Year: 2011

A brief economic explanation of Peak Oil

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Unless and until adaptive responses are large and fast enough to constrain the upward trend of oil prices, the primary adaptive response will be periodic economic crashes of a magnitude that depresses oil consumption and oil prices. These have the effect of shifting consumption from incumbent consumers—the advanced economies—to the new consumers in the developing economies.

“The Quest” questioned – the series

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Journalist Mason Inman does what the mainstream media won’t: he gives a balanced, critical look at the claims of energy historian Daniel Yergin about peak oil. (Latest in a series. )

#3 – We’re finding oil faster than we’re using it?
#4 – Only the pessimists have been wrong?
#5 – Peak oil = running out of oil?

Review: The Global Warming Reader, edited and introduced by Bill McKibben

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Bill McKibben’s latest book is a well-chosen and arranged collection of climate-related writings by the likes of James Hansen, Al Gore and George Monbiot, which McKibben edits and introduces. Significantly, the book contains writings by Inhofe and his ilk as well, the better to understand “the lines of attack climate deniers have used over and over,” in McKibben’s words,

Don’t be a PV efficiency snob

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A common question I get when discussing solar photovoltaic (PV) power is: “What is the typical efficiency for panels now?” When I answer that mass-market polycrystalline panels are typically about 15–16%, I often see the questioner’s nose wrinkle, followed by dismissive mumbling that 15% is still too low, and maybe they’ll wait for higher numbers before personally pursuing solar. By the end of this post, you will understand why this response is annoying to me. At 15%, we’re in great shape: it’s plenty good for our needs.

Who’s afraid of Daniel Yergin?

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Daniel Yergin is at it again — telling policymakers not to worry their pretty little heads about peak oil because technology will give us plenty more cheap crude. Predictably, the peak oil community responded with a raft of yard-long blog posts filled with charts, graphs and statistics. But this won’t beat Yergin at his own game, reaching the people who matter. For that, we should take a page from Yergin’s own interview with Steven Colbert.

Neoclassical economist recants key article of faith

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The element of the neoclassical model that has come under critical scrutiny in the Vermont press lately is the notion that GDP — a measure of the dollar value of all goods and services produced by the economy — is a practical and useful measure of economic well-being. It’s not hard to see why GDP is being re-thought: last month tropical storm Irene dumped tropical-rainforest quantities of water on the state in just a few hours, leading to major damage from unprecedented flooding. Rivers filled their flood plains and kept rising, sweeping away roads, bridges, and houses, ruining homes, lives, farms, and communities. The publicly owned infrastructure is being put back with great speed and efficiency. Is all this public works effort a net benefit to the economy, or not?

GDP says yes, absolutely. Common sense — and steady-state economic theory — says no.

A time of catastrophe, a time for education

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The Fukushima story is one that will emerge for months and years to come; the worst is behind us, but there are long-term problems that still must be addressed. In our Fukushima Issue, six authors provide a snapshot of where Japan and the international community stand six months on. (Special issue of the noted “Journal of the Atomic Scientists; most of the contents are available free)

Energy – Sept 25

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– Robet C. McFarlane and R. James Woolsey: How to Weaken the Power of Foreign Oil
– NYT: New Fields May Propel Americas to Top of Oil Companies’ Lists (J Brown rebuttal)
– An Oil-Rich Cuba?
– Whose Subsidies Trump Whose?
– Chevron loses latest stage of Amazon pollution battle
– The coming German energy turnaround