Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Ex-pat Steve holidays in England, only to find signs of the effects of peak oil everywhere. Over the period of two weeks a number of newspaper articles confirm that the perfect post-peak storm is brewing in this land, once a proud net exporter of oil.
Friedman on McCain & renewables: 8 strikes and you’re out
Colbert on offshore drilling
Raleigh county mountain at center of coal vs. wind debate
Beware the energy hot air (the Pickens plan)
Woolsey on T Boone Pickens
API: Oil demand at 5-year low
Windfall tax lets Alaska rake in billions from Big Oil
Do it ALL for energy?
In “Deep Survival: Who lives, who dies, and why,” Laurence Gonzales describes a climb up Yosemite’s Cathedral Peak … They’d timed things from their 4 a.m. start to get to the summit and back the same day. As Gonzales says, however, “The annoying thing about plans is how rare it is for everything to go just right.” .. In July, the Department of Public Service released the draft Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan. Like the climbers, the Department checked yesterday’s forecast.
In the heady month of July 2008 oil skyrocketed to $147 a barrel more than doubling the price of crude over the 12 months to that time. Many thought oil would race past the $150 mark on the way to $200 and to $300 a barrel, and beyond in the imminent year or two ahead.
A digest of news and commentary from a UK peak oil perspective
China chemicals starve Indian pharma
Transport costs could alter world trade
Exports account for one-third of China’s emissions
Soaring fuel prices and green pressures herald comeback for Britain’s waterways
Fuel theft increases in the UK
Companies face crackdown on electricity greenwash
How adaptable are we? … Our most pressing problem is the abrogation of parental responsibilities and the tacit usurping of those responsibilities by an entity that is far from benign.
Interview with Swiss director of A Crude Awakening
The path from petroleum shortages to electricity shortages
Oil prices have peaked
Today’s posts will focus on heating and cooling and how to deal with these issues…I’m going to talk about strategies for both of these things – first of all, how not to die from heat or cold – how to live without any heating or cooling, even in very cold or hot places, and then also how to cool and heat your house using fewer fossil fuels, but before we go there, I want to talk about how we *think* about heating and cooling overall. Because that has at least as deep an effect on how we approach this as the actual method we use.
Living simply by sharing space
Going vintage is going green
Bikes, Copenhagen and Disneyland: what we have in common
Go-getter gets governments going on sustainability
Cycling with the wind behind you (electric bikes in NL)
Ted Trainer (1997) predicted large and permanent increases in oil prices after the year 2000 due to increasing scarcity. In fact in March 2008, oil broke through the psychological ceiling of $100 a barrel, and later in early June rose to around $140 on the way to $150…
…On the heels of such predictions, in the months of July and August 2008, oil has fallen from $147 a barrel (11 July) to $115 (8 August), a large drop over four weeks of 22%…
The paper will consider the present crude oil price retreat and what it likely portends for the future price of oil.
