A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan. The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a […]

Ken Deffeyes: Gauging how much oil there is

In 2001, building on the geologist M. King Hubbert’s prediction that U.S. oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970, Kenneth S. Deffeyes, emeritus professor of geology at Princeton University, predicted in his book “Hubbert’s Peak” that world oil production would peak in 2005. “I’ve been a Hubbertian since the late 1950s,” Mr. Deffeyes writes. […]

Saudis concerned about having oil fields attacked by Iran

The Ras Tannurah oil facility was named as the next site to be assessed, with its VA to be conducted as soon as possible. It was agreed DOE would establish three VA teams dedicated solely to evaluating Saudi Arabia’s critical infrastructure sites, which number approximately 100. These DOE teams would be joined by MOI members […]

End of consumerism

It’s not the end of the world, just the end of consumerism. We are about to wave goodbye to the dream of endless economic growth – always, every year, more stuff. However, we have enough already. We really do. Dr Susan Krumdieck, an engineering professor at the University of Canterbury, addresses her audience with a […]

Protesters Say “No” to Climate Market

The short-cuts that the United Nations system is offering companies to profit from strategies against global warming were the target of loud protests on the Day of Action for Climate Justice. Two separate demonstrations, of thousands of people each, were held Tuesday as the climate change summit that ends Friday in the southeastern Mexican resort […]

Noah’s Ark no kind of escape plan

Unless you’ve heard the Voice of God, you don’t really know if the Flood is coming or not. At the Cancun climate talks this week, leaders of small island nations called for the rich countries to pay into an insurance fund that would help islanders relocate if rising seas from global warming force them to […]

Peak planning

In as much as it does not greatly impinge on the present or demand immediate behavioural change, for many people “peak oil” is an elusive concept that floats about on the periphery of consciousness and intrudes only in the rhetoric of environmentalists, academics and alternative-lifestylers. The term refers to the point when the maximum rate […]

Oil demand to hit highest level ever

Worldwide oil demand hit its highest level ever on the back of explosive growth in the developing world, according to preliminary figures in a recent report. But the world’s thirst for the hot commodity is unlikely to lead to the price spike witnessed in 2008 — largely due to oil field investments made during the […]

A Primer for the Post-Carbon World

“When it comes to controversial issues, population is in a class by itself. Activist working to reduce global population growth are attacked by the Left for supposedly ignoring human-rights issues or glossing over Western over-consumption. They are attacked by the Right for supposedly favoring widespread abortion and promiscuity. Others think the problem will be solved […]

The “Stuff” of the American Energy Footprint

Americans today are generally aware that we consume far more energy per capita than most of the world’s peoples, over four times the world average and double that of regions like Japan and Europe which enjoy a similar standard of living. Most of us reflect on home gas and electric bills plus the fuel pumped […]

The Genesis of the Deepwater Horizon Blowout Full Report

Theories on the cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are a dime a dozen. Everybody has one. The problem is that all the theories widely reported in the media and on the internet are wrong. Even the most extensive analysis done on the disaster yet, BP’s own Deepwater Horizon Accident Investigation Report makes wrong assumptions […]

The World May Run Out of Food by 2050The World May Run Out of Food by 2050

A new book covers one more reason humanity needs to tackle global climate change, and tackle it fast: we’ll starve to death if we don’t. That’s the argument put forth by Professor Julian Cribb in The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It. Cribb writes that a global […]

Fantastic solar plastic breakthrough

One of the holy grails of solar power has been to create very thin plastic solar cells that could be attached to just about anything to generate electricity — windows, awnings, bus shelters. You can find very low-powered flexible panels embedded in backpacks and small solar chargers, but the challenge has been to increase the […]

American Energy Policy IV: The Price of Transition

Take a look at the following presentation about our energy future as seen by a very influential professor at Penn State, Dr. Frank Clemente. His vision of the future reveals the true impact of overpopulation. The study focuses mainly upon Coal and Clean Coal Technologies. It’s a shock. What he says about natural gas from […]

Days of Easy Oil Fade in Middle East

The days of easy oil for the Middle East are not yet over, but energy companies in the region have recently started testing newer, costlier techniques to enhance oil recovery, as fields show signs of aging. “Enhanced oil recovery in the Middle East should become a must because many fields are in their maturing phase […]

Transition: The Sacred, The Scared, and The Scarred, By Carolyn Baker

I read with great fascination, Rob Hopkins’ critical response to Michael Brownlee’s November 26 article “The Evolution of Transition In The U.S.” In it, Rob begins by listing a number of criticisms of Transition in recent years and adds that criticism of Transition has been a positive process which has helped to shape what it […]

Wikileaks Reveals Hushed Concern Over Tar Sands Oil in US State Dept.

Not all of the cables aired in the latest Wikileaks focus on the tense, high-stakes diplomacy with China, Afghanistan, or the Middle East, though that stuff certainly grabs the headlines. Yet there are quiet revelations about other important diplomatic subjects as well — like Canada, for instance. And no, the news is not that our […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Future of Government

In case you missed it, a couple of weeks back the International Energy Agency in Paris got around to disclosing that the all-time peak of global conventional oil production occurred back in 2006. Despite that fact that this declaration was tantamount to announcing the end of the 250-year-old industrial age, few in the mainstream media noted the event and it was left to obscure corners of cyber space to ponder the […]

Crude oil tipped to bubble over $100 a barrel

For the first time in two years, oil bulls are starting to outnumber bears. The bulls’ push comes as the oil market is experiencing a “demand shock”, with consumption growth this year accelerating to almost its highest rate in 30 years. This unexpected boom in demand has lifted benchmark oil prices sharply higher, to a […]

North America: The new energy kingdom

The American Petroleum Institute reports that the United States produced more crude oil in October than it has ever produced in a single month, “peak oil” or not. This reversal of trend helps explain why U.S. domestic production for the year will be 140,000 barrels a day higher than last year (which was 410,000 barrels […]

Fundamentals Matter, Or, Why Oil Prices Are Way Too High

Am I taking crazy pills, or am I the last oil analyst to think the fundamentals matter? With oil cresting to $90/bbl Tuesday morning, it sure doesn’t seem like investors are paying much attention to fundamentals. It seems the trajectory of the US dollar and technical indicators are having more influence on crude prices than […]

A Special Report : The Gulf of Mexico is Dying

A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill By Dr. Tom Termotto It is with deep regret that we publish this report.  We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet.  Truly, the fate of […]

Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Begins to Set In

It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago, Congress mandated a massive increase in usage of cellulosic ethanol. This was remarkable, because no commercial cellulosic ethanol facilities even existed at the time. But people like Vinod Khosla were busy testifying before Congress that the only thing holding the industry back was […]

Richard Heinberg: MuseLetter #223

Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg discusses the content and writing process of his forthcoming new book “The End of Growth”.

OPEC crude oil production drops 70,000 barrels per day

As WTI nears $90, and Brent’s already there, consumers did not need this: OPEC cut its output last month. According to the Platts’ survey, OPEC cut its output just as demand is showing significant signs of growth around the world, pumping out 29.1 million b/d in November, That’s down 70,000 b/d from a month earlier, […]

Colombia defies “peak oil” but for how long?

Half a century ago, Colombia helped plant the first inklings of a theory that became known as “peak oil” — the idea that conventional oil extraction has crested. Today, Latin America’s No. 4 crude producer is defying expectations by increasing its output. But experts say the Andean country must now find new reserves to keep […]

Reaping Whirlwinds: Peak Oil and Climate Change in the New Political Climate – By Sharon Astyk

Political prognostication is a dangerous game, but one of the certainties of the latest election was that the US will not be enacting any significant federal climate legislation. One could be forgiven for wondering what the election has to do with anything. In the two years previously during which the Democrats controlled Presidency, House and […]

Kunstler: The Jobs Picture

The clarion cries of “recovery” cut painfully through the crisp pre-Christmas air while the now-perpetually unemployed huddle in their tents around the Sacramento delta, and the state AGs slug it out with the foreclosure goons, and not a few mortgage payment drop-outs enjoy luxury living in McMansions with no monthly carrying costs, and the minions […]

4 Scenarios for the Coming Collapse of the American Empire

A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don’t bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends […]

How fusion power works

The sun is a gigantic fusion reactor that creates nearly all of the energy making life on earth possible. Sunlight provides the warmth that keeps water from freezing, and sunlight lets plants create the food that animals need. What if we could take the fusion principles seen in the sun and bring them down to […]

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