Deep thought – May 11
The Future of the American Dream
Peak-Oil Prophet James Howard Kunstler on Food, Fuel and Why He Became an Almost Vegan
What’s at Stake
Fossil Fuels
Energy industry – May 11
The Vulnerability of Energy Infrastructure to Environmental Change
“New” Nuclear Reactors, Same Old Story
Safety threat to planned nuclear power stations
When the oil gives out (new book excerpt)
“One way to evaluate the prospects of Eldertown might be to start from the viewpoint of one of the more apocalyptic environmental groups. The peak oil movement focuses tightly on the issue of energy, the Achilles heel of industrial society. Convinced that global oil production will soon peak — or perhaps already has — the peak oilers predict a horrendous cascade of disasters in our near future.”
(Roszak was author of the 60s classic The Making of a Counter-Culture. In this book, he predicts that as the Baby Boomers become seniors, they will shake society once again – for the better)
Let’s party ’til the helium’s gone
The fun qualities of helium stand in stark contrast to its deadly serious applications which are increasingly endangered. For although helium is the second most abundant element in the universe–hydrogen is the first–it is exceedingly rare on Earth; and, our cavalier attitude toward its use threatens tasks that are critical to maintaining our complex society.
ODAC Newsletter – May 8
A weekly review from a UK perspective
Peak resources – May 7
Report: The Interplay between Climate Change and Peak Oil
Blind Spot Trailer
Action on peak oil essential for business survival, say UK transport chiefs
Iraq – May 7
Heritage Oil strikes big in Kurdish Iraq
Oil groups set to end 40-year exile from Iraq
Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect
Peak oil notes – May 7
A weekly round-up including:
– Prices and production
– The Bankruptcies
From shortage to glut, and boom to bust
A record number of natural gas wells were drilled in the United States last year. But now, in a stunning reversal, hundreds of rigs have been idled and thousands of roughnecks laid off. In the space of six months, the oilpatch has gone from drill, baby, drill to chill, baby, chill.
Review: Tar Sands by Andrew Nikiforuk
If you’ve been following energy news with a discerning eye, then you already know better than to buy into all the hype about the Canadian tar sands…Far from being a panacea for declining supplies of conventional oil, the sands could…leave Alberta resembling “a third-rate golf course in the Sudan”…The quote comes from Andrew Nikiforuk’s new book Tar Sands, a powerful, eloquent litany of horrors associated with North America’s frenzied dash toward tar sands bitumen.
Geopolitics – May 5
After six years, one month and 11 days, Britain ends its military mission in Iraq
The rise and rise of Russian nationalism
The Geopolitics of Pandemics
Aviation fuel and future oil production scenarios – “Peak Aviation”
The industry has put ambitious goals on increases in fuel efficiency for the aviation fleet. Traffic is predicted to grow by 5% per year to 2026, fuel demand by about 3% per year. At the same time aviation fuel production is predicted to decrease by several percent each year after the crude oil production peak is reached resulting in a substantial shortage of jet fuel by 2026. The aviation industry will have a hard time replacing this with fuel from other sources, even if air traffic remains at current levels.
