The Peakist

In a world confronted with climate change, financial crisis and peak oil, this is the story of a highly individual response to the challenges ahead. Lloyd Morcom, a former oil man and ex hippy, has not only made radical changes in his own life, he’s also encouraging friends and neighbours in his small, rural home […]

$200 Oil Is Coming While We Waste a Perfectly Good Crisis

…The peaking of hydrocarbon supply is vital not just to our country The optimists dismissed the fact that oil prices reaching $147 a barrel had anything to do with constricting market fundamentals. Instead, they argued that lofty crude prices were merely a by-product of a weak dollar, hedge fund speculation, geopolitical trepidation, downstream log jams, […]

In Areas Fueled by Coal, Climate Bill Sends Chill

ST. LOUIS The house, built in 1953, has central air-conditioning to ward off the heat and humidity of Mississippi River summers, a double-door refrigerator, a washer and dryer, six televisions, three computers and an iron (

Striking French Workers Cut Output at Nuclear Plants

(Bloomberg) — Electricite de France SA, Europe Unions are demanding a 5 percent salary increase and one- time payment of 1,500 euros ($1,995) for all of France

What will global warming look like? Scientists point to Australia

Drought, fires, killer heat waves, wildlife extinction and mosquito-borne illness — the things that climate change models are predicting have already arrived there, they say. Reporting from The Murray-Darling Basin, Australia — Frank Eddy pulled off his dusty boots and slid into a chair, taking his place at the dining room table where most of […]

The Future of Oil Prices

As Matt Simmons points out: oil is not just another commodity. For industrial societies oil is as basic as food and water. ThatMany analysts suggest that the price of oil will rise sharply after the peak. They predict that one barrel of oil may cost 280 USD, 350 USD or even 600 USD. Speaking strictly […]

Oil tanker companies may be in trouble if OPEC raises cuts

BANGALORE (Reuters) – Any further output cuts by OPEC, coupled with an expected increase in vessels in 2009, may dampen the oil tanker companies’ ability to hold on to higher freight rates, denting their earnings potential in the coming quarters. OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil supply fell in March, for the seventh […]

Pemex May Squeeze Extra 3 Billion Barrels From Cantarell Field

April 8 (Bloomberg) — Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil company, may recover an extra 3 billion barrels from its Cantarell field, or 20 percent more than planned, by using a technology that extracts hard-to-reach crude. Pemex would inject so-called liquid foam to draw out oil from Cantarell The company

Aerosols May Drive a Significant Portion of Arctic Warming

A new study, led by climate scientist Drew Shindell of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, used a coupled ocean-atmosphere model to investigate how sensitive different regional climates are to changes in levels of carbon dioxide, ozone, and aerosols. The researchers found that the mid and high latitudes are especially responsive to […]

Scientific surprise over water-hungry ethanol

ST. PAUL, MN Researcher Sangwon Suh and colleagues point out in the study that annual bioethanol production in the United States currently is about 9 billion gallons, and they note that experts expect it to increase in the near future. WaterTech Online The report: ACS Publications

Ethanol adds 0.5-0.8 points to U.S. food prices

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The boom in corn-based ethanol as motor fuel added from 0.5-0.8 percentage points to U.S. food prices when they were climbing at double the usual rate, said the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday. In a report, CBO said larger use of ethanol drove up feed prices for cattle, hogs and poultry and, […]

Biofools

Farming biofuels produces nitrous oxide. This is bad for climate change MANY people consider the wider use of biofuels a promising way of reducing the amount of surplus carbon dioxide (CO2) being pumped into the air by the world Theory, though, does not always translate into practice, and just as governments have committed themselves to […]

Advanced biofuels roundup

With the economy tanking, federal officials are turning toward green energy as an economic and financial savior, and new biofuels are appearing increasingly attractive to legislators and industry for a number of reasons. More than a year ago, Congress passed a law requiring dramatic increases in biofuel production, ramping up national production from 8.5 billion […]

Salazar stresses balance in offshore development

NEW ORLEANS (AP) In keeping with Obama’s pledge to be more environmentally conscious than the Bush administration, Salazar also emphasized the need to balance environmental and economic interests. “It seems to me that we may be at the point of time to bring those two things together,” Salazar said. “We will find the right balance,” […]

Oil contango may linger, inflate stockpiles

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – A big premium for long-dated U.S. crude futures may linger until the economy recovers, causing oil stockpiles to swell further by making it more profitable for traders to buy oil for storage. Oil prices for prompt delivery have risen nearly 40 percent since mid-February to around $50 a barrel, but remain […]

Economy to delay new oil projects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A weak global economy and the policy shift in the United States toward renewable energy will lead companies to cancel oil projects, a trend particularly worrisome to Saudi Arabia, analysts and economists told an energy conference on Wednesday. With oil falling from the peak of $147 a barrel last July to around […]

Bill McKibben: The fierce urgency of now

Yes, windmills and dams deface the landscape but the climate crisis demands immediate action Watching the backlash against clean energy projects build in Canada has moved me to think about what Americans have learned from facing this same problem. I have been thinking and writing for several years about overcoming conflict-avoidance and the importance of […]

GM sales in China jump 24.6%

The ailing U.S. automaker sold 137,004 vehicles in March as China’s stimulus package supported demand. SHANGHAI (Reuters) — General Motors Corp said on Wednesday its China sales in March rose 24.6% from a year earlier to 137,004 vehicles, setting a company record for monthly sales as China’s stimulus policies bolstered the market. GM (GM, Fortune […]

Obama looks at climate engineering

WASHINGTON “It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.” Holdren outlined several “tipping points” involving global warming that could be fast approaching. Once such milestones are reached, such as complete loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic, it increases chances of “really […]

Honda's Homebrewed Natural Gas Maker Goes Under

Fuelmaker Corporation, the Honda-owned company that manufactures the Phill home-based compressed natural gas fueling station for the automaker’s Honda Civic GX sedan, has gone into bankruptcy, according to NGV Global. The report said that the move raises questions about the viability of compressed natural gas vehicles in America, especially given that the GX was the […]

Oil, Gas May

(Bloomberg) — The credit crunch will keep U.S. oil and gas producers from ramping up exploration they do through drillers such as Nabors Industries Ltd., setting the stage for shortages and surging prices when demand recovers. Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. are among producers spending no more than their cash flow […]

Santa Barbara County reverses oil drilling stand

LOS ANGELES, Calif. The resolution, which will be sent to President Barack Obama and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is largely symbolic because the board lacks authority to allow or prevent drilling. However, drilling critics said the vote was timely because the Department of Interior is scheduled to discuss oil and gas leasing next week. Assemblyman Pedro […]

We the People: Running on Empty

Much of the world already knows that it is possible to live without oil, but that it is impossible to live without water. That reality is dawning upon people across the US as the country faces unprecedented water shortages. On the Texas side of the Rio Grande Basin there are Americans forced to live without […]

Stalagmites reveal rapid sea level change

Ancient stalagmites from a submerged Italian cave have revealed sea level rises caused by global warming more than 200,000 years ago, according to a joint European-Australian study. The finding, which appears in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests the current melting of ice sheets may happen faster than expected. Their publication adds weight to the release […]

Thomas L. Friedman: Show Us the Ball

I am really encouraged by President Obama Advocates of cap-and-trade argue that it is preferable to a simple carbon tax because it fixes a national cap on carbon emissions and it

U.N. climate talks threaten our survival: Saudi Arabia

BONN, Germany (Reuters) – United Nations climate talks threaten Saudi Arabia’s economic survival and the kingdom wants support for any shift from fossil fuels to other energy sources such as solar power, its lead climate negotiator said. Contrasting interests of different countries are challenging faltering climate talks, meant to forge by December a new global […]

Shippers Taking It Slow in Bad Times

As Volume Drops, Moeller-Maersk Scales Back on Fuel, Napkins and Canal Passages ABOARD THE EUGEN MAERSK, IN THE NORTH SEA — On an early afternoon last month, the Eugen Maersk has left Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on the tail end of a journey from Shanghai. But the giant freighter is cruising at 10 knots, well shy […]

Time to Deliver: No Turning Back, Part I

Terrance’s last post heroically set out and engaged the two dominant scenarios about the American future that progressives seem to be wrestling with right now. These two scenarios might be described as: 1) Permanent Decline — Due to Americans’ native hyperindividualism, political apathy, and overweening willingness to accept personal blame for their country’s failures, the […]

Tankers anchor off Devon waiting for oil prices to rise

Almost a dozen oil tankers carrying millions of litres of oil and gas have anchored off the British coast because the cargo’s owners are waiting for prices to rise. Fully-loaded ships began to arrive days ago and by yesterday the total had risen to 10. The oil and gas tankers are now at anchor in […]

Shell Said to Limit U.K. Gasoline Sales After Fault

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc is limiting gasoline sales from the U.K. Shell

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