Australian Electricity market to be opened up to curb demand

The SMH has a report on the latest plans by the Australian energy market regualtor to make power prices more market driven – Electricity market to be opened up to curb demand. In a bid to drive down surging electricity prices, the national wholesale electricity market is to be opened up to large energy users […]

Will the US Face Blackouts as Electricity Generation Suffers in Drought?

Well, its official – the U.S. government has acknowledged that the U.S. is in the worst drought in over 50 years, since December 1956, when about 58 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to extreme drought. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center’s “State of the Climate Drought […]

Mexico’s outgoing president calls for oil reform

Mexico, the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, needs to change its oil exploration laws to boost output by allowing foreign oil firms greater access, outgoing President Felipe Calderon said on Saturday. Mexico’s oil industry is dominated by state monopoly Pemex and private companies have limited access to the market. The country faces a key test as […]

Older Cars: The lengthening life of your ride

More and more, people are in a committed relationship — with their wheels. The average age of cars and light trucks (SUVs included), says Experian, is now 11 years — double the age in 1970. Driving this: higher quality and, lately, a poor economy. Plus, as auto historian John Heitmann notes, buyer frenzy about new […]

The Repricing of Oil

Now that oil’s price revolution – a process that took ten years to complete – is self-evident, it is possible once again to start anew and ask: When will the next re-pricing phase begin? Most of the structural changes that carried oil from the old equilibrium price of $25 to the new equilibrium price of […]

How “Crazy Survivalists” Make The World A Better Place

I was recently interviewed by a journalist for a local newspaper who was developing a story on the exponential rise of the “prepper lifestyle” in America, most especially in Western Montana.  Being an outsider to the Liberty Movement, she was naturally curious as to what motivated us to make what some in our culture would […]

Catherine Austin-Fitts: Banksters Kill With Impunity

Jeff Rense Show ~ Aug 29, 2012 http://rense.com/ IMPUNITY – from Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impunity im·pu·ni·ty [im-pyoo-ni-tee] noun 1. exemption from punishment. 2. immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action. Example Sentences * Bush and his administration continue the lies that he has promulgated for over four years without impunity. * It, as he points out, […]

Street Politics 101

http://www.indiegogo.com/streetpolitics101 For over a decade subMedia has been covering resistance movements from around the world. Our efforts have taken us to Mexico, Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and all over North America. Our mission is to connect with the fighters on the ground and bring you the stories of those who choose to join the […]

Energy and Real Job Creation

Economic resources are scarce. Plenty of economists, authors, and investors take this to mean different things. As I’ve written before, some have incorrectly taken this to be proof that “peak oil” is going to happen. Of course, the thing with oil is that there are plenty of alternatives that become more competitive when the price […]

Peak Gold: Are We Running Out Of Gold Deposits?

Economic resources are scarce. Plenty of economists, authors, and investors take this to mean different things. As I’ve written before, some have incorrectly taken this to be proof that “peak oil” is going to happen. Of course, the thing with oil is that there are plenty of alternatives that become more competitive when the price […]

China, Peak Oil, Climate Change

Dr. Minqi Li, Professor of Economics, University of Utah

Has OPEC misled us about the size of its oil reserves? Does it matter?

Has OPEC misled us about the size of its oil reserves? The short answer is probably. The long answer is that currently, there is no way to know for sure. The next question we should ask is: Does it matter? The answer is most definitely yes. OPEC, short for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, […]

DOE will fund 14 methane hydrate research projects

The US Department of Energy has selected 14 methane hydrate research projects in 11 states to receive up to $559 million of federal funding. The awards build on a successful, unprecedented test earlier this year where a steady flow of natural gas was safely extracted from methane hydrates on Alaska’s North Slope, DOE said. DOE […]

Record interest in Norway’s mature oil fields

* Big five oil majors apply for licences * Total of 47 applications * Several newcomers on the list Norway has received a record number of applications to explore mature oil areas offshore, with companies apparently spurred by high prices and good prospects for extracting new resources more cheaply from developed fields. The Norwegian Ministry […]

China Price War Draining Jobs in Germany’s Solar Valley

When Thomas Behling returned to his home state of Saxony-Anhalt in 2006, he was drawn by a job in the solar industry and the chance to participate in Germany’s renewable energy boom. He was fired in July. Behling’s employer, Sovello GmbH, produced its last solar panel on Aug. 26, sending 1,000 workers home after attempts […]

Tepco to release more video on Fukushima

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) , the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, has bowed to pressure from the media and government and decided to release more video footage of staff trying to contain the March 2011 crisis. The footage to be released may shed light on how Tepco dealt with the No. 4 […]

Credit Suisse: US can maintain oil growth

The US can maintain oil production growth at around 600,000 b/d because of shale development, the Gulf of Mexico and, potentially, the Arctic, but requires a near-term oil price of $95/bl for Brent, according to Switzerland-based bank Credit Suisse. The required price could drop to $80/bl over time. US growth is seen accounting for 80pc […]

Fracking the U.S. economy isn’t working

The concept of peak oil holds that at some point  the maximum recoverable supply of fossil fuels will be reached, and production will then enter a dramatic decline. Recent technological advances in fracking have pushed back the peak, and future improvements in production may make peak oil it irrelevant to any living politician or regulator. […]

Hot Air About ‘Cheap’ Natural Gas

Would you build a buy-and-hold financial portfolio from only junk bonds and no Treasuries by considering only price, not also risk? Not for long. Yet those who say cheap natural gas is killing alternatives—solar, wind, nuclear—make the same error. In truth, they’re doing the math wrong: The gas isn’t really that cheap. “Cheap gas” reflects […]

World faces tough choices on food

The past decade has seen the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy since World War II. Now the increase in the price of maize, wheat and soya beans in the past three months –  the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of cheap food […]

Are Democrats More Likely to Release Strategic Oil Reserves?

In Issue #7 of Energy Trends Insider, a reader asked about the potential implications of the Obama Administration’s recent announcement that they were considering a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). My view is that since it is an election season and gasoline prices have remained stubbornly high, the chance of a release […]

The future of oil

The concept of peak oil has been debated for over half a century with neither side scoring a decisive victory. Yet the idea of peak cheap oil, as suggested by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in a recent column, may offer a much more compelling analysis of the challenges posed by the commodity. With Britain and the eurozone […]

Mighty Exxon leaves Baghdad in a bind

When Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani met Exxon Mobil executives in Baghdad two months ago, he could hardly control his emotions. His anger boiling over, the Iraqi oil chief threatened to kick the Americans out of the country. With Exxon and other foreign oil majors upsetting Baghdad by signing exploration deals Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan […]

US Department of Energy: Algae-to-Fuels

As America takes steps to improve our energy security, home-grown fuel sources are more important that ever. One of the fuel sources of the future is algae, small aquatic organisms that convert sunlight into energy and store it in the form of oil. Scientists and engineers at the Energy Department and its national laboratories are […]

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

The world is in transition from an era of food abundance to one of scarcity. Over the last decade, world grain reserves have fallen by one third. World food prices have more than doubled, triggering a worldwide land rush and ushering in a new geopolitics of food. Food is the new oil. Land is the […]

Peak Oil: Undulating Plateau Shaped By Price

Dr. M King Hubbert famously predicted peak conventional oil. Supporters point to Hubbert’s correct predictions as a source of doom prophecy. Detractors misrepresent Hubbert and point to the unconventional shale oil revolution. Both sides ignore economics and price. The U.S and world conventional oil production predictions of Hubbert were largely correct. U.S. production peaked in […]

Rocking the AC

When it comes up in casual conversation that I do not generally heat or cool my house, people either move to another seat or look at me with some mixture of admiration and disbelief. When non-Californians then find out that I live in San Diego, they might huff or spew, which often involves some embarrassing […]

Virus origin in Gulf computer attacks in question

Security technicians are beginning to suspect that highly targeted virus attacks were behind the recent crippling of computer systems at two major Gulf energy companies, even as questions swirl about the source of the strikes. The computer disruptions at state oil giant Saudi Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas do not appear to have […]

Iran: West launches sanctions war against Iran

The West has launched an “all-out … war” against Iran by imposing oil and banking sanctions on his country, Iran’s president charged Tuesday. In July, the European Union banned oil imports from Iran, just after the U.S. enacted tough measures against Iran’s central bank. The sanctions, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear development program, have severely […]

Are Energy Prices ‘Pegged’ To Hard Money?

Energy prices are soaring (though down a little this week). However, a strange thing has occurred since the lows in 2009 and the lows in 2011 – both indicative of coordinated and massive central-banking largesse – Oil prices in hard-money have been extremely range-bound. In fact, the price of Oil in Gold and Silver has […]

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