Oil

The oil-economy connection

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Saudi Arabia’s oil production company is Saudi Aramco. Its former Vice President of oil exploration and production, Sadad al Husseini, recently made the following comment on oil prices at the 30th Oil & Money Conference, held in London on October 20-21: “…as you go up to say $90 a barrel, you’re consuming 4.5% of the global economy [for oil]. That in itself is a ceiling – you cannot go indefinitely into more expensive alternatives without destroying [the] economy and therefore destroying demand…”

How (not) to resolve the energy crisis

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Increasing the share of renewable energy will not make us any less dependent on fossil fuels as long as total energy consumption keeps rising. Renewable energy sources do not replace coal, oil or gas plants, they only meet (part of) the growing demand. The solution is simple: set an absolute limit to total energy production. Why should we not be able to cope in 2030 with the amount of energy we consume today?

International Energy Agency calls ‘Peak’ on OECD Oil Demand

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In World Energy Outlook 2009, the International Energy Agency seems to have dropped a bombshell that has been quietly (and politely) ignored. In their main ‘reference scenario’, the IEA forecasts that OECD demand has already peaked – it never recovers the levels seen before the oil price spikes and financial crisis unfolded.

Response to George Will: “There is still no alternative to oil”

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George Will had quite a few figures in his commentary “There is still no alternative to oil” that suggested there are no supply problems concerning oil. I think there are a few more figures that should be added to assess the oil supply situation.

Peak Oil and Agriculture (transcript added)

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During the month of October, CBC Radio’s political affairs show, The House, ran a four-part mini-series on peak oil, called “Going Local.” The third episode examined the implications of peak oil for the Canadian agri-food sector and was chosen as a CBC “Editor’s Choice” item. The episode includes interviews with two farmers near Ottawa, Ontario and a discussion with Rick Munroe, the energy security analyst for Canada’s National Farmers Union.

Deconstructing Dinner: Agroinnovations Podcast with Paul Stamets, Rob Hopkins, and Richard Manning

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Today’s episode features segments from Agroinnovations featuring well-known figures like Paul Stamets – a mycologist (aka mushroom specialist) from Olympia, Washington, the U.K’s Rob Hopkins who has popularized the Transition Town Movement and Montana journalist and author Richard Manning, who possesses a keen interest in the history and future of the American prairie and agriculture.

World Oil Production Forecast – Update November 2009

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NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed. World oil production peaked in July 2008 at 74.74 million barrels/day (mbd) and now has fallen to about 72 mbd. It is expected that oil production will decline at about 2.2 mbd per year as shown below in the chart. The forecasts from the IEA WEO … Read more

Inserting Peak Oil into the Conversation

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Part 1 of KrisCan’s Peak Oil conversation with Richard Heinberg about the limits to growth, the GDP measuring claims on our resources and the importance of communicating with our policy makers. He talks about the need to move away from the idea of continuous growth and begin to measure quality of life as a marker of success.