The Peak Oil Denial Train Rolls On

Claiming there is an oil limit on the economy and why peak oil is inevitable is usually talked down by saying its an unsure theory at best, and controversial, fear mongering or defeatist at worst. The totally simple numbers which prove it are however not Einstein-type mathematics and are not impossible to understand – – […]

3rd Massive Natural Gas Field Discovered near Israel

An American-Israeli drilling consortium on Sunday announced the discovery of a new Mediterranean natural gas field about 120 km northwest of the Haifa coast. The Noble Energy-Delek Group said in a statement that the find lies beneath 5,500 meters of sand and water, in 40-meter thick gas- bearing strata, according to the Globes business daily. […]

Al Gore: Antarctic Glaciers and the Global Water Crisis

Today, our journey takes us to Neko Harbor, one of the prime locations in this region to view glaciers. These towering walls of ice are a majestic sight, and a humbling reminder of the fragility of the natural systems that human beings depend upon for life as we know it. As we began our journey, […]

Argentina to demand oil, gas fields run at full output

Argentina will demand that oil companies in the country operate oil and gas fields at full output, state news agency Telam said on Saturday, a day after the government cut $461 million in annual tax breaks for big fuel firms amid wider austerity. President Cristina Fernandez’ government blames private sector oil companies for the country’s […]

How will Denmark react to peak oil?

This morning I awoke before the sun had risen and, having made myself a cup of tea, turned on the local news to see if anything interesting had happened. The newsreaders were in a state of mild excitement because the night had been the coldest in 26 years. Yes, outside my window it was a […]

Americans talk about an Israeli strike on Iran, but prepare own offensive

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has been outspoken about a possible Israeli offensive against Iran taking place as of April and one American TV channel theorized simplistically Friday, Feb. 3, about Israel’s tactics. At the same time, no US source is leveling on the far more extensive American, Saudi, British, French and Gulf states’ preparations […]

Tech Talk – the oil and natural gas in Eastern Siberia

In the last post on Russian oil production I discussed the amounts of oil that have been produced from Western Siberia, the region that currently produces the most, and which in its prime contained the second largest producing oilfield in the world at Samotlor. But those fields are now in decline, and while modern technology […]

Mexican Oil Rig Evacuated After Almost Collapsing

An oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico was evacuated yesterday after a support leg failed, causing it to almost collapse, Tribuna reported. Workers stabilized the Ocean Yorktown rig, which was performing drilling and maintenance work in the Abkatum Pol Chuc production area, the newspaper reported on its website. None of the 95 people […]

Will Peak Oil Spell the End of Capitalism?

Capitalism will end when oil runs out, according to Fleeing Vesuvius, a collection of essays first published in Ireland in 2010. The US and New Zealand editions came out in mid-2011. The basic theme of Fleeing Vesuvius, which is aimed at the growing sustainability movement, is TEOTWAWI (The End of the World as We Know […]

Peak oil: Global tipping point already passed

Sourced from the Australian ABC’s PM program as a free download, from: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3417345.htm

Iran will cut oil exports to some European countries

Iran’s oil minister said that the Islamic state would certainly cut its oil exports to “some” European countries, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday. “Our oil exports will certainly be cut to some European countries … We will decide about other European countries later,” Fars quoted Rostam Qasemi as telling a news conference. […]

Raising the Efficiency of Solar Cells

There’s a cottage industry in solar research involving the manipulation of quantum dots. Solar cells using these tiny particles of semiconductors are much less expensive to produce than traditional ones, because they can be made using simple chemical reactions. And scientists for a number of years now have been drawn to their ability to harvest […]

Michael Lynch: The Unfounded Fear of the ‘Peak Oil’ Monster

Michael Lynch is the president and director of global petroleum service at Strategic Energy & Economic Research. Another article has appeared in Nature magazine that argues that the world has entered a period of ‘peak oil,’ and it is more illuminating as to the nature than the content of the debate. The authors are James […]

Foss on Peak Oil and Alternative Energy

Nicole Foss (who writes as Stoneleigh on TheAutomaticEarth website) offers as deep, well-informed and humane a perspective on our economic future and the lifestyle changes it will require as you’ll find anywhere.

What is a Smart Species Like Us Doing in a Predicament Like This?

A Paradox Many years ago I believed, as do most people today, that intelligence was the key to solving all of mankind’s problems (read: innovation, assumed by technocornucopians to overcome all problems). I spent no small amount of my life pursuing understanding of what intelligence is, and how the brain produces the abilities to solve […]

Forever Planting (for Peak Oil & Climate Change)

We depend utterly on fossil fuels, especially to grow our food. From natural gas comes the millions of tons of fertilizers. Oil provides herbicides and pesticides. All is planted and harvested with oil power, driven, shipped or flown to your table. For now. Until fossil fuels become too expensive, too rare, too polluting to use. […]

Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels

In 2005, while teaching history at a French university, I was struck by the general disbelief among students that rational and sensitive human beings could ever hold others in bondage. Slavery was so obviously evil that slave-holders could only have been barbarians. My students could not entertain the idea that some slave-owners could have been […]

U.S. gasoline heads for “epic summer”

Refinery outages in the U.S. and Europe and lower U.S. crude prices will support U.S. gasoline refining margins and enable traders to profit from rising U.S. gasoline futures, said Seth Kleinman, global head of energy strategy at Citi. “U.S. gasoline looks fantastic – it is heading for an epic summer,” said Kleinman, speaking at the […]

Iran warns of retaliation over oil sanctions

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday Iran would retaliate over Western-backed oil sanctions and any threat of attack, after U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was cited as saying he feared a possible Israeli strike as early as April. Khamenei’s defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the […]

Indian works on track for world’s first fusion reactor

India, one of the seven participating countries, is keeping pace with the development work assigned to it as part of the joint project to produce energy from fusion, using deuterium and tritium, the two hydrogen isotopes, as fuel at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), said project director of India-ITER Shishir Deshpande. The reactor is […]

The solution to peak oil

Peak oil is not a theory, it is a fact. Although we cannot be sure of exactly when demand will outstrip supply, the fact that oil is a finite resource means that it will happen. Sooner rather than later. If humanity is going to survive with any dignity we will need to transition back to […]

Shell Reveals New Growth Agenda for 2012

Royal Dutch Shell provided an update Thursday on progress against its strategic plan to generate profitable growth. The firm said that in today’s volatile economic environment, the company’s strategic aim remains to drive forward with its investment program as well as to deliver sustainable growth and provide competitive returns to shareholders. Shell’s key highlights were: […]

Economics alone should drive countries away from crude oil

In the latest issue of Nature, two scientists take peak oil head-on, analyzing crude oil production over the past several decades and conjecturing where it is headed. And the top line? Worldwide oil production is in decline, and commonly cited replacements — new oil sources, coal, natural gas, and tar sands — won’t be able […]

Peak oil – it’s history, right?

Peak oil – it’s history, right? Everything has changed so fast. Two years ago, the world was facing an intractable oil crisis. “By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear,” the U.S. Defence Department declared in a major report. “A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity.” […]

John Michael Greer: The Recovery of the Human

The myth of the machine, the theme of last week’s Archdruid Report post, has implications that go well beyond the usual terms of discussion in the peak oil scene. One of those implications, which I mentioned briefly last week, unfolds from the way that so many people who are concerned about peak oil fixate obsessively […]

Russian Crude Oil Output Climbs to Post-Soviet Record in January

Russian oil production rose 0.4 percent in January from the previous month, setting a post- Soviet record. Output from the world’s largest oil producer climbed to 10.36 million barrels a day last month from 10.32 million barrels a day in December, according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That was a 1.4 […]

Electric Cars & Overpopulation — R-Squared Energy TV Ep. 10

In this week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV, I answer questions on the future of electric cars, and the global population, which many feel is the root of so many problems. Some of the topics discussed are: When electric cars might be expected to make significant inroads in the auto market Why some people will […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Election 2012

If current trends continue, gasoline prices and U.S. energy policy seem destined to play a larger role in the political debate prior to the November elections than ever before. Gasoline on the East Coast is already within striking distance of all-time highs and most prognosticators are talking about the likelihood of $4+ gasoline before summer. […]

San Diego Nuclear Plant Closed After Radiation Leak

A small quantity of radioactive gas leaked inside one of the buildings at San Onofre nuclear power plant north of San Diego, according to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The spokesman said the radiation levels were “barely measurable,” but the plant was shut down as a precaution. “At no point were the public […]

BP forecasts unconventional supply growth

The growth of unconventional energy supplies—including oil and gas from US shales, Canadian oil sands, and Brazilian deepwater production—will make the Western Hemisphere close to completely energy self-sufficient by 2030, BP PLC said in its latest annual outlook. This means that growth in the rest of the world, particularly Asia, will increasingly depend on the […]

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