Peak oil notes – Jan 5
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
– NYT: Oil Price Would Skyrocket if Iran Closed the Strait of Hormuz
– RT: Crude Plan: Iran war & double recession? (video)
– Iran could be bluffing in the strait of Hormuz – but can US risk calling it?
In a peak oil world, no further growth is possible. If China grows, somewhere Western consumption must shrink. And “shrinking” isn’t pretty says Jeff Rubin. He’s the former CIBC markets Chief Economist, speaking at ASPO 2011 in D.C., along with oil market guru Charles Maxwell. “Economy Past Peak Oil” panel plus Radio Ecoshock interview with ASPO Italy founder Professor Ugo Bardi (author of “The Limits to Growth Revisited”) on peak oil versus climate change.
Let’s make this clear from the beginning: The Post Carbon Reader is not an easy read. Indeed, if you’re looking for a breezy take on the end of the world, I would instead recommend World War Z. But whereas Max Brooks’s novel is a gore-drenched take on the zombie apocalypse, I’d state that The Post Carbon Reader is much more horrifying. There is little to fear of a rise of the undead. But throughout the Reader’s 450+ pages, it becomes clear just how and in what manner we are collectively destroying our fragile planet. … That said, The Post Carbon Reader is an essential read, for no other purpose to have the quotable facts and information readily available.
The end of our industrial lifestyle paradigm will be dictated by Liebig’s Law, and by humanity’s response to its consequences. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know at this point which increasingly scarce nonrenewable natural resource (NNR) or NNR combination will ultimately prove to be industrialized humanity’s limiting factor.
Consequently, humanity’s global societal collapse may be triggered by scarcity associated with one or more NNRs other than those commonly considered “most critical” to the perpetuation of our industrial lifestyle paradigm—fossil fuels, or oil specifically. After all, the space shuttle Challenger disaster was caused by a faulty o-ring.
– Nigeria union chiefs urge general strike amid fuel protests
– Global unrest: how the revolution went viral
– Hungary set for protests over constitution
– Stephen Cohen: Russian Protests and the Soviet Union’s Afterlife
– Goldman Sachs thinks we’re close to maximum oil pumping capacity
– Robert Rapier Soliciting Feedback for His Energy Book
– University of Alaska Fairbanks professor predicts spike in oil prices
– UK “Energy trends” bulletin available
– EU agrees Iran oil embargo
– Iran’s Real Weapon Of Mass Destruction Is Oil Prices
– Iran prepares bill to bar foreign warships from Persian Gulf
– Obama Seeks to Distance U.S. from Israeli Attack (Iran)
– Iran’s new show of force
– Tehran Times: U.S. presence in Persian Gulf is damaging: Iran defense minister
– Nuclear Fuel Test Won’t Hasten Iran Bomb: Experts
– NYT: Iran Warns the United States Over Aircraft Carrier
– Oil up 3 percent on Iran warning and U.S., China data
– Iran risk accounts for up to $10-15 of oil price: Reuters’ Kemp (video)
– Crude Oil Prices Could Rise This Year, But Prices Could Be Very Volatile
– Conflict in Straits of Hormuz? $200 a Barrel Oil?
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) describes itself as “the UK’s leading planning body….” It recently released a 59-page discussion paper on Peak Oil, partly in preparation for a forum on this issue which is scheduled for January 17th in London.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Iranian confrontation
-Trouble in Baghdad
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
– White House, GOP Battle for Supremacy on Tar Sands Pipeline
– Interview with peak oil journalist and novelist Kurt Cobb
– Hunt for Gas Hits Fragile Soil, and South Africans Fear Risks
– In conversation with peak oil pioneer Dr. Colin J Campbell (video)
– Steve LeVine’s Oil and the Glory: End-of-year edition