India, Oil, And Electric Vehicles

As India reels from a perfect storm of increasing fossil fuel import bills, capital outflows, and a stagnating economic environment attention to its current account deficit (CAD) has grown exponentially. I’ve written on the threat coal imports pose to energy security and CAD in the past but the biggest threat from fossil fuel imports is […]

Daniel Yergin: Oil Prices Have Been Falling But Fracking Will Limit the Decline

When Americans take to the road this Thanksgiving holiday they will be paying about 6% less for gasoline than they paid a year ago. That’s because the price of crude oil has fallen. Increased oil production due to fracking–the technology that breaks up shale rock buried deep inside the earth to release oil and natural […]

Peak Oil Hasn’t Been Averted, World Economy Still At Risk

Peak oil is still on the way and it’s not going to be pretty. At least, this is what a recent study examining oil production across the globe has found. The report comes from a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed study which seems to shoot down recent claims made by oil industry insiders and other sources. In fact, […]

How Much Do Our Bad Energy Habits Cost Us?

We all have bad energy habits, from hanging out in front of the open freezer door letting all the cold out, to falling asleep in front of the TV, to the classic leaving the lights on all day when nobody’s in the house…but since appliances and gadgets all use different amounts of electricity, it’s tough […]

Imminent peak oil could burst US, global economic bubble

A new multi-disciplinary study led by the University of Maryland calls for immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce vulnerability to the imminent threat of global peak oil, which could put the entire US economy and other major industrial economies at risk. The peer-reviewed study contradicts the recent claims within the oil […]

Peak Oil : A Look At “Peak Demand” # 6

Peak oil demand is a provocative theory and would rely on some unanswered questions being met: namely on the  development of large-scale gas-fired trucks, rail and shipping vessels; the sustainability of the US shale boom; and policy action to support improved fuel-mileage and to phase out oil subsidies. [1] DAMNED FACTS A Citi Research report […]

When is the oil going to run out – and should we worry about it?

Lack of UK gas reserves underlines the fragility of fossil fuels Energy experts have warned recently that Britain currently stores enough natural gas for only thirteen days of supply. Such a stark reality indicates how little reserve actually exists to fall back on. The news also brings to mind the concept of energy and fossil […]

New Hampshire: Wood, pellets gain steam

There’s renewed enthusiasm in heavily forested New Hampshire for the idea of homegrown heating sources, primarily wood and — more recently — wood pellets. For the first time, the state’s Office of Energy and Planning is posting the cost of wood pellets to compare to the other main heating sources. That outreach combined with a supportive […]

Scenario of inequality

The scenario of socioeconomic inequality worldwide, reaffirmed in various reports issued by international organizations like the UN, FAO, ILO, World Bank and others, is most unfortunate: one in three people do not have access to electricity , one in five does not have access to drinking water, one in six is illiterate. One in seven […]

The World in 50 Years – An Energy Perspective

The world of energy is rapidly changing before our eyes, providing solutions and creating problems at the same time and in a myriad of ways. Situations that were inconceivable only a few years ago are now the default position: the USA progressing from an ever expanding energy importer to an energy export powerhouse; the Middle […]

What’s Ahead? Lower Oil Prices, Despite Higher Extraction Cost

Nearly everyone believes that oil prices will trend higher and higher, allowing increasing amounts of oil to be extracted. This belief is based on the observation that the cost of extraction is trending higher and higher. If we are to continue to have oil, we will need to pay the ever-higher cost of extraction. Either […]

Is the Sharing Economy Here Yet?

Industrial Growth Economy Sharing Economy Purpose Facilitate the acquisition and ownership of property Facilitate access to the means of meeting needs Management Hierarchical management and control Collective stewardship in the common interest ‘Work’ Defined jobs at the discretion of owners The means of making a living for ourselves Financing of Activity Financial and venture capital […]

Turning electricity into food

  Our paper published in the “Journal of Cleaner Production” where we discuss the possibility of using renewable electric energy to power all the phases of the agricultural process. For a copy of this paper, send a message to ugo.bardi(whirlywhirl)unifi.it. You know that when energy in agriculture is discussed, the paradigm is energy production in […]

Peak Oil: Using Energy To Get Energy # 2

[W]e must realize that all resources are inextricably interconnected, and also require energy to produce. We can’t overlook the reality that drilling apparatus and infrastructure needed to extract oil from shale also demand large quantities of steel, derived from iron ore, whose production and refinery in turn require energy. Huge energy costs are also inherent […]

What Does Energy Inequality Look Like?

In 2011 the average American used 4,569 kWh of electricity in their home. In the same year the combined residential electricity use per capita of Brazil, India, China and the 21 other countries was 4,485 kWh (click the image to expand). So one American uses 84 kWh more in their home than those 24 nationalities […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: So, Why is Gasoline So Cheap?

There are many zigs and zags, twists and turns, and unintended consequences along the path to higher priced and scarce oil. Only three months ago it seemed we were headed towards an aerial bombardment of Syria’s armed forces which would likely send oil and gas prices towards the sky in anticipation of a response. Well, […]

Our Army of Invisible Helpers

A human power station from the BBC’s ‘Bang Goes the Theory’ where human energy slaves were made to power a single household for 24 hours When I started this blog almost three years ago it had a different title to the one you see today. Scratching my head for a good name for it I […]

What are Transition Towns?

MP3 – Listen 53:02 On today’s Your Call, we will discuss the growing Transition movement. It emerged in 2005 in the UK in response to ‘peak oil’, global warming and economic instability. The concept of alternative living has since been replicated across 44 countries and thousands of towns and neighborhoods. Are transition towns the best […]

IMF Lowers 2013 Mena Growth Forecasts on Oil Production, Instability

The economic outlook for the Middle East has weakened this year amid expectations of lower oil production in crude-exporting countries and continuing political upheaval in Syria and Egypt, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. Oil exporters are dealing with domestic supply disruptions and lower global demand, which has led to reduced output even as political […]

Three reasons why America is using less oil

The United States is the largest consumer of oil in the world by a wide margin. In 2012, we used around 18.5 million barrels of oil per day (that’s nearly 800 million gallons !). That represents around 20% of global oil consumption, and is still nearly twice as much oil as China uses. Until the […]

Peak Oil : A Look At “Peak Demand” # 5

U.S. oil demand rose 2.7% year-on-year in September to 18.571 million barrels a day, reflecting modest economic improvement in the world’s biggest oil consumer, the American Petroleum Institute said Friday. For the entire third quarter, demand gained 1.7% from a year earlier, to 18.909 million barrels a day, the trade group said. ‘Demand for petroleum […]

Two Kinds of Power

Just about anyone who ponders the perils we presently face as a civilization will eventually trace the roots of the crisis to the fact that modern people—Americans in particular—are born into a cult of consumerism. It is inherited servitude to an addiction that, so far, has seemed to grow more entrenched in every new generation. […]

Science Fiction? Or Will This Fuel Really Power Future Generations?

I’m a firm believer that America’s fuel of the future is already here. That fuel, in my opinion, is natural gas. It’s clean, abundant, cheap and made right here in the good ole U.S.A. Auto makers like Ford and General Motors are starting to catch on and are building more vehicles that will run on […]

Jeff Rubin: The Rising Price of Oil and the Future of the Economy

Jeff Rubin giving a keynote lecture. November 2012

China wary of sourcing too much gas from the US

Concerns that a surge in US gas exports to China could undermine prospects for further expansion of Australian gas sales may be overblown, with the Chinese likely to be wary of sourcing gas from America. A paper by the National Bureau of Asian Research in the US highlights political concerns in Beijing about relying on […]

Middle East to record fastest gas consumption in 20 years

Natural gas is likely to grow in importance over the next few years, with the Middle East, China, Africa and India in particular set to record significant increases in demand. According to EY’s recently released Business Pulse Oil and Gas report, demand for natural gas is expected to increase steadily as a percentage of the […]

Have Our Servants Become Our Masters?

There was a time when coal, oil and natural gas served us well; powering our vehicles, heating and cooling our homes, generating our electricity and keeping our industries going. While they may still be doing all of those things, there’s been a huge, even sinister shift over the generations since the industrial revolution of the […]

Robert Rapier: The Long Recession Oil Prices Too Expensive For the World Economy

Robert Rapier explains his hypothesis for “The long recession” November 2012

Chris Skrebowski on Peak Oil Phase 1 (2005-?)

Chris Skrebowski giving an interesting presentation on peak oil. April 2012

As Tensions Fall in Iran, So Do Costs of Gasoline

Gasoline prices are tumbling just in time for the holiday shopping season to begin. Consumers can thank the tentative reduction in tensions in the Middle East and swelling supplies of domestic oil for their good fortune, and energy experts say prices could fall further if negotiations between the West and Iran progress. The cost of […]

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