The true value of energy is the net energy
When press releases are made about new discoveries, ask yourself: “how much energy will be used to get that energy, or what will be the energy profit?”
Oil
BP’s review: 45 years of hard-to-access deepwater oil
Embattled oil giant BP has released an annual review of global energy demand claiming we have 45 year’s worth of oil – but at the same time stressing the importance of deepwater operations such as the Gulf of Mexico. The great unanswered question of course being: Why would they be attempting to extract oil at the depth the Titanic sank if it was easily available elsewhere?
Peak oil, prices, and supplies – June 10
-After the credit crisis – next it will be oil
-Lloyd’s predicts BP disaster will prove oil industry’s Three Mile Island
-Talk of Second Oil Spill in Gulf Grows Louder
Teetering
Finally, a single article from the mainstream points out that maybe we should re-think our oil-drenched lifestyles. Oil drilling threatens our future, as even the BBC has determined. Will that be enough to get us off the devil’s excrement?
The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spew demonstrates that we just don’t get it
The GOM oil spew reinforces the extent to which Americans “just don’t get it” regarding
the unsustainable nature of our American way of life.
This oil spill, too, shall pass
You have been warned. This is a politically incorrect article. In 1999, I read Jane Goodall’s book, Reason for Hope, which took the optimistic view that, in spite of human activity, our beautiful blue planet is very resilient. She lists nature’s resiliency as her third reason for hope, the others being the human brain, the indomitable human spirit, and the determination of young people.
The oil drilling moratorium
As catastrophes go, the flood of oil in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) ranks right up there. Today I’m going to look at the effects of the 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. Back on May 6, I published Oil Production In the GOM—What’s At Stake? This is a follow-up based on new developments since then.
A dialogue with Lorna Salzman – part III
In her Commentary and her Critique of the Transition Initiative/Network, Lorna Salzman questions the role of government and Transition. Ms. Salzman asserts that the Transition approach omits government. As I will attempt to explain below, our approach is far from that.
If There Was Ever a Moment to Seize
Here’s the president on March 31st,announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: “Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.”
EIA: From forecast of oil supply abundance to decade of stagnation
Like it or hate it, the International Energy Outlook from the EIA is a touchstone for the energy industry and is treated as the authoritative government forecast in the press and in capital raising documents like prospectuses. It influences policy-makers, the media, public opinion and investors. What it says matters.
And what does it say?
That peak oil is all but on us.
Can BP survive the Gulf spill? Can its CEO?
As we all know, Einstein went to his grave refusing to accept quantum mechanics until it was linked with a unified theory of physics. In that vein, it’s not surprising to see the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, too, setting the minds of restless geniuses to work.
Limit our oil consumption: drive less
The gusher far beneath the gulf is spouting a message that the era of easy oil is over, or they wouldn’t be drilling that deep. But there’s a response we can have other than just complaining about blackened pelicans, ruined shrimp, and tar ball beaches.
