Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
-Japan to Cancel Plan to Build More Nuclear Plants
-Nuclear commission pinpoints 2021 for German atomic shutdown
-Shrinking Oil Supplies Put Alaskan Pipeline at Risk
-Methane contamination of water rises near to shale gas sites, study shows
-France set to heed shale oil protests
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.
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.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China
-Disturbing reports
-Briefs
-Quote of the week
Midday begins a week of daily programming devoted to one of the most urgent matters facing people of Maryland, the United States and planet Earth — our energy problems and solutions. The week begins with a look at energy consumption and sustainability. Our guests include Alan Knuckman, Agora Financial’s broad-market analyst, Malcolm Woolf, director, Maryland Energy Administration and Laura Schaefer, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Center for Energy, University of Pittsburgh.
Can the president who killed Osama bin Laden now stand up to Big Oil? Encouraged by comments made by House Speaker John Boehner that subsidies for oil and gas companies should be on the table, Democrats have revived their stalled effort to cut billions per year in taxpayer handouts to the largest oil and gas companies. But the oil lobby is not going gently into that good night.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China
-The Saudi enigma
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
– Gas-price spike sparks U.S. probe of oil traders (Obama)
– Guardian: Shale gas special report
– Peak Oil – Gail Tverberg’s April 2011 Update
– Prof. David Rutledge of Caltech on “Hubbert’s Peak, The Coal Question and Climate Change” (video)
– Secret UK memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq
– NYT on Hyrdrofracking: Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells, Report Says
– Decision looms on Mekong River dam opposed by conservation groups
– Sasol’s Plan For North American Shale Gas: Turn It Into Diesel
– Big Coal’s Dirty Secret: Breakthrough New Study on Longwall Mining Regulatory Failure and Ruin in Pennsylvania
Gas from shale is somewhat more expensive to produce, relative to more conventional natural gas deposits. On the other hand, a domestically available reserve that does not require a nation to expend money on foreign fuels can have considerable benefit, even though it may be comparatively expensive.
In monetary terms, shale gas seems to be a good deal. In EROEI (energy) terms it is probably less good but it may still provide a positive return. It is in environmental terms – in the so called “external costs” that shale gas is a disaster. It may be that society is reacting to scarcity in the wrong way by following a path that is perhaps easing the situation in the short term (getting more energy) but horribly worsening the problem in the medium/long term (global warming).
Three years ago, with a flurry of national publicity, billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens outlined his vision of how to help wean the U.S. off imported oil. The crux of the plan was to build a massive, $1 trillion network of wind farms stretching from Texas to North Dakota, which would replace domestic natural gas used to generate electricity. The excess natural gas would then be used to power millions of American trucks and cars, thus freeing the U.S. from the shackles of OPEC oil.
