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peak energy in the news:

German military study warns of potential energy crisis - English translation of main points

Robert Rapier, The Oil Drum

This week a study on peak oil by a German military think tank was leaked on the Internet. The document shows that the German government is closely studying the issue of peak oil, and is aware of the potential for serious consequences as oil production declines. The study is reminiscent of the Hirsch Report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, that warned of the risks posed by peak oil. ... Below is a friend's translation of the major points in the report.

archived September 2, 2010

Ethanol blend E85 case study: Iowa

Robert Rapier, The Oil Drum

Iowa is to corn ethanol what Saudi Arabia is to oil. At present Iowa has the capacity to produce 3.5 billion gallons of ethanol per year, which is 26% of the nation's total. This is of course due to the large amount of corn production in Iowa, enabled by ample rainfall and rich topsoil.

archived September 2, 2010

Post Carbon Exchange #3: Richard Gilbert & David BragdonVideo

Post Carbon Institute, Post Carbon Institute

RICHARD GILBERT and DAVID BRAGDON discuss the future of transportation systems as we near the end of cheap oil. What are the solutions? How will we get there? Are we facing the end of the internal combustion engine?

archived September 2, 2010

Peak oil notes - Sept 2

Tom Whipple, ASPO-USA

A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-China continues to grow

archived September 2, 2010

Review of Brenda Boardman’s Fixing Fuel Poverty

Rick Munroe, Energy Bulletin

Brenda Boardman continues to do pioneering work in the field of fuel poverty in Britain. She is Emeritus Fellow with the Lower Carbon Futures at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. Twenty years ago, Boardman wrote her landmark study, Fuel Poverty: From Cold Homes to Affordable Warmth, which provided the first quantifiable definition of fuel poverty (ie. when a household spends more than 10% of its income on energy services).

archived September 2, 2010

German military study warns of a potentially drastic oil crisis

Stefan Schultz, Der Spiegel (Germany)

A study by a German military think tank has analyzed how "peak oil" might change the global economy. The internal draft document -- leaked on the Internet -- shows for the first time how carefully the German government has considered a potential energy crisis. (excerpts)
Update: English translation of table of contents and lead paragraphs.

archived September 1, 2010

Points of departure

Daniel Pargman, Life After Oil

I teach at a prestigious (high-on-ranking-lists) Swedish technical university, but when I mention peak oil, the students just don't "get it", or refuse to contemplate it. I have thus had to think about starting points I personally take for granted and emphasize these in my talks so as to increase the likelihood of my audience "getting it". These 4+1 assumptions are interrelated and they form a logical chain that is easy to follow but hard(er) to refute.

archived September 1, 2010

The Peak Oil Crisis: Prospects for China

Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press

Although climate change, decreasing exports, and depleting mineral resources will all eventually impact China's ability to grow economically, the availability and affordability of oil is still likely to impact first.

archived September 1, 2010

Editor's picks - August 2010

Staff, Energy Bulletin

Too much to read? Try these picks from the EB co-editors.

archived August 31, 2010

A summary of Adam Brandt's "Review of Mathematical Models of Future Oil Supply"

Gail Tverberg, The Oil Drum

This paper has two goals. First, it provides a systematic review of oil depletion models produced to date. This serves to make obscure past works (often difficult to find) available to a wider audience so as to limit repetition of past efforts. Second, this paper provides synthesizing critique of previous modeling efforts, with the aim of improving future oil depletion modeling.

archived August 31, 2010

The rare earth elements crisis

Dave Cohen, Decline of the Empire

As economists focus on the Sacred GDP number, which must remain positive to maintain the statistical recovery myth, there is another crisis brewing in the world of crucial resources. In yesterday's post Energy Consumption And Progress, I alluded to the Age of Resource Competition. Today this competition is most evident in the production of rare earth elements—

archived August 31, 2010

A peak oil reference

Chris Nelder, Getreallist

Despite the volumes of material that have been written on peak oil, there still did not exist (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) a single online reference that presents this very complex topic in a form that's both accessible to newbies, and that links to the deeper data and theory. So I built one, on contract with ASPO-USA, based on some of their existing material and my old "Peak Oil Media Guide" from 2008. It's still a fairly skeletal first draft, comprising only 16 web pages, but hopefully it will grow, and serve as a useful guide to the public, the media, and others.

archived August 31, 2010

Energy consumption and progress

Dave Cohen, Decline of the Empire

I've written lately that economists are the high priests of Progress. I don't subscribe to the doctrine of Progress, which is a faith-based view of our future. Apparently, for most people all of the time, the alternative is simply unthinkable. The truth is that we had wars 4,000 years ago, and we have wars now. The large majority of human beings were poor and disenfranchised 4,000 years ago, and the large majority still are today.

archived August 30, 2010

Peak oil review - Aug 30

Tom Whipple, ASPO-USA

A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-China - the costs of growth
-Macondo - the blame game

archived August 30, 2010

Interview with Michael Smith (Part 2 of 2)

Staff, ASPO-USA, ASPO-USA

When I ran Energyfiles, which was a commercial concern, I was concerned about being linked too closely with the peak oil movement. For years it was not mainstream and, although developed by excellent scientists and promoted by good organizations such as ASPO and the Oil Drum, it had many weird hangers-on, just like in the environmentalist movement. It was not treated seriously by most of my potential clients.

archived August 30, 2010

"How to Boil a Frog" the movie ... complete!

Jon Cooksey, How to Boil a Frog

"How to Boil a Frog" is that rare beast, a funny movie about peak oil, climate change, etc. Early versions have been circulating to the delight of those lucky enough to see it. It's good news indeed that the movie will now be viewable by the public.

archived August 29, 2010

A vision of the future: Simon du Fleuve

Damien Perrotin, The View from Brittany

Simon du Fleuve (Simon of the River in English) is a realistic comic book series in the Franco-Belgian tradition depicting a rather classic, if somewhat idealistic, post-apocalyptic world. It is not without its flaws, but it explores better than others some aspects of the more advanced stages of the coming energy descent... Our problem is to build resilient local institutions, so that they can remain democratic even as the state apparatus erodes away. This is not an easy task, and in many places we will fail, but picturing the countryside as a place of redemption, a kingdom of virtue, opposed to morally bankrupt cities, certainly won't help.

archived August 29, 2010

Personality profile: Do you "go with the flow" or do you "stock up" just in case?

Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights

The balanced personality would want three things: 1) That we have a reasonably large stockpile of critical goods in case of a temporary disruption of flows, 2) that what we rely on for our survival be by and large renewable, and 3) that our demand for renewable resources would come into balance with the supply we can reasonably expect--considerably less than fossil fuels have provided us.

archived August 29, 2010

Money vs fossil energy: the battle for control of the world

David Holmgren, Holmgren Design Services

This essay [by the co-originator of the permaculture concept] provides a framework for understanding the ideological roots of the current global crisis that I believe is more useful than the now tired Left Right political spectrum. I use this framework to provide a commentary on current political machinations around Climate Change and Peak Oil. Building from the same energetic literacy that informs Permaculture and Future Scenarios, it challenges much of the strategic logic behind current mainstream climate change activism.
(Excerpts)

archived August 28, 2010

A Pearl River tale, power and pride in China

Rahul Goswami, Energy Bulletin

For a few days last week, global news agencies pursued the peculiar story of the world's worst traffic jam, which was reported to have lasted for around nine days and stretched across about 100 kilometres of a major highway leading to Beijing. China's latest instance of leading the world, now in the scale and size of traffic jams, is a direct consequence of the modern uses and abuses of energy.

archived August 28, 2010

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