E.P.A. Asks for Stricter Rules for Pollutants Causing Smog

WASHINGTON The Obama administration

What Is Peak Oil?

The concept of Peak Oil has been around for decades. But what is it? Some think it refers to the point when the world runs out of oil, after which there will be a global economic crisis and all hell will break loose. Others believe that peak oil is a thing of the past, something […]

Troubled times: A talk with James Howard Kunstler

Q. A label that sometimes Q. You

Fractal Adaptive Cycles in Natural and Human Systems

Adaptive cycles are the foundation of both natural ecological and human socio-economic systems, and have been investigated independently from very different perspectives by ecologists and financial analysts who have almost certainly never heard of each others’ work. It is interesting then to look at the strong correspondence of the self-similar hierarchical patterns, best described as […]

Rubin, Oil Rally Predictor, Sees $100 Crude in 2010

(Bloomberg) — Jeff Rubin, the former CIBC World Markets Inc. chief economist who accurately predicted oil

US breaks with 'drill anywhere' energy policy: official

WASHINGTON (AFP) “We believe we have to have a balanced, thoughtful approach that allows for the development of oil and gas resources but at the same time protects the treasured landscapes of America,” Salazar said. The new approach was in line with President Barack Obama’s commitment to develop US gas and oil stocks while also […]

China tightens grip on Kazakh gas

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, were liberal with their profuse eulogies such as a “milestone in Sino-Kazakh relations” and “an epoch-making event” after their talks in Astana on December 12. Hu had every reason to describe his official visit to Kazakhstan as a success. The two leaders signed three important […]

Russia, China, Iran redraw energy map

The inauguration of the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline on Wednesday connecting Iran’s northern Caspian region with Turkmenistan’s vast gas field may go unnoticed amid the Western media cacophony that it is “apocalypse now” for the Islamic regime in Tehran. The event sends strong messages for regional security. Within the space of three weeks, Turkmenistan has committed its […]

How much fuel do we use in a year?

Sketchup is a fantastic 3D modelling package that Google bought a few years ago. Having done a small amount of work on Swift and Maya, I found this tool immesurably simpler. This is how 3d interfaces should be done! The commands, whilst very different to common 3D packages, are all logical and started to come […]

Australian $90 billion gas megadeal with Japan

AUSTRALIA has cemented its biggest trade deal with a $90 billion agreement to export liquefied natural gas to Japan. The contract, signed on the eve of the international climate change conference in Copenhagen, comes as big Asian countries scramble to lock up long-term supplies of the low-emissions fuel. US oil giant Chevron announced on the […]

Chinese resources chief eyes Antarctica minerals

A DELEGATION of Chinese dignitaries, including a senior resources minister, flew into Casey Station in Antarctica yesterday to meet Australian officials. The Chinese contingent lunched with visiting Australian Antarctic and diplomatic officials before being taken by helicopter to their research icebreaker Xue Long, the Snow Dragon, moored in the nearby bay. The presence of the […]

EnviroMission Plans Massive Solar Updraft Towers for Arizon

Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a wind turbine to produce energy. The […]

Methane release 'looks stronger'

Scientists have uncovered what appears to be a further dramatic increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed. The findings come from measurements of carbon fluxes around the north of Russia, led by Igor Semiletov from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. “Methane release from the East Siberian Shelf […]

Our planet is now overstocked!

…In the long ago – as my uncle used to say, wars, famine and disease kept the population thinned out. Then, when and where overcrowding did occur there used always be a new virgin territory out there for a man, woman or family to go and find their own space. The vast continents of Australia […]

Study: Climate change means greater risk of catastrophic wildfire

Leading University of Montana researchers have released results of a new study that shows climate change will increase drought stress in northern Rocky Mountain forests, leading to increased potential for insect infestations and risk of more frequent and severe wildfires. The peer-reviewed study, conducted by UM forestry researchers, finds that longer periods of drought will […]

Benn unveils plan to boost UK food and 'grow your own'

Plans to boost food production in Britain and reduce its impact on the environment have been unveiled. The government’s 20-year food strategy includes making land available for people to grow their own food and more healthy cooking courses. Minister Hilary Benn said shoppers had led the push for free-range eggs and could do the same […]

Minnesota levies world's first carbon tariff…against North Dakota

The first carbon tax to reduce the greenhouse gases from imports comes not between two nations, but between two states. Minnesota has passed a measure to stop carbon at its border with North Dakota. To encourage the switch to clean renewable energy Minnesota plans to add a carbon fee of between $4 and $34 per […]

Do we need to say our prayers?

For millions of people in Africa, climate change is a reality, says Greig Whitehead. However, as he explains in this week’s Green Room, in religious nations such as Kenya, many believe that tackling global warming is beyond their control. Kenya is a deeply religious country. Christians, Muslims and Hindus alike assemble for regular and often […]

Cramped on Land, Big Oil Bets at Sea

Rising prices have spurred offshore exploration. By 2008, about 8% of global oil production came from deepwater fields. Yet even the biggest deepwater projects aren’t enough to put a dent in global supply problems on their own. The world’s largest deepwater platform, BP’s Thunder Horse in the Gulf of Mexico, produces 250,000 barrels of oil […]

Frontier cuts Cheyenne rates on poor economics

TORONTO (Reuters) – Frontier Oil expects to run its Cheyenne, Wyoming refinery at lower rates in January due to weak economic conditions and higher crude costs, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday. “The decline in the November/December light/heavy crude differentials increased our incentive to run a light crude slate, which limits our total capacity in Cheyenne,” […]

Miscanthus, a biofuels crop, can host western corn rootworm

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. …This interaction could be good or bad for corn growers, Spencer said. If the rootworms that grow up on Miscanthus carry genes that make them susceptible to transgenic corn or to insecticides used on corn and they mate with rootworm beetles in a cornfield, it could help slow development of resistance to insecticides […]

Study: US biofuels policies flawed

The United States needs to fundamentally rethink its policy of promoting ethanol to diversify its energy sources and increase energy security, according to a new policy paper by Rice University Jaffe is a fellow in energy studies at the Baker Institute and associate director of the Rice Energy Program. As an example of the unintended […]

The riskless investor

First, we Third, most people learned squat last year. Opportunity squandered. We came to the edge of the abyss, looked in, and realized we were vulnerable, unprepared, overextended and flaky. But once the moment of crisis abated, we shed plans to become self-sufficient, less indebted, more prudent and independent. Now we

Salazar to Toughen US Drilling Rules

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce Wednesday that his agency will require oil and natural-gas companies to clear more regulatory hurdles before they are allowed to drill on federal lands. Mr. Salazar’s action is likely to make it more difficult for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to fast-track the permitting of oil […]

Tipping Elements in the Earth System: How Stable Is the Contemporary Environment

ScienceDaily (Jan. 6, 2010) This Special Feature was designed and edited by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). It is meant to make a major contribution to the emerging field of sustainability science. The authors involved analyse altogether eight Earth System components. Three of them, the biggest dust source […]

Nuclear options: Nuclear power may be a

NASA climatologist James Hansen’s research into global warming has brought him fame Specifically, Hansen says, the Generation IV nuclear power plants now under development offer an alternative to burning coal that ought to be pursued, in this country and globally. Gen IV plants use far more of the nuclear fuel that they process than their […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: 2010

While our leaders and the media continue to tell us that we have turned an economic corner and that all will be well soon, the underlying data, for those willing to look, tell a far different story. Just as climate scientists debate the existence of a “tipping point”, beyond which rising global temperatures are uncontrollable, […]

New Year, Same Deal

It Doesn’t Take Nostradamus to Predict What Will (and Won’t) Happen This Year …On three distinct and yet interconnected fronts — environmentally, economically and culturally — population growth will increase its impact and threaten our planet, overwhelm our country and dramatically change our way of life. Compared to LBJ’s and Ho Chi Minh’s envoys infamous […]

Iraq Could (Emphasis on "Could") Delay Peak Oil a Decade

Iraq could delay peak oil a decade–with the emphasis on the could. I have been associated with the view that the stagnation of oil supply growth from late 2004 on was likely to be the onset of a “bumpy plateau” of oil production – that oil production would not go too much higher, although it […]

Heads in the Sand? Or, Why Don

Anyone aware of peak oil has had to wonder (at least briefly) why the world’s governments seem to be ignoring the issue. The official silence is difficult to fathom in light of the fact that the IEA has decidedly come down on the side of a likely peak by 2030, while Fatih Birol (the Agency’s […]

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