Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Oil demand appears to finally be responding to high oil prices, most significantly in the US where petrol prices have hit $4/gallon. The IEA cut its 2011 demand forecast by 190,000 barrels/day on news of increased US stockpiles and reduced consumption, and prices dropped back from recent highs to around $110/barrel for Brent…
“The most important conclusion of this paper is that the peak of global coal production from the existing coalfields is imminent, and coal production from these areas will fall by 50% in the next 40 years. The CO2 emissions from burning this coal will also decline by 50%. Thus, current focus on carbon capture and geological sequestration may be misplaced. Instead, the global community should be devoting its attention to conservation and increasing efficiency of electrical power generation from coal.”
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
The shale gas industry might brush up on its John Lennon (“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”). Alerted numerous times of fast-coming federal regulation unless it goes transparent and begins to police itself, the industry’s hard-liners have dug in under the assumption that — as has befallen so many other seemingly inevitable business reforms — this one too will die of its own accord.
It is clear that moving towards renewables is about more than simply adding more wind turbines and solar panels, but rather it is about a significant system re-think. For instance, one important measure would be to make the national power grid independent from the ten major electricity supply companies. That way anyone can set up their own electricity supply company and the current monopolistic structures would give way to a more diverse system.
Hour two, on day two, of Midday’s special series Power Ahead continues looking at fossil fuels. The focus of this hour is coal. Our guests this hour are Richard Heinberg, author and senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute., Don Shields, executive director, Center for Energy, University of Pittsburgh, Roger Bezdek, clean coal and energy security advocate and Mike Moore, president, Maryland Coal Association.
When a cautious and conservative group like the IPCC goes this far, we can be certain that much more could be achieved by a society committed to ecological sanity.
Many of you may have seen this kind of video, showing the effects of methane in drinking water near some shale gas extraction wells: Before now, I’ve never known what to make of this kind of thing. Is this a very rare, if spectacular occurence, or is it common where shale gas drilling goes on? Now, there is a paper in this weeks PNAS, Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing by Osborn et al, researchers at Duke University. It appears to answer the question, and the answer is not good.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China
-Disturbing reports
-Briefs
-Quote of the week
The ASPO conference was back to the old continent with a joint organization by ASPO-Belgium and ASPO-Netherlands. Set at the political heart of Europe with an ambitious programme that called in many speakers outside the ASPO circle, even outside the ASPO view of the world, the expectation was high.
Oil slaves, of course, are more portable and versatile than human muscle and now order our world. They grow and deliver food; transport friends and goods; and energize fields and cities. Every laptop computer arrives impregnated with 240 kilograms of oil. Like any good slave, oil removes the toil.
Max Keiser, host of the financial cable news show On the Edge, interviews Kurt Cobb, author, blogger and columnist, on world oil supplies, Cobb’s peak-oil themed novel, Prelude, global credit conditions and many other topics in this wide-ranging discussion.
