Oil

Commentary: Peak Oil, Declining EROI and the New Energy-Economic Reality

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This week in the ASPO-USA Webinar series, Dr. Charles A.S. Hall presented his talk “Peak Oil, Declining EROI and the New Energy-Economic Reality. Dr. Hall was trained as a systems ecologist by Howard Odum at the University of North Carolina. Today he is ESF Foundation Distinguished Professor at State University of New York in the College of Environmental Science & Forestry. He is also the author of Energy and the Wealth of Nations: Understanding the Biophysical Economy.

Mitt Romney: peak oiler?

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In his 2010 book, Romney speaks about Peak Oil, cites Matt Simmons’s book “Twilight in the desert” and says that, “whether the peak is already past or will be reached within a few years, world oil supply will decline at some point.” And then he doesn’t say that the solution is just drilling more. He says that using less oil and in finding alternatives for it are just as important as solutions.

How cascading failures in the global finance system could mean TEOTWAWKI

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I’ve met David Korowicz and he is a thoughtful, deeply knowledgeable, highly analytical, caring man who worries that the global system we now labor under is headed for what might be called the ultimate crash. To Korowicz, a physicist turned risk consultant, that system resembles nothing so much as a house of cards waiting to be blown down by the next financial hurricane that comes its way.

ODAC Newsletter – Aug 3

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US oil and gas reserves grew faster than at any time in the past 35 years according to figures released this week by the EIA. The numbers are for 2010 with the increase credited to fracking technology and high oil prices leading to more exploration and development. While the report will be used to provide further confirmation of a new era of energy abundance, there is growing evidence that the realities when it comes to actual production are not as rosy…

Petroleum Demand in Developing Countries

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Conventional wisdom might suggest that as oil prices rise, developing countries would be less able to afford oil, leaving wealthier countries to bid against each other for increasingly higher-priced supplies. But that is not at all what happened over the past decade, and the trend may give developed countries a reason for concern.

Shell Game in the Arctic

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When you go to the mountains, you go to the mountains. When it’s the desert, it’s the desert. When it’s the ocean, though, we generally say that we’re going “to the beach.” Land is our element, not the waters of our world, and that is an unmistakable advantage for any oil company that wants to drill in pristine waters.

It’s time to reconsider our biofuel policy

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As America’s corn and soybean crops wither in the current drought, it is time to reconsider our policy of mandating the conversion of a large percent of those crops into ethanol for our gas tanks. Even in a bountiful crop year, there is little sense in a food for fuel policy which takes nearly half of our corn crop for less than 10 percent of our gasoline supply. It can be sustained only by subsidies and mandates which increase prices for grains and the beef, poultry, and other products which depend on grain supplies.