oil Tanker Strikes Submerged Ensco Jackup

Ensco International Incorporated has been informed by the U.S. Coast Guard that an oil tanker, the SKS Satilla, apparently struck a submerged object which the U.S. Coast Guard has identified as the sunken hull of the ENSCO 74. The ENSCO 74, a jackup rig, was lost during Hurricane Ike last September. The U.S. Coast Guard […]

Kurt Cobb: Complications

Some advocates for a sustainable future claim that the fulfillment of their vision will result in a simpler, healthier, happier existence when compared to our current consumption- and status-oriented unsustainable present. They may very well be right about healthier and happier. But will that sustainable future seem simpler to the individual? The bright green high-tech […]

Fire or Ice? The role of peak fossil fuels in climate change scenarios

Will the world end in fire or in ice? That is, are we going to be hit by global warming or are we going to freeze because of lack of fossil fuels? We don’t know yet, but it is starting to appear clear that geology is placing a major constraint on anthropogenic CO2 emissions and, […]

We Are Breeding Ourselves to Extinction

All measures to thwart the degradation and destruction of our ecosystem will be useless if we do not cut population growth. By 2050, if we continue to reproduce at the current rate, the planet will have between 8 billion and 10 billion people, according to a recent U.N. forecast. This is a 50 percent increase. […]

Scientists to issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures

Rising sea levels pose a far bigger eco threat than previously thought. This week’s climate change conference in Copenhagen will sound an alarm over new floodings – enough to swamp Bangladesh, Florida, the Norfolk Broads and the Thames estuary Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far […]

Can YOU survive economic crisis?

To some, the term “survivalist” conjures images of camouflage-clad men stockpiling freeze-dried food in a mountain cabin, but in the current economic crisis, the people quietly preparing to survive catastrophe may just be your next-door neighbors. In his column in last month’s Financial Times, business and technology expert Ade McCormack writes, “The world is in […]

Transit outlook grimmer after record ‘08

The number of people riding buses and trains hit a 52-year high in 2008 as skyrocketing gas prices and a faltering economy pushed riders toward less expensive travel. Public transit ridership last year increased 4% to 10.7 billion rides, according to a report released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association. The outlook is gloomy, […]

Hopes of climate change accord ‘are sinking’

Two leading climate scientists have broken ranks with their peers to declare that hopes of getting a meaningful deal on halting global warming this year are already lost. Professor Kevin Anderson, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and Professor Trevor Davies, one of the centre’s founders, told The Times that it was […]

World Bank offers dire forecast for world economy

WASHINGTON: In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank predicted Sunday that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first time since World War II. …Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even […]

Drivers favour biofuel if it saves money

Most New Zealanders would use biofuel if it saved them more than 10c a litre and almost a third would switch for a saving of less than 10c. An online survey of 2851 people released by the Sustainable Business Council revealed most supported cutting tax on biofuels. But council chief executive Peter Neilson said people […]

Carbon cuts ‘only give 50/50 chance of saving planet’

The world’s best efforts at combating climate change are likely to offer no more than a 50-50 chance of keeping temperature rises below the threshold of disaster, according to research from the UK Met Office. The key aim of holding the expected increase to C, beyond which damage to the natural world and to human […]

Drought, recession scorch Texas cattle ranchers

PANDORA, Texas (Reuters) – Frates Seeligson recalls when his ranch last saw rain: September of last year. That was around the time he took on an extra 200 cows to help a farmer whose fields were ravaged by Hurricane Ike. Talk about a perfect storm. The worst drought on record in this parched part of […]

Ghana — Biofuels do far more harm than good

A number of foreign businesses have been storming Ghana in their quest to invest in the cultivation of sugarcane and jatropha for the production of biofuels for export. While this looks good for a country that is in need of foreign exchange, the country Is there any trade crazier than the liquid biofuel business? Apart […]

Could climate prove a change too far for Obama?

PARIS (AFP) The depth of the disaster that has befallen the US economy in particular — witness Friday’s announcement of over 650,000 jobs lost in February alone — and the difficulties Obama has faced getting Congress to greenlight his rescue plans underscore significant obstacles ahead. Besides, given the US failure to meet its Kyoto commitments […]

Nuclear power industry sees opening for revival

With the Obama administration staking the nation’s energy future on clean sources, the U.S. nuclear power industry aims to make a comeback by building dozens of new reactors that supply plentiful, carbon-free electricity. But 30 years after the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania led to moratoriums on new plants across the nation, concerns about […]

Ethanol producers look to rebound from bankruptcy

As ethanol producers battle compressed operating margins and volatile commodity markets, some have been forced to file for bankruptcy. According to data compiled by EPM, four ethanol plants representing approximately 443 MMgy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. According to a research bulletin written by David Peters, assistant professor of sociology for Iowa […]

Ethanol: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Beautiful

The Good The Bad The Ugly The Beautiful The Good The 9 billion gallons of ethanol that Americans used last year helped drive down oil prices. For those of us who fuel our vehicles with gasoline, as much as 10 percent of that gasoline is ethanol. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires […]

Gas drilling feeling the economic pinch

Many in the natural gas business are finding themselves with fewer hours or no job PICEANCE BASIN, Colorado The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission counts 54 fewer rigs operating in Colorado between late September and March 2. COGCC staff said at an oil and gas forum Thursday the number of rigs in the basin […]

Oil at $50 Looms as OPEC Plans Fourth Cut, Complies With Quota

March 9 (Bloomberg) — OPEC OPEC states have more of an incentive than ever to restrict output because the combination of declining prices and the global recession will reduce earnings 59 percent this year to $402 billion, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Crude demand will drop for a second year, the first back-to-back decline […]

China flexes cash-rich muscles over oil and minerals

The maxim – In the biggest of the moves, announced in late February, the state-owned China Development Bank loaned a total of

Chevron aims to unlock huge Mid-East reserves

Chevron, the second-biggest US oil company, will in the next few months begin large-scale testing of a production technique that could unlock tens of billions of barrels of reserves across the Middle East. The technique, for producing heavy oil that cannot be extracted using conventional methods, will be used in the partitioned neutral zone between […]

California And Detroit Go To War Over Gas Mileage

For more than three decades Detroit’s Big Three and their allies have successfully blocked or limited changes to the nation’s fuel economy rules. However, with General Motors and Chrysler LLC facing bankruptcy, the carmakers are making what could be one last stand, and this one they may well lose. Currently fuel economy standards are set […]

Ethiopia – Ministry warns oil operators after fuel shortage hits major towns

The Ministry of Trade and Industry of Ethiopia on Friday warned oil companies operating in the country after a week-long fuel shortage took hold in major towns including Dessie and Bahir Dar. In a letter he wrote on Wednesday, stae minister Ahmed Tusa indicated that over eight major towns are for a week now suffering […]

New study: Most of Syria viable oil reserve already produced

A recent study on the future of energy in Syria, prepared by Dr.Ziad Arbash , a researcher at the Orient Centre for Strategic Studies, has indicated that oil production in 2007 reached about 379.000 barrels per day, of which the total production of the Syrian Oil Company is estimated at 193.000 barrels per day. The […]

Peak oil, peak coal and a peek at the future

Some scientists are now calling for a serious attempt to measure the known coal and oil reserves. There is evidence that weZDNet

When Will the Oil Price Pop?

Six month ago – when the world economy looked significantly rosier – I posted an analysis of projected supply and demand for oil going forward to 2015. The analysis was based on the assumption of continued demand growth, continuing decline of old oil fields and expected new production from announced oil megaprojects. I adjusted the […]

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