The U.S. Military Targets Fossil Fuel Addiction

The U.S. military uses more energy than any single organization in the world, at a cost of $15 billion a year for operations across the globe, with almost all those dollars going to fuel costs. But that dependence has a human cost. More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers or contractors have been killed or wounded in […]

The New Austerity and the EROI Squeeze

The government of Michigan has shut down thanks to a $5 billion budget gap. Wisconsin public employees have been de-unionized so their salaries and benefits can be cut to close a budget gap. New Jersey just missed shutting down as a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor agreed that austerity cuts are needed (though there’s […]

The Long Emergancy

A Song inspired by Jim Kunstlers book of the same name,and also by the writings of Richard Heinberg,Dimitir orlov and Mike Ruppert;Peak oil Blues!

Failure and Heroism at the IEA

On June 23rd, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the US government announced the intention to tap strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) of the US and other countries, with an eye to reducing oil prices. The US was to provide 30 million barrels (mb) and other countries a similar amount, for a total draw of 60 […]

Rwanda seeks more energy as economy idles

The East African has a report on the development of a range of renewable energy projects in Rwanda, including hydro, geothermal power and gas from the great lakes – Rwanda seeks more energy as economy idles. Rwanda is set to double its energy production in the next one year by tapping into geothermal, solar and […]

Will Sheep Dogs Return for Post-Peak Oil Farming?

As a kid growing up in England, I occasionally used to catch a glimpse of a show called “One Man and His Dog” on TV. It was, essentially, competition sheep herding. At the time it seemed like a rather quaint, even absurd, throw back to a bygone era. Now I am not so sure. At […]

The World at 7 Billion: Can We Stop Growing Now?

With global population expected to surpass 7 billion people this year, the staggering impact on an overtaxed planet is becoming more and more evident. A two-pronged response is imperative: empower women to make their own decisions on childbearing and rein in our excessive consumption of resources. Demographers aren’t known for their sense of humor, but […]

Kunstler: The Amazing Dissolving Nation

Going broke fast is a very compelling problem. For ordinary people it tends to induce chicken-with-no-head syndrome – a mad burst of pointless locomotion ending in sudden collapse. If the US debt ceiling is raised – which I think is a 90 percent bet – there will be a sigh of relief that resounds from […]

Peak oil now More About Demand Than Supply

We have all seen the headlines stating boldly that we will sooner or later face a crisis with the supply of oil unable to meet the demand.  A new study in “peak oil” is going to question this theory and investigate whether we should not actually start to think of “Peak oil demand.” As the […]

Inflationistas vs. Deflationistas: What Does CPI and PPI Tell Us?

Inflationistas are probably confounded by Friday’s Consumer Price Index report that showed a decline of 0.2% in June. The report pins the decline, the first since June 2010, on falling energy costs. As a large component of CPI it: declined 4.4 percent in June, the largest decline since December 2008. The gasoline index, which fell […]

Fossil fuels can’t save Japan from power shortage

Japan would face a serious electricity shortage if all its 54 nuclear reactors stopped operating, since the country would be unable to bridge the gap with just fossil fuel, the Japan Center for Economic Research said in a report. Disagreement within the government on how to handle public anxiety about nuclear power plant safety and […]

Low fertility rate a serious warning to China’s population prpblem

The theme of this year’s World Population Day, “the world at 7 billion,” had an unclear message. Instead of giving a complex assessment of global demographic issues, it focused on the number the world population is expected to exceed later this year – 7 billion. According to the sixth national census conducted last year, China’s […]

What is Europe’s Energy Future?

To keep the lights on Europe needs a trillion Euros of energy investments in the next decade alone. See where all that money will go, according to Philip Lowe, head of the European Commission’s energy department. Europe’s energy future hangs in the balance. Fossil fuel resources are becoming scarce, nuclear power is more controversial than […]

Remaking Our World

It is just over two years since the leaders of countries representing over 80 percent of global GDP and world trade and some two thirds of the global population, stood with their backs to the wall at the G20 meeting in London and acted in unison to prevent a catastrophic implosion of the global economy. […]

Less energy is better

I now make it a staple of my public talks on energy to ask who in the audience has been to Europe. Usually many hands rise. I then explain that Americans seem to love to get on a jet plane, cross the Atlantic, and spend time in a theme park called Europe where good meals […]

Charting America’s Brief Trip In And Out Of Austerity… And Onward To Complete Disaster

One of the “positive” side-effects of the Treasury’s plundering of retirement accounts is that total US debt in June actually declined for the first time since January 2010, dropping by $1.6 billion from the May 31 closing print of $14.344 trillion. No doubt this was predicated by the US Treasury officially breaching the debt ceiling […]

Bold new approach to wind ‘farm’ design may provide efficiency gains

Conventional wisdom suggests that because we’re approaching the theoretical limit on individual wind turbine efficiency, wind energy is now a mature technology. But California Institute of Technology researchers revisited some of the fundamental assumptions that guided the wind industry for the past 30 years, and now believe that a new approach to wind farm design—one […]

Former CIA Official: Israel Will Bomb Iran In September

The Israeli security establishment is increasingly worried by Netanyahu’s bellicose stance towards Iran A longtime CIA officer who spent 21 years in the Middle East is predicting that Israel will bomb Iran in the fall, dragging the United States into another major war and endangering US military and civilian personnel (and other interests) throughout the […]

War Game Exposes Grim Reality: Few Oil Crisis Options

The Oil Shockwave simulation event poses a hypothetical but very feasible scenario: What if there were a serious, crippling disruption to the world’s oil supply? Terrorists strike the world’s largest oil production facility in Saudi Arabia, sending global oil prices skyward: What should the U.S. president do? For three hours Wednesday, a group of former […]

Fracking Rules Could Allow Drilling Near New York City Water Supply Tunnels

The latest draft of guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York could open the door to drilling within 1,000 feet of aging underground tunnels that carry water to New York City—a far cry from the seven-mile buffer once sought by city officials. The draft environmental impact statement, released last week by state officials, is a crucial […]

Americans Have Become So Desperate That They Will Do Just About Anything For Money

The following are 15 examples that show many Americans have become so desperate that they will do just about anything for money…. #1 In Utah, one unemployed 28 year old man is offering to be “human prey” for hunters for the bargain price of $10,000.  For an additional $2,000, he will let people hunt him […]

Iraq May Increase Proven Crude Reserves by 21% With Kurdish Oil

Iraq may raise its proven oil reserves by 21 percent after adding those from the semi- autonomous Kurdish region, Hussain al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister for energy affairs, said today. Iraq’s oil reserves may increase to 173 barrels by adding 30 billion barrels of Kurdish oil, al-Shahristani said in a speech to ambassadors at the Foreign […]

$76 Trillion: UN’s Cost of “Going Green” Soars

Last time I was there, the UN HQ was still based on New York’s east-side. As of July 5 when it published its innocuous sounding World Economic and Social Survey 2011, there is increasing evidence it may have floated away on the East River, took a left at Spielberg’s Dreamworks studios and is now circling […]

Bermuda sets out goals of national energy policy

Bermuda is positioning itself as a leader among small island nations in finding greener ways of energy production, Environment Minister Walter Roban said today. Mr Roban said: “The primary threat to energy security in Bermuda is the impending threat of peak oil — the time at which the world’s production of oil peaks and thereafter […]

Latin America holds one fifth of world’s oil

Venezuela’s reserves rise to 297 billion barrels with heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt and Brazil’s capacity is growing. Fossil fuels are an energy source condemned by environmentalists, but do not appear to be on the way out in Latin America and the Caribbean, given the rise in the region’s proven oil reserves in recent […]

Future of electric cars hinges on better batteries

Electric cars are a game-changing technology with an Achilles’ heel — the battery. Current batteries are expensive and have limited range, making it hard to drive from San Jose to San Francisco and back without stopping to recharge. Experts agree consumers will never fully embrace electric vehicles until they can travel as far as a […]

Inflation On the Rise

High inflation, driven by strong energy and food prices, undermined economic activity in first quarter, with growth slowing sharply to a 1.9 percent annual rate after a brisk 3.1 percent expansion in the final three months of 2010. The economy is believed to have grown by between 1.5 percent and 2 percent in the second […]

Global fertility dropping dramatically as UN celebrates World Population Day

World  Population Day was celebrated yesterday, as it has been every year since 1989. Propaganda spewed from the United Nations and other “green” organizations tell us that our carbon footprint needs to be reduced, we are having too many children, and our energy consumption needs to be cut in half. This propaganda is for the […]

Perfect Uncertainty and a Movement Maturing – Transition Conference road trip 2011

I’m sitting on a plane from the UK to California, taking lots of long slow breaths, feeling tired but inspired from a 12-day trip that feels like I plugged my finger into the sun. Of course mindful breathing also helps when surrounded by a sea of disposable plastic items that comes in addition to the […]

Japan power sector oil demand may triple

apan’s demand for crude and oil products to fuel power plants could triple if the country shuts all its nuclear reactors due to growing public safety concerns after the March earthquake and tsunami. The country’s energy policy was left in tatters after the quake caused by the worst nuclear accident in 25 years. Japan had […]

« 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