oil
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The dots
An energy consultancy firm says that state ownership and resource nationalism are the big threats to global oil supply. In other news, Russian President Vladimir Putin this week obliquely compared U.S. foreign policy to that of the Third Reich.
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Trends on an ever-shrinking planet
I was at Coop Power's excellent annual renewable energy summit in western Massachusetts recently. Richard Heinberg was there as a presenter. He discussed his well-regarded peak oil projections, and he then put that curve next to his peak uranium and peak coal projections. That visual drew gasps from the crowd -- especially the peak coal bit.
Sure we've got lots of coal, but its quality ain't what it used to be, and won't go as far. Check his data. This got me thinking of all the indexes we might put forward to track important trends on this ever-shrinking planet.
The next one I'd promote, given our perilous reliance on the mobile hives that are driven from farm to farm to pollinate our crops, plus this winter's mysterious honeybee population crash, would have to be peak bees. And how about peak freshwater. What would you propose?
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All abruptly
John Browne, who’s been head of oil giant BP for 41 years, abruptly resigned yesterday. Browne grew the lackluster company into the second largest oil company in the world; he also was among the first oil executives to proactively acknowledge the danger of climate change and encourage action. The resignation came after Browne lied to […]
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When people ask silly questions
"If fossil fuels are the problem, wouldn't running out of them be good?"
There's an old joke about economists and other Panglossians that bears on this question:
A man leaps off the top of a skyscraper and, as he passes by each floor, true to his optimistic tendencies, he says, "Well, so far, so good."
Running out of fossil fuels is like this man running out of floors. The critical thing is not to jump ... i.e., not to commit all that carbon to the atmosphere in the first place.
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The ubiquitous Richard Heinberg talks with Acres USA
Interesting interview with Richard Heinberg about the effects of peak oil on U.S. agriculture, in Acres USA, "A voice for Eco Agriculture."
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Umbra on oil and plastic
Dear Umbra, How much oil is used to make a pound (or some other comparable measure) of typical plastics? Melody Evans Paris, Ill. Dearest Melody, Ah, Paris. Is it as lovely in the springtime as they say? Yes, Ben, plastics … Photo: The Graduate (1967)/MGM Your question is a good and tricky one. Let’s start […]
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Doom and gloom gets it wrong again
Sure looks that way from the available evidence. It's comforting that, yet again, the doom and gloom crowd gets it wrong. Now, onto dealing with carbon emissions ...
