Peak Oil News

The World Energy Outlook (WEO) is a yearly energy forecast published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Energy Agency (IEA). The 2006 report urges the international community to invest heavily in energy efficiency in order to avoid a global economic crisis. Governments will need to invest at least $20 billion into the energy infrastructure over the next 25 years to meet the growing worldwide demand for electronic technologies and gadgets. Demand for oil and energy resources from industrialized nations like China are expected ...

Canadian oil wells supply a large percentage of American natural gas and oil imports. Satisfying America’s prodigious energy appetite depends on the continued availability of Canadian energy sources. About 25 percent of the crude oil and 80 percent of the natural gas imported into the United States come from our very accommodating neighbor to the north. More than half of the fuel pumped out of Canadian wells heads south to keep us Yankees warm and happily tooling about on our highways. What happens when Canada runs out of its oil and natural gas resources? What will this mean for the economies of both Canada and the United States? Even though the Canadian economy is no less dependent on hydrocarbon energy ...

Whenever the price of gas rises, North Americans begin to talk about driving less. Recent oil price trends have seen a noticeable reduction in SUV sales and have hit the large automobile manufacturers hard. Middle class America has been hit hardest by the rising cost of living; higher taxes and mortgages, car payments and the rising price of home and vehicle energy. Large suburban homes require large amounts of heat, electricity (for lighting) and air conditioning. Most households have two or more full-sized cars which are used to travel far distances for education and employment. All of these factors ...

Lou Grinzo, a technical writer and bachelor in economics, is working hard to raise awareness about the peak oil situation in two ways. First, he is trying to introduce people to the major trends in energy development and talk about what can be done for the future. Second, he wants to give people the references they'll need to fact-check his information. He says that he's been an 'energy geek' since the 1973 oil crisis, and he is obsessed with gaining knowledge about global energy economics and supplies. His take on energy resources is not as pessimistic as some, he believes oil will not become as expensive as some experts believe because the price ...

Every other year, the World Wildlife Fund publishes the Living Planet Report, which charts trends in the world's ecosystem biodiversity and the human ecological footprint. The most recent report update released Oct 24th, 2006 warns of a worldwide ecosystem collapse within 50 years. The WWF report urges that we must reduce global consumption by at least half of current trends in order to avoid a serious global catastrophe. The world's natural resource depletion is currently escalating "at a rate unprecedented in human history". Growth in demand for raw materials, food and energy is having a devastating impact on the earth's ability to sustain natural biodiversity and clean air. The ...

The 2006 Boston World Oil Conference will be held October 27th and 28th at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts . Time for Action: A Midnight Ride for Peak Oil is co-hosted by ASPO-USA and Boston University. ASPO USA announces the second “Dialogue with the Experts,” a high-level conference to discuss impacts of and responses to a peak in world oil production. Experts will provide current information and oil supply statistics along with alalysis of alternative energy research and technology. Attendants at this year's peak oil conference will have the opportunity to voice their questions and concerns. » Source: ...

The economic growth of many nations is exclusively linked to the international oil production economy. This fact results in increased resouce competition between the great powers, and as we have seen in recent U.S. foreign policy, war and conflict are born from these factors. The growing energy needs of Asian nations such as China and Japan are only likely to increase the political tension during the coming decades. America needs to lead by example by investing heavily in renewable energy research and technology. Not only will this leadership help lessen the growing energy needs in the continental United States, but it will also go ...

The first direct evidence linking human activity to the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves is published this week in the Journal of Climate. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University College London, and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, (Belgium) reveal that stronger westerly winds in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, driven principally by human-induced climate change, are responsible for the marked regional summer warming that led to the retreat and collapse of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf. » Source: Science Daily The Larsen ice shelf at the ...

What is Peak Oil? The term "peak oil" is used to describe the point at which the earth's supply of oil will no longer be able to meet our energy needs. Oil is not a renewable energy source, and therefore can and will be exhausted at some point in the future. There is still a lot of debate about the projected date of peak oil due to our inability to accurately take stock of current world oil supplies. As early as the 1950's geologists have been warning of an oil supply collapse. M. King Hubbert noticed a logistics curve in oil discoveries and based on these findings he predicted that there would be a global oil peak between the year 1995 and 2000. » ...

It is going to take a monumental change in thinking and habits in order to reduce our dependance on oil as an energy source. At the point of peak production we will find ourselves scrambling to compete for what fuel supplies remain. How will we deal with this crisis? The Energy Information Agency predicts we will reach this point sometime in the next few decades, at which point petroleum will be far too expensive to use as a transportation fuel source. We are going to have to make some serious personal lifestyle choices in order to avoid a complete economic breakdown. Will we have the collective motivation to make these important changes? » Source: ...