Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The campaign of 2010 may produce members of Congress and of the Senate who are nothing but conduits for corporate agendas and whose loyalties can be traced directly to corporate-funded campaign groups–groups made up of anonymous donors who seek nothing less than direct control of the government of the United States for their personal gain.
– Monbiot: The Tea Party movement: deluded and inspired by billionaires
– NYT: Coal Industry Spending to Sway Next Congress
– New book confirms greed, power and cover-up are BP trademarks
– Saudis Need Shale to Solve Gas Dilemma
– Trillions necessary to maintain Russia’s oil production
– Musings: Curtain Being Pulled Back from The Oz of Gas Shales
– The use of quantitative indicators for analyzing energy security
– Surging price of oil forces US military to seek alternative energy sources
– Navajos Hope to Shift From Coal to Wind and Sun
– Our aging water systems are long past due for a major overhaul
“Large conventional oil production is increasingly no longer part of the future. We must expect to get along without what has been our critical energy source in expanding the world’s economy for more than half a century. But acceptance [of the idea of peak oil] by knowledgeable people is not enough.
“Our willingness, let alone our ability, to do anything serious about the impending inability to increase oil output is still a long way off. The political order responds to what the public believes today, not to what it may come to believe tomorrow.”
Dr. Schlesinger has served as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1971-73), Secretary of Defense (1973-75), Director of the CIA and was the first Secretary of Energy (1977-79).
Keynote address to the recent ASPO-USA conference in Washington D.C. (transcript and video) .
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…
We will see if a safe and prosperous Taiwan emerges or will it be melt down; The China Syndrome – (although if you are in China then perhaps it is the USA syndrome?)
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
-Alaska
In a perfect world, such a drastic shift in our economic and societal prospects [as is represented by peak oil] would be at the top of the political agenda. Elections would be fought over the best way to transition our economy and civilization to surviving with reduced and much more expensive energy
Shale gas plays in the United States are commercial failures and shareholders in public exploration and production (E&P) companies are the losers. This conclusion falls out of a detailed evaluation of shale-dominated company financial statements and individual well decline curve analyses.
The prospect of abundant, cheap natural gas in the United States—especially gas that’s easily delivered by pipeline to the populous East Coast—profoundly shakes up that energy equation.
Last week, I participated (as an invited speaker) in the 7th Advances in Energy Studies Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Other invited speakers were Charlie Hall, Joe Tainter, Marcel Collel, and Seth Blumsack. Other Oil Drum staff members at the conference were Ugo Bardi and Dave Murphy–Ugo as one of the speakers, and Dave as the second author on Charlie Hall’s presentation. Dave also asked lots of good questions! In this post, I give a few highlights of the conference.
