Fossil Fuels

Lightering our way to abundance

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One promising sign of a bottom to oil prices is the move by oil companies and Wall Street firms to secure tankers in which to store oil in order to play the contango in the oil market. By leasing a tanker and filling it with oil purchased at the current low price while simultaneously selling it on the futures market for delivery later this year at a significantly higher price, they can generate considerable profit–enough to pay for the costs of storage on the high seas and take home handsome paychecks to boot.

Peak oil, the web of debt, & our local future

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A new set of high definition videos are now online: Richard Heinberg on peak oil, Thaddeus Owen on permaculture, Ellen Brown on financial collapse, Tim Husdon on the four futures, and Kim Hill on the auto industry crisis, and more.

Deflation, reflation and our oil future

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This overview of our economic future relates to the “peak oil” issue in a very straightforward way. Oil demand and prices will remain depressed during the deflationary period (2008 Quarter III–?) and then rebound as they did in recent years when inflation takes hold again.

Reality Report: Natural Gas Cliff and Credit Situation

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In this edition of The Reality Report host Jason Bradford interviews Nate Hagens. Topics in this program highlight how the current financial melt down and impact the timing and severity of peak oil and natural gas–including the dreaded “natural gas cliff” as rigs go idle due to low prices. We discuss whether this means economic growth now over, and if so, how should societies adjust?

Sustainability and Resource Depletion: Survival Challenge for the 21st Century (video presentation)

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Richard Heinberg identifies the essential axioms of sustainability and ties them to current economic trends such as the high and volatile prices of oil and other commodities. Species survival will require more than “Sustainability Lite,” a vague commitment to more environmentally benign practices, but instead an all-encompassing effort to live within the ultimate resource limits of the planet.