The soaring cost of Sunday roast: Dramatic price rises are forcing families to cut back on meat, veg and fruit

Wild global weather has damaged harvests and driven up food costs Shoppers see some basic ingredients more than double in price in a year Families are giving up their traditional Sunday roast as the cost of both meat and vegetables soar. In fact, many are cutting back on fresh food altogether. Farmers and supermarkets are […]

IEA Sees Oil Supply Rising as Demand Growth Slows to 2017

Global oil markets will become better supplied in the next five years as demand growth slows and production rises in North America and the Middle East, according to the International Energy Agency. Worldwide fuel demand is projected to gain 1.2 percent annually to 95.7 million barrels a day in 2017, from 89 million last year, […]

Current IMF Growth Forecasts

The above is from the IMF’s recent World Economic Outlook and shows their projection for global economic growth over the next few years.  They are currently projecting growth between 3 and 4% as the most likely case with some possibility of both higher and lower. About eighteen months ago I took a look at then IMF projections […]

Food Security Through Modern Agriculture

The Alliance to Feed the Future is helping to highlight the challenges of feeding a growing world population and solutions offered by modern agricultural and food processing practices by hosting a variety of educational events and launching a video series as part of activities leading up to and surrounding World Food Day, October 16 and […]

T. Boone Pickens: Natural gas should be next fuel

Natural gas is T. Boone Pickens’ energy source of choice these days. In a presentation Monday to The Daily Advertiser’s Editorial Board, the well-known billionaire oil man outlined a plan to become more energy-independent by using a resource that lies in abundance under North America. Pickens presented the idea of cutting fuel costs while becoming […]

Why You Don’t Want an Electric Car…Yet

In a recent New York Times Magazine article, “Why Your Car Isn’t Electric,” Maggie Koerth-Baker works through why consumers prefer gas cars over electric vehicles (EVs). She finds that Americans aren’t flocking to EVs because they have a fundamentally different idea of what a car should be. Consumers want vehicles that perform (and cost) like […]

Saudi Arabia incapable of influencing oil market

presstvglobalnews discussing higher oil prices October 2012

Forget Renewables, We Need Cheap Oil – An Interview with Gail Tverberg

What does our world’s energy future look like? Does renewable energy feature as much in the energy production mix as many hope it will? Will natural gas and fracking help reduce our dependence upon oil and how will the world economy and trade fare as supplies of cheap oil continue to dwindle?  To help us […]

One in eight of world population going hungry

One out of every eight people in the world is chronically undernourished, the United Nations’ food agencies said on Tuesday, warning that progress to reduce hunger has slowed since 2007/08 when high food prices sparked riots in several poor countries. In their latest report on food insecurity, the UN agencies estimated that 868 million people […]

Saudi says “achieved feat” in reducing oil prices

Saudi Arabia is satisfied that oil prices have fallen to a level that does not hamper global growth, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday, signaling success in a Gulf Arab effort to keep oil prices under control despite a halving of Iranian exports because of Western sanctions. “Our countries have exerted major efforts […]

Heinberg: Australia, Meet the Post-Growth Economy

I’ve spent most of the past month touring Australia and New Zealand, giving over a dozen lectures in about as many cities. This month’s MuseLetter includes two op-eds from that tour. First is a submission to the Sydney Morning Herald, which that publication declined to print. Second is a transcribed and edited extract from one […]

How we’ll get to 54.5 mpg by 2025

At the end of August this year, the US Department of Transport’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new standards to significantly improve the fuel economy of cars and light trucks by 2025. Last week, we took a look at a range of recent engine technologies that […]

Understanding California’s Gasoline Prices

I am getting numerous questions about the situation with California’s surging gasoline prices. Therefore, I want to take some time to explain what makes California’s gasoline situation unique. The EPA defines gasoline specifications, but many states have more restrictive specifications. The reasons for this are varied, but are primarily a function of the climate and […]

Can an Economy Learn to Live with Increasingly High Oil Prices?

Prof. James Hamilton of University of California recently wrote a post called Thresholds in the economic effects of oil prices. In it, he concludes As U.S. retail gasoline prices once again near $4.00 a gallon, does this pose a threat to the economy and President Obama’s prospects for re-election? My answer is no. EDIT – […]

Oil: the start of a new world energy era

No sector has been spared by the global economic crisis, least of all the energy industry. At the recent Kazenergy Forum in Astana, debates centred on the hurdles facing the oil industry. The world population is growing faster than oil production – according to the World Energy Council, global demand will have doubled by 2050. […]

Compressed Natural Gas Taking Root Across the US

As more clean-burning American natural gas from the Marcellus Shale and other formations is safely produced, governors from both political parties across the United States are implementing common sense policies aimed at leveraging these abundant, affordable, domestic resources to fuel our nation’s transportation needs. Here’s a rundown of some of the recent progress on this […]

$4 gas: Get used to it, and get ready for $5

President Obama may have a lot more to worry about than bombing the debate this week. Traders are starting to get particularly bullish over gasoline prices – and that is bad news for the average driver, who may also be looking to vent his spleen at the voting booth. Reports of gas shortages along the […]

Radical Simplicity and the Middle-Class: Exploring the Lifestyle Implications of a “Great Disruption”

Radical Simplicity and the Middle-Class: Exploring the Lifestyle Implications of a ‘Great Disruption’ Samuel Alexander 1. INTRODUCTION How would the ordinary middle-class consumer – I should say middle-class citizen – deal with a lifestyle of radical simplicity? By radical simplicity I essentially mean a very low but biophysically sufficient material standard of living, a form […]

Is unlimited growth a thing of the past?

Might growth be ending? This is a heretical question. Yet an expert on productivity, Robert Gordon of Northwestern university, has raised it in a provocative paper. In this, he challenges the conventional view of economists that “economic growth … will continue indefinitely.” Yet unlimited growth is a heroic assumption. For most of history, next to […]

Output not stockpiles key to cap food cost

* More investments needed to increase food production-Piebalgs * France proposes agricultural stockpiles to tame food prices (Adds background on French proposal, comments on biofuels) MILAN, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Building strategic agricultural stocks to curb market volatility, as proposed by France, would not be the most effective way to tame food prices, EU Development […]

UK: Fuel sales down by half a billion litres

Nearly half a billion fewer litres of petrol and diesel were sold between April and June than during the same period last year, according to new figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change. The fall came after sales rose at the start of the year when the threat of a tanker drivers’ strike […]

Robert Rapier Interviews John Hofmeister: A difficult decade ahead for oil prices and supplies

Potential for Expansion of Global Oil Production I, along with my editor Sam Avro, recently conducted a broad-ranging interview with John Hofmeister, former President of Shell Oil. The topics touched upon included future oil supplies and prices, climate change, U.S. energy policy, and topics familiar to R-Squared Energy readers such at Peak Lite and the […]

Rising Diesel Fuel Prices Driving Independent Truckers Crazy

Some American truckers discussing the impacts of high fuel prices. March 2012

Mitigation of Peak Oil

The mitigation of peak oil is the attempt to delay the date and minimize the social and economic impact of peak oil by reducing the world’s consumption and reliance on petroleum. By reducing petroleu… Mitigation of Peak Oil – Wiki Article – http://wikiplays.org Original @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitigation_of_peak_oil All Information Derived from Wikipedia using Creative Commons License: […]

The rise and fall of humans

A new mashup of documentaries and interviews analysing the rise and fall of humans. Featuring: Professor Albert A. Bartlett Ray Kurzweil David Attenborough Professor Tim Dyson Mike Ruppert Richard Heinberg Michael Meacher MP Dr. Michio Kaku youtu.be

Deep Structural Problems Threaten China, Russia

Both China and Russia suffer from deep, structural problems which threaten the long-term viability of their respective governmental organisations. Many of China’s problems can be symbolised by the ongoing spate of collapsing buildings, bridges, tunnels, power lines, railways, and other types of hasty construction and engineering. Business Week   Nearly every month brings news of […]

‘High-priced fuel syndrome’ the undiagnosed cause of the ailing global economy

An energy analyst has concluded that the key factor causing the world’s economic woes is ”high-priced fuel syndrome“ which induces sluggish growth and range of other ailments. Peak oil expert Gail Tverberg has written a lengthy report for Our Finite World in which she observes that lofty fuels costs are stymieing the growth of the […]

Coal is Still King

Coal: India’s plans for coal-fired power plants soar — study[emphasis added]: India is poised to contend with China as the globe’s top consumer of coal, with 455 power plants preparing to come online, a prominent environmental research group has concluded. The coal plants in India’s pipeline — almost 100 more than China is preparing to […]

QE3, SPR Release and Gasoline Prices

With crude oil accounting for 65% of the price of gasoline, there’s typically a high correlation between the price of oil and gasoline. However, there’s been a disconnect between the two for the most part of this year. The main reason for the disconnect is the divergence of supply market fundamentals. Chart data source:  US […]

Has “Peak Car” Arrived?

Worried about “peak oil?” Never fear, the world also may be reaching “peak car,” to borrow a phrase coined this summer by Scientific American. The average American is driving less and less each year — a trend matched by the citizens of economically advanced democracies across the globe, from France and Spain to New Zealand […]

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