Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Sustainability is about time /
New PV cells made of everyday plastic /
Ford makes the hybrid leap /
“Green chemistry” reduces pollution /
Thanksgiving on the 100-mile diet /
Paris SUVs are deflated /
Patagonia’s founder spreads environmental gospel /
The growing problem of shrinking population /
New sheriff at Port of L.A. aims to clean up /
Carter’s brave vision on energy
Solid roundup that manages to sneak in a mention of oil depletion; worth reading if only for the quote from Tony Radich of the US Dept. Energy, told The Business: “It looks like ethanol is going to be the biggest alternative fuel. We’ve got a long way to go on hydrogen. …”
Small networks of power generators in “microgrids” could transform the electricity network in the way that the net changed distributed communication.
A review of Amory Lovins, “More Profit with Less Carbon”. In short, Lovins throws a lot of numbers around, but far too many of the ones he provides are irrelevant, meaningless, or misleading. The road ahead is much more difficult than he portrays.
Saudi Arabia is struggling to sell its crude oil despite record fuel prices and calls on the Kingdom to bring further supplies to the market.
Its looking increasingly like politics will decide who gets to build LNG regasification facilities for California – shame about the engineering issues, writes Martin Hastings.
Green China Overview / Chinese govt. blows up coal mines as dangerous pits ordered to close / China to slow exports of gas, oil products / Charting the long road to hydrogen power
At some point, almost certainly
within this decade, we will peak in the
amount of oil that is produced worldwide… Innovations in nanotechnology and
other advances in materials science
would make it possible to transform our
vision of plentiful, low-cost energy into a
reality. [article by Nobel Prize winner]
What those who see oil production just as a process limited by price, are NOT getting is that rigs and pipe and cement and energy are all costs that oil producers have to pay. And that additional cost is also reflected in the new higher prices for everything made with oil. As we look harder and harder for more oil, this demand drives prices for the equipment and materials we use through the roof.
With gasoline nearly $3 gallon, there needs to be a mainstream discussion of the alternatives.
Chinese gasoline stations jammed as fuel crisis deepens / Ghana has 350 Million dollar energy funding gap / Indian Official: Assam oil production ‘critical’ / Explosion at BP plant near Alvin comes on heels of Texas City closing / The only way is up for oil prices, but the world will not run out in the near future / Are record oil prices leading to exploitation of oil shales? / Electrical Inefficiency A Dark Spot for China / Shell Canada Oil Sands Expansion Costs Jump 83% / U.S.: Pricier Oil Won’t Send The Economy Into A Skid / More fuel for airlines’ woes
With prices exceeding $50 a barrel, the world’s oil habit now costs $4 billion a day. Some experts warn that output will soon peak and prices will reach $100, but nobody really knows for sure (94 percent of reserves are owned by governments, which generally keep the data secret). Fortunately, it doesn’t matter: With cheap oil-saving technologies and alternative fuels already at our disposal, the sooner we get off oil, the sooner we’ll start making bigger profits.
