A Look Ahead at Energy Policy and Politics in the 113th Congress

The September 2011 bankruptcy of solar manufacturer and stimulus-loan recipient, Solyndra, sparked a national media firestorm and political debate over the role of government in funding emerging clean energy technologies. The issue soon rose to prominence in the presidential campaign with Mitt Romney attacking Barack Obama on the stump and in televised debates over the […]

Peak Oil Blues Blog: Mike Ruppert on the Third Date

 Hey Peak Shrink! I read your help-letter from the lesbian couple looking to relocate.  My partner and I moved from Sacramento to Nevada County almost two years ago.  It was very scary but it was a wonderful choice.  We are super happy here.  I would love to be put in touch with the writer.  You […]

Robert L. Hirsch Interview (Peak Oil)

Robert L. Hirsch is a former senior energy program adviser for Science Applications International Corporation and is a Senior Energy Advisor at MISI and a consultant in energy, technology, and management. His primary experience is in research, development, and commercial applications. He has managed technology programs in oil and natural gas exploration and petroleum refining, […]

Peak Moment TV: Preparing Emotionally For The Coming Chaos With Carolyn Baker

Peak Moment episode 225. “The external growth of a budding economy is over. The focus on growth now needs to be on the inner world.” Carolyn Bakerapos;s Navigating the Coming Chaos is a toolkit to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the collapse of industrial civilization now underway. First build an “internal bunker,” she suggests, to […]

Iraqi Forces Fire Into Air as Anti-Maliki Demonstrations Spread

Iraqi forces fired into the air to disperse protesters as demonstrations spread to eight regions demanding that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki share more power. Thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Baghdad, and Ramadi, Falluja, Tikrit, Mosul, Samarra, Kirkuk and Diyala, according to footage shown by Al Jazeera television. “The people want the downfall of […]

US shale gas operations offers lessons for other countries

Countries embarking on shale gas development worldwide stand to benefit from lessons learned in US shale gas operations and water management, according to a recent report from Accenture. Operators, meanwhile, could cut both costs and water use in unconventional plays worldwide by collaborating with regulators and sharing infrastructure with other operators in the same basin, […]

Sharon Astyk: Why I didn’t make predictions

Since 2006, I’ve been making annual predictions about what would happen in the coming year, and well, this year, I didn’t. Part of it was because I spent a week travelling and had limited time and internet access, but if I’d really wanted to, I could have made it happen. The project of prediction, however, […]

The Local Food Revolution in Brazil’s Schools

Changes in public sector food procurement in Brazil have improved not just the quality of school meals; they have led to a reduced ecological footprint and a more engaged civil society driving the green economy. In this article, Kei Otsuki explores the processes of decentralization and localization that have taken place in Brazil since 1997 […]

65 Percent Of Americans Believe That 2013 Will Be A Year Of Economic Difficulty

Do you believe that economic trouble is coming in 2013?  If so, you have a lot of company.  According to a brand new Gallup poll that was just released, 65 percent of Americans believe that 2013 will be a year of “economic difficulty” while only 33 percent of Americans believe that 2013 will be a year of […]

Peak Oil: Thoughts and Observations For 2013

The Great Debate revolves around the U.S. oil and gas industry’s new claim that we are entering a ‘new golden age of fossil fuels’ and those who counter that this will come at an increasing cost to the environment and the health of the people on this planet…. In simple terms, the warnings of ‘Peak […]

2013: Oil and the Middle East

The Arab Spring was a series of seismic, historic events. But 2012 shows the term itself is no longer a useful description. Spring implies a summer and a winter to follow – neither season is an apt adjective. And can we really club the Arab world together under one banner? Each country has undergone its […]

Nuclear Waste Confidence

At a recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission webinar/hearing on “Waste Confidence,” or what to do about the growing mountain of radioactive used reactor cores, people on both sides actually agreed on SOMETHING.  I didn’t like the term “Waste Confidence” and the pro-nuker didn’t like it either. Other than that, there was little to agree on.  The […]

Big Spender: Saudi Arabia upholds high budget

Determined to push past global economic crises and spiraling political unrest in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s recently announced all-time high expenditure plan is part of a strategy to bolster the Kingdom’s economic solidity. Saudi Arabia’s council of ministers on Saturday agreed a record budget for 2013 with revenues expected to hit 820 billion riyals […]

Saudi coast guard arrests 21 Iranians

Saudi Arabia has detained 21 Iranian nationals who were aboard two boats near an island off the kingdom’s eastern coast, the Saudi border guard said on Thursday. Separated by about 250 km (150 miles) of Gulf waters, Shi’ite Muslim power Iran and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia have often had tense relations. U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has […]

Let’s Go! Shell in the Arctic

A website that satirizes Shell’s offshore Alaska exploration efforts – and looks similar to Shell’s real homepage – is getting a lot of attention thanks to recent events involving the Kulluk drilling rig. The website – arcticready.com – satirizes Shell’s exploration efforts offshore Alaska, including the Kulluk drilling rig, one of two rigs Shell used […]

What Peak Oil Has to Do With the Future of Meetings

Where will we meet in the future, cyberspace or “real” space? That is a question addressed in the fifth and final topic paper of the Future of Meetings project conducted by the Meeting Professionals International Foundation in partnership with the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality at Leeds Metropolitan University in the […]

Oil prices tumble over ample supplies, flat demand

The price of oil drifted lower Thursday as euphoria over a U.S. budget deal cooled and traders focused on bulging crude supplies and lackluster demand. Benchmark crude for February delivery ended the day down 20 cents to $92.92 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices jumped as much as 2 percent Wednesday after […]

Europe Exhausting Herself Running From Energy Boogeymen

Europe’s high energy costs are driving increasing numbers of industries and large employers overseas. Most of Europe’s high energy costs are caused by Europe’s reflexive flight from inexpensive energy of the hydrocarbon and nuclear varieties. High energy costs are emerging as an issue in Europe that is prompting debate, including questioning of the Continent’s clean […]

Iran Evacuates Area Surrounding Nuke Plant

ranian officials have instructed residents of Isfahan to leave the city, renewing concerns that a nearby nuclear site could be leaking radioactive material. An edict issued Wednesday by Iranian authorities orders Isfahan’s one-and-a-half million people to leave the city “because pollution has now reached emergency levels,” the BBC reported. However, outside observers suspect that the […]

Venezuelan Leader Hugo Chavez In a Coma ‘only kept alive by life support’ After Cancer Surgery

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is in an induced coma being kept alive by life support following complications during cancer surgery, it was claimed today. Sources at the hospital in Cuba where he is being treated told a Spanish newspaper he was showing ‘very weak’ vital signs, adding that doctors could decide to switch off the […]

Chevron’s CEO: Affordable Energy Is Crucial

Chevron CEO John Watson notices something important as he visits his company’s operations around the globe: Governments everywhere find high energy prices much scarier than the threat of global warming. And that means the world will need a lot more oil and gas in the years to come. To meet that demand, Chevron is in […]

John Michael Greer: Into an Unknown Country

Was it just my imagination, or was the New Year’s celebration just past even more halfhearted than those of the last few years? My wife and I welcomed 2013 with a toast, and breakfasted the next morning on the traditional good-luck foods—rice and beans, corn bread, greens and bacon—that I learned to enjoy back when […]

What future for petroleum?

This is a translation from Italian of a post by Marco Pagani on the blog “Ecoalfabeta” based on a comment by Antonio Turiel on the recent IEA report on the future of petroleum and fossil hydrocarbons.  by Marco Pagani The IEA forecast for the future of petroleum are not only too optimistic, but also wrong […]

Fusion Energy’s History of Deception and Crackpottery

Just a few weeks ago, a bunch of fusion scientists used South Korean money to begin designing a machine that nobody really thinks will be built and that probably wouldn’t work if it were. This makes the machine only slightly more ludicrous than the one in France that may or may not eventually get built […]

Peak Oil: A Look to the Future

The biggest problem I have with how the shale story is being sold is it is being used to justify a blind resumption of business-as-usual and I think we really need to be asking some deeper questions of ourselves because eventually even these plays will run out too. I say we should have a distinct and […]

Record Drop in Japan’s Population

Japan’s population has logged a record drop, shrinking in 2012 for the sixth year in a row, statistics show. Estimates from Japan’s Health and Welfare Ministry show the total population declined by 210,000 in 2012 — the largest annual decline since records became available — to 128 million people, the CBC’s Craig Dale reported from […]

Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas

Scientists are once again reporting alarmingly high methane emissions from an oil and gas field, underscoring questions about the environmental benefits of the boom in natural-gas production that is transforming the US energy system. The researchers, who hold joint appointments with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado in Boulder, […]

The Hottest Thing in Natural Gas: Steel?

New drilling technology has opened up huge energy deposits across North America and created an abundance of natural gas resources. That has sent natural gas prices downwards toward 10-year lows, transforming a variety of industries. From chemical manufacturers to utilities, low natural gas prices have spurred growth with end users cashing in on the fuel’s […]

Wind Power Tax Break Extended Through 2013

The fight over the immediate future of wind energy policy in the U.S. ended with victory for the industry late Tuesday night when the House followed the Senate’s lead and passed a fiscal cliff deal that includes a one-year extension of the production tax credit. President Obama was expected to quickly sign the bill [PDF]. The […]

Why Did A Train Carrying Biofuel Cross The Border 24 Times And Never Unload?

Wondering why rail traffic has been somewhat surprisingly consistent despite uncertainty? Concerned at government’s tenticular reach into each and every aspect of our lives? This somewhat stunning anecdotal report from OilPrice.com might shed some light: A cargo train filled with biofuels crossed the border between the US and Canada 24 times between the 15th of […]

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