Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Like it or hate it, the International Energy Outlook from the EIA is a touchstone for the energy industry and is treated as the authoritative government forecast in the press and in capital raising documents like prospectuses. It influences policy-makers, the media, public opinion and investors. What it says matters.
And what does it say?
That peak oil is all but on us.
As we all know, Einstein went to his grave refusing to accept quantum mechanics until it was linked with a unified theory of physics. In that vein, it’s not surprising to see the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, too, setting the minds of restless geniuses to work.
The gusher far beneath the gulf is spouting a message that the era of easy oil is over, or they wouldn’t be drilling that deep. But there’s a response we can have other than just complaining about blackened pelicans, ruined shrimp, and tar ball beaches.
Anyone devoted to the study of resource economics, especially peak oil, must finally abandon the comfortable foundations of geologic science and face up to the much messier and much less predictable economic side effects implied by the end of cheap energy.
Interview with Oxford researcher, Jörg Friedrichs, whose article “Global energy crunch: how different parts of the world would react to a peak oil scenario” is due to appear in the scientific journal, “Energy Policy.” Summary: Responses would range from predatory militarism to authoritarian retrenchment and the mobilization of local resilience.
-Senator confirms reports that wellbore is pierced; oil seeping from seabed in multiple places
-New oil plume evidence uncovered
-What the Spill Will Kill
-Gulf Gusher and the Price of Oil and Gasoline
-Imagining Life Without Oil, and Being Ready
-Post peak oil stress map
We believe fears about Peak Oil to be…
a) unsupported by evidence.
b) utter rubbish emanating from cretinous doomsday cultists.
c) compellingly credible.
d) strangely arousing.
Peak oil and mixed economy don’t mix.
Our energy subsidy from the stored sunlight in fossil fuels is gigantic. The chemical and kinetic energy embodied in the thick gooey condensed organic matter from past eons is, for all human intents and purposes, indistinguishable from magic. Once in a while, like now, we see the downsides to our dependency on this elixir, in this case the ecological degradation of increasing areas of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems, and collateral damage to other species.
The ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is bringing the mainstream media a little closer to the peak oil debate. It’s been out there on the business pages for a while, but it is beginning to make its way into news pages – via comment columns, and in a roundabout way, of course. It’s still at the flirtatious stage, but its beginning.
Hey kids, the circus is in town. One day, the Los Angeles Times announces the Gulf gusher is plugged. They got that news from Coast Guard clown Admiral Thad Allen. The oil didn’t get the message, it kept gushing out of the hole. BP had stopped pumping mud 16 hours previously, but nobody told the government. Even so, 24 hours later, Allen, acting as cheerleader-in-chief, said the same thing, on National TV. Meanwhile, any fool on the Net could see the oil continuing to gush out, if you could find the right camera.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Deepwater horizon
-Has the EIA admitted to peak oil?
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
