Explaining Peak Oil

Hubbert’s Peak Peak oil is seen by many oil experts and economists as a major threat to the stability of the global economy and social structure. In 1956, M King Hubbert developed models that correctly foretold that between 1965 -70 oil production in the United States of America would reach a peak and then decline. […]

Charles Hall “Peak oil, declining EROI and the probability of degrowth”

Second Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity March 26-29th 2010, Barcelona Peak oil is not some fuzzy academic concern but a reality: for the US in 1970, for some 60 of 80 oil-producing countries and, at least for the moment, for the world since about 2005. In addition the net energy […]

Smart cities and the smart grid

A veritable “perfect storm” of challenges and opportunities is profoundly changing the fundamentals of urban areas throughout the world. The driving force is the exploding growth of urban populations caused by both global population growth combined with dramatic relocation to urban centers. The United Nations predicts a near doubling of city dwellers by 2050 as […]

What is peak oil, and will fracking buy us time?

PBS NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman speaks with former big pharma executive Chris Martenson about why the money the U.S. printed after the financial crash would have been better spent on alternative energy rather than on the banks.

U.S. faces higher food price inflation in 2014

The severe drought in California could have a lasting effect on U.S. fruit, dairy and egg prices, while prices for meats, especially beef, look likely to continue climbing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday. The agency said overall U.S. food price inflation for 2014, including food bought at grocery stores and food bought […]

Toward a Supply Constrained World

Diving Into Stories of Energy Transition with Chris Nelder Part Three of Four. Link to  Part 1 and Part 2 A transcript of our interview on Extraenvironmentalist #76 by Scott Bohachyk Editor’s note:  In this installment we discuss the potential role of renewable energy in transition and macroeconomic models in the face of supply constraints. Justin: I […]

Peak Oil is Here

“We need new production equal to a new Saudi Arabia every 3 to 4 years to maintain and grow supply… New discoveries have not matched consumption since 1986. We are drawing down on our reserves, even though reserves are apparently climbing every year. Reserves are growing due to better technology in old fields, raising the […]

The World’s Demand For Oil Is Slowing

According to Oil Market Intelligence (OMI), world crude oil supply rose to a record 90.2mbd on average over the past 12 months through April. The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has been remarkably flat (with some volatility) around $110 since early 2011. World oil supply has been well balanced with world oil […]

The Connection Between Oil Prices, Debt Levels, and Interest Rates

If oil is “just another commodity,” then there shouldn’t be any connection between oil prices, debt levels, interest rates, and total rates of return. But there clearly is a connection. On one hand, spikes in oil prices are connected with recessions. According to economist James Hamilton, ten out of eleven post-World War II recessions have […]

China steps up speed of oil stockpiling as tensions mount in Asia

Beijing has ordered an “unprecedented” build up of oil reserves as West prepares for possible oil sanctions against Russia. China is stockpiling oil for its strategic petroleum reserve at a record pace, intervening on a scale large enough to send a powerful pulse through the world crude market. The move comes as tensions mount in […]

Poverty and Silence

Under all our cheerful tallying of disasters there is always the one we don’t talk about: poverty. We can talk about overpopulation, resource depletion, climate change, political corruption, maybe even war, crime, epidemics, credit collapse, whatever, but in the coming years what the average person is going to be thinking about, first thing in the […]

Peak Whiskey: supplies are running low

Bourbon lovers, you’d better stock up. A day of reckoning is quickly approaching, warns Buffalo Trace, one of the oldest distilleries in the country. A whiskey shortage may soon be upon us. While bourbon producers have seen this problem coming for more than a year, its impacts are just now beginning to hit the market and will likely only […]

Why you don’t have to own everything

Most people don’t have time to sit around and contemplate the commons, says Leland Maschmeyer—an award-winning creative director and author of The Triumph of the Commons—because they’re busy with the “practical and pressing” stuff of life Can we fault them? No, of course not. The commons as a worldview and set of practices can appear […]

Next-Generation Infrastructure

This spring, yet another Presidential appeal for fixing the nation’s “raggedy” infrastructure (his word choice) failed to stir a response from Congress. However, bolder moves elsewhere to renew these critical services are reported here. I’m highlighting the following initiatives because they epitomize the new norms needed to “future-proof” our infrastructure. Such strategems are spelled out […]

2 billion more mouths to feed in 2050

By that date, the world population is predicted to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion people, a nearly 30 percent increase. To feed all those hungry people, agricultural scientists are look-ing to biotechnology to find ways to boost crop yields and improve the nutritional value of the food farmers in Nebraska and elsewhere raise. […]

Kunstler: Your Call Is Important To Us

F unny how, in the current national rapture of techno-narcissism, it is harder than ever to do something that for generations used to be as simple as pie: to get somebody on the telephone. It’s especially funny in a time when phones have become a prosthetic extension of every human hand and pretty much the […]

IEA predicts oil shortage unless supply boosted

Industrialised countries could be facing the prospect of an oil supply squeeze and higher prices later this year unless production is lifted, according to a report just released by the International Energy Agency. In its latest Oil Market Report, the IEA says recent production gains will not be sufficient to meet market needs in the […]

Our shadow, the Borg, and the ruthlessness of efficiency

During my graduate school days–which featured 1,000 pages plus of assigned reading in history each week–I used to fall asleep watching late-night reruns of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” after returning home from evening trips to the gym. (Given the circumstances, you’ll understand that curling up to good book was not my way of unwinding […]

Podcast: Peak Oil with Steve Ludlum from Economic Undertow

In this podcast, Steve details various aspects of the Peak Oil phenomenon, with the various definitions that come with that.  Also covered is how credit constraints affect the economy and geopolitical effects around the globe. How long will the game last? In Part III to come, Steve and I hash out our varying interpretations of […]

Public transportation is the future says expert

While the world population is expected to grow to 8.3 billion by 2030, public transport will remain the backbone of multi-modal mobility services in the future. This was affirmed by a transport expert, who predicted a significant spike in the use of public transport in the region by 2025. “Day-to-day public shuttle trips are (expected) […]

Nicole Foss – How I Prepared My Home for Peak Oil

Nicole Foss – How I Prepared My Home for Peak Oil and Economic Uncertainty video

Peak Oil Update

Time for another roundup of some of the better peak oil stories from the last few months: Former BP geologist: Peak oil is here and it will ‘break economies’ (Raw Story) US Army colonel: world is sleepwalking to a global energy crisis (The Guardian) Peak oil theory, as originally conceived by Hubbert and his followers, […]

Where the World’s Unsold Cars Go To Die

In the past several years, one of the topics covered in detail on these pages has been the surge in such gimmicks designed to disguise lack of demand and end customer sales, used extensively by US automotive manufacturers, better known as “channel stuffing”, of which General Motors is particularly guilty and whose inventory at dealer […]

Opec oil supply could fall short of meeting global demand this year

FT: Opec “will need to increase production significantly in the second half of the year in order to meet world demand, according to the west’s energy watchdog.” “While production gains of about 400,000 barrels a day in April have gone some way towards easing tight global markets, the International Energy Agency says a bigger increase […]

Israel, US import disputed crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan

The Iraqi government has repeatedly said oil sales bypassing Baghdad are illegal and has threatened to sue any company involved in the trade. Israeli and U.S. oil refineries have joined the growing list of customers for crude from Iraqi Kurdistan, a region locked in a bitter struggle with the central government in Baghdad that says […]

The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High

As the price of meat continues to skyrocket, will it soon be considered a “luxury item” for most American families?  This week we learned that the price of meat in the United States rose at the fastest pace in more than 10 years last month. Image: Beef (Wiki Commons). Leading the way is the price of shrimp.  […]

China Produces and Consumes Almost as much Coal as the Rest of the World Combined

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics. Note: For countries whose 2012 data was unavailable, 2011 data were extrapolated forward one year. These countries comprised about 3% of both total consumption and total production. Chinese production and consumption of coal increased for the 13th consecutive year in 2012. China is by far the world’s […]

A Limits to Growth Critique of the Radical Left: The Need to Embrace the Simpler Way

Abstract: “The radical left in general has failed to recognise the significance of the “limits to growth” analysis of the global situation, and as a result its understanding of the required alternative to consumer-capitalist society is unsatisfactory. The most serious implications concern the many ways in which traditional radical left thinking on the transition process […]

Change is coming – Hold on tight

Seems like every week I get emails from yet another group that is “creating a network of local groups” for social change. Or expanding into a new reskilling class series. Or cultivating a citywide vision plan. Each of them valid in their focus, each one tackling their own aspect of The Great Turning. And each […]

How to destroy a civilization

  This is the third post of comments on the “NASA-funded paper” (a term that went viral) on societal collapse by Motessharry, Rivas and Kalnay (MRK). In my first post on the subject, I noted some qualitative features of the model. In the second post I commented on the debate. Here, I am going more […]

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