How to Really Disrupt the Retail Energy Market With Solar Energy

Shayle Kann, SVP of Research at GTM, presented on solar’s disruption of the wholesale energy market in Germany and the U.S. at the kickoff of the GTM Solar Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s an important presentation, and you can view it here. But the next section of his presentation really connects the dots between the […]

A Case Study in Community Sustainability

Have you ever heard of Feldheim, Germany? If not, it’s ok. Truthfully, I wasn’t familiar with the town until a few months ago and have been meaning to use the small town as a perfect example of how a community working together can create sustainable solutions without (and in some cases in spite of) government […]

Iraq Oil Output Exceeds Hussein Era

Iraq oil production was higher this year than since before Saddam Hussein took power. The problem: getting it out of the country. Iraqi oil fields pumped 3.6 million barrels of crude a day on average in February, 50% more than four years ago. That beat—if only for a month—the country’s annual-output record, 3.5 million barrels […]

In Defense Of Inaction

I have, of late, had a falling out with many of my fellow ‘progressives’, similar I suppose to that of Paul Kingsnorth, who is being savaged by Naomi Klein and others for giving up on the environmental movement and non-local activism, and by humanists for losing faith in our species’ capacity for innovation and change. I […]

Kunstler: Hubris. Greed. Distraction. Denial.

The wonder is that more Americans are not ticked off about the state of our country than whatever is happening ten thousand miles away. For instance, how come the US Department of Justice is not as avid to prosecute the pervasive racketeering in the US economy as the State Department is for provoking unnecessary wars […]

S. Korea working on exploration plan for oil, gas in continental shelf

South Korea is working on a mid-term plan to explore oil and gas reserves off the country’s coast as part of efforts to help reduce its heavy reliance on foreign crude imports, an energy ministry official said. “The government plans to complete the plan by the end of this year,” the official at the Ministry […]

Mike Ruppert’s Story Part 3: Dad

   “My dad had a great life,” Mike said one day.  “War hero in two wars.  Fought in one; was a [I didn’t catch the term] in the other.  Made money.  Died taking a shit, which he loved.  So do I,” he added, with a defiant smile.  “But what did he do to make the world […]

3D Printing and other Technologies Could Lead to an Economically Utopian Society

Without a doubt, their is a tremendous amount of suffering in this world. People are starving to death every day, many lack a warm shelter to come home to, and numerous governments around the globe are oppressing their people. The word “Utopia” likely isn’t something that could ever be imagined by many of these individuals, […]

Are You Ready For The Price Of Food To More Than Double By The End Of This Decade?

Do you think that the price of food is high now?  Just wait.  If current trends continue, many of the most common food items that Americans buy will cost more than twice as much by the end of this decade.  Global demand for food continues to rise steadily as crippling droughts ravage key agricultural regions […]

GEOG Researchers Address Economic Dangers of ‘Peak Oil’

Researchers from the University of Maryland and a leading university in Spain demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (“Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors. While critics […]

Turkey: Oil-for-gold trade with Iran justified

Allegations against the state-run Halbank within the scope of the Dec. 17 operation, an attempt to overthrow the ruling party, was aimed to bring Turkey’s years-long oil trade with Iran into disrepute Turkey’s state-run bank Halkbank has been at the center of allegations that it has violated international sanctions on trading oil and precious metals […]

Peak Oil and Peak Water vs. Peak Network

Over the next decade and a half, 2.5 billion people in China, India and other developing countries will join the global middle class. They are going to need skyscrapers to live in and superstores to shop in. They are going to want smartphones, cars, flank steaks, air conditioning, pet clothing, Disneyland vacations, and probably some […]

Arctic crude becomes new Russia’s oil blend

Gazprom has unveiled the new Arctic crude blend called ARCO. It comes from the Arctic field in North-West Russia. The oil will cost less than the main Russian export Urals blend, as it’s quality is lower. The new ARCO blend extracted from the Russian shelf debuted on the world market on Friday. The first consignment […]

The World’s Most Toxic Money Pit

The Kashagan oil field, located fifty miles offshore in western Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea, takes its name from a 19th century poet and from the Kazakh word meaning “skittish” and “elusive.” That’s one understated way to describe the oil that some of the world’s biggest companies are hoping to suck out of the Earth. In thirteen years, they’ve spent $50 billion, building islands and pipelines and […]

Shale gas — the real game changer?

When natural gas prices in the US soared in January on the back of another cold snap in a long and weary winter, it wasn’t simply due to an imbalance in supply and demand. Sure, gas consumption had been climbing in light of the freezing arctic air hitting large parts of the US, including as […]

Those Fracking Lies

Snake Oil: How Fracking’s False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future by Richard Heinberg (Post Carbon Institute, 2013) is about the economics of fracking. Also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracking refers to using pressurized water and chemicals to release oil or natural gas trapped in underground rock formations. Heinberg’s new book describes the behind-the-scenes role of […]

Peak Oil: Energy Supply Nonsense 1

Apparently, the possibility that some innovations might be introduced, if they aren’t already in an undefined but probably—or at least likely—manner in certain instances where there could be some potentially good news provided that certain other events fall into place exactly as some are hoping for at some point, but in a good way (just […]

Oil Supply, Oil Price and the Economy

  There has been considerable debate lately on what effect the supply and price of oil is having on the economy. It is, to my mind, a lot more serious than the vast majority of economists believe. In fact one can just look at what is happening today to see the effect of a constrained […]

IPCC Recommends Nearly Quadrupling Nuclear Energy

A few of my pronuclear friends have been disappointed by the treatment of nuclear energy in the recently released final draft of the IPCC working group III Summary for policy makers. For example, Steve Aplin at Canadian Energy Issues thinks that the IPCC is prejudiced against nuclear energy. While there may be some members of […]

Everything We Are Told About Deflation Is A Lie

“The European Central Bank has given its strongest signal yet that it is prepared to embrace quantitative easing to prevent the euro zone from sliding into deflation or even a prolonged period of low inflation.” – ‘Draghi strengthens QE signal’, Financial Times, April 4, 2014. Yes, heaven protect Europe’s embattled citizens and savers from a […]

Lifting U.S. oil export ban would mean greater dependence on foreign oil

The United States today is a large net importer of crude oil and refined products. And, yet the story that the country can somehow export crude oil as a foreign policy measure to help reduce Ukraine’s dependence on Russia won’t die. Oil executives and their surrogates keep bringing it up, and unsuspecting reporters amplify a […]

Allure of vast oil reserves buried deep in Monterey Shale

To reach the crude using conventional methods requires oil companies to drill far-deeper wells, and more of them — a prohibitively expensive undertaking. Companies are busily drilling test wells, using various fracking and acidization techniques in search of cheaper solutions. A bustling city is sprouting on five acres here, carved out of a vast almond […]

Deepwater Horizon oil spill timeline, updated from April 2010 through 2014

The following is a detailed timeline of the events regarding the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak through the most recent government actions and court developments. It was compiled by multiple staff members of Alabama Media Group. April 20, 2010: An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig kills 11 workers. Oil begins gushing into […]

Hydraulic Fracturing: Staying Afloat in Times of Tightening Water Supply

One of the criticisms levied against hydraulic fracturing, particularly during recent periods of drought, is the amount of water used in the process. However, energy companies are seeking to reduce water use during hydraulic fracturing, even as research shows more water is used in other activities. The numbers put things into perspective. The amount of […]

Food Shortages Might Doom Humanity by 2050

Expand Hey, not to freak anyone out or anything, but the world might become a post-apocalyptic wasteland where people fight to the death over taquitos within the next 40 years. OK, obviously, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration; we’re not going to go full-on Road Warriors until 2075 at the earliest. We think we […]

John Michael Greer : A Novel of the Deindustrial Future

I’m delighted to report that my deindustrial novel Star’s Reach, which appeared in episodes as a blog between 2009 and late last year, is now available in print and ebook formats from Founders House Publishing. I’ve suggested here more than once that narratives are among the most important tools we have for understanding and shaping […]

Mike Ruppert’s Story – Part 2

One morning a few weeks after he’d settled in to my apartment in Brooklyn, Mike said, “Honey?  I’m having a hard time this morning.”    He was supposed to call his therapist but the prospect was causing him such anxiety, he broke down in tears.  I comforted him until the storm abated – at which […]

Rapidly rising food costs sting at supermarket

Alert shoppers are accustomed to watching food prices go up and down. But a string of forces—from droughts to diseases—is raising the cost of a trip to the grocery store at a rapid clip. And it looks like it will be a while before the price pressure eases. Getty Images A clerk rings up a […]

Gas Prices Continue To Surge, Reach $4 In Some Cities

Gas prices continue to move sharply higher as the Memorial Day driving seasons approaches. Nationwide, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas has reached $3.667. A month ago, the price was $3.538 according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The average price of a gallon of premium has crossed $4 nationwide to […]

US exporting a ‘tidal wave’ of gasoline, other fuels

U.S. refiners are sending a “tidal wave” of gasoline, diesel and other refined products onto the world market, taking advantage of the surge in domestic oil development that has helped drive Gulf Coast crude stockpiles to record levels, according to a new report. The jump in domestic oil supplies means the U.S. is on track […]

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LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Is It Time To Abandon the Idea of Phasing Out Oil and Gas?
• More than 20% of global refining capacity at risk of closure
• Charles Hugh Smith Blog: Fire, Then Ice Our Deflationary Future
• Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says energy transition strategy ‘visibly failing’
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• US seeks to buy up to 3 million bbls of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Desertification: the world is losing healthy land at an astonishing rate
• US oil production will keep booming in 2024, setting up a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia
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• US Warship, Commercial Ships Under Attack In Red Sea