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peak energy in the news:

UK Gov't Department of Energy and Climate Change Pathways 2050 report - July 30

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-2050 Pathways Analysis
-UK energy scenarios: working with a flawed model
-DECC publishes plans for achieving 2050 targets
-DECC lays out six possible futures for low-carbon energy

archived July 30, 2010
	

ODAC Newsletter - July 30

staff, Oil Depletion Analysis Centre

Another week on and there has been no further leak from the BP Macondo well. Officials are now "optimistic" about preparations for a new attempt at a, with the initial step of pumping mud into the top of the well likely to begin as soon as Sunday. With the leak apparently under control, BP chose this week to announce the inevitable departure of its CEO Tony Hayward, whose replacement by the American Bob Dudley was vital for the company’s damage limitation efforts in the US...

archived July 30, 2010
	

How long will the Chinese put up with coal?

Steve LeVine, The Oil and the Glory

Exxon Mobil today issued an impressive second-quarter earnings report, with much of the good news again involving a surge in liquid natural gas production from Qatar. It's further proof that Exxon -- along with the rest of Big Oil -- has made a big bet that natural gas will be a growth engine for the company in the absence of opportunities in oil. Fast-growing Asia is the big market, with China leading the way.

archived July 30, 2010
	

Gulf of Mexico reconsidered: building your house on salt

Matthew Wild, Peak Generation

A strategically timed item in the New York Times presents an overview of the geology that makes the Gulf of Mexico so rich in oil, how new technology has enabled us to track these deposits - and the risks we run to extract them. It was published Wednesday [July 28], one day before a special judicial panel in Boise, Idaho began to consider “how to bring order to the hundreds of civil lawsuits” stemming from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The seven judges will “consider which U.S. court, or courts, should oversee hundreds of spill-related suits by injured rig workers, fishermen, investors and property owners,”

archived July 29, 2010
	

A critical examination of Matt Simmons’ claims on the Deepwater spill

Robert Rapier, The Oil Drum

Matt Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert, has long been one of the most famous and influential voices on the subject of peak oil. After the release of his book, Simmons rose to fame as Saudi Arabian oil production declined and global oil prices skyrocketed. However, Simmons has lately been making hyperbolic claims related to the deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on the scenarios Simmons has outlined, he argues for responses such as using a nuclear explosion to seal the well and evacuating 20 million people from the Gulf Coast. Extraordinary responses such as these would impact a great many people, so The Oil Drum staff felt that a critical look at some of Simmons’ claims was in order.

archived July 29, 2010
	

Beyond the limits to growth

Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute

In 1972, the now-classic book Limits to Growth explored the consequences for Earth’s ecosystems of exponential growth in population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion. That book, which still stands as the best-selling environmental title ever published, reported on the first attempts to use computers to model the likely interactions between trends in resources, consumption, and population. It summarized the first major scientific study to question the assumption that economic growth can and will continue more or less uninterrupted into the foreseeable future.

archived July 29, 2010
	

The emergence of localism

Richard Moore, Speaking Truth to Power

Our global society is in crisis, and the core of the crisis seems to be about resources: resource limits, overuse and misuse of resources, resource-related conflicts, and the resulting destruction of our natural life-support systems. The crisis is at an extreme stage, as we are approaching the final hard limits of a finite earth. This is all the more frightening because our governments seem powerless to respond effectively to the crisis. We can all see the rocks ahead, and yet the crew steams straight on, as the ship-of-state carries us toward destruction.

archived July 28, 2010
	

Bowen in Transition

Dave Pollard, how to save the world blog

Last weekend I attended the Transition Movement 2-day introductory training course in Vancouver, along with three fellow Bowen Islanders. We immediately and unanimously agreed to establish a "Bowen in Transition" chapter, affiliated with the Vancouver Transition network (called Village Vancouver).

archived July 28, 2010
	

Renewables & efficiency - July 27

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Councils key to meeting UK's green energy target, report warns
-Property prices soar in the desert
-Clean Energy and the U.S. Handicap: One Man’s Story

archived July 27, 2010
	

Tony we hardly knew ye

Matthew Wild, Peak Generation

To no-one’s great surprise, BP has fired chief executive officer Tony Hayward – while reporting record losses. Pausing just long enough to negotiate a hefty financial package, said to include a $1.6 million payout in lieu of notice, a $1-million-per-year-pension and shares, he leaves a company fighting for its survival. According to the Guardian newspaper, BP is reporting “the largest losses in British corporate history”...

archived July 27, 2010
	

A snatch of old song

Paul Kingsnorth, Dark Mountain Project

Ten days ago I spent a weekend in the northern rain teaching people how to mow grass with a scythe. I’ve been using a scythe for four or five years, though it’s only in the last year or so that I’ve got any good at it. I began using one because I wanted to cut the grass in my orchard without using smelly, noisy, petrolly power tools, and also because I had come across the great Simon Fairlie and his persuasive addiction to these ancient and mesmerising tools.

archived July 27, 2010
	

What Now? Redux

Asher Miller, Post Carbon Institute

Back in December in blisteringly cold Copenhagen, tens of thousands of activists, government workers, lobbyists, and world leaders came together for what many hoped would be a diplomatic breakthrough. Though the weather was cold, conditions seemed ripe: Environmental groups across the globe had worked hard to generate a strong display of public will, culminating in 350.org's Day of Action earlier in October, which CNN called "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." Bolstered by the announcement that President Obama would attend the talks personally, hopes were high for meaningful engagement on the part of the United States after more than a decade of inaction.

archived July 27, 2010
	

New perspectives on the energy return on (energy) investment (EROI) of corn ethanol: Part 1 of 2

David Murphy, The Oil Drum: Net Energy

Over the past decade there has been considerable debate on corn ethanol, most focused on whether it is a net energy yielder...On one side are Pimentel (2003) and Patzek (2004) who claim that corn ethanol has an EROI below one energy unit returned per energy unit invested, and on the other side are a number of studies claiming that the EROI is positive, reported variously as between 1.08 and 1.45 (Wang et al. 1997; Wang 2001; Shapouri et al. 2002; Graboski 2004; Shapouri 2004; Oliveira et al. 2005; Farrell et al. 2006; Wang et al. 2007). Even with numerous publications on this issue, disagreement remains as to whether corn ethanol is a net energy yielder.

archived July 27, 2010
	

You Can be a BILLIONAIRE Without Even Trying!

Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute

What can you do to optimize your chances in the case of hyperinflation, a deflationary economic Depression, an oil crisis, a famine, or a series of horrendous environmental disasters? If you don’t already know, you’d better wise up fast—because some or all of these exciting opportunities are on their way to a neighborhood near you! In fact, one or two may already be tapping you on the shoulder and asking to make your acquaintance.

archived July 26, 2010
	

The End of Capitalism? Part 2A. Capitalism and Ecological Limits

Alex Knight, The End of Capitalism

Alex Knight was interviewed about the End of Capitalism Theory, which states that the global capitalist system is breaking down due to ecological limits (such as peak oil) and social limits to growth and that a paradigm shift toward a non-capitalist future is underway. This is the second part of a four-part interview.

archived July 26, 2010
	

Peak oil and gas prices and supplies: drilling and fracking fallout - July 26

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Tony Hayward's departure follows that of his mentor
-Researchers Confirm Subsea Gulf Oil Plumes Are From BP Well
-Proceed with caution on shale gas
-Siemens warns growth could fall 7.5pc if energy prices rise
-Is Matt Simmons Credible?

archived July 26, 2010
	

Interview with geologist Art Berman - Part 2

Staff, ASPO-USA

"I don’t know where it’s going. It seems inevitable to me that it is sort of a bubble phenomenon; but bubbles can go on for 25 years or so, even though everyone knows that’s what’s happening. As long a capital markets continue to fund these things it’s going to keep on going. I’m not saying that’s even a bad thing, though I wouldn’t put any money in it, that’s for darned sure."

archived July 26, 2010
	

Peak oil review - July 26

Tom Whipple, ASPO-USA

A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-the Deepwater Horizon saga
-Energy bill on hold
-Quote of the week
-Briefs

archived July 26, 2010
	

Beyond carbon legislation: Energy transition

Chris Nelder, Getreallist

The death of the climate bill yesterday struck the Climateers like a wet, oil-soaked dead dolphin to the face. Their wails of despair and cries for retribution swamped my Twitter stream, as carbon cap champions learned the Democratic leadership had given up on mustering the 60 Senate votes needed to pass the bill. The political realities of Washington had stymied them once again. Nothing had changed.

archived July 26, 2010
	

Growing shortages of water threaten China’s development

Christina Larson, Yale Environment 360

With 20 percent of the world’s population but just 7 percent of its available freshwater, China faces serious water shortages as its economy booms and urbanization increases. The government is planning massive water diversion projects, but environmentalists say conservation — especially in the wasteful agricultural sector — is the key.

archived July 26, 2010

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