Peak Oil News

The biggest news story of modern times rarely appears in the conventional news media, or it appears only in distorted forms. Ironically, the modern world is plagued by a lack of serious information. Today's news item is usually forgotten by tomorrow. The television viewer has the vague impression that something happened somewhere, but one could change channels all day without finding anything below the surface. But television is only the start of the enigma. What is most apparent is the larger problem that there is no leadership, no sense of organization, for dealing with peak-oil issues. » Source: Counter Currents One might consider as an analogy the Great Depression. During those ten years, everyone lived on his own little island, lost, alone, and afraid. It was a "shame" to be poor, so one could not even discuss it with ...

Wed. Oct. 25 to Fri. Oct. 27, 2006 (Plus Evening & Sat. Sessions) - Boston University, GSU, 775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA - Experts to discuss impacts of - and responses to - Peak Oil The Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO-USA) and Boston University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (CEES) will co-sponsor the 2006 World Oil Conference, Time for Action: A Midnight Ride for Peak Oil, on the BU campus October 25-27, 2006. The Conference will bring energy experts from around the world to discuss the likely timing, impacts, and intelligent responses to the growing Peak Oil challenge. Virtually every sector of our society and economy will be affected by Peak Oil, from transportation, manufacturing, air freight, and agriculture, to homebuilding, city planning, and finance. » Source: Global Public Media “For ...

The world needs to spend $1tn a year in alternative fuels, starting 20 years before the peak in conventional oil production, in order to mitigate fuel shortages, a US Energy Department study showed. Production peaks in Texas, the UK and Norway were examined as part of two studies for the department that advised on "crash course" efforts to cope with an eventual shortage of gasoline and other liquid fuels. The study, led by Robert Hirsch, didn’t predict when world production will peak, though Hirsch told reporters his guess is "within the next five to 10 years." » Source: Gulf Times "Conventional oil will peak at some point," Hirsch said at the Oil and Money Conference in London. To lessen the impact, "we have to start a long time before the peak or we’ll have severe liquid fuels shortages worldwide." Conventional oil production peaked ...

Syntroleum announced that its Fischer-Tropsch (FT) jet fuel has been successfully tested in a United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress Bomber aircraft. The plane lifted off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., with a 50/50 blend of FT and traditional JP-8 jet fuel which was burned in two of the eight engines on the plane. This marks the first time that FT jet fuel has been tested in a military flight demo, and is the first of several planned test flights. The test is a result of more than four years of successful research and development efforts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), focused on producing a high-performance alternative fuel for military applications. » Source: Green Car Congress The program culminating in the test flight today is the first step in opening up new horizons for sourcing fuel for ...

Whereas the passage of history has recorded an increasing pace of change, such that the demand for energy has grown rapidly in parallel with the world population over the past two hundred years since the Industrial Revolution; Whereas the energy supply required by the population has come mainly from coal and petroleum, such resources having been formed but rarely in the geological past and being inevitably subject to depletion; Whereas oil provides ninety percent of transport fuel, is essential to trade, and plays a critical role in the agriculture needed to feed the expanding population; » Source: Post Carbon Institute Whereas oil is unevenly distributed on the Planet for well-understood geological reasons, with much being concentrated in five countries bordering the Persian Gulf; Whereas all the major productive provinces of the World have been identified with the help of advanced technology and growing geological knowledge, it ...

Almost everything in our modern economy is either made from oil or requires oil for its functioning or its transportation. As the price of oil begins to skyrocket, therefore, so will the price of everything else. The same happened on a smaller scale during the temporary oil crisis of the 1970s and '80s. The hardest hit will be those with debts: car payments, house mortgages, credit cards, student loans. But everyone will find that a dollar just doesn't "stretch." High prices will be combined with low wages. Even now, the news media are always claiming that the unemployment rate is low, but they fail to mention that so many "employed" people are working at low-paying jobs. It is not easy to get together the required food, clothing, and shelter when one is being paid minimum wage. » Source: countercurrents.org At first, money ...

It was a great day for many companies and environmentalists back in 2003. Back then the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that a newly constructed natural gas-to-liquids demonstration facility near Tulsa, Oklahoma would open. The Ultra-Clean Fuels Program, managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, was built under a cooperative agreement among DOE, Syntroleum Corp., Marathon Oil Co. and Integrated Concepts Research Corp. (ICRC). Plant construction costs were valued at over $40 million, of which DOE provided $16 million on a cost-share basis. According to the press release of October 3, 2003, The facility would utilize the proprietary Syntroleum® Process to convert natural gas to transportation fuel. The DOE said the plant consisted of three primary components: an autothermal reformer that changes the natural gas into synthesis gas; a Fischer-Tropsch unit that converts the synthesis gas into synthetic crude product; and a refinning unit that upgrades the synthetic crude product into ...

Tom Whipple of the Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas told those attending the "life after cheap oil" seminar at Wilson College that the world is expected to reach peak oil between 2008 and 2010. Peak oil is the point after which oil production enters a terminal decline. The exact date doesn't matter, he said. "It's happening in our lifetime," Whipple said. "It's not the end of world oil. It's just not going to be cheap or affordable. There will always be oil. Three-dollar (a gallon) gasoline didn't slow us in the slightest. At some point most of us are not going to be driving around in cars." » Source: Chambersburg Public Opinion The U.S. imports 66 percent of its oil, and oil imports could be halted for any of number of reasons, according to Whipple. Just a 5 percent cut ...

If you think your fuel bill has skyrocketed, pity the people who operate the eight-engine B-52 bomber. The lumbering aircraft, built in the 1950s when jet fuel cost a quarter a gallon, guzzles 47,000 gallons in a single mission. Today, that's $100,000 a fill-up. Tally in the gas hogs in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere — fighter jets, bombers and cargo planes — and you can understand why the American taxpayer got a $5-billion fuel bill last year for the Air Force alone. On Tuesday, the Air Force will begin test flights here that could represent a major step in the Pentagon's plan to find less costly sources of fuel. A B-52 will take off with two of its engines burning a new blend that may eventually replace the oil-based kerosene formula that has powered jet engines since they were invented. Source: LA Times The test flight, which will be observed by top ...

EurActiv has seen a draft of an ambitious energy-efficiency plan to be unveiled by the Commission that includes a binding target to slash fuel consumption in cars. On 22 June 2005, the Commission tabled a 'Green Paper' on energy efficiency, outlining a series of ideas which it said could save Europe some 20% in energy consumption by 2020 and slash its energy bill by €60 billion every year. EU member states have highlighted housing and transport as the sectors where the savings potential is greatest. But they insisted that the EU adopts realistic and wide-ranging measures such as soft law, product labelling, support measures, certificates and voluntary agreements. » Source: EurActiv Issues: The Commission will tell EU countries that they can cut their energy bill by €40 billion annually from 2012 if they follow the recommendations of an energy-efficiency action plan to ...