Inured to Apocalypse

As many of you know, I spent ten years in the ministry, a central tenet of which was the belief in the Apocalypse as supposedly prophesied in the Bible, ending in the Last Judgement. It’s a view shared not only by many Christians, but even by some Islamic fundamentalists, as well. But the concept of […]

Kunstler: Punked World

Europe is a three-card monte game and Greece is the pea and for the moment I’d guess that the pea is under a walnut shell called France. Or the French banks, to be specific. Their vaults are stuffed with Greek bond paper that is giving the whole neighborhood a headache from a stench like unto […]

Did We Hit Peak iPads Already?

The whole world worries about hitting peak oil. That’s the point where oil consumption will outpace production until the end of time, digging into reserves instead of building them. All good things must end, you know. Today, JPMorgan theorizes that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) might have hit a similar peak for the iPad. Inventing a […]

7 billion reasons to tackle population explosion

Happy birthday, seven billionth human on Earth, wherever you are. Not that there will be much of a party on or around Oct. 31, the due date predicted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Not if you’re born, statistically anyway, where expected: the poorest parts of India, or perhaps Africa. That’s where you’ll find […]

Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak Creates Mile-Long Sheen

Apache Corp. (APA) said an oil leak aboard a Gulf of Mexico platform created a sheen on the water that spread for one mile (1.6 kilometer). The well beneath Apache’s South Cameron 49 installation was shut after discovery of the leak, which began about 10 a.m. local time yesterday, according to a filing with the […]

Follow China’s Richest Man to Canada’s Tar Sands

A lot. Chinese companies are stampeding into Alberta and spending billions to get their paws on oil sands deposits. In just the last 18 months, Chinese companies have spent $15 BILLION. Sinopec of China spent $4.65 billion to buy ConocoPhillips’ 9% stake in Syncrude Canada Ltd., the world’s biggest oil sands producer. A few months […]

The upside of economic worries: Lower gas prices

Soaring gasoline prices are in the rearview mirror. For the first time in months, retail gasoline prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in places, including parts of Michigan, Missouri and Texas. And the relief is likely to spread thanks to a sharp decline in crude-oil prices. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is […]

Roubini and Soros Say The U.S. Already in A Double Dip Recession and Warn of Uprising

Dr. Doom Roubini has grown even more pessimistic since he put a 60% probability of a U.S. double dip in 2012 just about three weeks ago.  Business Day reported that speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg on Sep. 20, Roubini now says, ”The US is already in a recession although it will not admit it.” and […]

China considers policy shift to boost shale gas

China may treat shale gas as separate from conventional hydrocarbons to encourage companies outside of state-owned industry to invest, government officials said on Sunday. It may also offer pricing and other incentives across the industry to further to tap the potentially huge resource. A handful of state-run energy majors now dominate the sector in China […]

Kurt Cobb: Ignoring Daniel Yergin

It would be hard for the average person to understand why the vague ramblings of the world’s foremost energy cornucopian, the sweet, smiling, even-tempered Daniel Yergin, could stir up so much antipathy. The typical inhabitant of planet Earth has never even heard of this man and remains blissfully unaware of the dangers of fossil fuel […]

Rob Hopkins: Making The Red Pill Taste Good

Rob Hopkins is a true pioneer of the movement to intelligently prepare and adapt society for entering a post-Peak Oil future. His brainchild, Transition Towns, has been one of the most successful initiatives to date in inspiring hundreds of cities, towns, and communities around the globe towards using local cooperation and interdependence to shrink their […]

The U.S. Military’s Sustainability Strategy

For those of you who did not know, our military spends a lot of money to support itself. One of its biggest expenses is its huge appetite for energy. Specifically, according to Colonel Dan Nolan, “The DOD is the world’s largest oil consumer,” accounting for 25% of the globe’s consumption. Due to that need for […]

Is natural gas ‘fracking’ responsible for the recent earthquake swarms in strange locations?

The natural gas industry and its advocates claim that hydraulic fracturing, the modern technique for extracting natural gas, also known as “fracking,” is beneficial to the interests of American energy independence. However, a simple report recently issued by KARK 4 News in Little Rock, Ark., suggests that fracking operations, which involve pumping large amounts of […]

Sep Updates on Greenland’s Ice

The NYT’s Dot Earth blog has an update on Greenland’s melting ice – Updates on Greenland’s Ice. New research on the dynamics of Greenland’s ice sheets complicates efforts to forecast sea level rise in this century, as the Green Blog reports. Expanding fields of crevasses appear to be limiting the flow of water to the […]

Developments show demise of oil greatly exaggerated

Oil, the other stuff that made the state’s energy fortunes, was on the decline here and elsewhere. Discussions about reaching a “peak oil” summit were taken quite seriously. Meantime, new gas discoveries — and increased use of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in shale formations — were putting more attention on gas than on oil. […]

Food becoming driving force of world political affairs

The recent outbreak of famine in Somalia, which has caused numerous deaths and the flow of thousands of refugees to neighboring countries, has put the food factor at the heart of world political debate. Talking to Sunday’s Zaman, European Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış said that in the face of an increasing population, water scarcity and […]

Don’t Peak: On Ill-Considered Peak Oil Debates

Daniel Yergin’s peak oil commentary in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal has set the econoblogosphere to chattering, or at least those of us in the energy corner. In addition to the clash of the titans, i.e. James Hamilton’s “More thoughts on peak oil” rejoinder to Yergin, the mere mortals are going at it, too. Michael […]

What If The World Population Doesn’t Stabilize At 10bn?

In a mere half-century, the number of people on the planet has soared from 3 billion to 7 billion, placing us squarely in the midst of the most rapid expansion of world population in our 50,000-year history — and placing ever-growing pressure on the Earth and its resources. But that is the past. What of […]

Peak Oil: Just a Myth?

This is an important question for energy investors. And I am one who started asking it after reading the essay “There Will Be Oil” from last weekend’s Wall Street Journal. Daniel Yergin, the author, is a noted expert in the field, having written several books on oil and consulted on its dynamics at some of […]

Peak Oil – Futurist Glen Hiemstra with James Kunstler

Futurist Glen Hiemstra, Founder of Futurist.com, interviews author James Howard Kunstler in 2008. This is the full interview, previously available on YouTube in 3 parts. They discuss Mr. Kunstler’s 2008 novel, World Made by Hand. The interview explores the unwinding of the oil age and what it might mean to civilization. Mr. Kunstler, one of […]

The new focus on Chinese renewable energy, often in a negative light

In recent years US and European clean-energy companies have rushed to cash in on China’s renewables boom, selling solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines as fast as Chinese authorities could erect them. Now that relationship has turned sour, as Western companies complain that China is unfairly subsidizing its domestic renewables industry and stealing technology. For instance, when […]

Pic pétrolier : Laherrère répond à Yergin

Jean Laherrère, ancien expert de Total et co-fondateur de l’Association pour l’étude du pic pétrolier, désosse la dernière analyse du champion des “optimistes”, l’Américain Daniel Yergin. Daniel Yergin est de retour. L’auteur de The Prize, une histoire du pétrole qui fait aujourd’hui référence, toute à la gloire de l’industrie, a publié la semaine dernière une […]

Coast to Coast : 2011.09.21 – Peak Oil – Saudi Arabia & 911

Coast To Coast AM Peak Oil / Saudi Arabia & 9/11 Date: 09-21-11 Host: George Noory Guests: Richard Heinberg, Craig Hulet [Quick Info] In the first half of the program, leading educator on Peak Oil, the point at which we reach maximum global oil production, Richard Heinberg, will talk about the devastating impact it will […]

Does Peak Oil Really Matter?

“Peak Oil” is a theory that posits a secular rise in oil prices due to a decrease in global oil production at the same time that global demand is rising. In this essay I will not focus on the question of whether Peak Oil theory has any merit. The problem that I will focus on […]

Peak Oil Debunked

Daniel Yergin’s new book is a valuable guide to how energy drives the world’s economy. The timing of Daniel Yergin’s new book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, could hardly be better. With oil prices remaining high, with new sources of natural gas and oil being exploited around the world, […]

Collapse of the Titans

Peak Moment 202: Learn from the Soviets – personal relationships are the best currency, says Russian-born Dmitry Orlov, the author of “Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects.” The American empire is following the USSR into collapse, he asserts, with financial collapse happening first, followed by commercial and then political collapse. Dmitry, an America […]

IEO 2011: A Misleadingly Optimistic Energy Forecast by the EIA

The EIA published International Energy Outlook 2011 (IEO 2011) on September 19, showing energy projections to 2035. One summary stated, “Global Energy Use to Jump 53%, largely driven by strong demand from places like India and China.” It seems to me that this estimate is misleadingly high. The EIA is placing too much emphasis on […]

There Will Be Peak Oil

In his book The Prize, Daniel Yergin showed how elegantly he can describe oil’s history. In his article in the WSJ, “”There will be Oil,“Yergin has shown once again that he is a master of this discipline and this time he concentrates on M. King Hubbert and that scientist’s world famous Hubbert peak. Yergin aired […]

Marcellus Shale Reserves “Only” 43 TCF …

On August 23, 2011, the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) submitted 84 trillion cubic feet (84 TCF) as their estimate for undiscovered, recoverable natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, located primarily in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.  Additionally, they believe 3.4 billion barrels of natural gas liquids will accompany that 84 TCF. (for reference, […]

John Michael Greer: Clarke’s Fallacy

When I commented last week that I was going to have to discuss the intersection of peak oil and magic, I had a pretty fair idea what the immediate response would be, and that duly followed. Before the metaphorical ink on the post was dry, people were already popping up on the peak oil blogosphere […]

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