Oil

Peak oil & the IEA report – Nov 15

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– Matthieu Auzanneau in Le Monde: Why the Pentagon is pessimistic (the influence of Matt Simmons)
– NYT blog: Is ‘Peak Oil’ Behind Us?
– Kjell Aleklett interview: Peak Oil: Not if but when
– Arab News: Energy world facing unprecedented uncertainty
– New Statesman: The age of cheap oil is over
– Huffington Post:
Peak Oil Finally Piquing Analysts?
– Oil Falls the Most in Three Weeks on Speculation China May Increase Rates

Review: The Impending World Energy Mess by Robert Hirsch, Roger Bezdek and Robert Wendling

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In The Maltese Falcon a character tells detective Sam Spade, “By Gad, sir, you’re a character, that you are! Yes, sir, there’s never any telling what you’ll do or say next, except that it’s bound to be something astonishing.”* I’m telling Bob Hirsch the same thing. There’s no denying the man’s considerable credentials within the energy industry, nor his contribution to peak oil scholarship as principal author of the first major U.S. government report to take the issue seriously. But neither is there any predicting what outlandish thing he’ll propose next in his efforts to spread the message.

A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save it – A review of Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed’s latest book

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Anyone who has spent much time discussing peak oil, the collapse of civilizations, climate change or modern security issues eventually confronts the issue of historical antecedents. The [Insert choice of vanished civilization here] collapsed because of X, and that’s the same thing that is happening now . . . . For those who have delved more deeply into such lines of argument, one thing becomes abundantly clear: historical civilizations did not collapse for a single reason. Fast-forward to present, and there is no shortage of commentary forecasting crisis or collapse of our modern civilization. But these analysts have failed to advance a comprehensive systems-theory approach to our civilization’s troubles. Enter Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed.

Brazilian peak oil site thanks authors who appeared in Energy Bulletin

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I am the editor and developer of the first Brazilian website focusing exclusively on Peak Oil – Pico do Petróleo – which was launched in the beginning of 2010. The site is a non-profit initiative and its content consists almost entirely of Portuguese translations of posts found on the Internet. My main source is the Energy Bulletin, which I have been following since 2006, when I first learned about Peak Oil.

ODAC Newsletter – 12 November 2010

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“The energy world faces unprecedented uncertainty”, so begins the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, released on Tuesday. The annual report from the energy watchdog guides the energy policies of OECD member countries including Britain.

Slouching towards Cancun

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Many people seem to believe that it is possible to have a rapid transition to a “low carbon economy,” based on a totally different pattern of production of energy carriers (using different primary energy sources) and a totally different pattern of consumption of energy carriers, while still guaranteeing the same set of end uses.