Terrifying Tim from Tullett: Perfect storm; energy, finance and the end of growth

READERS may feel your blogger is a bit on the gloomy side but, believe me, there are a lot more pessimistic commentators out there. Take Tim Morgan of the brokers Tullett Prebon, whose boss Terry Smith is a regular guest on BBC financial discussion slots. Tim has just produced an 82-page note (complete with lots […]

How High Oil Prices Lead to Recession

There is ample evidence that spikes in oil prices leads to recession, at least in the US, which is an oil-importing nation. James Hamilton has shown that 10 out of the last 11 US recessions were associated with oil price spikes. How does this happen? An analogy can perhaps help explain the situation. This analogy […]

Energy Efficiency and Energy Use: The Rebound Effect is Overplayed

Trying to put the rebound effect for energy efficiency in its rightful place is like playing a game of wack-a-mole. Predictably every couple of years, someone new discovers the counter-intuitive appeal of showing how more efficient energy policies may lead to more energy use. Wham! Told you there’s something wrong with those clean-car standards. Well, […]

Energy Shock: How Peak Oil Will Change Your Life …

Futuristic Concepts — Futuristic Lifestyles — Sci Fi Dreams All is revealed: http://www.futuristic-alternative-energy.com

Richard Heinberg – Part 2 Energy and the Delusion of Endless Growth

Part 2 of a 2 part video version of our Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg, about the book “Energy: Overdevelopment etc”. The interview features video of some of the images in the book. I think it’s a different way of giving people an idea of what this book is like. Radio Ecoshock

Enough energy after Peak Oil to rebuild and repair concrete infrastructure?

Concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure. And it’s all falling apart, as Robert Courland’s 2011 book Concrete Planet makes clear. The Romans built concrete structures that lasted over 2 thousand years.  Ours will last a century — at most. Courland writes that the buildings and monuments we build may last less than a […]

20 ways to become more self-sufficient before ‘the crunch’ arrives

One thing you don’t want to be during the coming “crunch” — a polite word for “collapse” — is dependent on the system. The more you can take care of yourself, the better off you’ll be physically, financially, emotionally and even spiritually. Here are 20 ways to become more self-sufficient while you still can: 1) […]

Heinberg – Energy and the Delusion of Endless Growth

Author and Fellow of Post Carbon Institute interview with Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock on big new book about impacts of our endless need for energy. From Ecoshock 130116

EIA forecasts loose global oil market through 2014

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, issued Jan. 8, the US Energy Information Administration forecasts a fairly loose oil market in the next 2 years, as higher global consumption will be more than offset by increasing global supply. Also, this STEO is the first to include monthly forecasts for 2014, EIA reported. Worldwide oil supply […]

Peak Oil’s Impact: Holiday Marketing

Oil plays an essential role in almost everything that touches our everyday lives. From the food we eat to the means by which we transport ourselves, our goods, and our services, to what we grow, build, have, own, need, and do, oil is almost always an important element. But the painful truth now and soon […]

Degrowth

Decades of material growth have left us with a limited imagination for alternatives. Now that we’ve hit the point of diminishing returns for additional economic growth, can we decolonize our mind? In the developed world, is it possible to improve our quality of life while decreasing our standard of living? Could it be possible to […]

Arup launch peak oil report

John Miles of Arup’s introduction to the Peak Oil

U.S. 2012 Oil Demand Down 2% vs 2011

The U.S. was plagued by persistently weak demand for refined petroleum products last year, while domestic crude oil production rose at a record rate. New drilling techniques, which unlock crude from shale rock formations, continue to expand and providing a growing source of crude that was not even contemplated only years ago. However, sputtering economic […]

Do You Want To Scare A Baby Boomer?

If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article.  The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it.  At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will […]

IEA Sees Tighter Oil Market, Boosts Global Demand Forecast

The International Energy Agency raised forecasts for global oil demand this year because of stronger growth expectations for China and said the world oil market is “tighter” than previously estimated. “All of a sudden, the market looks tighter than we thought,” the Paris-based agency said, boosting its 2013 global demand forecast by 240,000 barrels a […]

Ten Reasons Why High Oil Prices are a Problem

A person might think from looking at news reports that our oil problems are gone, but oil prices are still high. Figure 1. US crude oil prices (based on average prices paid by US refiners for all grades of oil based on EIA data) converted to 2012$ using CPI-Urban data from the US Bureau of […]

When Natural Gas Replacing Diesel in Frac Jobs

With China slowing down, and a recessionary GDP projection (below 3%) for the developed world in the next two years or so, many analysts are also projecting far less bullish commodity prices.  Due to the very limited export capacity, the price outlook of the land-locked U.S. natural gas (Henry Hub) is even gloomier without the […]

Wal-Mart to Offer Jobs to All Veterans, Boost U.S. Buying

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, pledged to hire all honorably discharged U.S. veterans and buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products in the coming decade. The initiative to offer jobs to veterans within a year of leaving active duty may result in about 100,000 hires in the next five years, Bentonville, […]

Heinberg: Why Is the Economy Shrinking?

Endless growth is a delusion with consequences…The spiral of climate change, peak energy, and economic crisis, with author Richard Heinberg. Fresh interview on giant new book “Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth”. Followed by speech to Chicago Bioneers “Life After Growth: Why the Economy Is Shrinking and What to Do About It”. Radio […]

The Generator Is the Machine of the Moment

IN the days that followed Hurricane Sandy, the developer of the luxury condominium 150 Charles Street hunkered down with his team of architects and engineers to rethink the building’s design. Just steps from the Hudson River, the construction site was partially flooded. “Their mandate was to figure out how the building would have stayed open […]

The Myth Of Human Progress

Clive Hamilton in his “Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change”describes a dark relief that comes from accepting that “catastrophic climate change is virtually certain.” This obliteration of “false hopes,” he says, requires an intellectual knowledge and an emotional knowledge. The first is attainable. The second, because it means that those […]

IHS: US still needs supply from Canadian oil sands

The US will continue to need hydrocarbons from the oil sands of Canada despite its rising output of light oil from tight formations, which nevertheless are reshaping markets for heavy Canadian material, says IHS. Although production from tight formations in the US eclipsed that of output from the Canadian oil sands last year—2.2 million b/d […]

Not at that price: Why long-term forecasts for cheap oil and natural gas are baseless

Here’s the short version of why forecasts of low long-term oil and natural gas prices are almost certainly wrong: It costs more than that to get the stuff out of the ground. Only two things could actually lead to low long-term prices: 1) Somebody could invent and deploy some genuinely brand new technology that makes […]

Saudi targets $110/barrel oil

There has been no official announcement but Saudi Arabia’s effective target for oil prices appears to have risen from $100 to $110 per barrel, based on recent changes in the kingdom’s production levels. In theory, the kingdom remains committed to an informal target of $100 for Brent first announced in a CNN interview given by […]

Almost Half Of All Food Produced Is Thrown Away

Up to half of all the food produced in the world — two billion tons of it — is thrown away, according to a report published on Thursday. The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities in the developing world, and “buy-one-get-one-free” offers, and the fussiness of consumers in the developed world, the […]

Food Shortages in Venezuela Bigger Worry Than Constitution

At a bustling food market in downtown Caracas, armed officers belonging to President Hugo Chavez’s National Bolivarian Guard marched by boxes of lettuce and tomatoes, checking prices and storage rooms. The inspection is part of a nationwide campaign to crack down on over-pricing and hoarding the government blames for shortages of basic goods, from toilet […]

2013: Beginning of Long-Term Recession?

We have been hearing a lot about escaping the fiscal cliff, but our problem isn’t solved. The fixes to date have been partial and temporary. There are many painful decisions ahead. Based on what I can see, the most likely outcome is that the US economy will enter a severe recession by the end of […]

China Is Massively Boosting Stockpiles of Rice, Iron Ore, Precious Metals, Dry Milk

If there were ever a sign that something is amiss, this may very well be it. United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact […]

Oil rises after Saudi Arabia cuts output

* Saudi Arabia cuts oil output to just over 9 mln bpd * Yemen oil pipeline blast halts main export flows * China export growth in December higher than forecast * Coming up: CFTC positions data 3:30 p.m. EST Friday By Joshua Schneyer NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Oil futures rose on Thursday on […]

Keeping Peak Oil Reality In Mind # 21: The Trade-Off

An observation worth noting … and pondering, from Kurt Cobb: No one–not the fossil fuel industry, not government, not private forecasters–can know for certain what our future supplies of fossil fuels will be. If those supplies are constrained as current trends and data suggest, then we will be forced to make an energy transition whether […]

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