Fukushima Radiation Hits San Francisco

This shocking video was taken December 23rd 2013 with a quality Geiger Counter at Pacifica State Beach (Surfers Beach), California. Location: http://bit.ly/1g26Zjm Geiger Counter used: http://www.geigercounters.com/Inspector.htm Background radiation is 30 CPM. Near the ocean it’s 150 CPM. The fine mist coming from the ocean waves seems to be what makes the Geiger Counter jump. Fukushima […]

The deadly secret behind the Lac-Mégantic inferno

Emergency crews ran for cover when they heard the noise, as they fought blasts of burning oil during the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. The kettle-boil scream meant one thing: Oil vapours were shooting out of a derailed tank car and another fireball was about to rip from the broken train. It wasn’t until four days after […]

Al-Qaeda Militants now control Fallugah

Rebels and Iraqi police in the volatile Anbar province say the Iraqi government has lost control of the city of Fallujah to al-Qaida militants after days of fighting. The al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is active in both countries, pushed police out of the city center after shelling in the city […]

Algae Oil Poised For World Domination, Eventually

Don’t be surprised if you wake up one day to find that the petroleum economy has been nudged aside by a startling diversity of alternative fuels topped by algae oil. The geopolitical implications alone are staggering given that various forms of algae can be cultivated practically anywhere in the world, but for now let’s focus […]

10 Big Energy Stories of 2013

As 2013 comes to a close, it’s time to look back at the big energy stories of the year. Here’s my top 10 stories from 2013… 1. Japan taps methane hydrates with explosive implications for the future of global energy supplies. The Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry announced in March that a team […]

Massachusetts Makes Smart Grid Mandatory

Massachusetts has joined a growing list of states demanding that its investor-owned utilities invest in the smart grid — and find new models for how those investments should be valued. Consider it the latest move in a state-by-state reconfiguration of utility business models, aimed at creating new rules for sharing the costs and benefits of […]

Deloitte forecast lower oil, flat natural gas prices

A new forecast by Deloitte paints a bearish picture for energy prices, with oil expected to dip and natural gas to stay relatively flat. The financial services firm predicts West Texas Intermediate prices will be US$95 per barrel for 2014, dropping to US$90 the following year and US$85 by 2018. It sees natural gas prices […]

Gloomy Americans foresee a downhill slide to 2050

Ask people to imagine American life in 2050, and you’ll get some dreary visions. Whether they foresee runaway technology or runaway government, rampant poverty or vanishing morality, a majority of Americans predict a future worse than today. Whites are particularly gloomy: Only 1 in 6 expects better times over the next four decades. Also notably […]

Iran Says Saudi Intelligence Ordered Embassy Bombing in Lebanon

Iran insists that the deadly terrorist bombing of its embassy on November 19 was ordered by Saudi intelligence boss Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The Iranian news channel, Alalam, made the claim on Thursday, citing unnamed sources in Lebanon. The sources said Majed al-Majed, the Saudi ringleader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaeda connected terrorist […]

2014 Will Bring More Social Collapse

2014 is upon us. For a person who graduated from Georgia Tech in 1961, a year in which the class ring showed the same date right side up or upside down, the 21st century was a science fiction concept associated with Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” To us George Orwell’s 1984 seemed […]

Transition: 2014 In and Out list

    Photo: rore. It’s a sacred duty we take up at the beginning of the new year. Donning our psychic caps and tuning in to the Noosphere we delve deep into what really matters in crafting our annual “In and Out” list. And thank G-O-D that we do. Having again viewed what passes for […]

Inflation is Already Here… But It’s Being Masked

Since 2007, the world’s Central Banks have collectively put more than $10 trillion into the financial system since 2008. To put that number into perspective, it’s equal to roughly 15% of global GDP. This kind of money printing is literally unheard of in modern history. And it has set the stage for a roaring wave […]

Energy-Return-On-Energy-Invested (EROEI) For Crude Oil and Other Sources of Energy

The term Energy-Return-On-Energy-Invested (EROEI) is self-explanatory and this topic has been the author’s primary research interest since about 2007. Many publications in journals including ‘Fuel’ (an Elsevier journal) have resulted. This paper comprises a synthesis and analysis of this work together with some new ideas. Keywords Energy-return-on-energy-invested; Crude oil; Sources of energy Introduction and Literature […]

US Federal Reserve tapering: gauging its impact on oil demand

For most of the past year, US Federal Reserve talk was all the rage. Will they, or won’t they, taper their $85 billion per month bond buying program and if so, when? Well, the board finally did the deed and now experts are trying to gauge the impact on oil futures. The immediate effect on […]

A Bet, Five Metals, And The Future Of The Planet

Listen 7:17 This famous bet — between a biologist and an economist — was over population growth. It started three decades ago, but it helped set the tone for environmental debates that are still happening today. The biologist at the heart of this bet was Paul Ehrlich at Stanford. He wrote a best-selling book in […]

Two Cheers for ‘First World Problems’

When United Parcel Service and FedEx missed last-minute Christmas deliveries, gift givers who’d relied on rush service were upset. But instead of public sympathy, their outrage and disappointment elicited ridicule and lectures. Commenters called the procrastinating shoppers “spoiled and entitled.” Waiting so long, they suggested, was foolish and self-indulgent. The incident, many declared, was a […]

J. M. Greer: The Song of the Snallygaster

I’ve noticed, over the past few years, a growing lack of enthusiasm in the formerly raucous festivities that once marked the end of one year and the beginning of another. That was certainly in evidence last night in our old red brick mill town here in the eastern end of the Rust Belt. As my […]

Why a Finite World is a Problem

Why is a finite world a problem? I can think of many answers: 1. A finite world is a problem because we and all of the other creatures living in this world share the same piece of “real estate.” If humans use increasingly more resources, other species necessarily use less. Even “renewable” resources are shared with […]

World Population, 2013 – 2050

It’s interesting to look at some long-term world trends at the end of 2013. The graphs appear more normalized, for instance with the population growth rate above. Countries like Nigeria (see population chart below) are unfortunate exceptions. How will the world really look like in 2050? Trends are extrapolations from current and past data, enhanced […]

2013: The Year Bike Sharing Came of Age

Five million rides were taken on New York’s new bike share system in the first five months of service. (Photo courtesy of People for Bikes) 2013 is the year when the sharing economy—the recent rediscovery of the economic advantages of mutual cooperation—came to public attention. It was also the year that bike sharing, one of the […]

Kurdistan Oil Flow to Turkey Begins, Exports Await Iraqi Consent

Crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan has started flowing via a new pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean export hub of Ceyhan but will not be shipped to world markets without the consent of Baghdad, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday. Yildiz hopes a deal can be reached this month for exports to begin, he […]

UN Unveils Plot to Reduce African Population

The United Nations and its oftentimes barbaric population-control apparatus are under fire again after releasing a deeply controversial report claiming that the African population of Kenya is too large and growing too quickly. To deal with the supposed “challenge,” as the UN and its “partners” in the national government put it, international bureaucrats are demanding […]

After Train Explosions, US Warns About Bakken Oil

Shares of Whiting Petroleum Corp , Continental Resources Inc and other top crude oil producers in the Bakken shale formation plunged on Thursday after the U.S. government said oil produced there may be extra flammable. The warning came three days after a BNSF train carrying crude oil collided in eastern North Dakota with another train […]

Problems and Politics Keeping Crude Oil Production Well Below Expectations

OPEC December Crude Output Falls to 2-Year Low: Survey Venezuelan Policies Venezuelan production dropped 235,000 barrels a day to 2.45 million this month, the survey showed. The South American country pumped the least crude since October 2011. Resources have been diverted from energy sector into social welfare programs, sending production lower. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, […]

Pollution Threatens China’s Food Security

A Reuters report this week noted that nearly 3.33 million hectares (eight million acres) of Chinese farmland are too polluted to grow crops. The article, which was re-posted by the state-run China Daily news site, quoted Wang Shiyuan, China’s vice minister of land and resources. Wang says that the government is determined to address the […]

China’s Tianjin to begin restricting car population

China’s northern Tianjin municipality will begin restricting its car population next year to control traffic congestion and air pollution, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Only 100,000 new license plates will be issued in Tianjin next year, of which 60,000 will be distributed by lottery and the rest auctioned off for a minimum bid of […]

Mexican Communities On Guard Against Thirst for Oil

The Terra 123 oil and gas well in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco was in flames since late October, just 1.5 km from a community of 1,500 Oxiacaque indigenous villagers, who were never evacuated. The gas leak, which Pemex only managed to get under control on Dec. 21, caused irreversible damage, said Hugo Ireta, […]

Rise in Russian Oil Output Supports Overstretched Budget

Russia retained the title of the world’s top oil producer with 2013 output reaching a post-Soviet high as rising exports to China and strong prices allow the Kremlin to maintain record spending from an overstretched budget. Energy has been the engine of Russia’s growth during more than a decade of leadership by President Vladimir Putin, […]

From Waste to Food to Fuel: Rice Production and Green Charcoal in Senegal

Inadequate management of human waste is a dire problem in much of the developing world. Swelling urban populations can make matters worse by exposing increasingly dense populations to illnesses carried by human waste. Some, however, are making good use of the surplus sewage. Rather than allow the urine and fecal matter to lie fallow, some […]

The Year of the Dud

Lots of things that should have happened in 2013 did not. We were supposed to have long ago reached “peak oil” and an age of always-higher gas prices. Wind and solar power – and a reduced lifestyle – were our dismal future. But someone or something did not cooperate with gloomy government predictions. After all […]

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