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a community peak oil portal
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| A View from the Peak of the Global Economy |
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 ...What seems pretty clear is that at $140, a lot of things in this world just don't work anymore. Airlines are, obviously, one business not built around highly priced oil. Worldwide, 24 airlines have gone bankrupt so far this year.
But there are other parts of the transport system, the food system and the economy that are cratering with the oil run-up.
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| Big Oil has more cash than it can use |
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 vox_mundi writes: Some of the country's biggest oil companies have a money problem. They've got too much of it.
No tears, of course, will be shed for Big Oil, which often is cast as the heartless profiteer, sneering in delight as we motorists wince with every squeeze of the pump handle.
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| Limits on futures trading could boost gas prices |
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 vox_mundi writes: Proposals to reign in wallet-draining gasoline prices by curbing speculation in oil markets would likely increase costs at the pump instead of trimming them, a University of Illinois economist says.
Scott Irwin argues congressional efforts to curb trading by speculators is a “misguided witch hunt” that ignores the root of America’s energy problem – a finite global oil supply that has been stretched thin by surging demand in China, India and other developing countries.
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| Cow power could generate electricity for millions |
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 vox_mundi writes: Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America's entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), according to US research published today, Thursday, 24 July, in the Institute of Physics' Environmental Research Letters.
...The journal paper creates two hypothetical scenarios and quantifies them to compare energy savings and GHG reducing benefits. The first is 'business as usual' with coal burnt for energy and with manure left to decompose naturally. The second is one wherein manure is anaerobically-digested to create biogas and then burnt to offset coal.
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| Material that turns heat to power gets efficiency hike |
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| vox_mundi writes: Your car wastes around 60% of the energy you put into it as heat. But that could soon change, thanks to a new way to boost the efficiency of thermoelectric materials that are able to convert heat into electricity
Adding small chunks of thermoelectric material to any heated surface, like a car exhaust or a computer processor, could produce essentially free energy.
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| 'Fuel battery' could take cars beyond petrol |
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| vox_mundi writes: A new approach to storing electrical energy can store more energy than gasoline in the same volume, and could help extend the range of electric vehicles. But some experts say other approaches are more practical.
Batteries produce electricity from a closed chemical system that is eventually exhausted. Fuel cells use a constant supply of fuel, so they are continually topped up. Licht's cell has features of each.
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| Food Sovereignty and the Collapse of Nations |
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| profgoose writes:
In his book, Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia, economist and former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, suggests that between 1966 and 1990, 80 million Soviet farmers urbanized stalling grain production and putting pressure on the government to use revenue from oil and natural gas production to buy grain from abroad. When fossil fuel production did not expand in such a way that provided increased profits for purchasing food the Soviets had to borrow foreign money to buy bread. Loans from the West came with strings attached. Those offering the credit demanded that the Soviets no longer use force to keep their states in line and political collapse, not famine, visited The USSR.
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| State highway patrols struggle with big gas bills |
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| HELENA, Mont. - In big, wide-open Montana, a state trooper might have to drive more than 100 miles to answer an emergency call, and routinely puts several hundred miles on the odometer in a day.
With gasoline at $4 a gallon, all that driving is tearing up the Highway Patrol's budget.
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| The Real Question: Should Oil Be Cheap? |
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| Amite Foundry & Machine is one of those gritty manufacturers at the heart of American industrial might. The Louisiana company's fiery 2,800F furnaces melt down hunks of recycled scrap steel and recast them into massive parts for trucks, oil rigs, and other heavy equipment. Amite even turned 30 tons of metal from the World Trade Center into the bow of the Navy's USS New York. But the company suffered as manufacturing moved offshore, and the town of Amite, 65 miles north of New Orleans, with its faded white clapboard churches and a main street that time forgot, has suffered along with it.
No more. Amite Foundry's orders jumped 25% in 2007 and 30% more so far this year, spurring the company to hire dozens of workers. Why the turnaround? The price of oil. With the cost of a barrel of crude well north of $120, anything that can provide additional supplies, alternatives, or gains in energy efficiency is booming. One example: Canada's oil sands. They're boosting sales of Caterpillar's (CAT) 380-ton-capacity mining trucks—and Caterpillar uses nearly 50 tons of Amite's steel castings per vehicle. Sure, increased energy and commodity costs make it more expensive to produce and ship steel, says Roy Roux, sales chief at parent Ameri-Cast Technologies, but "high oil prices are mostly good for us."
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| CNPC to fund part of Central Asia-China oil line |
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| China National Petroleum Corp. is seeking a $2.5 billion loan from the China Development Bank for a section of the Central Asia-China natural gas pipeline project, according to local media.
Caijing magazine, citing an unnamed company source, said the money would fund construction of the Uzbekistan section of the pipeline, expected to finish in 2009.
The source said CNPC had to borrow money to help ease funding pressures caused by policy reasons. He did not detail the policies or reasons.
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| Is offshore drilling a viable solution to energy needs? |
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| When it comes to mapping out America's energy future, presumptive presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain agree on most issues except one: offshore oil drilling.
The subject, predictably, highlights the chasm between Democratic and Republican philosophy: Republican McCain wants to press forward with it while Democrat Obama believes it will yield few results at too high a price.
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| Nobody Loves a Three-Year-Old SUV |
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| Auto executives just can't catch a break. Add to slumping sales and lofty gasoline prices a ticking time bomb in their auto leasing operations. During the past several years automakers from General Motors to Nissan Motor to BMW leased millions of cars and trucks. As those leases end, the companies have to take back the vehicles—many of them the gas-guzzling SUVs, pickups, and luxury models people don't want anymore. You know what that means: more pain as the automakers offload those vehicles at a loss.
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| EasyJet to cut Stansted winter flights by 12% |
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| EasyJet has announced cuts to its winter timetable as the high price of fuel eats into the no-frills airline's profits.
The company said yesterday that it would reduce its flights to and from London Stansted airport by 12 per cent and cut flights at "less profitable" times. The company said it was also considering shutting its base in Dortmund, Germany, and warned of further cuts to capacity. The profits warning caused easyJet's shares to fall by more than 10 per cent to 332.5p.
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| IT hub on standby: Bangalore reels under power crisis (India) |
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| India’s IT hub and world’s back office is headed towards a power crisis. The Karnataka Government has announced that it will cut down the city’s power supply by 20 per cent, which roughly translates into over four hours of unscheduled power cuts.
However, that’s not all. In case the rain situation does not improve, Bangalore could face power cuts lasting over six hours.
"There are unscheduled power cuts throughout the day. We are asking them to perform scheduled load shedding so that the farmers and industries can plan in advance,” said Karnataka Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
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| Southern states in the grip of power crisis (India) |
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| With monsoon paying truant, the power situation is worsening everyday in almost all southern states, except perhaps in Tamil Nadu. After Maharashtra, it is now the turn of Karnataka and Kerala where the state electricity regulatory commissions have suggested load shedding.
The Karnataka government has announced a 20 per cent reduction in power supply, that may leave India's software capital Bangalore without electricity for almost four hours. And, if the rains do not improve, the power cut may extend to six hours or more, official sources said.
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