Energy Policy

A surprise: China’s energy consumption will stabilize

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According a new study by Berkeley Lab’s China Energy Group, the steeply rising curve of energy demand in China will begin to moderate between 2030 and 2035 and flatten thereafter. There will come a time—within the next two decades—when the number of people in China acquiring cars, larger homes, and other accouterments of industrialized societies will peak.

ODAC Newsletter – Apr 29

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Rising petrol prices and huge oil company profits combined to put pressure on President Obama this week. Prices are reaching around $4.00/gallon, levels not seen since 2008 and a psychological barrier for many Americans whose entire infrastructure is designed around the motor car.

More on the Saudi’s slash of oil output

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In other words, Mr. Horsnell is saying that since the world previously thought that the Saudi’s were producing less in December than they actually were, then the estimated worldwide “buffer” production capacity was significantly less than believed, as well. Also, his observation that the Saudi’s evidently needed to produce at 9 million b/d in order to balance the market is the exact opposite of what Mr. Naimi said, four weeks later….In turn, if the Saudi’s can’t really sustain even 9 million b/d, then this would have serious implications for the world in that the next, more intense manifestations of Peak Oil may be nearer than we think.

The Oil Crunch

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In just a century, we’ve become almost entirely dependent on cheap oil. We rely on oil for just about everything, in fact the global economy is reliant on its free flowing supply. So what would happen if the well started to run dry and demand outstripped supply? Some oil industry experts think we’ve already hit Peak Oil and we should brace ourselves for the imminent Oil Crunch.

The peak oil crisis: Dimming of the globe

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Late last month a web site, www.energyshortage.org, dedicated to collecting articles concerning energy shortages around the world reappeared on the web after an absence of some months. The stories deal with coal, electricity and natural gas shortages as well as oil. In the course of the past month the web site has located and linked to nearly 200 stories that deal with some aspect of the developing global energy shortage. Most of these stories come from local paper and taken together paint a distressing picture of looming societal breakdown in many parts of the world that is not as yet generally appreciated by the public.

Alternatives to Nihilism, Part Three: Remember Your Name

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Since the crisis of industrial society is being driven by social and economic habits that foster the extravagant use of energy and other resources, it would seem to be obvious that using much less of these things ought to be the foundation of any reasonable response. The fact that so many proposed responses advocate doing almost anything imaginable but using less energy and other resources points straight toward the tangled heart of contemporary nihilism, and suggests a way out.

First energy independence steps: A review of Crossing the Energy Divide, By R. Ayers and E. Ayers (2010)

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Crossing The Energy Divide by R. Ayers and E. Ayers, 2010, Wharton School Publishing, offers an engineering analysis to support a near-term solution to the problem of creating an alternative energy system for the U.S. This solution emphasizes making our fossil fuel energy use much more efficient and supports this position with Exergy as the basis for efficiency calculations. It recommends policy changes and a way to build a path to the renewable energy world.