Peak oil review – November 28
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Sanctioning Iran
-Turmoil in Europe
-Saudi growth
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
Industry
Why isn’t the Keystone pipeline extension going to eastern Canada?
The following question ought to be an obvious one to anyone who knows that Canada imports 43 percent of the oil it consumes: Why isn’t there any discussion of a new pipeline to eastern Canada where most of the oil consumed is imported?
How big is Exxon’s gamble in Kurdistan? (Answer: BIG)
Has ExxonMobil — the annoyingly prissy schoolboy who always obeys the teacher — risked weakening one of its distinguishing pillars in order to break into a single oil patch? And if so, could that shake up the global oil market along with geopolitics?
We are referring to the news, indiscreetly disclosed by a Kurdistan official last week, that the northern Iraqi region has signed an oil exploration agreement with Exxon. The reason this is a problem is that Kurdistan has been in a long-standing turf war with the folks in Baghdad over how to divide the spoils from its hydrocarbon riches.
Fracking Gas = Climate Crash
For years, governments, industry, and TV ads told us natural gas is the safe bridge fuel while we move away from dirty coal and oil. Cornell University scientist Robert Howarth wondered “Is that true?”…Program includes 27 minute speech by Professor Robert Howarth of Cornell at ASPO USA 2011, November 2nd in Washington D.C. recorded by Carl Etnier of Equal Time Radio, Vermont…Then a follow-up interview this week with Robert Howarth, to fill in his hurried climax of the speech…that methane emissions, when calculated over 20 years…could add up to at least 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States!
Peak oil gets pepper sprayed
Big Oil’s campaign for energy complacency is picking up steam. They say tar sands and fracking are bringing a new era of plenty. But whatever happened to peak oil?
Peak oil review – November 21
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Middle East in transition
-Turmoil in Europe
-The IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2011
-Quote of the Week
-Briefs
Fracking and quaking: They’re linked
Although the Canadian Gas Association calls methane a versatile, abundant and safe fuel, its unconventional cousin, shale gas, has been shaking the ground all the way from Lancashire, England to Dallas, Texas.
Energy – Nov 18
-Onshore wind energy to reach parity with fossil-fuel electricity by 2016
-Gas Companies Caught Using Military Tactics To Overcome Drilling Concerns
-EU biofuel target seen driving species loss: study
-New study suggests EU biofuels are as carbon intensive as petrol
-Local Power: Boulder Considers Moving Off the Grid
Peak oil notes – November 17
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
2011 ASPO-USA Conference: Day 2
Day 2 of the ASPO-USA Truth in Energy conference continued the wide ranging discussion about our current energy predicament, the reasons society isn’t talking about it, and potential ways to begin preparing for a world with increasingly scarce liquid fuels.
The Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis back again
To minimal serious coverage in the media and on the internet, the Nord Stream was inaugurated in Lubmin on Germany’s Baltic Coast on Nov. 8 in the presence of Pres. Medvedev of Russia and the prime ministers of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, plus the director of Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter, and the European Union’s Energy Commissioner. This is a geopolitical game-changer.
What is Nord Stream? Very simply, it is a gas pipeline that has been laid in the Baltic Sea, going from Vyborg near St. Petersburg in Russia to Lubmin near the Polish border in Germany without passing through any other country. From Germany, it can proceed to France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, and other eager buyers of Russia’s gas.
Commentary: The 2011 ASPO-USA Conference: Truth in Energy, Truth in Community
Media types are fond of saying that if an event doesn’t get covered, it didn’t happen. But this conference definitely happened. And what is created was a general assembly of a community, one that shows tremendous promise as a model for cross-sector collaboration. This kind of collaboration is desperately needed if we are to have anything resembling a soft landing as we head down the fossil carbon mountain.