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Discussions about Peak Oil and Our Future
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The midpoint of global
hydrocarbon production
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| Kurt Cobb: Why climate change adaptation could make things worse |
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Because many of the proposals for adaptation to climate change require further extensive release of greenhouse gasses, they will only make climate change worse.
The late television commentator Eric Sevareid once said, "The chief cause of problems is solutions." And, so it is with proposals to adapt to climate change.
The main strategy which suggests itself when addressing climate change is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases which are its main cause. Certainly, there has been much talk of reducing emissions up to 80 percent by 2050. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much concrete action.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 20:16:15 PST (52 reads)
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| Pockets of Promise in Natural Gas and Oil |
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TER: Given what you just said, you are a contrarian to the peak oil pundits?
PS: Absolutely. Peak oil is an economic impossibility and so it kind of makes me chuckle. It's the kind of story told to get people to pay way too much for oil resources, as they've been doing over the last decade. For example, Chesapeake Energy Corp. paid way too much for its natural gas resources precisely because its CEO is a complete believer in peak oil. Chesapeake Energy is going to do terribly over the next 10 years and will, I believe, go bankrupt.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 19:41:43 PST (81 reads)
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| Iraq to Rival Saudi Arabia in OPEC Oil Stakes |
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A surge from Iraq's oil fields will occupy Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries crude producers in coming years as the recovering country's output challenges that of Saudi Arabia, observers said as the cartel held its latest meeting.
Iraq has signed several contracts this month with foreign oil companies and said it could raise production to 12 million barrels a day by 2016--a level to rival Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 18:28:17 PST (88 reads)
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| Building a Basil Economy: Growing, Gleaning, Gifting |
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vox_mundi writes "...Much has been made, in print and on air, of Lexingtonians' budding interest in growing and consuming fresh and local produce. We eat fresher food. We get to sample a greater variety of food. We grow community by gathering in groups at places like Farmer's Markets to chat, eat, and purchase food for home. We nourish and reconnect to the earth. We support local farmers. We get outside and away from the television and the computer.
These are all true, all beneficial, all certainly needed in spades around Lexington and the rest of the U.S. But I suspect there's something else going on here. By beginning to grow our own food, we may once again begin to think of ourselves as producers who have something of value to offer our friends, our neighbors, and, yes, even our local businesses. "
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 17:06:56 PST (86 reads)
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| Panasonic plans home-use storage cell |
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vox_mundi writes ""We'll be the first to bring to the market a storage battery for home use, which can store sufficient electricity for about one week of use," said Fumio Otsubo, president of Panasonic, in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Stressing that Panasonic and Sanyo have already test-manufactured a storage battery for home use, Otsubo said, "We're positioned closest [among firms] to realizing CO2 emission-free daily life."
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 17:05:11 PST (99 reads)
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| Nigerian Leadership Crisis Impacting Global Energy Markets |
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oilguy writes "
The illness of Nigerian Pres. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has now reached the point where it can no longer be hidden from the Nigerian electorate, and the prospect for a change of leadership is now imminent, as forecast exclusively by this service in early June 2009. The challenge facing the Nigerian leadership and Constitutional system, however, is that the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, is from the Niger Delta (from oil-producing Bayelsa state), and there is a strong lobby against him taking office as President in the event that Pres. Yar'Adua relinquishes office for health reasons.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 17:04:16 PST (56 reads)
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| Exxon's drilling juggernaut |
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil may be getting more than it bargained for with its recent plan to purchase natural gas giant XTO Energy.
The $41 billion deal would make Exxon the country's largest shale gas producer, drawing more attention to a controversial area of drilling that analysts say could invite tightened federal regulations for the entire industry.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 15:06:22 PST (109 reads)
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| On the move: Species face race against climate change |
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Graeme writes "Land ecosystems will have to move hundreds of metres each year in order to cope with global warming, according to a letter published on Thursday in Nature, the British-based science journal.
On average, ecosystems will need to shift 420 metres (about a quarter of a mile) per year to cooler areas this century if the species that inhabit them are to keep within their comfort zones, scientists in the US believe.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 13:37:56 PST (107 reads)
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| UAE set up nuclear power body, to name builder soon |
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Kethaney writes " ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates set up a body on Wednesday to run its burgeoning nuclear programme to produce electricity, which is expected to award the region's largest-ever energy deals soon, state media reported.
A decree by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan established the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), the state news agency WAM said."
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 13:36:31 PST (75 reads)
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| Ice Melting Faster Everywhere |
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vox_mundi writes "From the Arctic sea ice to the Antarctic interior and the mountainous peaks of Peru, Alaska, and Tibet, ice is melting at an alarming rate. The accelerating loss of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers is one of the most powerful and striking indicators of a warming climate.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 13:26:43 PST (196 reads)
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| Anti-Iranian demonstrations spread across Iraq in oil well dispute |
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Kethaney writes "A row over an oil well on the Iran-Iraq border has triggered anti-Iranian demonstrations across Iraq, angry statements by politicians accusing the Government of supporting Iran and the announcement of a new cross-tribal armed force to combat Iranian incursions.
The controversy began on Friday when armed Iranians moved on to the al-Fakka oilfield, in Missan province, south Iraq, and erected their flag on oil well No 4, which has been disputed by the two countries since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. "
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 13:20:20 PST (73 reads)
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| Taiwan unveils Asia's biggest solar plant: govt |
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Kethaney writes "TAIPEI — Taiwan has unveiled what it calls Asia's biggest solar power plant as the island, which imports almost all its energy, seeks to tap into clean renewable resources, the government said Wednesday.
The two-hectare (4.9-acre) plant in south Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, an area that enjoys year-round sunshine, is equipped with 141 huge solar panels that can generate one megawatt in total, said the Atomic Energy Council."
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 12:26:16 PST (120 reads)
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| Thomas Friedman: The Copenhagen That Matters |
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Kethaney writes " As I listened to Denmark’s minister of economic and business affairs describe how her country used higher energy taxes to stimulate innovation in green power and then recycled the tax revenues back to Danish industry and consumers to make it easier for them to make and buy the new clean technologies, it all sounded so, well, intelligent. It sounded as if the Danes looked at themselves after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, found that they were totally dependent on Middle East oil and put in place a long-term strategy to make Denmark energy-secure and start a new industry at the same time."
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 12:07:42 PST (136 reads)
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| Bangladesh wants 15 pct of climate fund: minister |
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Kethaney writes "DHAKA — Bangladesh, one of the nations most vulnerable to global warming, will seek 15 percent of a 30-billion-dollar climate change fund committed at the Copenhagen summit, the environment minister said Tuesday.
Bangladesh, with a population of 150 million, makes up around 15 percent of the approximately one billion people estimated to be affected by global warming, Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud said.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 12:06:23 PST (71 reads)
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...A number of economists such as Dr James Hamilton (PDF 637KB) and Jeff Rubin attribute the GFC to the oil price spike of 2007-08. This is not particularly surprising with oil price spikes having been followed by recessions consistently since the 1970s. With depletion rates of oilfields running at 6.7 per cent a year, and the significant cut in investment as a result of the GFC/oil price crash, the conditions are set for another oil price spike in the not too distant future. Indeed it appears that the global economy has reached an inflection point where the cost of bringing new oil to market has approached the point where it becomes economically damaging.
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Posted by Leanan on Wednesday, December 23 @ 10:53:31 PST (293 reads)
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