Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Jad Mouawad: As oil giants lose influence, supply drops
A few speculators dominate vast market for oil trading
The future is now; the end of cheap oil
Russia sees oil output stalling
Raymond James: State of Russian oil ‘much worse than we would have imagined 6 months ago’
Anti-regulation aide to Cheney is up for energy post
Why oil prices continue to fluctuate
Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith
Renewed push for uranium mining in West
Drive 55 campaign gaining speed
Tall ship Belem delivers wine by sail and saves carbon
The handmade commuter bike
People think we can insulate ourselves from supply disruptions, from our dependence on potentially unreliable foreign sources of oil, by improving our efficiency and eliminating “unnecessary” oil consumption. In my opinion, this is backward. I will argue that, because the demand that is destroyed first in a free market is the demand that is easiest to eliminate, the resulting consumptive system is more inelastic, more brittle, and more susceptible to systemic shock from supply disruption.
Several years ago, at what seemed to be one of the darkest moments of the Russian collapse, I was walking in one of the avenues of Moscow. I noticed a series of large signs hanging from lampposts, showing traditional Russian buildings and landscapes. One of my Russian colleagues translated the text of the signs for me as saying, “Nobody will help Russia, so Russia will have to help herself”. Government propaganda? Sure, but that is what the Russians did. Never underestimate a country that has survived peak oil.
If the peak theory proves true, the intersection between rising worldwide demand and a decline in world production would likely drive prices much higher, giving drillers even more incentive to go after every last drop of oil they can find in old fields as well as new ones. (Texas oil man Jim Baldauf, co-founder of ASPO-USA, is interviewed.)
I’ve been reading John Michael Greer’s Archdruid Report for a few months now and I thought his book would be pretty esoteric, but it’s actually brilliant in its simplicity and a much-needed wise and reasonable voice for the peak oil community
American Conservative on peak oil: Mayberry, not Mad Max
A failure to prepare for the what should have been expected
How to burn the speculators
Unraveling the unraveling
Oman turns to coal for power
Carbon sequestration frustration
Oil shale stuck between rock and wild place
The end of cheap clothes is near
Dressing Locally
Waste management
Long term oil is headed back up, for all the familiar reasons. Really, it’s not like anyone is finding new large oil deposits out in exploration land. Indeed, a whole lot of looking is leading to not very much finding in the exploration patch.
Amid all the discussion about peak oil, one voice has been conspicuously absent, that of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC’s position on the petroleum-resource question should be the decisive factor in this ongoing and seemingly inconclusive debate. The organization now supplies about 42 percent of the world’s petroleum …
