Sufficient unto the day

“There is no reason for optimism,” said America’s first Secretary of Energy and former CIA director James Schlesinger at the ASPO-USA conference in Washington, DC today. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Based on his experience working for the only president who was honest with the American people about energy, Jimmy Carter, it’s […]

The Economist: Oil Problem

A weaker dollar does mean that Americans face higher prices at the pump. But the story of rising commodity prices, and rising prices for oil in particular, is about more than central bank action. The new issue of The Economist addresses the recent jump in crude: According to Goldman Sachs, world demand in the first […]

Racing Against Time: A Bright Future

Recently, I was approached by Honda to tackle the topic of “peak oil” in relation to the normal conversation on Jetson Green.  This site is devoted to green building innovation, and you may be thinking the subject of peak oil — specifically, the idea that oil is a finite resource — is a little tangential. […]

Crafting A Peak Oil “Narrative”

Today’s ASPO-USA conference in Washington, DC, is by far populated with people who support the idea that oil and gas supplies (or at least our ability to access them without serious environmental impacts) are peaking and that the results will prove both economically and socially disruptive. But among this group, almost all of the messaging […]

Oil Execs give Platts State of the Industry

The Oil Council is spreading its wings into the Americas, and it announced itself in a breakfast meeting with reporters Tuesday morning that covered a lot of ground. The group, which was described by its CEO Ross Campbell as a “community-based network of high-ranking oil and gas executives,” is holding the Energy Capital Assembly in […]

Has Texas passed the Peak?

I have already described my arrival in Houston and it is now time to summarise two days in the heart of the oil state Texas. My conviction that one cannot survive here without a car has been strengthened. While driving around I discovered that, certainly, there is a tram line that runs from north to […]

Chevron CEO: Oil, Gas, Coal Have ‘Predominant Role’ Long Term

Watson suggested that oil prices are likely to rise, not necessarily due to growing demand, but simply by the need to maintain current supply. Oil fields, by nature, decline over time, and replenishing the supply to address that decline is becoming increasingly expensive, he said. While Chevron is actively engaged in seeking out opportunities to […]

China and Russia Finally Tie the Knot

While US energy is mired in silly, ideologically imbued debates from the moratorium on offshore drilling to the outright preposterous environmentalists’ arguments on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, China and Russia initiated a geopolitical energy deal that will resonate for decades. During the last week in September Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry […]

Iraq’s new reserves buck ‘peak oil’ crisis

Iraq’s sharp upward revision of its oil reserves to 143.1 billion barrels, and the prospect that there’s much more to come, has cemented the country’s status as a long-term energy producer when researchers say global oil output is set to decline. The Oil Ministry’s announcement Monday raised Iraq’s known oil reserves by 24 percent, eclipsing […]

Study: Global warming, energy shortages, food scarcity and recession could cause industrial ‘failure’ in 10 years

New research warns that oil-based industrial civilization will not survive the 21st century, and calls for a ‘post-carbon industrial revolution’. In the first peer-reviewed study of its kind, a new report by the Institute for Policy Research & Development (IPRD) in London warns that abrupt climate change, energy shortages, food scarcities and economic turmoil could […]

Is Hydrocarbon Man the Next Terrorist Target? – Part II of III

When will terrorist cells attack Middle East pipelines? Attacks will begin when the petroleum infrastructure satisfies target criteria. The process of target selection is complicated and constantly undergoing change. Target selection in an armed conflict between states is a science and an art, and it is equally true for terrorist groups who select their targets […]

A stronger Sun actually cools the Earth

An increase in solar activity from the Sun actually cools the Earth, suggests new research that will renew the debate over the science behind climate change. The research overturns traditional assumptions about the relationship between the sun and global warming. Focused on a three-year snapshot of time between 2004 and 2007, the findings will be […]

Population growth is an age-old problem, get used to it

When it comes to questions of population, we are often instinctively pessimistic. Thomas Malthus, an early 19th century English philosopher, famously thought that unchecked population growth would lead to worldwide famine and disaster. Two hundred years later, Dick Smith runs a similar line. With images of natural disasters on our TV screens and traffic jams […]

NATO Supply Trucks in Pakistan Are Attacked Again

Oil tankers parked at refueling terminals have been set on fire several times since the border was closed by Pakistan. On Wednesday, the police said attackers set fire to eight tankers and killed a truck driver, The Associated Press reported. In the first attack, the Taliban claimed responsibility for burning the trucks as they moved […]

Want to conserve energy and resources? Stop wasting food

Supporting renewable and alternative sources of energy, recycling and driving your car less, are a few commonly-known and practical ways to improve the quality of the environment and conserve valuable resources. But a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has found that if Americans would simply stop wasting food, the nation […]

The Gas Cartel Idea: On the Road to Another OPEC?

As oil sees its image tarnished from the disastrous oil spills that took place off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Dalian, China, and as the most promising oil fields remain off limit to the Western oil majors, gas is gaining in popularity. Gas is present in large quantities […]

Israeli group signs deal to sell Dead Sea oil

Israel’s Zerah Oil and Gas Exploration said on Wednesday it would sell oil it had discovered near the Dead Sea to Oil Refineries for a six-month trial period. Delivery will begin immediately, it said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Zerah estimated that initially it would supply Israel’s largest refinery in Haifa […]

Work, Exergy, the Economy, Money, and Wealth

This is something of a tutorial on the relationship between energy and the economy. I have been dismayed by how often people express their lack of knowledge about that relationship. Such expressions come in the form of beliefs that money is what drives the economy. Or the belief that the human desire to accumulate monetary […]

Transition Voice Launches as First Magazine on Peak Oil

Inaugural issue of online publication features interviews with Matt Simmons and Rob Hopkins, and guest article by Dr. James Hansen Amidst a flurry of global activity in the last few months on the topic of peak oil, Transition Voice launched today as the first magazine devoted to the subject of oil and fossil fuel depletion […]

A Transportation Follow-Up

Ray LaHood, the Secretary for the Department of Transportation, recently noted on his own blog that in the course of his meetings with city officials at last week’s U.S. Conference of Mayors, their primary concern was about transportation (and infrastructure). These are the elected men and women closest to everyday life for Americans and the […]

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels

With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels. Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: […]

Kurt Cob: Is Venezuela the Next Flashpoint for Oil?

In the days of ample oil supplies a poorly managed nationalized oil industry or a hostile political regime just meant that exploration companies had reason to search for oil elsewhere. Now with 88 percent of the world’s oil reserves under the control of national oil companies and few good prospects for large finds available beyond […]

The Lifeboat Hour with Mike Ruppert

Mike Ruppert and I discuss many things, such as: That the ultimate commodity in which to invest is not gold or shotgun shells but people you can trust That the combination of energy scarcity and climate upheaval spells the end of industrial agriculture, so you better start growing your own That humans have evolved to […]

Cape Wind energy prices high, not competitive with other green projects

Prices for electricity from the Cape Wind energy project, the $2 billion offshore wind farm, may translate into businesses paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars more for energy, the Boston Herald reported Monday, noting that other renewable energy projects have more competitive prices. National Grid sees its commercial and industrial customers paying 1.9 percent […]

“Racing Against Time:” Running on Empty?

Welcome, Honda Motor visitors. I’m delighted to participate in this conversation.  I’m a clinical psychologist, got my doctoral degree 22 years ago, and I’ve been reading and answering letters from people who have learned about Peak Oil, started feeling crazy, and needed to talk to somebody who “got it.”  So they write to me.  Feel […]

A review of The Impending World Energy Mess, By Robert Hirsch, Roger Bezdek, and Robert Wendling

Five years ago Robert Hirsch headed the team that produced the first US government-sponsored report discussing the consequences of declining world oil production. The team which wrote the original report, Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, & Risk Management, is now out with a book that discusses the current state of the world energy […]

Oil Infrastructure and Terrorism – Part I

In light of the recent attacks by militants on tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops, the series that I am posting this week is especially timely. When we consider the dependence of the U.S. and the western world on the Middle East, the potential for terrorism on oil infrastructure looms as a large […]

Can natural gas keep China from destroying the world?

One of the strongest current global trends, as we’ve been discussing, is the world’s growing glut of natural gas. We are swimming in it, and yet more keeps coming. This has both financial and political implications. On the financial side, nations relying on gas income — Australia and Qatar among them — have years to […]

New Energy Web Portal Explains Topics in Plain Language

New Energy Web Portal Explains Topics in Plain Language Energy Explained, a new web portal launched today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), celebrates Energy Awareness Month with the most comprehensive energy education resource available from the U.S. Government. The site explains where gasoline comes from, what determines the price of electricity, how much […]

The Economic Collapse…

Posted by efarmer at peakoil.com, Sun Oct 03, 2010 4:42 pm I find fault with the notion that Americans are against intellectualism or afraid to learn new skills as a central theme to what is taking place. More to the point is that the practical experience over the last 20 years or so, as we […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy