Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In thousands of ways, UN policy helps shape how we respond to emerging crises, from basic poverty to world political events, from food to climate change and population. What is emerging, however, is that UN analyses are increasingly diverging from reality – as they attempt to describe our future, they have failed to adequately (or at all) take into account that most basic of all considerations, material limits on energy resources.
I saw this cartoon in a comment on a post about optimistic oil supply projections at the oil analysis site The Oil Drum — which is must-visit if you are interested in the future — a rich cluster of technical experts clustered around a single blog. It was relevant to the post — broadly, the projections being critiqued needed good fortune pretty much everywhere, and not a single instance of bad luck — but it also made me think of the role of miracles in futures analysis.
-Storytelling our energy future – Chris Nelder
-The Peak Oil Crisis: The Edisonian Approach – Tom Whipple
-Efficiency and Conservation Not Enough to Achieve Energy Security
European voters are rejecting further fiscal restraint, showing the door to former austerity-imposing politicians in Greece and France. In a similar spirit, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is now calling for a “growth pact” to replace the “fiscal pact” demanded by Angela Merkel’s government in Germany.
Fears that Spain may be heading for a bailout, weaker than anticipated US growth, and signs that China is not about to embark on any major fiscal stimulus saw oil prices drop again sharply on Wednesday. May has now seen the biggest monthly oil price drop since December 2008. Should the decline continue we will soon be in territory which makes the marginal, more costly to produce barrel uneconomic.
-Brent Oil Falls Below $100 A Barrel For First Time Since October
-Greece Finding Crude Oil Increasingly Hard to Come By
-Dr. Colin J. Campbell discusses changes in world energy supplies [video]
-Was tun, wenn das Öl versiegt? [audio]
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
Ever wonder how efficient it is to heat water? Of course you have! Ever measured it? Whoa, mister, now you’ve gone too far!
In the late 1800s northwestern Ohio was at the center of an oil boom as the state became the nation’s largest crude producer. Today Ohio is at the center of another fossil fuel boom, where a new drilling method — hydraulic fracturing (fracking) combined with modern horizontal drilling — is releasing natural gas from deep underground shale, leading to a rush of new leases. Is drilling safe or are contamination concerns unfounded?
-IEA’s golden rules for gas are missed opportunity
-Campaigners’ anger over agency’s shale gas report
-Using shale gas over coal does not help climate, says big gas investor
-Shale play a worry for Bexar ozone
Jeff Rubin is currently touring his new book, The End Of Growth. As the former Chief Economist for CIBC World Markets he brings an intimate knowledge of financial markets and how they work to the peak oil/end of growth community populated by other venerable thinkers such as Richard Heinberg, Chris Martenson and John Michael Greer.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The EU crisis
-Iran
-Retail gasoline prices
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
