Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Oil demand appears to finally be responding to high oil prices, most significantly in the US where petrol prices have hit $4/gallon. The IEA cut its 2011 demand forecast by 190,000 barrels/day on news of increased US stockpiles and reduced consumption, and prices dropped back from recent highs to around $110/barrel for Brent…
I got serious about cutting gas heating costs after losing my job as a research scientist last year, but now I’m paying more for each unit of natural gas delivered to my house. This was odd, so I had to look a little deeper. After some investigation I found that we are paying a lot more for each hundred cubic feet (CCF) of natural gas than our neighbors because we use so much less than they do. I’m being penalized for conserving gas, so my local gas utility is working against me.
It is clear that moving towards renewables is about more than simply adding more wind turbines and solar panels, but rather it is about a significant system re-think. For instance, one important measure would be to make the national power grid independent from the ten major electricity supply companies. That way anyone can set up their own electricity supply company and the current monopolistic structures would give way to a more diverse system.
When a cautious and conservative group like the IPCC goes this far, we can be certain that much more could be achieved by a society committed to ecological sanity.
– Military thinkers: for a bright American future, look to sustainability and liberalism
– Renewable Energy Can Power the World, Says Landmark IPCC Study
– Taboo Economics
– ‘The Ecological Rift’: a radical response to capitalism’s war on the planet (book review)
– Poet Wendell Berry on Mankind’s Ecological Imprint
The disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan convinced German Chancellor Angela Merkel that nuclear power would never again be a viable option for her country. Now Merkel has embarked on the world’s most ambitious plan to power an industrial economy on renewable sources of energy.
The Energy Report aligns with several others in recent years in confidently claiming that we could transition to full reliance on renewable energy, without any disruption of high material living standards or the pursuit of economic growth. These reports are typically quite impressive involving glossy formats with lots of coloured graphs and pictures, a large cast of heavy-weight authors, and a long list of high-powered endorsements.
– Protests Against Forced Eviction from US-Backed Coal Mine Continue in Bangladesh
– Shell and Cairn Energy Announce ‘Risky’ Drilling Plans in Arctic
– Why is the UK backing biomass power?
According to The Times, Iraq’s oil ministry is to reset its oil production target for 2017 reducing it down from 12 million barrels per day to between 6.6-7 mb/d. The news is of no surprise to anyone (with the possible exception of Donald Trump)…
Midday begins a week of daily programming devoted to one of the most urgent matters facing people of Maryland, the United States and planet Earth — our energy problems and solutions. The week begins with a look at energy consumption and sustainability. Our guests include Alan Knuckman, Agora Financial’s broad-market analyst, Malcolm Woolf, director, Maryland Energy Administration and Laura Schaefer, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Center for Energy, University of Pittsburgh.
-Pioneering wind energy study looks 30-50 years ahead for global warming impact
-Wind industry and Decc urged to come clean on output of wind farms
-Why Germany’s offshore wind parks have stalled
The OFS would require that 50 percent of new automobiles in 2014, 80 percent in 2016, and 95 percent in 2017, would be warranted to operate on non-petroleum fuels in addition to or instead of petroleum based fuels. Compliance possibilities include the full array of existing technologies – including flex fuel, natural gas, hydrogen, biodiesel, plug-in electric drive, and fuel cell – and a catch-all for new technologies. This requirement will then provide certainty to investors to produce alternative fuels and fueling stations to have a variety of pumps supplying those alternative fuels.
