US corn shortage probable this summer

Corn supplies in the U.S., the biggest grower, are shrinking at the fastest pace in almost four decades as improving demand from ethanol refiners drains reserves already diminished by drought. Stockpiles probably fell 38 percent in three months to 4.995 billion bushels (126.9 million metric tons) by March 1, the biggest drop since 1975, according […]

Peak Moment 230: An Eco-Sense House – Natural Building, Natural Living

The Eco-Sense House is alive! From dream (see episode 103) to reality. Its curving cob walls embrace Ann and Gord Baird’s three-generation family. A living roof offers summer cooling and filters winter rains stored for garden water. The composting toilet provides rich soil for the veggie gardens, which supply much of the family’s food. This […]

Second LNG Super Tanker Arrives In UK To Help With Natural Gas Shortage

Due to unseasonably cold weather the UK has seen high demand for natural gas, far higher than anything expected, and the truth is that the country was not prepared. The dwindling supplies form the North Sea were unable to meet the high demand, and storage reserves reached dangerously low levels, leading some to suggest that […]

Iraqi oil: Once seen as U.S. boon, now it’s mostly China’s

Ten years after the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the country’s oil industry is poised to boom and make the troubled nation the No.2 oil exporter in the world. But the nation that’s moving to take advantage of Iraq’s riches isn’t the United States. It’s China. America, with its own homegrown energy bonanza, isn’t […]

Do high natural gas prices mean the shale boom is ending?

As U.S. natural gas prices flirt with the $4 mark, some skeptics of the so-called shale gas revolution think prices are headed much higher. Such a move would, not surprisingly, seriously undermine the official story that the United States has a century of cheap natural gas waiting for the drillbit. Several years ago when natural […]

Three glimmers of hope for an economic transformation

Ecological economists, top scientists, and even a few financiers have put forth powerful arguments for moving to a steady state economy. Sometimes described as a true-cost economy, a sustainable economy, or a spaceship economy, the steady state offers a positive alternative to the delusion of endless growth. Viewed from an environmental perspective, the need to […]

Global food security in 2050

The book, “Who Will Feed China?: Wake-up Call for a Small Planet,” authored by Lester Brown in 1995, was a surprising wake-up call about world food security. Brown claimed that food production was not growing fast enough to feed China’s increasing population, which could result in rising food prices in China and the rest of […]

Kunstler: Money Worries

Of course, everybody should have been worried a lot sooner than last week because the basic operating system of global banking is accounting fraud, and has become that stealthily, insidiously, for about fifteen years now. Nothing is what it appears to be anymore. Compound interest has not really been working since 2008 because the world […]

Could UK face gas rationing? British gas reserves could run dry in 36 HOURS

Plunging temperatures forced millions to turn up their heating Shortfall could add more than £200 to family bills, analysts warn Gas stores at their lowest level for three years with snow forecast Government insists gas needs are ‘continuing to be met’ Britain relying on pipelines from Norway and shipments of liquefied gas Energy giant SSE […]

“Gas supplies are not running out”, says UK government

The long cold winter that shows no sign of ending as we head towards the end of March means that the UK is very close to running out of its own gas supplies and could be forced to buy more expensive imports from Norway and Russia. However, the government has strongly denied that the UK […]

Poverty Hits America’s Suburbs

Like many Americans who move to the suburbs, Tara Simons came to West Hartford, Conn., because she wanted her daughter to grow up in a nice, safe place with good schools. Her fall from a more financially secure suburban life to one among the working poor also happened for the same reason it’s happened to […]

Pain at the pump: gas prices reflected in markets

Bloomberg news 18 March 2013

US Truckers Considering Natural Gas Over Diesel Say Transition Costs Still Too High

The alternative fuel industry faces a Catch-22: Manufacturers are pressuring their distribution partners to ship their products using natural gas trucks because they’re far less expensive to run than diesel fuel trucks. However, the distributors are pushing back, arguing three major reasons that natural gas trucks are still too expensive to adopt. First, natural gas […]

Britain’s running out of gas: just how critical is it?

AS BRITAIN braces for another cold spell, The Times reveals the country has only two days supply of gas left in reserve. Are householders facing sharp price rises or something even worse? Why are we using so much gas? People around the UK have been turning up their heating systems to cope with the coldest […]

Canada’s Most Priceless Commodity Is Not Oil

During a 2008 visit to Ottawa Senator John McCain commented, “Water exports will be the defining issue of the 21st century but it must be done with the consent of the people.” So why wouldn’t Canadians consent to exporting water, which Matthew Simmons pointed out, “is even more priceless than oil.”? To the Council of […]

The price for energy independence

Move over OPEC, North America is about to become a net exporter of oil. At least that’s the supposed good news from the International Energy Agency’s latest outlook. According to the IEA, the drilling boom for shale oil is putting US production on track to pass Saudi Arabia. North of the border, output from Alberta’s […]

Declining car use drives demand for transit

For more than a decade, some environmentalists have been warning about “peak oil”. This refers to the point at which global oil production reaches a crescendo before going into inexorable decline. In recent years, there’s also been talk of “peak food”. Former Vancouver councillor Gordon Price uses a new term—peak car—to describe the growing number […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Beijing Syndrome

As the term “China syndrome” has already been taken, I am terming what is happening in the country these days the “Beijing syndrome,” for China’s capitol seems to be shaping up as the epicenter of a great upheaval to come. A “syndrome” is a group of symptoms that when taken together point to a more […]

John Michael Greer: The Illusion of Invincibility

One of the wry amusements to be had from writing a blog that routinely contradicts the conventional wisdom of our time is the way that defenders of that same conventional wisdom tend to react.  You might think that those who are repeating what most people believe would take advantage of that fact, and present themselves […]

Kunstler: Things Went Awry

      If you’ve never had major surgery before there’s the cool part after they’ve got you all scrubbed and prepped in pre-op, and inserted IVs in your veins, and you’re ready to rock and roll with whatever’s on the program. I’m familiar with this routine. It’s the only part of the surgery your […]

Which Costs More: A Load of Laundry or a Cup of Coffee?

Does a load of laundry cost you more than a cup of coffee? That’s not a question many can answer, yet depending on where you live the size of your household, laundry can be expensive … or not. As far as saving money on laundry, the decisive factor is the age of your washer and […]

Russia to Get Venezuelan Oil for a Few Cents a Barrel

Russian state oil firm Rosneft and Venezuela’s PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.) have agreed to form a partnership to exploit an oilfield with estimated reserves of 40 billion barrels, strengthening the alliance between the two countries. For 1.5 billion dollars, the Russian company will take over 40 percent of a project at a Venezuelan deposit […]

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Says $100 Crude Oil Is Reasonable Price

Oil at $100 a barrel is a “reasonable” price that won’t choke global economic growth, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said. “Prices will stay at these current levels in the foreseeable future,” he said today in a speech in Hong Kong, according to the text reported by the official Saudi Press Agency. “Current price […]

Egypt warns against hoarding diesel

The Egyptian government warned citizens of the dangers of hoarding large quantities of diesel at home on Sunday – a symptom of the shortages afflicting an economy in crisis. Shortages of subsidised diesel have paralysed transport in parts of Egypt, as the government faces pressure to curb energy subsidies that swallow up a fifth of […]

Saudis to spend billions on public transport system

Arab News) Saudi businessmen have called for Saudizing the public transport system as soon as it begins operating. The call came after the Cabinet approved a SR 45-billion plan for a public transport system covering roads, railways and seaways to be implemented in Jeddah within seven years. Arab News spoke to Saudi businessmen who said […]

China: ‘Airpocalypse’ Now

Authored by Richard Iley of BNP Paribas, China’s growth model, which has delivered an economic miracle over the last 30 years, is increasingly close to exhaustion. Diminishing returns are increasingly evident. A bloated investment share, fed by financial repression and the systematic mispricing of capital, is producing growing resource misallocation and soaring credit dependency. China’s […]

Crude Oil Give Mac ‘N Cheese Its Special Glow

A massive online petition calls for Kraft to nix Yellow Dyes #5 and #6 from its Macaroni and Cheese products. Have you ever wondered how Kraft Macaroni and Cheese gets its electric orange-yellow glow? Let us introduce you to Yellow Dye #5 and Yellow Dye #6, two potentially harmful chemicals used in the North American […]

China poised to top U.S. as top oil buyer

China appears to be at a tipping point where surging domestic auto sales will soon drive it past the U.S. and turn it into the world’s biggest oil importer, taking a title that distinguished — and some might say hobbled — the U.S. for decades. China already has drawn even with the U.S. on oil […]

17 Signs Of A Full-Blown Economic Depression Raging In Southern Europe

When you get into too much debt, eventually really bad things start to happen.  This is a very painful lesson that southern Europe is learning right now, and it is a lesson that the United States will soon learn as well.  It simply is not possible to live way beyond your means forever.  You can […]

The Fuels of the Future

Five years ago, almost to the day, I debunked the widespread national coverage at the time announcing that the world had hit Peak Oil and that crude production was already falling, and therefore oil prices were skyrocketing. Doing so meant flying in the most visible face of the Peak Oil crowd for the previous few […]

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