Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
– Oil sands investments by state-owned bank ‘not sound’, say UK greens
– Multinational fossil fuel firms use ‘biased’ study in massive lobbying push for gas
– Really Unpopular Complicated Expensive Technological Solutions For A Nonexistent Problem
– The Big Grab: 9-part series on the economic threats to Canadians posed by the Alberta oil sands
Among the sources of the pervasive cynicism of contemporary America, especially but not only displayed around energy issues, is the belief that the United States is a sham democracy controlled by a malign elite. It’s hard to think of a bit of conventional wisdom more widely held, on all sides of the political continuum, but like a great deal of today’s American credos, it deserves a hard second look, for there’s more going on here than meets the eye.
“Very, very few people can ever say that they are in the single most important place they could possibly be, doing the single most important thing they could possibly be doing — that’s you, here, now. You are the movement that we need if we are going to win in the few years that we have.”
– Secret UK memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq
– NYT on Hyrdrofracking: Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells, Report Says
– Decision looms on Mekong River dam opposed by conservation groups
– Sasol’s Plan For North American Shale Gas: Turn It Into Diesel
– Big Coal’s Dirty Secret: Breakthrough New Study on Longwall Mining Regulatory Failure and Ruin in Pennsylvania
– Canada military report: Oil shortages and environmental decline could create ‘global quagmire’
– ETH Zurich: Unsung bedrock of prosperity (phosphorus)
– Era of ‘tough oil’ won’t deter drillers
– What happens when we run out of water?
Nobody’s yet accused Tom Donohue of leading a dark cult to enslave the human race like high priest Mola Ram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But Bill McKibben seems to think that Donohue has cast an evil spell over his country’s young ruler in order to make him do his bidding.
– Japan: Out of Disaster, a Burst of Enthusiasm for Bicycling
– Nature to Get Legal Rights in Bolivia
– Open-sourced blueprints for civilization (video)
– Leaving It In The Ground
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China continues to grow
-Saudi production
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
Does the Saudi oil minister’s statement that the oil market is oversupplied make any sense? Saudi production goes down in the face of rising demand, and prices skyrocket, and that shows the market is oversupplied? Wouldn’t prices have dropped drastically during that period if the market had been oversupplied?
Gas from shale is somewhat more expensive to produce, relative to more conventional natural gas deposits. On the other hand, a domestically available reserve that does not require a nation to expend money on foreign fuels can have considerable benefit, even though it may be comparatively expensive.
In monetary terms, shale gas seems to be a good deal. In EROEI (energy) terms it is probably less good but it may still provide a positive return. It is in environmental terms – in the so called “external costs” that shale gas is a disaster. It may be that society is reacting to scarcity in the wrong way by following a path that is perhaps easing the situation in the short term (getting more energy) but horribly worsening the problem in the medium/long term (global warming).
– Oil Without Apologies: Chevron’s CEO on energy and peak oil
– Japan, Oil and the Fragility of Globalization
– Thinking about peak oil and Transition in Ghana
– While the Saudi elite looks nervously abroad, a revolution is happening
