Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Truckers protest high fuel prices
Associated Press via MSNBC
Independent haulers snarl traffic, idle rigs
—
A convoy protesting high diesel prices pulled out of a truck stop south of Atlanta about 30 strong, and got a lot stronger.
By the time the truckers reached a section of Interstate 285 east of the city Tuesday morning, there were about three miles of tractor-trailers, headlights on, caution lights flashing, puttering along at about 20 mph.
… Independent truckers across the country protested fuel prices by pulling off the road or slowing to a crawl. Participation was scattered in the loosely organized protests, fed by Internet postings and CB talk, and the slow-speed demonstrations might have gone unnoticed in places where traffic was bad already.
Truckers hoped the action might pressure President Bush to stabilize prices by using the nation’s oil reserves.
(1 April 2008)
Life without transport by oil is closer than we think
Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun
Minivans, global air travel and the transport of goods by diesel truck soon will become the stuff of yesterday as the world adapts to depleting oil reserves.
The planet, posits a new book by two Canadian academics, is on the cusp of a revolution in transportation that will steer people away from petroleum-fuelled vehicles and into ones that are either battery-powered or connected to electrical grids.
Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, by Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl, is one of the most thought-provoking books to cross my desk in a long while.
Gilbert is an urban issues consultant and former York University professor and municipal politician in Toronto. Perl is director of SFU’s urban studies program.
Their book is an eyebrow-raiser, portraying a future that’s around the corner as oil production is projected to hit a peak and start declining around 2012.
In adapting to peak oil, the way we move ourselves and domestic and international freight will change as dramatically as when the horse and buggy gave way to the car.
(3 April 2008)
People driving their cars to the end of the oil age
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
Gasoline-powered cars are driving humanity to the end of the oil age, leaving electric vehicles as the best weapon against global warming.
This is the major conclusion in a dramatic international report written by a former Exxon insider and released Tuesday to Canwest News Service.
“Sometime during the year 2008, humanity will probably pass the point at which it collectively consumes 1,000 barrels of crude oil every second of every day. More than half of it – and the share continues to rise – is dedicated to the movement of goods, services and people,” said the analysis by physical chemist Dr. Gary Kendall, titled Plugged in: The End of the Oil Age. “Despite the pivotal role which oil is playing during the early years of the 21st century we are, without a doubt, entering the twilight of the Oil Age.”
Kendall, 34, is now a senior energy business and policy analyst at the World Wildlife Fund’s European office in Brussels, following a nine-year career in the oil industry. His analysis also warns that some alternatives, such as hydrogen or biofuels, including ethanol from agricultural crops, could do as much environmental damage as crude oil from conventional wells.
(1 April 2008)
Aloha Airlines Halting Passenger Service
Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press (via Huffington Post)
HONOLULU – Aloha Airlines said Sunday it will halt all passenger service after Monday, signaling the end of an airline that has served Hawaii for more than 60 years.
Aloha, which filed for bankruptcy for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 20, was a casualty of fierce competition and rising fuel prices. The airline said it will stop taking reservations for flights after Monday.
… Rising fuel prices, which have forced other airlines to raise fares and look for ways to cut expenses, also made it difficult for Aloha to operate. Aloha, the second-largest Hawaii carrier, has operated a fleet of 26 Boeing 737s to serve five airports statewide and six mainland U.S. destinations.
(30 March 2008)
