Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Until a miracle happens, scientists and some enlightened policy makers are trying to extend the age of oil, reduce greenhouse gases, and so on. But with the downside of Hubbert’s curve so close, and the financial system liable to crash again soon given the debt and lack of reforms, I don’t know how long anyone can stretch things out.
Iran’s announcement on Sunday that it was cutting off oil sales to Britain and France ahead of the EU embargo sent Brent crude oil prices soaring to a 9 month high of $124/barrel and an all-time UK high of over £78. The price of oil is now firmly back in the news alongside a rash of articles rejecting peak oil, declaring imminent US energy independence, and discussing the changing balance of geopolitical power away from OPEC…
Lee Brain, son of an oil man, receives a standing ovation and brings a crowd to tears after delivering powerful & inspirational testimony in front of the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel in Prince Rupert on February 18, 2012.
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
How can fossil fuels and uranium be kept in the ground and agrofuels off the land in ways that do not inflict suffering upon millions? Mainstream policy responses to these issues are largely framed in terms of “energy security”.
-Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials [report]
-Gas-Fracking Ban in Upstate New York Upheld by State Court Judge
-Exxon tempers European shale gas enthusiasm
-Canada revs up for fight over second tar sands oil pipeline
-EU tar sands pollution vote ends in deadlock
-Canada threatens EU over tar sands
-Cut all fossil-fuel use: scientists
Coal seemed to have peaked in 1990, but it was an illusion. The growth of coal production during the first decade of the 21st century has been impressive; never seen before in history. So, King Coal is coming back and he may soon reclaim the title of ruler of the energy world that it had lost to crude oil in the 1960s.
– Interview with ex-Shell CEO Hofmeister: changes tune after debate with peak oil researcher?(video and transcript)
– The Achilles’ Heel of Algal Biofuels – Peak Phosphate
– What EROI tells us about ROI
– Prix de l’essence record : le pouvoir en place n’anticipe rien, c’est consternant
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Iranian confrontation
-The Greek bailout
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
– Defending good science: Michael Mann speaks out
– A Second Front in the Climate War (methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons)
– Scientist denies he is mouthpiece of US climate-sceptic think tank
– Canadian government is ‘muzzling its scientists’
– Where the Colorado Runs Dry
– NPR: Ex-Shell CEO and Peak Oil Researcher Face Off Over America’s Energy Future
– WaPo: Has the United States beaten peak oil? Not so fast.
– Much ado about Hotelling: Beware the ides of Hubbert (Hubbert curve is a major determinant for oil prices)
– ¿Cuánto petróleo hace falta para extraer un barril de petróleo? (Charles Hall intervista)
– Roland Vially, géologue à l’IFP : “les hydrates de méthanes pourraient constituer une nouvelle source de gaz à l’horizon 2030”
