News from August 2011

US Budget cuts trigger early end to solar energy credits

If you’ve ever thought, “One day, I’m going to put in a solar energy system,” today might be the day. Economic issues across the nation are contributing to the early demise of solar incentives such as tax breaks, grants and rebates. “We’ve been thinking about this for several years,” said California homeowner Jim Adams. “The [...]

China and Biofuels – Stir-Fry or Fly?

China’s omnivorous global appetite for energy resources is well known. While biofuel production is one of the rising energy stars of the 21st century, it is unlikely to become a significant source for China in the near future, as the country’s arable land is devoted first and foremost to feeding the country’s massive population 1.3 [...]

Kunstler, Heinberg Talk Peak Oil, Suburbia, End of Growth on Podcast

KUNSTLER, HEINBERG TALK PEAK OIL, SUBURBIA, THE END OF GROWTH Noted Author/Commentators Exchange Ideas on Podcast – Transcript Available TROY, NY (08/29/2011) — James Howard Kunstler and Richard Heinberg are two of the most popular authors on peak oil and the coming age of resource scarcity. On the latest “KunstlerCast” podcast, the two author/commentators engaged [...]

Recovering lost knowledge about exhaustion of the Earth’s resources (such as Peak Oil)

Summary: One of the saddest aspects of the Internet is that it so often fails to make us smarter. In a mutant version of Gresham’s Law, loud amateurs too-often drown out the voices of experts. Here we an excerpt from a 1975 book that tells us more about Peak Oil than a typical dozen posts [...]

U.S. plays key role in global food chain

U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar touched on topics from disarmament with the former Soviet Union to the need to increase food production for a growing world population Tuesday during a luncheon at Harre Union on the Valparaiso University campus. About 200 business, community and education leaders attended the event, which was sponsored by the Greater Valparaiso [...]

Is Peak Oil Real?

Coach Corey Wayne discusses an email from a coaching client of his who works for a defense contractor asking about his thoughts on Peak Oil.

Has Peak Oil Come To The Non-Opec World? Maybe.

The world’s biggest oil companies put in a pretty pathetic performance in the second quarter of 2011. Not in terms of earnings — those were great, with Exxon posting $10.7 billion and Royal Dutch Shell doing $8 billion. Just what you’d expect with Brent crude at a lofty $120 a barrel. Where the results were [...]

Alberta-Texas pipeline looking like a sure thing

These days, jobs trump environmental concerns. Given the current high unemployment, it’s not looking good for environmentalists after last week’s decision by the U.S. State Department to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s oil fields to the Texas refineries. Because these days, potential jobs trump greenhouse gases. Also, Canadian energy security trumps environmental risks. [...]

US Energy Department panel endorses shale fracking

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Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” for the purpose of extracting natural gas from the earth involves flooding it with millions of gallons of chemical-laden water, a practice that by all estimates is damaging the environment to some extent. But a US Energy Department (ED) advisory panel, which happens to be padded with members connected [...]

NASA’s Hansen Arrested Outside White House at Pipeline Protest

James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was arrested outside the White House as he joined protesters in urging President Barack Obama to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s $7 billion pipeline. Before he was taken into custody today, Hansen took a megaphone and implored Obama to act “for the sake of your children [...]