The Protein Ladder

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information   In 1800, three percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas. By 1900, roughly 14 percent of the world’s population were urbanites and 12 cities had 1 million or more inhabitants.   In 1950, 30 […]

what we will need to do to survive doomsday

CONCERNED scientists have revealed how we can prevent the human race from being wiped out — and it involves either changing our planet’s orbit or uploading ourselves into machines. In around 500 million years, scientists believe that the Sun’s expansion will leave our planet completely uninhabitable, with conditions so unforgiving that the Earth will return […]

Don’t let the low prices fool you: peak oil will be upon us soon

The end of the oil era has been predicted for so long that it has ceased to attract much interest. Critics rightly say it’s now difficult to know who to believe. Were not forecasters urging governments to go green not so long ago, because we had reached “peak oil” and the world was running out […]

Debt: The Key Factor Connecting Energy and the Economy

There are many who believe that the use of energy is critical to the growth of the economy. In fact, I am among these people. The thing that is not as apparent is that growth in energy consumption is dependent on the growth of debt. Both energy and debt have characteristics that are close to […]

Oil Price – A Conundrum

The oil prices are known to follow the basic principle of economics i.e. of demand and supply. Hence, the volumes of oil (proved and proved+ probable) discovered at a given date, likely duration of achievement of the ‘mid-point’ peak of the oil production in a region are accounted by traders for gauging the potential supplying […]

They’re Lying to You About Peak Oil, and Making a Fortune in the Process

The end of oil as we know it … Oil has crashed.  But a short-term drop in the price of oil is nothing compared with the end of demand for oil as we know it.  The more extreme scenario is what Bernstein Research is now talking about. Energy analyst Neil Beveridge is out with a […]

Where Does The U.S. Get Its Oil?

Ever wondered where the United States imports its oil from? Howmuch.net came out with some infographics to show that from 2000 to 2015. What we would highlight here is the notable shift from the U.S. depending heavily on Middle East countries and Mexico, to depending more on America’s neighbor to the north, Canada. In 2000, […]

Declining Energy Prices Lower the Cost of Living

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Since June 2014, decreases in crude oil and natural gas prices have reduced household energy costs. According to initial figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the chained consumer price index for urban consumers (C-CPI-U) decreased by 1.2% from June 2014 to […]

Consumers Are Underestimating Just How Dependent We Are on Pesticides

The time may be upon us to get real about pesticides. While railing against the likes of Monsanto for using chemicals deemed “probably carcinogenic” may be tempting, it appears that many consumers do not practice, or at least fully understand, what they preach. A new report released by the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) found […]

Water shortage to shrink global economy

Economies across the globe could shrink dramatically by mid-century as fresh water grows scarce due to climate change, the World Bank said in a report released on Tuesday. West Asian countries could be hardest hit, with its gross domestic product (GDP) growth slipping as much as 14% by 2050 unless measures are taken to reallocate […]

Despite Shale Glut, U.S. Imports More Foreign Oil

The U.S. is importing more foreign crude than it has in years, becoming one of the last ports of call for many oil-producing nations despite a glut of crude from domestic companies. Oil imports this year have surged 20% to about eight million barrels a day since early May 2015, when they approached a 20-year […]

How Will We Feed the Megacities of the Future?

Urban farms may provide a delicious source of delicate salad greens, honey, and even the occasional eggs, but they’re a long way from feeding entire cities. As rural areas continue to house much of the world’s poor, the question of who feeds these dense, agriculture-scarce areas becomes even more important. Linking small or subsistence farmers […]

Peak Oil Could Hit In Just 14 Years, But It Might Not Be What You Think

For years, the “peak oil” theory made people think that the world would start running out of oil, and prices would increase exponentially. But a research firm that serves Wall Street has turned the whole idea on its head — it says “peak oil” is coming, but it’s not in any way what people thought […]

China’s Declining Oil Demand Not Hurting Oil Prices

China’s demand for oil is less than it used to be. A lot less, based on first quarter data. Don’t worry oil bulls, if Barclays is right this thing is going to $54 before the rally dies. Crude oil markets remain supported by the persistence of large supply outages that have tightened the physical markets […]

The Revolution will not be Market Gardenized

It was suggested to me recently that I might like to pen some thoughts on Jean-Martin Fortier’s book The Market Gardener1. And indeed I would. Here they are. At one level, I think the book is very, very good. It’s packed with useful information on how to establish and run a successful, small-scale, local, organic […]

Coal Demand Has Fallen in Nearly Every State Since 2007

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report Form EIA-923 Consumption of steam coal used for electricity generation in the U.S. electric power sector fell 29% from its peak of 1,045 million short tons (MMst) in 2007 to an estimated 739 MMst in 2015. Consumption fell in nearly every state, rising only in Nebraska […]

IEA chief says oil price bottoming depends on global growth

International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said on Sunday that oil prices may have bottomed out, providing that the health of the global economy does not pose a concern. Oil prices hit 2016 highs on Friday with Brent crude LCOc1. reaching $48.50 a barrel on optimism that a global oil glut will ease. That, […]

Oil’s Magic Number Becomes $50 a Barrel for Promise of Recovery

The new magic number in the oil industry is $50. BP Plc, rig-owner Nabors Industries Ltd. and explorer Pioneer Natural Resources Co. all said in the past 24 hours that prices above $50 will encourage more drilling or provide the needed boost to cash flow. With oil bouncing close to $45 a barrel, an industry that has […]

Low Oil Prices Will Lead To Shortages — In 2035

OMG guys we’re running out of oil! In 2035. That’s right, if oil companies don’t get their act together and start exploring for more crude, the world might not have enough oil to meet demand. Twenty years from now. It seems almost comical to consider given today’s glut of the stuff. But the analysts at […]

Communities Innovate Their Way Out of Sprawl

The suburbs have lost a lot of luster in the past 70 years. What was once hailed as a refreshing alternative to the grittiness of city living has been tugged and pulled and paved into a series of brownfields and vacant parking lots that stretch for miles and miles. Public planners have been predicting “the […]

Are consumers getting tired of consuming?

In debates around the use of natural resources, a popular narrative is that humankind is consuming its way to disaster – going to hell in a shopping basket if you like. We can do all in our power to make manufacturing and transportation – or just the very process of existing – as efficient as […]

Participatory Economics and the Next System

It is increasingly apparent that neoliberal capitalism is not working well for most of us. Growing inequality of wealth and income is putting the famous American middle class in danger of becoming a distant memory as American children, for the first time in our history, now face economic prospects worse than what their parents enjoyed. […]

Market economy, engineers busted oil scarcity myth

Remember “peak oil”? This well-promoted theory was gaining peak notoriety right around the same time it was announced that, when washed through a whole list of “equalizing” adjustments, the Chinese economy had actually usurped the U.S. to become the world’s largest. In hindsight, neither prognostication appears to have been accurate. Imagine that. I’d bet a […]

Exit from the Megamachine

Opening a newspaper or listening to the radio news exposes us to a flood of catastrophic messages: devastating droughts, failing states, terrorist attacks, and financial crashes. You can look at all those incidents as unconnected singular phenomena, which is exactly what the common presentation of news suggests. From another angle, however, they appear as symptoms […]

A Kick-Ass Era to Be Alive

These are turbulent times. Extreme weather events indiscriminately wreak havoc around the world. Floods and landslides wash away entire communities in minutes. Rising urban air pollution cause millions of deaths every year. 200 million youth are unemployed. 1 billion live in urban slums. Political instability, conflict and terror has severely deteriorated the global security situation […]

Why $80 could be ‘new normal’ for oil

The “new normal” for U.S. oil prices could be as much as double the current $40 per barrel, but don’t expect $65 to $80 crude until around 2018, long-time industry advisor Tom Petrie said Wednesday. “We overshot on the downside, when we penetrated $30 [per barrel],” Petrie said, referring to the Feb. 11 bottom of […]

Total U.S. Energy Production Increases for Sixth Consecutive Year

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review Total U.S. energy production increased for the sixth consecutive year. According to data in EIA’s most recent Monthly Energy Review, energy production reached a record 89 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), equivalent to 91% of total U.S. energy consumption. Liquid fuels production drove the increase, with an […]

Steady State Economies

What is it like to live in a steady state economy? Miss Hokusai in Edo Japan   “Miss Hokusai” is a delicate and beautiful movie set during the late Edo period in Japan. It may give us a feeling of what it is like to live in a steady-state economy. In the picture from the […]

Timing of the peak all-important

Strange new economic phenomena will kick in the moment oil production peaks, turning normal national finance ministry policies on their heads The reason there is such heated debate over when exactly peak oil is due to arrive is because, at the point of the peak, the fundamental laws of economics governing oil production, consumption, and […]

Russian Energy Minister Sees Oil Price at $50

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that he sees global oil prices at $40-45 per barrel in the second half of this year, with potential to rise to $50 by the end of 2016. A planned meeting of major OPEC and non-OPEC countries in Doha later this month may allow to speed up […]

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