Peak Oil News

Events move quickly these days. Two months ago oil was north of $78 a barrel and, nationwide, gasoline was above to well above $3. The Middle East was threatening a conflagration and another exciting hurricane season was in the offing. Even the concept of peak oil was starting to get some scattered but serious attention in the media. Now here we are at the end of September. The price of crude is down nearly 25 percent. Gasoline is down 75 cents a gallon. The press is full of stories of a great new oil find in the Gulf that could show the way to a cornucopia of oil. The Dow is pushing an all-time high, and financial analysts are predicting lower inflation and solid growth in the year ahead. Finally, those who don't want to believe in peak oil are loudly proclaiming, "I told you so." » Source: ...

Albert Einstein said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." He also said, "Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction." I spent the weekend with genius and with courage, and I am happy to report that they are alive and well and working on our problems. Most Americans are not yet familiar with the coming tide of instability. Asleep and dreaming the American Dream, many are unaware of the issues associated with energy and environment that face our people and all of humankind. Scores of those who are aware of our troubles have convinced themselves that the answer lies in more of the same. But there are those who have another idea. » Source: Energy Bulletin ...

As a petroleum industry analyst who gave up material security for a career as an activist against petroleum industry expansion, I've developed a unique understanding of the global peak in oil extraction. Questioning society's energy needs has always been my tendency. But I gained further understanding of our culture by giving up affluence and many conveniences. This was an attempt to get closer to nature and live by my wits with the support of activists and my growing community of friends far and wide. » Source: Gristmill In 2004 I hit the road (the rails, usually) to spread the word about the plastic plague, petrocollapse, and the positive future that culture change will present. It was fitting that the nonprofit organization I founded in 1988, Fossil Fuels Policy Action, eventually ...

Julian Darley: The message is getting out. More and more people have noticed there's a problem with petroleum and gas. And now, peak oil is spoken - even within the corridors of power. Even though sometimes it's to deny it. But, not always, by any means. So, I think it very interesting to hear about your experiences with the kinds of people, who actually do build some of the infrastructure that we need to change. » Source: Global Public Media James Howard Kunstler: I've been associated with the New Urbanists, for about 15 years. And, they're mostly the designers and developers I consult with. And, they've done a tremendous amount of very good work around the country. Most of the best work that they do, is this stuff that they're least known for. They're best known for ...

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 ...

The global sea level rise caused by climate change, severely threatening many of the world's coastal and low-lying areas from Bangladesh to East Anglia, is proceeding faster than UN scientists predicted only five years ago, Professor Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said yesterday. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise around the world because water expands in volume as it warms, and because land-based ice, such as that contained in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, adds to the volume when it melts and slips into the sea. » Source: The Independent The present prediction of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, from its third assessment report in 2001, is that global sea levels will rise by between 9cm and 88cm by 2100, depending on a number of factors including how far emissions are controlled, with a best guess of about 50cm over the century. Rises ...

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 ...

We tend to see urban pollution as a modern problem. But did you know that urban pollution was a serious problem for Western world cities as far back as 200 years ago? The greatest source of pollution for 19th-century cities was, believe it or not, the horse. Horses were ubiquitous back then. They drew pretty much anything that was heavy and had to move. Horse-drawn carriages, trains, wagons, supply carts...you name it. Of course, there were no horse toilets, so these animals had to relieve themselves in the streets. This might seem like a quaint issue until one realises that the average city horse could produce up to 35 pounds of manure and 2 pints of urine a day. Yuck! » Source: Daily Reckoning Today, we have to deal with global warming and Peak Oil – back then, they were dealing with global stench ...

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 ...

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 ...