Media & Communications

The Ecotechnic Future (book excerpt)

by

…A technic society, by contrast, relies primarily on nonfood energy. Modern industrial civilization is simply a form of technic society that gets its nonfood energy from fossil fuels and maximizes production of goods and services in the usual R-selected way at the cost of vast inefficiency. At the other end of the spectrum is the climax community, the ecotechnic society, which gets its nonfood energy from renewable sources and maximizes the efficiency of its energy and resource use in the usual K-selected way at the cost of more restricted access to goods and services.

Nations & resources – Oct 16

by

-India’s quest for uranium
-Putin’s China Visit Helps Russia Become Global Energy Supplier
-Iraq cuts foreign deals for major boost to oil output
-The U.S. military’s battle to wean itself off oil
-What’s yours is mine
-Big Oil Front Group Fights for Tar Sands
-Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues

Commentary: Response to “Energy Crisis is postponed as new gas rescues the world”

by

It is hard to know where to begin regarding Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s article entitled “Energy crisis is postponed as new gas rescues the world.” But since the speculative world he invokes has more to with Alice In Wonderland than the hard reality of engineering and science, let us begin – at the end.

Shale Gas Estimates Perhaps Optimistic – An Interesting and Worrying Talk at ASPO

by

Unfortunately I have had to miss the ASPO Meeting in Denver this week, and so cannot provide the daily reports that I have written in the past. But I notice that at least one of the talks has already caught a significant amount of press, and that is the one by Arthur Berman on the gas production from shale deposits such as the Barnett, Haynesville and Marcellus.

Climate & environment – Oct 15

by

-Pulling CO2 from the Air: Promising Idea, Big Price Tag
-U.S. headed for massive decline in carbon emissions
-Catch Me If You Can: Does the IEA’s Carbon Capture Plan Make Any Sense?
-Giants in Cattle Industry Agree to Help Fight Deforestation
-Organizing The Biggest Day Of Action The World Has Ever Seen