Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The WEO 2010 report just released by the International Energy Agency makes quite a number of assumptions that seem wrong, and omits important ideas. Here are a few that Oil Drum staff members have mentioned.
A mid-week roundup of peak oil news, including
-Developments this week
– What’s the carbon footprint of … a newspaper?
– Like your dinner, your gadgets come from somewhere
– Forbes: Peak Stuff: Are We There Yet?
– New video from Annie Leonard: The Story of Electronics
– “The Ultimate Roller Coaster Ride: A Brief History of Fossil Fuels” (Post Carbon Institute)
– “The Story of Electronics” (Annie Leonard)
– “Permaculture: The Growing Edge” (Starhawk and Donna Read)
– “The Economics of Happiness” (Helena Norberg-Hodge)
– “Collapsus” – what energy collapse might look like (interactive video)
– Steve LeVine: How to read today’s big report on the future of energy
– National Georgraphic: Has the World Already Passed “Peak Oil”?
– Online Executive Summary of the report
– Energy inaction will cost us trillions
– IEA: “peak oil is an inevitability”
With an aggressive campaign focused on advertising, lobbying, and political contributions, America’s coal industry has succeeded in beating back a challenge from environmentalists and clean-energy advocates. The dirty truth is that Big Coal is more powerful today than ever.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The US elections
-Iraq
Oil rose to a six-month high of more than $87/barrel as the Federal Reserve embarked on a new round of quantitative easing worth $600bn and Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi raised his target oil price to $70-90 per barrel. Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation said the price should be higher still, at around $100/barrel…
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
-China and India
In the wake of the oil supply shocks of the 1970s, the U.S. DOT encouraged the development of regional transportation energy contingency plans. But by the early 1980s, regional and local governments stopped developing transportation energy contingency plans as the threat of fuel supply disruptions diminished, as funding and support for the development of these plans discontinued, and as other more pressing issues emerged. Nearly 30 years later, there are warnings that we are again at risk for potential fuel shortages.
– Soup swaps help stock your freezer and foster friendships
– The mellow Monbiot: How to make apple juice that doesn’t cost the Earth
– Robert Putnam (“Bowling Alone”) on Social Capital and Happiness
– Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood talks about livable communities
Big oil was smiling this week as Q3 profits rose on the back of higher oil prices. Prices are 12% higher than last year, and according to JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are likely to go higher, even above $100/barrel, by next year. Such a price rise may provide a test of OPEC’s ability to raise production…
