Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
We will be lucky if we can make the transition from our current circumstances to a future of re-sized, re-scaled cities and a reactivated productive rural landscape outside them, with a hierarchy of hamlets, villages, and towns in between, and some ability to conduct commerce and manufacturing.
Confronting the world’s new petro-powers
Russia may re-direct new gas supplies from US to Europe
Saudi Arabia begins looking east
Russia calls IAEA’s low-enriched uranium reserves plan “interesting but dangerous”
Former mayor of Colombian city talks traffic
Peter Day meets Tesla Motors
B-52 tests alternative jet engine fuel
We need an X prize for eco-friendly air travel
WorldWatch/CAP report on renewables
Schizophrenic biofuels section in otherwise good report
The pied piper of ethanol
The ascent of wind power
A permablitz is a permaculture-inspired backyard makeover where people come together to share knowledge and skills about organic food production in urban gardens while building community and having fun.
What do falling oil prices tell us about war with Iran, the elections, and peak-oil theory?
Earth’s temperature nears million-year high
ExxonMobil hits at ‘unfair’ attack by scientists
Australia: We’re drying up fast
Changed climate will cook elderly people
Jatropha fuelled car tours Indonesia
France prepares for post-oil fuels
Uganda to make fuel blending compulsory
Close the CAFE loophole
OPEC supply down in September
Oil man is awarded disputed Mexican election
Chavez drives a hard bargain, but Big Oil’s options are limited
ExxonMobil hits at ‘unfair’ attack by scientists
Hyundai wins billion dollar UAE facility contract
When a commodity or a stock moves fast we tend to get very excited. We hope to discover whether or not it has made some kind of quantum leap or is just part of a long term trend. So what the heck is happening to crude oil? Is this a slip? A correction? Or gigantic profit taking? Or none of the above?
Since we last wrote this column oil has continued its most excellent nosedive, actually breaching the $60 at $59.80 intraday this week. Just six weeks ago it was busting out at $78 and everyone – this commentator included – thought it was only a matter of time before $80 oil arrived.
Discussions of the impact of peak oil on the global economy have been bedeviled by the insistence that the only alternative to business as usual is complete collapse. There are other possibilities.
We are used to gas prices going up and down in the short term, but in the last six weeks, we’ve seen a dip of fifty cents or more in the price of a gallon. We haven’t seen anything this precipitous in a long time and it has excited a lot of comment.
