‘Peak oil’ theory runs out of gas

The problem is, it’s just so hard to be an alarmist these days. Temperatures aren’t rising, U.S. emissions are down, and now it turns out that peak oil won’t peak. What’s a scare-monger to do? “Peak oil proponents — the guys and gals who believe overconsumption combined with scarce resources will lead to stratospheric energy […]

America the Food Desert: How Peak Oil Will Make Food Less Nutritious

There’s a great post up on Reddit that articulates something that I’ve been thinking for a while. Namely, that as people get hungrier, food won’t get more expensive — it’ll just get less nutritious and more toxic. Ultimately, the entire country will become a food desert, and even the suburbs will be the culinary equivalent […]

Increasing Costs in Deepwater Development May Impede Projects

The United States accounts for more than one out of every 10 barrels of crude oil produced around the globe each day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is due in part to rising production of tight oil found in shale rock formations, but overall produced crude oil in the United States mainly […]

The Bacteria That Can Mitigate Fracked Natural Gas Before It Pollutes the Atmosphere

By the ton, methane from fracking has about 20 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. Researchers at a college in the United Kingdom believe they have found a tiny way to mitigate the greenhouse gas before it spreads into the atmosphere. Methylocella silvestris, a single bacterial strain found in soil and other environments around the […]

More debate on the future of international oil companies

In my last Barrel post, I threw down the gauntlet to those casually predicting a collapse in oil prices, as such a collapse would effectively kill the oil business at the major oil companies.  We will know, I wrote, that such forecasters are serious when they declare the international oil companies (IOCs) “to be the […]

Nuclear Fusion

In a forested region in the south of France, the largest science project on record is being constructed. Six main modules will be moved by crane and assembled together to form a machine that will stand taller than a ten-story building and weigh 23,000 tonnes. The project, called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, […]

Oil Spills Are Good for the Economy

Did you ever hear the story about a guy explaining the bright side of oil spills? You did not hear that story, because anyone who does that is a terrible person, and hopefully the human race collectively knows better, right? Wrong. A Houston-based oil pipeline company recently made that very flawed argument in a written […]

When Nations Go Broke: Mob Justice

It was a scene just like out of the Wild West.   18-year-old David Moreyra had stolen a purse. And an angry mob gathered in broad daylight in Rosario, Argentina to lynch him.   It turns out that ‘mob justice’ is on the rise in Argentina, and Mr. Moreyra’s death was just one of more […]

Putin signals that he’s ready for an oil war

The US and Europe have yet to fully deploy their bluntest weapon against Vladimir Putin. But if stronger sanctions are deployed against him, the Russian president is vowing to make life very painful for the western oil companies doing business in his country. + The US this week quietly targeted some Russian oil industry bosses in its latest round of sanctions, and Europe […]

Why Wave Power Has Lagged Far Behind as Energy Source

Researchers have long contended that power from ocean waves could make a major contribution as a renewable energy source. But a host of challenges, including the difficulty of designing a device to capture the energy of waves, have stymied efforts to generate electricity from the sea. It’s not difficult to imagine what wind energy looks […]

Is GDP still the best measure of prosperity?

Today was when the White House announced the estimated GDP for the first quarter of the year. While GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is still the fundamental measure for economic growth here and around the world, many question whether it’s an adequate measure of well-being and prosperity, especially since it doesn’t take into account the health […]

Rob Hopkins: Researching Transition

One of the most in-depth pieces of research on Transition published recently was Failure and Success of Transition initiatives: a study of the international replication of the Transition movement by Giuseppe Feola and Richard Nunes at the University of Reading.  Giuseppe is a lecturer in Environmental Development whose research focuses on issues around how sustainable development […]

Shell Won’t Jump into New Russia Projects amid Ukraine Crisis

Oil majors are beginning to grow cool on new projects in Russia as U.S. and EU sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine make investment increasingly risky and after the Kremlin’s threat to review the West’s role in Russia’s energy industry, the world’s largest. “I don’t think we will be jumping into new investments in the […]

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LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
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