Peak Oil and Energy

Robert Newmans history of oil 2006

Energy Shock How Peak Oil Will Change Your Life

China will drive the cars and we will ride bikes? I don’t think that will go over very well.

Why Is Economic Growth So Popular?

When the new Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Mario Monti, gave his acceptance speech to the Senate, a few days ago, he used 28 times the term “growth” and not even once terms such as “natural resources” or “energy”. He is not alone in neglecting the physical basis of the world’s economy: the chorus of economic […]

Saudi Fuel for Power Plants to Rise 53% by 2017 as Demand Grows

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, will need 53 percent more fuel to fire its power and desalination plants by 2017 as demand jumps, the head of Water & Electricity Co. said. The kingdom will use 2.3 million barrels a day of oil equivalent by 2017 for power, compared with 1.5 million barrels last […]

Global food demand could double by 2050

A new studyfrom the University of Minnesota projects that global food demand could double by 2050. That’s despite the fact the world’s population is forecast to grow by less than 30 percent. Jason Hill, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, said as people in developing countries get wealthier and eat […]

The Electric Car Paradox: Can We Switch To Electric Cars ?

The simple answer is no – and the complicated answer is also no. Consumers in almost any motorized car loving country, now including China and India whose car industries have until recently shown straight-line upward growth (with China already vastly outdistancing the USA by car output) have a common complaint at the fuel filling station. […]

How Peak Oil Will Affect the Economy

Economist Richard Douthwaite discusses the impact of peak oil on the world economy. Our current economic model requires sustained growth based on cheap fossil fuels; oil depletion, rising oil prices and climate change will cause a global economic crisis.

Money and Energy

EXCERPT: Money and energy have always been linked. For example, a gold currency was essentially an energy currency because the amount of gold produced in a year was determined by the cost of the energy it took to extract it. If energy (perhaps in the form of slaves or horses rather than fossil fuel) was […]

Meeting global food demand

Improved agricultural technology is needed to decrease world hunger, reduce conflict, and give consumers choices, according to Rob Aukerman, president of U.S. operations for Elanco Animal Health. Jo Luck, president of Heifer International and one of two 2010 World Food Prize laureates, said that through inspiration and education, people can develop the plans needed to […]

Is it really possible to decouple GDP Growth from Energy Growth?

In recent years, we have heard statements indicating that it is possible to decouple GDP growth from energy growth. I have been looking at the relationship between world GDP and world energy use and am becoming increasingly skeptical that such a decoupling is really possible. Figure 1. Growth in world energy consumption (based on BP […]

Selling the oil illusion, American style

“The task of the real intellectual consists of analyzing illusions in order to discover their causes.” ~ Arthur Miller US production of crude oil peaked in 1970 at 9.637 mbpd (million barrels per day) and has been in a downtrend for 40 years. Recently, however, there’s been a tremendous amount of excitement at the prospect […]

Heinberg : At Growth’s End

European economies are teetering on the brink of collapse as low rates of GDP growth are no longer able to justify continued investments in piles of debt. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States is struggling to acknowledge its ever larger ranks of underemployed and unemployed while managing the world’s largest national […]

“If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re heading”

That is the prominent quote headlining the English language executive summary of the World Energy Outlook Report of the International Energy Agency released Wednesday. The following are selected passages from the projections made by the IEA. Bolding is as in the original, underlining and [text ] added. There are few signs that the urgently needed […]

Energy crisis looming for Asia-Pacific region

Asia-Pacific countries are facing critical energy challenges that threaten to undermine economic and national security in the region, according to leaders from China and Hawaii who spoke at an energy summit during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. More than 200 executives from local and Chinese energy companies convened at the Hawaii State Capitol in what […]

Peak Fish? Can the oceans continue to feed us?

Far out on the Pacific Ocean, the world’s industrial fishing fleets pursue one of the last huge wild hunts – for the tuna eaten by millions of people around the world. Yet tuna still aren’t fished sustainably, something that conservationists and big U.S. tuna companies are trying to fix. This illustrates one part of the […]

What Will China’s Energy Demand Be In 20 Years?

By the time your kindergartener is off to college and maybe even graduating, China will consume enough oil equivalent energy as the United States and European Union…combined. In fact, according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, published Nov. 8, China will consume more energy than India, Brazil and the EU. Over the next […]

China: Power shortages on the way

Supplies affected as plants cut back on stockpiles in winter due to high price of coal The coming winter months may see nationwide power shortages, as the soaring cost of coal hits stockpiles, industry sources said. China’s top five thermal power generators are expected to post losses of as much as 35 billion yuan ($5.5 […]

Real Oil Crisis – The Peak Oil Debate

Video from ABC Catalyst

Looking at Peak Oil’s other angle

Peak oil is a big topic in energy circles, which usually refers to the theory that at a point in time (usually couched as being in the not-too-distant future) the world’s supply of oil, in terms of our ability to produce it, will reach its upper limit. After that, we start running out of oil, […]

Sobering Outlook from the IEA

The IEA is not some wild-eyed “peak oil/global warming” fringe group. They are about as mainstream and staid a group as you are going to find. The bullet points below come from the fact sheet associated with the report (see here). I comment on the implications, particularly the investment implications after each bullet point. Major […]

Tom Murphy: The Fossil Fuel Joyride Is Over

Tom Murphy, associate physics professor at the University of California San Diego, projects energy needs for future enerations to argue that current ways of living are unsustainable. Disputing the argument that technology can save humanity from a peak oil crisis, Murphy states, “the fossil fuel joyride that we have experienced has clouded our judgment.” —– […]

Energy Costs to Rise ‘Viciously’ Without Nuclear, IEA Says

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) — Energy will become “viciously more expensive” and polluting if governments don’t promote renewable and nuclear power in the next two decades instead of burning coal, the International Energy Agency said. Global demand for energy is set to increase 40 percent by 2035, the Paris-based agency said today in its annual World […]

Oil prices are in ‘danger zone’, warns the IEA

Oil could hit $150 a barrel soon if investment in the Middle East and North Africa fails to rise with demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. Prices have remained high throughout 2011, partly due to Libyan unrest. “We are in the danger zone for the global economy at current levels,” said IEA economist Fatih […]

Oil demand shows signs of easing

GLOBAL oil demand is expected to peak before 2020 as a ”perfect storm” of regulation promotes energy efficiency, new technology and biofuel use across the world, a study suggests. The report, by industrial consultancy group Ricardo, challenges the widespread view that ”peak oil” will come as soaring demand from emerging markets causes oil supplies to […]

OPEC ups oil demand forecast

OPEC now expects demand for oil to grow even more than it projected just a year ago, as the oil cartel said the recovery from the Great Recession took place faster than it expected. But the group’s annual oil outlook released Tuesday also worried about the risk of a new recession in the world’s developed […]

ASPO-USA Conference Takeaways

Here’s what I included as an off-topic comment I put in my weekly report at my not-related-to-investing-or-energy day job to try to give some of the people I work with a bit of a wake-up call: “Off topic: I attended the Peak Oil conference downtown last week. Here’s the key results: Peak oil is proceeding […]

Can America Use All This Natural Gas from Shale?

America is swimming in natural gas from shale formations. It promises to be our bail-out from otherwise flat or falling gas supplies of other types – and provide important relief from our dependence on imported oil. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shale provided only about 14 percent of America’s natural gas in […]

Oil demand globally to peak before 2020

Global oil demand is expected to peak before 2020 as a “perfect storm” of regulation promotes energy efficiency, new technology and biofuel use across the world, according to a new study. The report, by respected industrial consultancy group Ricardo, challenges the widespread view that ‘peak oil’ will come as soaring emerging market demand causes oil […]

IEA draft outlook sees $212 oil in 2035

The jump in oil prices in the past year is adding to concern about the economy, according to a draft of the International Energy Agency’s 2011 World Energy Outlook, which also raised its view of long-run prices. The draft dated July 2011, obtained by Reuters ahead of the publication’s launch next week, assumes nominal oil […]

China to phase out energy-inefficient light bulbs

China announced Friday it will phase out incandescent light bulbs within five years in an attempt to make the world’s most polluting nation more energy efficient. China will ban imports and sales of 100-watt and higher incandescent bulbs from Oct. 1, 2012, the country’s main planning agency said. It will extend the ban to 60-watt […]

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