High-Priced Fuel Syndrome

Governments and economists around the world have not figured out that what the world economy is suffering from, to varying degrees, is “high-priced fuel syndrome“. High-priced fuel syndrome has a number of symptoms: Slow economic growth, or contraction People in discretionary industries laid off from work High unemployment rates Debt defaults (or huge government intervention […]

Global Corn Demand to Grow 2.2% a Year

Growing demand for food in developing countries will continue to be a major driver of demand for corn and soybeans over next past decade, according to a new USDA report released last week called Long-Term Prospects for Agriculture Reflect Growing Demand for Food, Fiber, and Fuel.   Average Annual Growth in Global Demand Oilseed meals […]

Fla. natural gas vehicle fueling stations planned

A Florida-based firm has opened a natural gas vehicle fueling station in Tallahassee and has plans for 15 more across the state and three in Georgia. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the state’s top energy official, was on hand for Tuesday’s opening of Netpetro’s Tallahassee station. The Leon County School District is partnering with the firm. […]

Tesla Motors Launches Revolutionary Supercharger Enabling Convenient Long Distance Driving

Tesla Motors( NASDAQ : TSLA ) today unveiled its highly anticipated Supercharger network. Constructed in secret, Tesla revealed the locations of the first six Supercharger stations, which will allow the Model S to travel long distances with ultra fast charging throughout California, parts of Nevada and Arizona. The technology at the heart of the Supercharger […]

Global population is food for thought

PICK a number and forecast global growth population by 2060.You know that by 2050 it will be nine billon. Exponentially that figure will increase to 10b by 2060, according to consultant Julian Cribb, author of The Coming Famine. Mr Cribb told delegates at last week’s Global Agribusiness Conference the consequences of global population growth were […]

‘Demand Response’ in Electricity: Economists vs. FERC on (Over)Pricing

As noted here at KP in August, a group of electric power economists (including me) filed an amicus brief on FERC’s demand response pricing rule. At the Master Resource blog, Travis Fisher examines the issue with some detail. Here is a bit: In Order No. 745, FERC reasoned that, “when a demand response resource has […]

Meanwhile in Oklahoma

Here in Oklahoma what you have been predicting for some time is here already, with exception to the full brunt of the collapse. The grocery still has food, the system is still operating, but we are all essentially indigent. For example, I am now out of dishwashing liquid and running low on laundry detergent; they […]

Visualizing Peak Oil: Hype, Hope, Boom, Or Bust

While oil prices have slid in their ubiquitous post-QE manner in the last few days, they remain notably elevated amid growing tensions in Iran and central bank largesse spillovers. These short-term fluctuations, however, pale in significance to long-run implications of peak-oil and whether it exists or not. From cost implications to technological innovation and demand […]

Coal and Nuclear Power Can’t Substitute for Pricey Oil

About 40 percent of the world’s electric power is generated from burning coal, which is second only to oil in contributing to global energy use. And affordable coal may soon be running out just as fast as affordable oil is. No resource can withstand the pressure of an exponential growth in demand. China burned 3.7 […]

Susan Krumdieck: Peak Oil

Susan Krumdieck from the university of Canterbury discussing peak oil. January 2012

California Expected To Account For 25% Of U.S. EV Sales

  Who loves you, electric vehicles? California loves you, that’s who. The Golden State, with 12 percent of the nation’s population, will account for nearly a quarter of all electric vehicle sales between now and 2020, according to a new report, which says nationwide sales of the plug-ins will hit about 400,000 by the end […]

IEA: Transportation must reduce dependence on oil

As oil currently powers 92% of the world’s transportation and with growth in transportation demand rising in developing countries, the International Energy Agency released two reports to show how the right policies and technologies could improve the fuel efficiency of road vehicles. Unless action is taken now, the agency said, oil demand in transportation will […]

How High Oil Prices Will Permanently Cap Economic Growth

For most of the last century, cheap oil powered global economic growth. But in the last decade, the price of oil has quadrupled, and that shift will permanently shackle the growth potential of the world’s economies. The countries guzzling the most oil are taking the biggest hits to potential economic growth. That’s sobering news for […]

Wyoming, Alaska top list of states that use most energy

In 2010, the United States used roughly 97.7 quadrillion Btu of energy, up from roughly 95 quadrillion in 2009. To put that in perspective, the U.S. Energy Information Administration(EIA) estimates global consumption at roughly 500 quadrillion Btu. Effectively, the U.S. population, which accounts for approximately 4.5% of the world’s population, uses a fifth of its […]

The Pricing of Crude Oil

The Reserve Bank has an interesting analysis of how crude oil is priced in world markets – The Pricing of Crude Oil. Arguably no commodity is more important for the modern economy than oil. This is true in terms of both production and financial market activity. Yet its pricing is relatively complex. In part this […]

Power plants are big energy hogs

It’s often forgotten when talking about energy production that environmental impacts stretch far beyond air pollution and emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Less discussed, particularly in the context of electricity generation, is the dependence and impact on fresh water resources that are vital to other industries and ecosystems. If more frequent and intense droughts are […]

Has vehicle efficiency really curbed U.S. oil demand?

Improving vehicle efficiency is often cited as a major reason for declining U.S. oil consumption since 2005. But is there any evidence for that claim? Falling domestic oil consumption is a key factor in the new narrative about the U.S. achieving “energy independence” in the next eight years through a combination of improved vehicle efficiency […]

Thresholds in the economic effects of oil prices

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. The graph below plots average U.S. gasoline prices, adjusted for inflation, over the last decade. This is now the fourth time we’ve been near the $4 […]

Natural gas not the key to energy future

Big utilities have been using their big ad budgets to try to convince the American public that natural gas is the salvation for our country’s energy concerns. Quite simply, it is not. While we do have large shale deposits in the U.S. that contain natural gas (extracted via a controversial technique called hydro-fracking), much of the […]

Spiking oil

The peak-oil hypothesis states that fossil fuel resources are finite and will reach a point where they begin a period of steady decline until they are depleted. This isn’t a political philosophy, but a scientifically based belief. It has been commonly believed that domestic oil production peaked in 1972 under Richard Nixon. Production continued to […]

Plastics – An Intriguing Love Story?

Ladies and Gentlemen, The plastic industry’s future in Europe is a fascinating topic. I would like to start by putting it in a very global context. On 7th June this year a scientific article in the journal Nature stated that (and I quote):” “Human population growth and the per-capita consumption rate underlie all of the […]

UAE: Oil prices underpin growing vehicle market

New car sales in the United Arab Emirates have grown around 20% in the first eight months of this year and growth is expected to continue due to a resilient economy underpinned by high oil prices. Atsuo Kosaka, managing director of Nissan Middle East, said the car market in the second largest Arab economy is […]

Fewer Americans commuting solo

The dismal economy and skyrocketing gas prices may have accomplished what years of advocacy failed to: getting more people to stop driving solo. The share of workers driving to work alone dropped slightly from 2010 to 2011 while commutes on public transportation rose nationally and in some of the largest metropolitan areas, according to Census […]

Saudi crude burn hits new records in June, July

Saudi Arabia burned record monthly volumes of oil in June and July, official government figures show, contrary to the top crude producer’s plan to temper its summer oil burning spree this year with more gas. The world’s leading oil exporter burned an average of 743,500 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in June and July, […]

How to eat an insect

Locusts and worms are seen on a spoon after being cooked with olive oil for a discovery lunch in Brussels, September 20, 2012. REUTERS-Francois Lenoir 2 of 9. A woman poses with a locust between her teeth at a discovery lunch in Brussels, September 20, 2012. Credit: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir 3 of 9. Locusts are cooked […]

Peak Oil: The Major Sports’ Leagues

Not only is the business of big-time sports highly visible in our culture, but it also can use tremendous environmental resources and generate significant emissions (think lighting at night games, air conditioning in domed stadiums, high-volume traffic getting to and fro).  When teams, leagues, and stadiums make significant progress in improving their performance, they deserve […]

Why Have U.S. Oil Imports Declined in Recent Years?

U.S. oil imports have declined very significantly over the past four years.  The Obama Administration claims credit for increased oil production and reduced U.S. oil imports based on recent policy changes.  Mitt Romney proposes other changes to substantially decrease future U.S. imports.  All politics aside, what factors have actually contributed towards reducing U.S. oil imports […]

How cities around the world will sprawl in the next 20 years

In China last year, roughly 51 percent of the population lived in urban areas. In Mexico and Turkey, that figure hovered in the mid-70s. That sounds like a lot of people—until you realize that rate of urbanization is still well below that of the United States, where about 82 percent of the people live in […]

Gulf fertilizer output to surge as world population rises

Arabian Gulf petrochemicals majors are increasing output of fertilizers, amid a brewing food crisis caused by booming populations in emerging markets. Annual output of producers in the region is tipped to reach 32 million tonnes by 2016, up from 21 million tonnes last year, estimates the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association. The region’s abundant reserves […]

Who is going to feed your world?

As the next generation of Americans, our generation must be prepared for the challenge of feeding a growing world population. Currently, we have more than 7 billion people on the planet who are consuming the food farmers produce on a daily basis. By 2050, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts this number may grow to […]

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