Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
-DOE slashes gas estimate for Marcellus Shale
-DOE report projects greater coal production drop
-Obama makes strong call for clean energy — oh, and drilling and fracking too
-Obama sets out ‘all-of-the-above’ clean energy policy
-Obama’s speech and some sober talk about the oil patch
The prominent scientific journal Nature has just published an article that supports what we in the peak oil world have been saying for years.
James Murray of the University of Washington and David King of the University of Oxford say that global oil production peaked in 2005 at about 75 million barrels a day.
The “supply of cheap oil has plateaued,” said King. “The geologists know where the source rocks are and where the trap structures are,” according to Murray. “If there was a prospect for a new giant oil field, I think it would have been found.”
(Excerpts from news articles about the article.)
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
Stop wrangling over global warming and instead reduce fossil-fuel use for the sake of the global economy.
That’s the message from two scientists, one from the University of Washington and one from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who say in the current issue of the journal Nature (Jan. 26) that the economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels.
The “tipping point” for oil supply appears to have occurred around 2005, says James W. Murray, UW professor of oceanography. The commentary concludes: “This will be a decades-long transformation and we need to start immediately. Emphasizing the short-term economic imperative from oil prices must be enough to push governments into action now.”
Program summary: “Oil Free Coast” 3 speakers against Tar Sands pipelines and tankers in Canada, including First Nations. Then on-scene audio from Occupy Wall St West in San Francisco Jan 20th. Awaiting arrest, and crowd microphones against corporate takeover.
Caring about the air, water, and land that give us life. Exploring ways to ensure Canada’s natural resources serve the national interest. Knowing that sacrificing our environment to a corporate-controlled economy is suicide. If those qualities make us radicals, as federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver recently claimed in an open letter, then I and many others will wear the label proudly.
Giving false hope, Obama claimed several times last year that U.S. oil extraction was at an all-time high, when actually it’s in a long-term decline. Whatever people say about the future, at least I hope we can be honest about the past, and put our current position in a long-term perspective. That’s not too much to hope for, is it?
-Shale Gas a Bridge to More Global Warming
-REPORT: Venting and Leaking of Methane from Shale Gas Development:
Response to Cathles et al.
-Dueling Research: Fracked Shale Gas Worse For Climate Change Than Coal! Or, The Opposite!
-Fossil fuels are sub-prime assets, Bank of England governor warned
-The real beneficiaries of energy subsidies
-Podcast: How Equity and Economics Will Drive Climate and Energy Stories in 2012
-Companies and tax authorities can all benefit if they work together
Michael Mandlebaum argues in The Frugal Superpower that the US is too cash-strapped to continue its interventionist stance. He advises cutting oil dependence.
Here is one more thing for those of us who live in the northeastern U.S. to start worrying about – the refineries that make our gasoline, diesel, heating oil, etc. are dropping like flies.
In today’s economy, these refineries are simply losing so much money that their owners who are not major oil companies that make billions from oil production are having put them up for sale or close them down.
– Could Ecuador Be the Most Radical and Exciting Place on Earth?
– El Mundo: Cómo bajar de marcha sin perder el tren
– Le “Peak Everything” (ou la fin des haricots)
