A ‘watershed month for the truth about peak oil’
Recent weeks have seen an explosion of information on peak oil – everywhere it seems except in the mainstream media. It may be in the business sections, but not the news pages.
Fossil Fuels
When the U.S. energy secretary spoke of “peak oil” …
… He was referring to the arguments of ASPO that we have already reached peak oil.
Deep thought – Apr 18
– Joe [Bageant], why did you crap out on us?
– The global war on tribes
– Guy McPherson: Surveying the field and charting a course
– “Space, Oil and Capital” (book)
– The index of life
Forever and a day
Talk with many green technology advocates and you might get the impression that we have forever and a day to make the transition from an unsustainable society to a sustainable one. But the most critical question is how much time we have to make the transition. A fully equipped hospital with on-duty surgeons and staff may be the ideal technology for a critically injured patient. But they mean little to such a patient if we are in the position of having to build the hospital and train the surgeons and staff before administering treatment.
The future of capitalism – profits and growth
Growth is only possible when energy flow is increasing. It is pretty simple really. When energy flow is increasing in each subsequent time period it is possible to increase the amount of work devoted to increasing the asset base of society. Alternatively, if the energy flow is decreasing…
ODAC Newsletter – Apr 16
“By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 MBD.” Such is the summary not of ODAC, ITPOES or ASPO, but of the United States Joint Forces Command…
Peak oil news – Apr 15
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-International Energy Agency
Oil Supply Crunch: 2011-2015
Concerns are mounting about peak oil, and there continues to be much debate over when the peak will be reached, whether a plateau can be sustained or whether the onset of decline would occur quickly, whether we will hit peak demand before we hit peak supply, etc.
Social Security and Medicare funding issues: even worse when one considers resource constraints
When we think about the taxes and the federal deficit, we don’t usually think of Social Security and Medicare, because in government lingo, the payments we make for these programs aren’t taxes, they are contributions, and the funding deficit for these programs is not taken into account in determining the federal deficit.
At home with the numbers game.. or John Michael Greer is singing my song!
As you know, Greer and I at times have our differences in perspective, but I think this week’s column is particularly acute, and offers up two point that I think are really essential to grasp when thinking of the future.
The peak oil crisis: China’s latest drought
There will be at least three major consequences of recurring drought conditions in southwestern China. First will be that millions of people and head of livestock will have to find a source of water or move. Next comes the food supply. The third problem of a lasting drought is the collapse of hydro-generated power in China. Should the hydro-power shortages continue for long we can expect that higher oil imports and world prices will not be far behind.
Global oil demand on the up? – Apr 14
– Demand for oil will hit record levels and threaten recovery, says energy agency
– Saudi oil use to grow steeply
– OPEC Holds Oil-Demand Forecast Steady
