Energy Shock: How Peak Oil Will Change Your Life

Times are changing. Fast. Here is a list of my recommended resources for developing the skills to manage the transition smoothly: Learn aquaponics (hyper-efficient fish and plant production): http://ow.ly/9bJnF Learn to make your own solar panels: http://ow.ly/9bJoD Get tons of woodworking plans: http://ow.ly/9bJpB Learn to build a shed: http://ow.ly/9bJqn Learn to build a chicken coop: […]

Oil Efficiency Improvements are Global

I posted a graph the other day showing the improvements in the oil efficiency of the US economy.  Several commenters suggested this was due to increasing concentration of financial services in the economy, but that turned out not to be very consistent with the data.  Another suggestion was that the improvement was an artifact of […]

$5 gas, 50-cent postage stamps?

Remember those carefree days when a gallon of gas was only $5? And when you could cheerfully mail a letter for the rock-bottom price of 50 cents? Just saying those words out loud here to see what they sound like — just trying to imagine what it will be like, 50 or 60 years from […]

It’s Not A Fairytale: Seattle To Build Nation’s First Food Forest

Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; […]

Exxon: Demand for oil and gas to grow ‘for decades’

THE world’s biggest oil company says the next 30 years are looking good for oil and gas suppliers and consumers, but perhaps not so good for miners. Texas-based ExxonMobil says there is no sign of peak oil and energy efficiency is growing along with demand. Exxon’s 2012 energy outlook — which the company is presenting […]

A Word About Oil Prices

There is a great deal of discussion about why global oil markets are engaged in yet another price feeding frenzy. Some claim it is simply supply and demand. Others point out that both “supply” and “demand” can be manipulated in many ways. Others point to international tensions in the middle east, particularly Iran. Yet others […]

QATAR the World’s Richest’s Nation; Per capita income $88,000

Qatar has been ranked as the world’s wealthiest country on a new list compiled by the prestigious US magazine Forbes. The UAE was placed sixth on the list. The Gulf state of 1.7 million people ranks as the world’s richest country per capita thanks to a rebound in oil prices and its massive natural gas […]

Peak Oil: Why Gas Prices are Never Coming Down

“There are few problems which have greater potential to quickly unsettle the North American public and strain essential services than suddenly being denied access to fuel.” ~ Rick Munroe Imagine, if you can, that there is a resource everyone likes to use.  They like to use it for convenience: it lets them go places, have […]

Peak Oil – Demand Growth in Developing Countries, featuring Chris Skrebowski, Peak Oil Consulting

Internationally recognized oil industry expert Chris Skrebowski, of Peak Oil Consulting, London, discusses the rapidly growing demand for petroleum in developing countries, and how that will contribute to the peaking of world oil production.

Peak Oil is here, Crude Oil price to reach $150 by 2012 Year End

The ‘Peak Oil’ or ‘Hubbert Peak’ theory refers to the peak in global oil production. Oil is finite and non renewable resource and once half of its reserve is depleted then it will go into a terminal decline as shown on the above figure.   Hubbert Curve The theory is named after M.King Hubbert (former […]

Energy-Price Immunity Building in U.S. Economy

The U.S. economy is “gradually building immunity” from the kind of surge in gasoline prices seen this year, according to Steven Wieting, Citigroup Inc.’s managing director of economic and market analysis. As the CHART OF THE DAY shows, spending on gasoline and other motor fuels fell 10 percent from a peak in 2005 through the […]

$6 A Gallon

Talk about pain at the pump! Some Florida drivers are spending nearly $6 a gallon to fill up their gas tanks. According to GasBuddy.com, motorists are shelling out $5.89 for a gallon of regular gas at a Shell station in Lake Buena Vista, topping out at $5.99 a gallon for premium. It doesn’t get better […]

Peak? What peak? King coal is coming back!

King Coal may be coming back to save us from peak oil, but condemning us to a worse fate in terms of global warming (image from the National Media Museum) Recently, Rembrandt Koppelaar has published on the Oil Drum a summary of the world’s trends in energy production. The report tells us that the oil […]

Crude Math: What Is Really Impacting Gasoline Demand

Putting together a mosaic of the data to understand what is going on with gasoline demand is not too difficult. That is why I typically smirk when I hear some pundit on television claiming that the shrinking demand is due to some temporary setback (like our economy). It makes me think of the quote attributed […]

Notes from the Field

You hear a lot of talk about relocalization and deindustrialization. The pastoral life, the good old days. How romantic! Reality pays you a visit when your pick-axe hits a rock, a chunk hits your face, and you taste your own blood. Unaware of it at the time, I was a child of privilege, one of […]

Of Coal Stoves and Vicious Circles

In 2007-8, when oil prices shot up to $148 barrel, and most of the rest of the US struggled to get to work the question of what to do was at the center of discussion where I live in rural upstate NY. While the vast majority of US households are heated by natural gas or […]

Growing population of Middle East sets food supply priority

My son, Charlie, is 4 months old and specialises in eating and growing. He does both at an alarming rate, and so he should, as he is a very happy and very healthy growing boy. Little does he know, however, that in excelling so superbly in both aspects of his recently acquired humanity, Charlie is […]

Natural-Gas Glut Could Bypass Europe

A major transformation of the global market for natural gas is under way. Fresh international supply routes are being drawn, new exporters are emerging and established trade patterns are being turned on their heads. Yet Europe, the world’s second-largest natural-gas market behind the U.S., stands apart from much of this change. It looks likely that […]

Economic crisis slows U.S. population growth

For two consecutive years since 2009, the nation has grown just 0.7% a year, down from annual increases around 1% in previous years and the lowest since the late 1930s. The U.S. gained 2.2 million people from 2010 to 2011 — fewer than the 2.8 million added a decade earlier — reaching a total of […]

World Energy Consumption – Beyond 500 Exajoules

Today’s post goes into the global consumption of energy and provides a dataset in Excel for researchers on global primary energy consumption from 1830 to 2010. In other words, the energy contained in fossil fuels, uranium, and biomass in their raw form before processing into electricity, heat, or liquid fuel, and direct electricity production from […]

German Army Peak Oil Study within 8 years oil shortages will collapse global economy

German army peak oil study released November 2010

Has the United States beaten peak oil? Not so fast.

In the past five years, warnings about peak oil have gained a lot of traction. U.S. oil production, after all, has fallen sharply since 1970. Global oil output has plateaued of late, even as China and India are demanding ever more crude. And that’s all caused prices to soar. Yet the recent shale-oil boom in […]

The End of the Peak Oil Theory

Last week I got caught up in a show from a few years ago called “Mega Disasters: Oil Apocalypse” on The History Channel, spelling out the doom our economy was facing as oil production declined over the next 100 years. Domestic production was already declining, and we had no plan B. Stock up on canned […]

Heinberg’s serious message has silver lining

World-renowned “Peak Oil” expert Richard Heinberg packed the 100 Mile House Community Hall on Feb. 8 to deliver his seriously troubling message that economic growth is effectively over. The audience of 220 all stayed to hear there is a silver lining if we can curb our spending on credit and apply principles of sustainability to […]

A third of families forced to cut back on food

After a year of soaring food prices, 38% of surveyed Pakistani families claimed to have been forced to cut back on food. One in five parents (22%) complained that their children did not have enough food to eat. Leading child rights organization, Save the Children, unveiled these data at the launch of its Global Nutrition […]

Peak Oil’s Impact: The Super Bowl

The official mourning period is now over, and I’m once again able to discuss the Super Bowl in somewhat dispassionate terms (%^&$*$ Eli Manning! Sorry….) What if there was no Super Bowl game? In a January article entitled “Super Bowl 2012: Indianapolis Invites Visitors for Weeklong Celebration” by Mark Johanson, city officials were said to […]

Matt Simmons: Gas Rationing

Matthew Simmons (RIP). Matt Simmons speaking at conference held by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil on 9.22.2008. http://www.simmonsco-intl.com http://www.aspo-usa.com Bernanke kept saying before Congressional hearings that resource utilization was high as the reasoning behind taking interest rates continually higher. By 2008 Bernanke raised interest rates to 5.25% at which point the derivative […]

The seekers effect: why we keep seeking growth at all costs

If you are trained in science or engineering, you probably think that your views should be based on the available data and that, if better data become available, then you should change your views. You may think that this is the obvious way to behave, but think twice. Most likely, you are part of a […]

Gas Prices are Rising fast

American motorists have seen the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline rise above $3.50 a gallon on just three occasions, but it has never happened this early in the year. Analysts say it’s likely a sign that pain at the pump will rise to some of the highest levels ever seen later this […]

A Young Couple Find Freedom in Simple Living

Rather than follow the customary American dream, Tammy and Logan sold their home and car, and moved to a bikeable/walkable neighborhood in Sacramento, California. After reading Derrick Jensen’s writings, this couple used Your Money or Your Lifeas a means to get out of debt and, they feel, regain their lives and their future. While they […]

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