Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Where is our gasoline and diesel supply headed? Even before Ike hit, quite a few areas of the US were starting to see gasoline shortages. The impact of Ike can only make shortages worse. Most likely, it will take refineries at least a week or two to get production back to normal levels after a storm of this type.
Charles Hall, the father of the energy return on investment (EROI) concept, once told me that our current society would probably not be able to function if the EROI for the entire society slipped below five. … Hall estimates that the United States is currently running on an EROI of just under 40 to 1. This looks like a fairly substantial margin of safety over the 5 to 1 that might lead to societal breakdown. But worrisome developments in the oil, natural gas and coal fields may send us rushing toward that figure.
Professor Kjell Aleklett, (known for his research on the world’s declining oil resources) and his researchers at Uppsala University have been given a challenging task – they will estimate China’s future need for oil and gas.
IEA says oil demand slowing as US changes lifestyle
Raymond James: US natural gas (investors) in trouble
Regulators can’t quantify oil speculators
Vital for the nation’s oil and gas, Port Fourchon looks to rebound
Testimony before the S. Australian Legislative Committee on Peak Oil
EU transport – go green or go under
Peak oil peak – sandwich-board energy theorists are glum
This amazing kid
The price spike of early 2008 was merely a dress rehearsal. The fall in oil demand gives the world a moment to catch its breath before the inevitable price-ratcheting process starts up again. Meanwhile, at $100 or so, the price of oil is still 50 per cent higher than last year and 10 times the level of a decade ago.
A digest of news and commentary from a UK peak oil perspective
Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law
Nuclear is the real threat to the fuel-poor, not wind energy
How good an eco-driver are you? Regulator’s tips on careful motoring may save £500 a year
Why Not in America?
eBook Review: Simple Solar Homesteading (or How to Build a Solar Home For $2000)
Wherever I lay my hat (the rise of couch surfing)
A mid week update including:
– Hurricanes, OPEC and prices
– IEA’s Monthly Oil Report
This is the first paper in the scientific literature that explicitly melds the two vital issues of global peak oil production and human-induced climate change, … We’re illustrating the types of action needed to get to target carbon dioxide levels.
The Outer Continental Shelf is not a panacea for today’s higher oil prices. The best prospects in US waters – including most of the Gulf of Mexico and a thousand miles of Alaskan shoreline – are already open for leasing. There’s probably some oil in the moratoria areas, but it is a decade or more from market.
