The death of innovation, the end of growth

The US economy has been expanding wildly for two centuries. Are we witnessing the end of growth? Economist Robert Gordon lays out 4 reasons US growth may be slowing, detailing factors like epidemic debt and growing inequality, which could move the US into a period of stasis we can’t innovate our way out of. Be […]

Who’s In Charge Here? At U.S. Oil Spills, It’s Whoever Made the Mess

When ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline burst last month, filling the streets and front lawns of small-town Mayflower, Arkansas, with pools of heavy crude oil, the company followed what has by now become standard protocol: attend to the spill and clamp down on the media. It’s a scenario all too familiar to those journalists who covered 2010’s […]

Feds triple estimates for recoverable natural gas in plains states

A new US Geological Survey study found that not only is the amount of the natural gas in the upper plains states of North and South Dakota and Montana three time larger than previously reported but that there was twice as much oil in there too. Here’s the study. It summarizes its findings as: Using […]

Falling World Population And The New Economic Prosperity

TWO PARADIGMS The so-called Trente Glorieuse years (1948-1975) of fast economic growth, low annual budget deficits, almost zero unemployment, cheap oil, small or zero national trade deficits, innovation and liberty in the Western countries – was also a period of population growth. Ever since, political thinking confused this result – population growth – with its […]

Principles for the Pulse that is Peak Oil

From PatternDynamics (TM) by Tim Winton A comment has just appeared below my post on The Wave/Pulse of Human History. “The Emergist” writes: Nice article. Fun to see you weave together the separate stories. I didn’t know Holmgren was into Odum. How do you see the idea of pulsing as changing your approach to design, […]

Germany’s Nuclear Energy Phaseout: The Timetable

By the end of 2022 Germany will have no nuclear power plants remaining. I have covered why this policy is folly elsewhere, so won’t cover it again here. Instead let us consider in a little detail how things will pan out in the next decade. To put the numbers in perspective I will estimate how […]

China struggles to tap its shale gas

In a remote corner of Sichuan with lush, terraced hillsides, oil exploration teams have been scaling cliffs to lay seismic charges and struggling to move heavy equipment along winding mountain roads. That is where China hopes to find vast stores of natural gas trapped in shale rock. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that […]

The Politics of Oil In Scotland

On 18th September 2014 the Scottish People will have a referendum on their future within the United Kingdom where they will be asked the simple question: Should Scotland be an Independent Country? Yes or No. Should the people say yes then this will not only have far reaching political and socio-economic consequences for Scotland and […]

Reaching Oil Limits – New Paradigms are Needed

I have written in recent posts that oil limits are more complex than what many have imagined. They aren’t just a lack of a liquid fuel; they are inability to compete in a global economy that is based on use of cheaper fuel (coal) and a lower standard of living. Oil prices that are too low […]

Ready for Rationing? Why We Should Put the Brakes on Consumption If We Want to Survive

It’s not clear whether Stan Cox is a plant breeder with a penchant for politics, or a political provocateur who finds time to do science. Whichever aspect of his personality is dominant, Cox artfully draws on both skill sets to make the case for rationing, perhaps the most important concept that is not being widely […]

Tapping the Promised Land: Can Israel Be an Energy Giant?

One day in August 2009, a geologist named Yuval Bartov sank a drill into the ground southwest of Jerusalem, pulled up a cylinder of rock and, in the same motion, turned the world upside down. The rock contained oil, something that Israel has never had. The oil did not happen to be in liquid form, […]

‘Peak Oil’ Is Back, but This Time It’s a Peak in Demand

Remember peak oil? It’s the theory—current about a decade ago—that global oil production would soon top out, leading to an inexorable rise in prices. Reports and books painted a grim picture of the effects this would have on the global economy; as fracking and seabed discoveries have unlocked new sources of the fossil fuel, most […]

Saudi Oil Minister Calls US Energy Independence Idea ‘Naive’

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday called the U.S. push for energy independence “naive,” saying the country will continue to need Middle Eastern oil long into the future. Naimi said he welcomed the surge in U.S. domestic energy production from shale oil and gas fields, which he said will add depth and stability to […]

Peak Oil Still Isn’t Real, You Guys

And despite all the Malthusian nonsense, we’ve still got plenty of oil and natural gas, reports the National Journal‘s Amy Harder. The United States has double the amount of oil and three times the amount of natural gas than previously thought, stored deep under the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, according to […]

3,000 Years of Abusing Earth on a Global Scale

Wherever you go on this blue, green and white globe of ours, odds are some person has been there before you—and left a mark. That’s because the hunting, farming or burning practices of our most distant ancestors have shaped most land areas on the planet, argues an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and ecologists in Proceedings […]

Natural Resource Scarcity Is a Real Thing

Something I’ve noticed lately is a huge surge in commentary, generally from conservatives, lauding the boom in “unconventional” oil finds as completely debunking the fashionable “peak oil” concerns of the mid-aughts. The boom in U.S. fossil fuel production is a pretty big deal that’s created a passel of jobs and transformed some local economies, but […]

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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