Climate Climate & Energy

At Least He Can Pronounce “Nuclear”

Blair softens on mandatory emissions targets and warms to nuclear power British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s shifting approach to climate change has environmentalists in a stormy mood. Earlier this fall, he hinted publicly that he was cooling his support for extending the Kyoto Protocol’s mandatory greenhouse-gas reduction targets beyond the treaty’s conclusion in 2012. Now […]

Are gas prices and gas consumption connected?

It may come as a bit of a surprise: Despite rising gas prices over the past few years, total consumption of highway fuels in the U.S. has actually increased rather than fallen. Some have seized on this phenomenon -- prices and consumption rising in tandem -- to suggest that changes in gas prices have no discernible effect on how much gas we actually use.

The idea that gas prices have no effect on consumption doesn't square with economic theory, to put it mildly. And this Excel spreadsheet (courtesy of Charles Komanoff and the ever-informative Todd Litman) sheds some light on what's really going on. Apparently, even as U.S. gas prices have risen, so have population and GDP. And GDP growth tends to push consumption levels up -- in fact, over the short term, gas consumption seems to be far more responsive to changes in GDP than to changes in prices.

See You in the Handbasket

Climate-change studies project fun future of droughts, floods, illness The latest issue of the journal Nature has three new studies on the likely impacts of climate disruption. Turns out it’s gonna be a cakewalk! Ah, sadly, we kid. Millions who depend on mountain snow and glaciers for their water supplies — especially in Asia and […]

Syriana

Damn, this looks like a good movie. From IMDB:

From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Traffic, comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigue of the global oil industry. From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film's multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of the fierce pursuit of wealth and power. As a career CIA operative (George Clooney) begins to uncover the disturbing truth about the work he has devoted his life to, an up-and-coming oil broker (Matt Damon) faces an unimaginable family tragedy and finds redemption in his partnership with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig). A corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) faces a moral dilemma as he finesses the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies, while across the globe, a disenfranchised Pakistani teenager (Mazhar Munir) falls prey to the recruiting efforts of a charismatic cleric. Each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the industry, unaware of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

Get the official synopsis here.

Visitors to the official movie site are also encouraged to participate in "Oil Change," a campaign to reduce our dependence on oil.

And as TH reported this summer, Syriana, which opens nationwide on December 9th, may also help promote TerraPass.

What to expect from the U.N. climate-change negotiations in Montreal

“Conference of Parties” sounds like a contradiction in terms: conferences are dull talkfests punctuated by free booze, and parties are free boozefests punctuated by dull moments of trying to talk over loud music. More of the former than the latter is likely to go on later this month in Montreal, during the Conference of Parties […]

A refresher on the basics of climate conferences and Kyoto

Later this month, a mess of world leaders will be gathering in Montreal to discuss climate change. The conference is a rendezvous — we must use French words when speaking of Quebec — of COP 11 and MOP 1. And it has to do with the Kyoto Protocol! Isn’t that mysterious and intriguing? One of […]

Flare and Balanced

Nigerian judge orders end to Shell’s gas flaring In a surprising victory for activists, a judge in Nigeria has ruled that the practice of gas flaring, wherein oil companies burn off the natural gas produced in oil drilling, violates the human rights of surrounding residents and must be halted immediately. Nigerian activists say the flaring […]

Umbra on climate confusion

Dear Umbra, Any chance that the most extreme of the peak-oil folks are correct, and that in spite of our thoughtlessness, we just won’t have enough oil to totally destroy the ozone layer? Dan WassonPittsburgh, Penn. Dearest Dan, Oil has very little to do with the ozone layer, but it does have to do with […]

WSJ: China’s oil-demand surge slackens

Peak-oil enthusiasts and skeptics alike will find much to chew on in this page-one piece from today's Wall Street Journal.

By all accounts, China's explosive energy-demand growth over the past several years has strained the ability of OPEC and other oil producers to keep up. Now, the Journal claims, that pressure shows signs of easing:

This year, China is on track to account for about 16% of the world's new oil consumption, little more than half last year's share. The Centre for Global Energy Studies estimates that Chinese demand will rise by about 230,000 barrels of oil a day this year -- a large increase, but a far cry from the 860,000-barrel-a-day jump of 2004 and a much more manageable pace for global suppliers.

The article also features the spectacle of a big-time oil exec engaging in a bit of what's known on Wall Street as "jawboning" -- trying to influence the market (in this case talking it down) with mere words. The Journal reports:

Though most market watchers were caught off guard by last year's steep run-up in China's oil demand, [Exxon Mobil CEO Lee] Raymond said that its consumption growth has been generally in line with industry expectations. "Speculation" accounts for about $20 of the current per-barrel price of oil, Mr. Raymond estimated. "The fundamentals" of supply and demand, he said, "support something like $35 or $40." The Exxon chief said that, in about a decade, it will be likelier that oil prices will be below $35 than they will be to stay at today's level of about $60 a barrel. [Emphasis added.]

Might outrage over last quarter's startling profits, as well as the Congressional price-gouging hearings, have influenced Raymond's desire to describe a frothy, puffed-up oil market?

An interview with peak-oil provocateur Matthew Simmons

Matthew Simmons: he’s more radical than he looks. Matthew Simmons has been stirring up a lot of angst in energy circles this year. This well-connected industry insider has concluded that some of the world’s largest oil beds may be on the verge of production collapse — and he’s willing to bet his much-vaunted career on […]