Resilience

Alternative Energy Challenges

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:30:00 GMT

The various obstacles to alternative energy compound the fundamental challenge of how to supplant a fossil fuel–based supply chain withone driven by alternative energy forms themselves.

To power up or power down? That is the question

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:48:00 GMT

Recently I read that our challenge in the twenty-first century is to triple global energy demand “so that the world’s poorest can enjoy modern living standards, while reducing our carbon emissions from energy production to zero”.

Former Soviet Union crude oil exports declined by 5.5 % in last 2 years

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:26:00 GMT

Russia is at its 2nd and last oil peak. The easy oil is gone. The FSU export peak comes ahead of the production peak.

Peak oil review - June 17

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:02:00 GMT

A weekly update including: Oil and the Global Economy, The Middle East North Africa, China, Quote of the Week, The Briefs

Shale gas, tight oil, and fracking - June 17

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:49:58 GMT

•Why America's Shale Oil Boom Could End Sooner Than You Think •Boulder and other Colorado cities try to fight fracking •First County In The U.S. Bans Fracking To Save Its Water •EIA: Shale Fields May Hold 10% of World's Crude Oil, 32% of Gas Resources

Results may vary: Beware of kaleidoscopic vision in the oil and gas industry

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:41:00 GMT

Like children looking through a kaleidoscope who are unaware of its actual workings, the media and the public have been misled into believing that early production results in the shale natural gas and tight oil formations in the United States will be repeated again and again across the United States and the world.

The Microgrid Solution

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:00:00 GMT

“The move to the smart grid is impossible to achieve in one big operational mass,”...“Breaking it into bite-sized pieces — this is the future of the microgrid market.”

Energy transitions - June 14

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:57:00 GMT

•Community Solar Concept A Big Hit At Michigan Energy Fair •A Secret Success Story •Generating interest in homegrown power •Power to the people - and to their homes •Brittany villages blazing a trail in energy self-sufficiency •Four German words

EcoChat: Gasland Part II: Courting Controversy, Driving a Movement

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:40:00 GMT

Gasland Part II, the highly anticipated anti-fracking documentary sequel, premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 21st.

When Risk Assessment is Risky: Predicting the Effects of Technology

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:14:00 GMT

Each new technology, regardless of benefits,brings its own risks. In many complex situations where there are multiple questions with poorly constrained answers, it is folly to expect that we can use formal risk assessments to guide current actions.

Peak oil notes - June 13

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:25:00 GMT

A mid-week update. After falling on Monday and Tuesday, oil prices rebounded to roughly unchanged on Wednesday on a weaker dollar and a report from Libya that oil production has fallen to less than 1 million b/d after sabotage and labor unrest closed oilfields and ports. New York oil futures closed at $95.88 and London at $103.49 -- widening the spread which on Tuesday narrowed to the lowest it has been in two years.

Australia's oil vulnerability

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:29:00 GMT

While some predict peak oil will soon be the end of industrial society, others shrug it off as scaremongering. But if we are running out of oil, is intervention needed to mitigate the impact of peak oil – or will market forces and technological innovation be a sufficient response?

China’s New Arctic Presence Signals Future Development

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:16:00 GMT

When China — along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India, and Italy — was granted permanent observer status in the Arctic Council last month, it left many experts wondering whether a paradigm shift in geopolitics is taking place in the region.

The Coming Financial Enclosure of the Commons

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:39:00 GMT

Financial speculation in food commodities has become one of the main drivers of food price volatility...the disruptive influence of financial speculation on food markets is only a preview of future crises...
While the impending new wave of financialization is a serious threat, it also opens new opportunities to bridge civil society struggles...

Towards a Post-Oil Civilization: Yasunization and other initiatives to leave fossil fuels in the soil - REPORT

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:04:00 GMT

Environmental justice organisations and networks (ERA, Acción Ecológica, Oilwatch) put forward the proposal to leave fossil fuels in the ground.

Canada's 'Northern Amazon' on the Brink

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:44:51 GMT

The Mackenzie River Basin, which occupies and protects one-fifth of Canada's fresh water, could be severely destabilized by climate change as well as unbridled resource extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, hydro dams and oil sands mining.

IEA, climate, and energy - June 11

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:31:02 GMT

•Four energy policies can keep the 2 °C climate goal alive •Waiting on new climate deal 'will set world on a path to 5C warming' •The Burning Question by Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark - review

Peak oil - June 11

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:37:00 GMT

•Rising energy prices will challenge western way of life - MoD report •Dangerous Times As Energy Sources Get Costlier To Extract •Peak oil: preparing for the extinction of 'petroleum man' •Greenwashing the Tar Sands, Part 3: Wherein money trumps fact every time

Commentary: Is it only a question of when the US once again becomes a net oil exporter?

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:46:00 GMT

At a 10 percent /year decline rate, in order to simply maintain a production rate of 7.5 million b/d out to 2023, the US oil industry would have to replace the productive equivalent of every single oil field in the United States of America...

Peak oil review - June 10

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:12:13 GMT

A weekly update, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Middle East and North Africa
-China
-Quote of the week
-The Briefs

High Oil Prices are Starting to Affect China and India

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:50:00 GMT

The US Energy Information Administration recently released its report showing oil consumption by country updated through 2012. Based on this report, it appears that at current high oil prices, demand in both China and India is being reduced.

Pro-Fracking Greens Called Out in Ecologist’s New Manifesto

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:42:00 GMT

A new salvo has been fired in the national battle against fracking.

Watts Up, Vaclav? Putting Peak Oil and the Renewables Transition in Context

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:28:00 GMT

Smil's mantra is this: "All of the past shifts to new sources of primary energy have been gradual, prolonged affairs, with new sources taking decades from the beginning of production to become more than insignificant contributors, and then another two to three decades before capturing a quarter or a third of their respective markets."

Climate Question: Do We Get to Keep Flying?

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:20:00 GMT

An analysis of jet fuel alternatives that could be viable in the next decade.

Post Carbon Institute Goes to Washington

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:08:00 GMT

I was in Washington, D.C. last week with PCI Fellow David Hughes and Energy Policy Forum's Deborah Rogers to help counter the prevailing (and delusional) view that Fracking Will Save America!