Peak Oil Warning

UK companies warn government against an impending oil supply crisis. A recent report from the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security warns that supplies of cheap, easily accessible oil will start to diminish by 2013. The industry lobby group,

The World Is Running Out of Fishing Grounds

An expanding world population is developing an increasing appetite for fish. And that’s a problem for both people and the fish. A study published Thursday indicates that the world’s fishing industry in running out of new ocean fishing grounds, and that is depleting older ones through unsustainable harvesting practices. The study was conducted by researchers […]

James Howard Kunstler on The Long Emergency

James Howard Kunstler on The Long Emergency

Peak Oil: The Coming Famine

Jim Puplava (FSN) interviews Julian Cribb about his book “The Coming Famine.” Recorded Dec 1, 2010

The age of cheap oil prices is over, comments IEA Chief

Global oil demand is set to hit a new record in 2011 (peak oil anybody?) and we maybe getting closer to waving goodbye to cheap oil prices, according to the IEA ahead of their December 2010 oil report. The Age Of Cheap Oil Over? “In terms oil markets, I believe the age of cheap oil […]

Robert Rapier Reviews The Impending World Energy Mess

I actually had low expectations for The Impending World Energy Mess by Robert L. Hirsch, Roger H. Bezdek, and Robert M. Wendling. Not because I thought Robert Hirsch and company would put out a sub-par book, but rather I have read so many peak oil books that I expected I would be covering entirely familiar […]

Slow Money: Reconnecting the Economy to Soil, Biodiversity and Food Quality

Civilization is a big idea. So is the idea that as soil goes, so goes civilization. So is the idea that as money goes, so goes the soil. We don’t need any more big ideas. We need small ideas. Beautiful ideas. Beautiful because they lead to a large number of beautiful, small actions — the […]

Declining energy quality could be root cause of current recession

The worst recessions of the last 65 years were preceded by declines in energy quality for oil, natural gas, and coal. Energy quality is plotted using the energy intensity ratio (EIR) for each fuel. Recessions are indicated by gray bars. In layman’s terms, EIR measures how much profit is obtained by energy consumers relative to […]

Obama’s attitude toward oil is deeply ideological

Never mind. That, in a nutshell, is the White House’s new position on domestic oil exploration. In March, President Obama announced that he would allow — or at least entertain – some new oil development off the Atlantic Coast and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This week he reversed himself, saying such exploration is […]

New threat to global food security as phosphate supplies become increasingly scarce

New threat to global food security as phosphate supplies become increasingly scarce 29 November 2010 A new report from the Soil Association reveals that supplies of phosphate rock are running out faster than previously thought and that declining supplies and higher prices of phosphate are a new threat to global food security. ‘A rock and […]

Billions at stake as BP disputes spill size

BP is challenging the government’s estimate that its damaged Macondo well gushed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer, adopting a strategy that could save it billions of dollars in federal fines for the offshore spill. The London-based oil giant, contending that the government’s numbers are “highly unreliable,” is poised […]

Growth can’t continue forever in finite world

It is true that the rate of population increase is in decline, but he failed to mention that population growth is still high, with 77 million added to the planet annually. That increase will result in 2 billion people being added over the next few decades before population can be stabilized. Since we already have […]

WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord

Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage. The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid […]

Peak Oil,Then Coal

When will production of oil and coal peak?  After the peak, production will decline because supplies are being depleted and no new sources are to be found.  Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.  Optimistic estimations […]

MIT finds new mode for fusion reactions

MIT’s taken a step closer to practical fusion power with a technique that removes the contaminants that slow fusion reactions. The team working on the Alcator C-Mod reactor – the highest-performance university-based fusion device in the world – has discovered a new set of operating parameters. These allow heat to be tightly confined within the […]

Who Were You?

A year or so ago, I read a book about the collapse of civilizations, and how some just vanished without a trace.  It puzzled me how that could happen among civilizations that were very advanced for their time.  As the peak oil discourse became more widespread, I began to see how that could happen even […]

Who Were You?

A year or so ago, I read a book about the collapse of civilizations, and how some just vanished without a trace.  It puzzled me how that could happen among civilizations that were very advanced for their time.  As the peak oil discourse became more widespread, I began to see how that could happen even […]

Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Begins to Set In

Delusional Mandates It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago, Congress mandated a massive increase in usage of cellulosic ethanol. This was remarkable, because no commercial cellulosic ethanol facilities even existed at the time. But people like Vinod Khosla were busy testifying before Congress that the only thing holding the industry […]

Video: Have you heard about Peak Oil?

A person well versed in our energy crisis discusses peak oil with a Fox News viewer.

Is Shale Gas Too Good to Be True?

Yesterday I participated in a webinar examining the sustainability aspects of the shale gas revolution. The online audience asked good, probing questions, and if there was a theme to them, it seemed to be that somehow the sudden abundance of natural gas resulting from a novel combination of shale-exploitation technologies–as well as the technologies themselves–must […]

Oil and the Economy: Why it is important to figure out approximately where we are headed

There seems to be a lot of conflict among folks attempting to make plans for the future. I think the basic cause is different views regarding where we are headed, and how fast changes may take place. The most popular view among the general public, including research scientists, is that growth will continue practically indefinitely. […]

Clean energy: Is it fact or fiction?

Canada’s Business News Network (BNN) talks to John Kingston, global director, news, Platts, about Platts’ annual global energy forum and the feasibility of clean energy. Click here to watch the video.

The Utter Futility of Reducing Carbon Emissions

The attempt to reduce human carbon dioxide emissions to control global warming is completely and utterly pointless and doomed to failure. Well, perhaps I should qualify that statement a bit. Reducing man made carbon dioxide emissions is completely and utterly pointless if your goal is to change the future climate. On the other hand if […]

Peak oil and the end of growth: we need to start planning now

A few weeks ago, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its World Energy Outlook 2010. The IEA is an organization established by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974. For the first time in its history, the IEA admitted that crude oil production (conventional oil) peaked in 2006 and will never ever […]

Peak Coal is Moving Closer Too

Those following the issue have known for years that peak oil was very close, but coal was always thought to be another issue entirely. Official estimates, made many years ago however, talked about 300 years’ worth of coal being left which to most of us is synonymous with “eons.” Neither we, nor our children, nor grandchildren, nor our great-grandchildren can expect to be around that long. […]

Obama to Order Massive New Offshore Drilling Ban

Obama administration officials will announce Wednesday afternoon they will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan, according to sources briefed on the plan, reversing two key policy changes President Obama announced in late March. During that […]

FOOD IN 2030: Eight billion mouths

It’s no coincidence that our atmosphere happens to have the right amount of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide for us to survive in: we, and all the living things on Earth, evolved jointly with the geological development of the planet. Humanity has, however, now reached the point where we, as a single species, are having […]

Opening Oil Exploration to the East Coast

The African Continent’s west coast has long been an oil rich haven for oil companies from the west to exploit, yet now with the continual discoveries of oil rich deposits in the east, companies are turning their attention to countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique to source large quantities of Africa’s oil reserve. With the […]

The top 10 survey: what were the biggest oil stories of 2010?

Platts’ annual survey of the Top 10 Energy Stories of 2010 is now open and will remain open until Christmas: The top 10 survey: what were the biggest oil stories of 2010? They listed about 40 stories; I pulled out a list below that I think is worth debating on inclusion in the Top 10. […]

Transition Voice Interview: James Howard Kunstler

In the so-called peak oil “community” converts to the predicament tend to gravitate toward a figure who tells the story in a way that makes sense for them. Whether it’s the measured and scholarly caution of Richard Heinberg, the “I’ve been there” stories of a Dmitry Orlov, the hopeful glean of Rob Hopkins, or the […]

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