Oil demand to hit highest level ever

Worldwide oil demand hit its highest level ever on the back of explosive growth in the developing world, according to preliminary figures in a recent report. But the world’s thirst for the hot commodity is unlikely to lead to the price spike witnessed in 2008 — largely due to oil field investments made during the […]

The “Stuff” of the American Energy Footprint

Americans today are generally aware that we consume far more energy per capita than most of the world’s peoples, over four times the world average and double that of regions like Japan and Europe which enjoy a similar standard of living. Most of us reflect on home gas and electric bills plus the fuel pumped […]

The World May Run Out of Food by 2050The World May Run Out of Food by 2050

A new book covers one more reason humanity needs to tackle global climate change, and tackle it fast: we’ll starve to death if we don’t. That’s the argument put forth by Professor Julian Cribb in The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It. Cribb writes that a global […]

James Howard Kunstler on The Long Emergency

James Howard Kunstler on The Long Emergency

Peak Oil: The Coming Famine

Jim Puplava (FSN) interviews Julian Cribb about his book “The Coming Famine.” Recorded Dec 1, 2010

The age of cheap oil prices is over, comments IEA Chief

Global oil demand is set to hit a new record in 2011 (peak oil anybody?) and we maybe getting closer to waving goodbye to cheap oil prices, according to the IEA ahead of their December 2010 oil report. The Age Of Cheap Oil Over? “In terms oil markets, I believe the age of cheap oil […]

Growth can’t continue forever in finite world

It is true that the rate of population increase is in decline, but he failed to mention that population growth is still high, with 77 million added to the planet annually. That increase will result in 2 billion people being added over the next few decades before population can be stabilized. Since we already have […]

Peak oil and the end of growth: we need to start planning now

A few weeks ago, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its World Energy Outlook 2010. The IEA is an organization established by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974. For the first time in its history, the IEA admitted that crude oil production (conventional oil) peaked in 2006 and will never ever […]

Aleklett on Peak Oil and Global Warmingl

The SMH has an article on ASPO President Kjell Aleklett’s Australian tour, looking at global warming scenarios considering peak oil and quoting ASPO Australia and TOD ANZ’s Phil Hart – Emissions scenarios are based on flawed assumptions, says energy expert. The concept of a peak – maximum production – does not mean a date after […]

Erik Curren : Neither apocalypse nor paradise

I’m pleased that my little article on the high volume of collapse talk coming  from peak oil writers recently generated some attention. And I’m grateful that as someone so obviously committed to Transition as Dave Ewolt judged my musings worth an intelligent response. I’d like to address some of his excellent points here. For me, […]

Peak oil: threat or fantasy?

The city is empty. Vast skyscrapers and office buildings sit idle and unoccupied, workers finding no reason to be there since they lost their jobs. Cars are abandoned on the street, withering and rusting away with the passing of the seasons. The sole remaining residents are gaunt, zombie-like figures, bodies ravaged by hunger, unable to […]

Forget Peak Oil, Now Peak COAL Is Just A Few Years Away

We’ve all become pretty used to the notion of scarce oil, and many debate whether a period of ‘peak oil’ is ahead whereby oil prices surge to astronomical levels due to world production peaking out as demand continues to grow. Yet now even coal, one of the cheapest and most abundant energy resources in the […]

China bans hoarding of oil, coal

China is banning the hoarding of oil, coal and other key commodities, seeking to ensure supplies and cool prices that have surged to politically volatile levels despite repeated moves to curb inflation. The moves reported by state media Tuesday are Beijing’s latest effort to counter unease over inflation that jumped to a 25-month high of […]

China: One-third of natural gas demand might not be met in 2011

China might see its natural gas supply fail to meet 35 percent of the demand in 2011, China Business News reported on Monday, citing a professor at China University of Petroleum. Yin Jianping, a business professor at China University of Petroleum, said the demand for natural gas in China has surpassed its supply since 2008, […]

Post Carbon Institute: There Will Be Fuel? An Open Letter to the New York Times

Rarely is the public treated to such inaccurate, misleading and unhelpful “journalism” as in “There will be fuel” by New York Times correspondent, Clifford Krauss (New York Times, November 17, 2010) , even in this era of political spin and smoke and mirrors surrounding energy. Let’s begin with the article’s concluding comment: “When you add […]

Chinese oil demand up double-digits… again

China’s apparent oil demand in October rose by a strong 11.8% from a year ago to 37.88 million metric tons (mt), or an average of 8.95 million barrels per day (b/d), according to a just-released Platts analysis of official data from the People’s Republic of China. October demand was 3.1% higher than the September figure […]

The Chinese Coal Monster – running out of puff

In July of this year I wrote a story called The Chinese Coal Monster drawing attention to the fact that China would soon account for 50% of global coal production and consumption. 10% per annum growth in Chinese coal is clearly unsustainable and I posed the question “How long can this go on?” An article […]

Fears of new food crisis as prices soar

The bill for global food imports will top $1,000bn this year for the second time ever, putting the world “dangerously close” to a new food crisis, the United Nations said. The warning by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation adds to fears about rising inflation in emerging countries from China to India. “Prices are dangerously […]

Aircraft and Lubricants after Peak Oil with Robert L. Hirsch

Robert L. Hirsch describes his new book about World Oil Decline. “The Impending World Energy Mess” In this question he discusses which industries will not benefit from alternative sources of electricity.

The Food Inflation Nightmare Is About To Hit 40% Of The World’s Population

Overnight, the threat of further Chinese tightening multiplied as a result of food price inflation. A basket of 18 key vegetables saw their prices increase by 62.4%, year-over-year, in the first 10 days of November. But just how likely is Chinese tightening? Waverly Advisors feel that it is now a near certainty, based on the […]

Kjell Aleklett: World Energy Outlook 2010 – a cry for help

When the IEA compares the OECD nations with the rest of the world it predicts that OECD oil consumption will fall from today’s 41.7 mb/d to 35.3 mb/d by 2035. This means that all OECD nations, including Australia, must revise downward their future consumption prognoses. Nations outside the OECD are now expected to increase their […]

How best to interpret oil demand projections

The International Energy Agency’s latest monthly oil market report, released late last week, highlights one of the surprising difficulties in interpreting oil market forecasts: the difference between world oil demand in outright terms and the implied year-on-year growth. In simple terms, you might think that the focus should surely be on the outright demand figure, regardless of whether the […]

Iran says oil at $100 would not hurt world economy

Iran said on Sunday that the world economy is in a position to absorb an oil price of 100 dollars a barrel even as it finds the current price range suitable for investments. “Oil prices increasing to 100 dollars (per barrel) would not hurt the global economy,” Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran’s representative at the Organisation […]

Still Wondering: Where Are We Going?

“[B]y 2050 another 130 million people are projected to be living in the United States; by 2100 the Census Bureau’s high estimate is more than 1 billion. Providing infrastructure and transportation for this expanding population will generate a long list of required equipment and materials….”[1] That’s a lot of energy demand and usage under the […]

IEA lifts 2010 global oil demand forecast

The International Energy Agency has raised its forecast for global oil demand this year following strong consumption in industrialised countries, but held its forecast for next year steady. The IEA on Friday lifted its forecast for global oil demand in 2010 to 87.3 million barrels per day, an increase of 400,000 barrels per day from […]

Water scarcity adds to food pressures

Millions more people across Asia will become food insecure due to increased water scarcities, reinforcing the need for greater efficiency in both irrigated and rain-fed rice production. “The food security of hundreds of millions of people will be adversely affected,” Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) told IRIN on the sidelines […]

Peak Oil Finally Piquing Analysts?

According to a new report: We need to put a carbon price on oil to keep the price of oil down. You know how the climate-denier politicians love to warn the public that any climate legislation will increase energy costs and destroy our economy? A recent report pokes some holes in that reasoning. The authors […]

Peak oil is spurring Vancouver’s self-sufficiency

What if you woke up one day and found that the world as you knew it had ceased to exist? It’s a thought that has probably crossed the minds of many and perhaps been quickly dismissed by most as silly. For Brennan Wauters, this prospect is real. That’s why he’s preparing for what he describes […]

The not so flat earth

One of my first blog posts was Oil, Half Way To Empty.  When I wrote that post over six years ago there was very little Peak Oil discussion in the media or the blogosphere.  In that post I quoted James Howard Kunstler: “The whole Archer Daniels Midland model of turning oil into corn into Taco […]

Peak Stuff: Are We There Yet?

Most everyone who follows energy knows “Peak Oil” as the moment when even the optimists can no longer postpone confronting the limitations of fossil fuel supply. Today I’m writing about “Peak Stuff”, a term I coined about 5 minutes ago to describe the point after which humanity realizes it cannot afford, does not need, and […]

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