[ConCit]

No link here; try news.google.com. But by now most of my fellow Yanks have heard that the US Supreme Court ruled that the White House doesn't have to tell anyone ho they met with, what was discussed or what was decided in formulating energy policy. Wild speculation alert - any chance the discussion might have had a large section devoted tohow to secure dwindling oil reserves?

[MadScientist]

http://www.judicialwatch.org/3702.shtml

[UncoveringTruths]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must diversify its global oil supplies, expand a world network of strategic petroleum reserves and raise fuel efficiency standards to ensure its energy security, a panel of experts will recommend Wednesday.

These are some of the findings from the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of energy experts, company executives and government officials, that will be released in Washington to attack major long-term energy challenges.

The recommendations could be used next year by lawmakers in the new Congress who will try to approve a bill to overhaul U.S. energy policy.

[JoeW]

I read most of their plan, and they don't even mention production peaks for oil or natural gas. They discuss predictions for resource consumption in 2025, as well as greenhouse emissions, and what can be done to increase supply while reducing consumption growth.

Their suggestion appears to be to double funding for all energy programs, and pay for it by selling greenhouse gas emissions permits.

I think the plan is a bit naive, in the sense that it is not likely to do anything about emissions. Companies will risk getting caught emitting greenhouse gases without a permit, or emitting more than they have permits for...

[savethehumans]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey discuss plans for resource consumption in 2025.

[Keith_McClary]

National Commission on Energy Policy
has a link to the report,"Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America's Energy Challenges," (2MB, .pdf).
On p. 19 they make the bizarre statement:
"The commission does not embrace the view that world oil production has peaked"

On p. 62 0f this document
http://www.energycommission.org/ewebedi ... 2F4694.pdf (4MB, .pdf)
they have a graph showing "How much oil has been produced and has yet to be produced in various regions of the world?" but they do not "embrace" the obvious implication.

They have a list of "Consulted Organizations". Do you see any geologists on the list?

Some comment here:
Commission That Produced "Bipartisan" Energy Report Dominated by Industry Interests, Produced Wish List for Energy Companies

[Keith_McClary]

China also has a new Five Year Plan:
China outlines ten programs for energy efficiency

No Peak Oil mentioned there, either.

[NeoPeasant]

I scanned thru It and did some keyword searches. Nothing about peak oil, depletion, or public transportation, or encouraging conservation.
Apparently the keys to our energy independence are subsidizing tire makers to make low rolling resistance tires, subsidizing motor oil makers to sell synthetic oil at conventional oil prices, more subsidies of ethanol, and drill, drill, drill.
They took great pains to avoid suggesting any action that might harm a political career or economic growth. Which means they did not suggest anything that would be of any real use.

[challenge]

Speaking about Peak Oil you have several kinds of reactions:
1. It will hapen, what place on earth gives me the best chance to survive
2. What can I do to prepare ourselves at the place were we live
3. What alternatives can be looked into to make the best of it

Though of course, I also fantasise about evacuation plans etc I better like to investigate option 3. first, i.e. what can we do to make the best of it. If you find out there is a factual difference in (propably diminishing) demands (due to the oilprice expected) and production, you shuld look into other possibilities (of bringing back demand and/or siezing up sustainable production). Finally you might consider the doomscenario, if you become realy desperate.

In Europe plans are made with the North African countries and the Arabic world to each use the sustainable possibilities that are best fitted for their geographical conditions.
http://www.trec-eumena.org/documents/am ... r_1410.pdf
I assume that the US and other parts of the world do have their own ideas about coping the subject. Since the surface that might be used for CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) is less then in the Middle east, perhaps the US might be making plans for the use of organic matter from the oceans in bio-fuel, or in orbitting some SSP's (Space Solar Power) into a low orbit.

I would be interested to read about the US / North American plans for the post Peak Oil situation. I hope this discussion will not lead us to a discussion about conservative or labour or one about the spelling or grammer used.

Martien, the Netherlands

[JayHMorrison]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('challenge', '
')I would be interested to read about the US / North American plans for the post Peak Oil situation.

[skateari]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')I would be interested to read about the US / North American plans for the post Peak Oil situation.

[GD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JayHMorrison', '
')All nuclear, all of the time. Use it for energy, use it for war. Drop it on the middle east to clear out the camel jockeys, then send our boys in (with appropriate protective gear) to pump out the oil. If any of the Euro trash tries to join in, well lob a few nukes your way.

How is that for a plan?

[Graeme]

Planning For the Peak

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou will never wake to the headline, "World Runs Out of Oil."

Rather, global oil production will rise, reach one or more peaks, and decline. Well before production declines to very low levels, the peak will mark a point of no return that will be a watershed in the economic history of the 21st century. For the first time, industrial economies will be forced to a lower-quality energy source. And this decline will affect every aspect of modern life.

This creates an additional difficulty for the inevitable transition away from oil. Alternative fuels can generate an energy surplus large enough to power the U.S. and world economies, but to do so the infrastructure for the alternative fuel needs to be larger than the current oil infrastructure. If 1 Btu (British thermal unit) of oil could be used to extract 50 Btu of new oil from the ground (which was the ratio at the U.S. peak), most alternatives currently produce 2-10 Btu per Btu invested. The infrastructure for such alternatives would need to be five to twenty-five times larger than the current oil infrastructure.

[dub_scratch]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Robert K. Kaufman', '
')This creates an additional difficulty for the inevitable transition away from oil. Alternative fuels can generate an energy surplus large enough to power the U.S. and world economies, but to do so the infrastructure for the alternative fuel needs to be larger than the current oil infrastructure. If 1 Btu (British thermal unit) of oil could be used to extract 50 Btu of new oil from the ground (which was the ratio at the U.S. peak), most alternatives currently produce 2-10 Btu per Btu invested. The infrastructure for such alternatives would need to be five to twenty-five times larger than the current oil infrastructure.

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

Why are we "planning for the Peak" when its supposedly already happened? Seems like now that the Peak has arrived, we should just take cover in our bomb shelters and eat our canned and horded food supply until enough people die off over the next few months so that us Peakers can emerge, owners of the universe?

Strange thing though, I can still get fresh vegetables and fruit at my local supermarket, which seems strange what with Peak having arrived and deprived tractors of fuel to run, and for some reason the gas company keeps shipping me natural gas to burn in my house, and darned if I didn't horde another 55 gal drum of gasoline the other day when no one was looking and no one tried to shoot me and take it away for their own uses as I drove away. This post-Peak era sure doesn't look like its been described so far.

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReserveGrowthRulz', 'W')hy are we "planning for the Peak" when its supposedly already happened? Seems like now that the Peak has arrived, we should just take cover in our bomb shelters and eat our canned and horded food supply until enough people die off over the next few months so that us Peakers can emerge, owners of the universe?

Strange thing though, I can still get fresh vegetables and fruit at my local supermarket, which seems strange what with Peak having arrived and deprived tractors of fuel to run, and for some reason the gas company keeps shipping me natural gas to burn in my house, and darned if I didn't horde another 55 gal drum of gasoline the other day when no one was looking and no one tried to shoot me and take it away for their own uses as I drove away. This post-Peak era sure doesn't look like its been described so far.

[Trab]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', '
')
TS hasn't HTF yet.

Wait.

[Graeme]

This was just posted at a New Zealand Peak Oil site:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Comprehensive Energy Bill to Radically Reduce Hawaii's Oil Dependence

Snowmass, Colo., 12 January 2006-Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a Colorado-based
energy and resources think tank, announced today that the State of Hawaii is
launching a comprehensive and integrated approach to reducing oil dependence,
Republican Governor Linda Lingle's "Energy for Tomorrow" bill. Energy is not
a partisan issue-majority Democrats offered their own energy package containing
similar themes. In the absence of federal leadership, however, states will be the
laboratories for change and policy innovation on energy, with Hawaii poised to be in
the forefront of state leadership.

RMI's 2004 study, Winning the Oil Endgame, a ground-breaking business-lead strategy
for ending U.S. oil dependence, detailed a comprehensive list of policy actions that
would accelerate society's adoption of efficient technologies and biofuels, and move
America into a post-oil era. The Governor's "Energy for Tomorrow" bill is a
comprehensive energy policy package that incorporates many of RMI's policy
recommendations, and has the potential to transform Hawaii-the most oil-dependent
state in the nation and the one with the highest energy costs-into a state that will
lead the nation with a low-cost, sustainable, locally-produced, and secure energy
system. The Office of the Governor announced the bill separately Thursday.

"This bill embraces Winning the Oil Endgame's strategy to reduce oil dependence
through efficiency, renewables, and biofuels while strengthening the economy through
agricultural revitalization," said Kyle Datta, RMI Senior Director of Research &
Consulting, who coauthored the report. "We knew that energy leadership had to
come from the state-level, but Hawaii, with the highest energy prices, a 90 percent
dependence on oil for energy, and few traditional energy options, could become a test
lab for redesigning our entire nation's energy architecture on a state-by-state
basis."

According to Datta, who has worked on dozens of energy policy initiatives and
efficiency projects in Hawaii, the state has never seen such a broad-ranging and
comprehensive suite of policies aimed at ending the state's addiction to oil. The
increase in oil prices since 2002, has, he said, cost the state over $1 billion, and
increased energy expenses ~$1,850/household. While Hawaii has no fossil fuel
resources, it has the full portfolio of renewable energy resources. RMI will be
working with the State of Hawaii to provide the energy strategy and implementation
plan to wean the state off its oil addiction.

Innovative Policies
The "Energy for Tomorrow" bill establishes a bold and strategic energy policy
framework of measures to encourage and support market-based development of reliable,
cost-effective, and self-reliant energy systems. The bill's five major components
include:

o "Savings through Efficiency,"
o "Independence through Renewable Energy,"
o "Fuels through Farming,"
o "Security through Technology," and
o "Empowering Hawaii's Consumers."

Four of the bill's elements stand out as important innovations of national
significance.

First, "Savings through Efficiency" calls for the creation of a Public
Benefits Charge that will be used to directly fund efficiency and distributed
renewable energy through an independent third party. The approach is based on the
State of Vermont's efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont, which was created to
implement energy efficiency services and programs in an unbiased, independent,
rigorously-accountable, and evenly-applied manner. Today, Efficiency Vermont has
achieved twice the national average in energy savings of other states' efficiency
programs, while Hawaii currently achieves roughly half the national average.

Second, "Independence through Renewable Energy" contains provisions that
strengthen Hawaii's renewable portfolio standard, setting it at 20 percent and
explicitly tasking the Public Utilities' Commission with defining a methodology for
valuing the long-run benefits of renewable power in reducing fossil fuel risk. The
bill also calls for sharing the fossil fuel risk between the utility and its
ratepayers.

Third, the centerpiece of "Fuels through Farmings" is a 20 percent Renewable
Fuels Standard, backed with exemptions from the state fuels excise tax and state
preferences for biofuels procurement.

Finally, this energy bill, Mr. Datta noted, could lead the 50th state to become a
world leader in hydrogen energy technology. It calls for the immediate establishment
of a world-class renewable hydrogen program.

The Democratic majority package mirrors the call for state leadership in energy
efficiency by requiring LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver
certification, and providing significant funding for energy efficiency in state
buildings and photovoltaics in schools. The critical innovation is the Pay As You
Save (PAYS) pilot program that provides a revolving fund to finance solar water
heating for low-income residents that is paid back through energy savings.

Triple Bottom Line
This bill, Mr. Datta noted, would be good for Hawaiians, good the environment, and
good for business. Implementation of all the conservation, renewable energy, and
alternative transportation fuels components of this package, he said, are expected by
the year 2020 to displace 110.5 million barrels of imported crude oil-saving Hawaii's
consumers $6.32 billion; and avoiding 48.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The Energy for Tomorrow bill also points the way to the development of the Hawaiian
biofuels industry and robust agricultural sector. A 2003 study by Stillwater
Associates projected that Hawaii has a ethanol industry capable of producing 90
million gallons a year, which "could add as much as $300 million to Hawaii's
economy in direct and indirect value." RMI's Winning the Oil Endgame estimated
that moving the United States off oil could stimulate a 750,000-job biofuels industry
worth tens of billions of dollars.

"This really represents sweeping change for Hawaii, and it's an affirmation of
the hard work we put into Winning the Oil Endgame," said Datta. "Our energy
future is choice, not fate. This bill means Hawaii will define its energy destiny.
RMI is committed to working with the State of Hawaii to develop and implement a
forward looking energy strategy."

For more information, please contact Kyle Datta at 808-329-4360 at kdatta@rmi.org
Cameron Burns (cameron@rmi.org), 970 927-3851 or Cory Lowe (clowe@rmi.org), 970
927-3851. You can also visit RMI's website at http://www.rmi.org.


About RMI: Rocky Mountain Institute is a twenty-four-year-old, independent,
nonpartisan, entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization. Its mission is to foster the
efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just,
profitable, and life-sustaining. RMI's nearly fifty staff members show businesses,
communities, individuals, and governments how to meet their goals in ways that create
more wealth and protect the environment simultaneously-often through advanced
resource efficiency. For more on our work, please visit our main website at
http://www.rmi.org, or go to our Media Materials section at
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid65.php.

In response to the increasing demand for timely information on what Rocky Mountain
Institute is doing, we've created this Media List, to which we send periodic email
updates. This message was sent to you because you are listed in Rocky Mountain
Institute's database as someone interested in energy. Please feel free to forward
this message to other interested parties.

If you feel you have received this email by mistake, or if at any time you wish to
discontinue this service, please click on the link listed at the bottom of this
email. If this email has been forwarded to you and you wish to subscribe directly,
please send an email to outreach@rmi.org with "subscribe" in the subject
line. Rocky Mountain Institute does not rent or sell its mailing lists to outside
parties.

Rocky Mountain Institute is a twenty-four-year-old independent entrepreneurial
nonprofit organization. Its mission is to foster the efficient and restorative use of
resources to make the world secure, just, profitable, and life-sustaining. RMI's
nearly fifty staff members show businesses, communities, individuals, and governments
how to meet their goals in ways that create more wealth and protect the environment
simultaneously-often through advanced resource efficiency. For more on our work,
please visit our main website at http://www.rmi.org.

[Graeme]

What they don't want you to know about the coming oil crisis

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')oaring fuel prices, rumours of winter power cuts, panic over the gas supply from Russia, abrupt changes to forecasts of crude output... Is something sinister going on? Yes, says former oil man Jeremy Leggett, and it's time to face the fact that the supplies we so depend on are going to run out.

Smith sums all the reported capacities in the Middle East Five and finds that if the rate of demand growth continues at 1.5 per cent they will fail to meet global demand by as soon as 2011. If it rises to 2.5 per cent the demand gap appears in 2008. If it is 3.5 per cent - the rates in China and the US of late - the gap is already here.

The good news is that it will be possible to replace oil, gas and coal completely with a plentiful supply of renewable energy, and faster than most people think. Shell employs roomfuls of clever people just to think about the future. They are called scenario planners. In their 2001 book of scenarios, Shell's planners mention that renewable energy holds the potential to power a future world populated with 10 billion people, and do so with ease.

[nocar]

The plan above for Hawaii energy independence seems interesting but very vague to me. Not a word about reducing car traffic.

I visited Hawaii, Big Island, about 3 or 4 years ago. I think the majority of vehicles there were SUVs, gas guzzlers. There was not one bus line on the whole island - no public transport (of course school buses). For energy cost - read SUV transport, electricity, and jet fuel.

Very balmy climate, no need for indoor heating. I do not think the summer heat get bad either - so this an energy cost they do not have. They really already should use less energy than most places.

nocar