Peak oil notes – June 30
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
Industry
Natural gas boom: just a bunch of hot air? – 30 June
-The Shale Gas Scam Goes Public
-Reality Check for the Natural Gas Boom: A Look at the NYT Shale Gas E-Mails
-Chesapeake Energy Corporation Comments on Inaccurate and Misleading New York Times Article
Brace yourselves for the next oil price shock
Looking at the oil supply & demand fundamentals, next year looks like an accident waiting to happen. If economic growth in emerging economies remains on track, and that is a big If, the next oil price shock will occur in 2012.
Can biomass help phase out coal?
If biomass can help power plant owners ease away from coal faster, that is certainly a good thing. The Dominion announcement is particularly relevant given the number of planned plant retirements in the coal industry – there are currently 190 generators around the U.S. set to be shut down, and there’s a dwindling appetite to replace them with more coal.
The new thirty years’ war: Winners and losers in the great global energy struggle to come
A 30-year war for energy preeminence? You wouldn’t wish it even on a desperate planet. But that’s where we’re headed and there’s no turning back.
Leaked docs throw doubt on gas prospects – Jun 27
-Behind Veneer, Doubt on Future of Natural Gas
-S.E.C. Shift Leads to Worries of Overestimation of Reserves
-Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush
The Saudi Arabian Protectorate of Bahrain
Bahrain wouldn’t seem to have a lot to offer, except that it seems to offer something for a million people (half of which are guest workers) living on a desert island. Why is it generating so much interest? Is there any oil left there? In this article, I will discuss some recent developments between Bahrain and its neighbors in the context of its long history.
Peak oil review – June 27
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Tapping the reserves
-China
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
The President, the media, and oil supply
The public’s understanding of oil supply issues has not been enlightened by media coverage. From my perspective, the media does a terrible job of providing factual information concerning oil supply and oil price issues. Aspects of these issues appear to be taboo even for a media outlet such as National Public Radio which supposedly has the objective of educating the public about important societal issues.
U.S. and allies to release oil from strategic reserves
We must be honest with the public. Oil prices are headed much higher over the next 5 to 10 years unless we jumpstart the transition to low-cost alternative fuels, something even oilman T. Boone Pickens has said.
Brown to green: A new use for blighted industrial sites
Few places in the U.S. are as well suited to developing renewable energy as the contaminated sites known as “brownfields.” But as communities from Philadelphia to California are discovering, government support is critical to enable solar and wind entrepreneurs to make use of these abandoned lands.
Clean and Green Investment Forum — Summary
On June 6 and 7, I attended Opal Financial’s Clean and Green Investment Forum. I was invited to take part in a panel on “Green Energy in Emerging and Frontier Markets”. The forum brought together clean tech entrepreneurs and investors as well as a few academics and analysts and proved very stimulating. The overall vibe was one of optimism and opportunity — we’re talking entrepreneurs and investors here.
