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News from June 2016

Fusion megaproject confirms 5-year delay

Fusion megaproject confirms 5-year delay thumbnail

The ITER fusion reactor will fire up for the first time in December 2025, the €18-billion project’s governing council confirmed today. The date for “first plasma” is 5 years later than under the old schedule, and to get there the council is asking the project partners—China, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and […]


Michael Lynch: Do Today’s Low Oil Prices Presage Another Spike?

Michael Lynch: Do Today’s Low Oil Prices Presage Another Spike? thumbnail

Reduced capital investment and cancelled or postponed oil projects, combined with record-low drilling rig activity in the U.S. has many worried that renewed market tightness is inevitable, if not approaching.  My favorite headline is “A 4.5-Million-Barrel Per Day Oil Shortage Looms” referring to insufficient production in 2035. Apparently, “looms” means different things to different people. […]


Our Fossil-Fuel Economy Destroys the Earth and Exploits Humanity

Our Fossil-Fuel Economy Destroys the Earth and Exploits Humanity thumbnail

I am a Mexican immigrant and a senior at Columbia University who’s been organizing around fossil fuel divestment since freshman year. Two years ago, I had a bit of a crisis. I suddenly felt disillusioned with the movement—not with the tactic of divestment, but rather with the fact that national campaigns were solely focused on […]


Deaths, arrests as looting erupts in Venezuela

Deaths, arrests as looting erupts in Venezuela thumbnail

Venezuelan police have arrested hundreds of people as the country’s food crisis erupted into deadly looting this week, heightening hardship and political uncertainty in the impoverished oil-producing nation. Dozens of bakeries, supermarkets and hardware shops were looted on Tuesday in the eastern city of Cumana, the latest flashpoint in a crisis that has killed at […]


A Realistic Look at the Local Food Movement

A Realistic Look at the Local Food Movement thumbnail

The farm-to-table/local food movement is very popular right now. It has expanded beyond high-end restaurants to more casual cafes, bars and coffee shops. Even in restaurants that don’t have a specific farm-to-table mission, you  can still often find a local coffee brand on the menu or cheese from a local dairy included in your sandwich. […]


Why Is Desertification Alarming?

Why Is Desertification Alarming? thumbnail

Land, by all means, is a major resource asset as it provides a foundation for economic growth and for poverty reduction. As the world’s population increases, land becomes increasingly valuable, which only means any form of land degradation is a threat to us all. Desertification is one of the major problems adversely affecting the quality […]


Comparing The EIA And OPEC Production Numbers

Comparing The EIA And OPEC Production Numbers thumbnail

The latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out, showing OPEC crude only production numbers for May, 2016. I have compared these numbers with those published by the EIA in their Short-Term Energy Outlook table 3a. All data is in thousand barrels per day and the last data point is in May 2016, except for […]


France Turns Up the Heat

France Turns Up the Heat thumbnail

In this report, we catch up with some of the recent developments in France, where the Nuit Debout movement is going strong, workers everywhere are going on strike, and a growing, decentralized movement is turning into a laboratory for innovative street fighting tactics. And to top it all off… Euro2016 is just starting!


The Rise and Stall of the Commercial Solar Market

The Rise and Stall of the Commercial Solar Market thumbnail

GTM Research recently released its report on the non-residential/commercial solar market, demonstrating relatively stagnant growth of the sector for the fourth straight year. According to the report, after a rise in installations from 2010 to 2012, commercial solar, consisting of projects where offtakers are neither homeowners nor utilities, has consistently hovered around a gigawatt (GW) […]


Increased Oil Competition: Survival of the Fittest

Increased Oil Competition: Survival of the Fittest thumbnail

Is the U.S. shale oil industry in trouble? No, it is engaged in a high-stakes competition for market share. As oil flooded the market in 2014-15, prices dropped dramatically and producers began burning midnight oil to manage the downward economic pressures. While some overleveraged companies won’t survive the economic challenge, in true Darwinian fashion, the […]


Shale revolution also behind stronger dollar

Shale revolution also behind stronger dollar thumbnail

BP Plc Group Chief Economist Spencer Dale says: -U.S. shale revolution means U.S. now produces more than 90 percent of its energy needs domestically, up from two-thirds a decade ago. -Despite lower investment in price downturn, BP sees U.S. gaining full energy self-sufficiency in early 2020s as country already world’s top oil and gas producer. […]


Private Equity’s View of Oil

Private Equity’s View of Oil thumbnail

Susan Long McAndrews, partner at Pantheon, discusses private equity’s approach to the oil and commodities markets and what she sees as attractive opportunities in the tech industry. She speaks on “Bloomberg ‹GO›.”


World fossil-fuel use could peak in 9 years

World fossil-fuel use could peak in 9 years thumbnail

Probably you’ve heard of “peak oil,” the theoretical point at which maximum pumping of the planet’s oil resources is reached and production begins to decline for various reasons, including rising extraction costs and shrinking reserves. This is a passionately disputed conjecture, but there is one point of general agreement — the peak has been pushed […]


Compost Capitalism

Compost Capitalism thumbnail

I’ve had a handful of requests from people asking for a transcript of my short introduction to the film premiere last Friday (full documentary is now available here). I’ve turned my notes into a script which I think is pretty much word for word. Good evening everyone, a very warm welcome to you all, my […]


First New U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Almost Two Decades Set to Begin Operating

First New U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Almost Two Decades Set to Begin Operating thumbnail

Source: Republished with permission from the Tennessee Valley Authority   The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Watts Bar Unit 2 was connected to the power grid on June 3, becoming the first nuclear power plant to come online since 1996, when Watts Bar Unit 1 started operations. Watts Bar Unit 2 is undergoing final testing, producing […]


During the Next Crisis, Entire Countries Will Go Bust

During the Next Crisis, Entire Countries Will Go Bust thumbnail

For seven years, the world has operated under a complete delusion that Central Banks somehow fixed the 2008 Crisis. All of the arguments claiming this defied common sense. A 5th grader would tell you that you cannot solve a debt problem by issuing more debt. Similarly, anyone with a functioning brain could tell you that […]


A rare tour of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

A rare tour of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve thumbnail

The world’s largest emergency stockpile of crude oil is quickly falling apart. The stockpile’s infrastructure, which currently stores 695.1 million barrels at four sites along the US Gulf Coast, is nearing the end of its design life and in need of a roughly $2 billion makeover, US Department of Energy officials claim. “We’ve had several […]


Why Billions in Proven Shale Oil Reserves Suddenly Became Unproven

Why Billions in Proven Shale Oil Reserves Suddenly Became Unproven thumbnail

Ultra Petroleum Corp. was a shale success story. A former penny stock that made the big leagues, it was worth almost $15 billion at its 2012 peak. Then came the bust. Almost half of Ultra’s reserves were erased from its books this year. The company filed for bankruptcy on April 29 owing $3.9 billion. Ultra’s […]


California Fault Lines And The Area Around Yellowstone Are Shaking Like Crazy

California Fault Lines And The Area Around Yellowstone Are Shaking Like Crazy thumbnail

Over the past few days the mainstream media has been fixated on the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, but meanwhile there has been highly unusual seismic activity along major fault lines in California and near the Yellowstone supervolcano. Let’s talk about Yellowstone first.  In recent months, the big geysers have been behaving very strangely and […]


Bad things need to happen for oil prices to rise

Bad things need to happen for oil prices to rise thumbnail

Oil prices (CLN16.NYM) have been kept at low levels largely due to the glut in global supply. While low prices have been bad news for the industry (OIL) and the oil-driven economies, producers have been reluctant to cut back for fear of losing market share. In the absence of voluntary production cuts, Goldman Sachs analysts […]


Oil could plunge about 60% from current levels

Oil could plunge about 60% from current levels thumbnail

Oil futures have staged a magnificent comeback in recent months. However, if history is any guide, the struggling market isn’t out of the woods. Looking at the performance of West Texas Intermediate crude oil CLN6, -1.24%  since 1870, Paul Jackson, head of research at exchange-traded-fund provider Source, predicted that prices will tank to $20 a […]


Venezuela’s Oil Production Tumbles as Economic Crisis Worsens

Venezuela’s Oil Production Tumbles as Economic Crisis Worsens thumbnail

Hungry Venezuelans are rioting and looting amid worsening food shortages, but the OPEC country’s remote oil fields have been sheltered from the social unrest so far. But Venezuela’s blistering economic crisis is hitting them full on. Output in the country, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, dropped to 2.37 million barrels per day (bpd) […]


IEA Sees Global Oil Market Returning To Surplus In Early 2017

IEA Sees Global Oil Market Returning To Surplus In Early 2017 thumbnail

Oil supply and demand will balance in the second half of 2016 after a series of unplanned production outages, but the market is expected to tilt into surplus in the first half of next year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The agency said demand growth in 2017 is likely to be flat at around […]


Peak Oil: The Next Steps Pt 3

Peak Oil: The Next Steps Pt 3 thumbnail

A moment’s pause to consider the practical realities of billions of others looking to improve their lifestyles on any scale by which we measure our own progress and achievements should realize immediately that a finite set of ever-more-challenging-to-acquire energy supplies needed to power those advances can only be spread so thin. I’m fairly certain that […]


BLOCK EVERYTHING

BLOCK EVERYTHING thumbnail

This week we catch up on the multi-layered insurrection taking place in France, where the state is struggling to get a handle on things, amidst regular protests, strikes, fuel shortages, and the general drunken chaos of soccer hooliganism. If you love what we do, consider supporting us! For the musical break, we’ve got Skalpel (of […]


Kunstler: The Desperate and the Disparate

Kunstler: The Desperate and the Disparate thumbnail

As I was leaving Detroit very early Sunday morning to catch a plane, I saw the breaking story about a “shooting incident” in an Orlando nightclub, but the first reports did not detail any fatalities. Only after we landed was the shocking news of 50 dead and as many wounded revealed on the concourse TV […]


Savoring the Peak Moments of Our Lives

Savoring the Peak Moments of Our Lives thumbnail

I was recently interviewed by Carolyn Baker for her “New Lifeboat Hour” podcast, to which she gave the delicious title above (thank you Carolyn!!) Carolyn is the author of numerous books, including Navigating the Coming Collapse, and Dark Gold: The Human Shadow and the Global Crisis. Carolyn’s Daily News Digest is one of my primary sources for […]


Forget about peak oil … here’s the real reason Saudi Arabia is selling its oilfields

Forget about peak oil … here’s the real reason Saudi Arabia is selling its oilfields thumbnail

The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil,” Sheikh Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister in the 1970s This sentiment arguably still chimes with Riyadh’s outlook in 2016 particularly with countries such as China exploring long-term alternative sources of […]


Radioactive Ranchers? Elements Found Downwind of Intensive Fracking

Radioactive Ranchers? Elements Found Downwind of Intensive Fracking thumbnail

At first, Nielle and Howard Hawkwood, who have ranched in Alberta’s foothills for 40 years, couldn’t believe the ”in-your-face industrialization” that accompanied the horizontal drilling and fracking of tight oil wells around Cochrane, Alberta. It began in 2009 when the so-called Cardium oil boom abruptly dotted the rolling landscape with scores of well pads, oil […]


Will Renewables Ever Replace Fossils?

Will Renewables Ever Replace Fossils? thumbnail

The readers of “The Doomstead Diner” are very skeptical about the possibility of a rapid transition to a 100% renewable powered world. 54% of them say that it is impossible.  A few weeks ago, I posted on “Cassandra’s legacy” the result of an informal survey among experts in renewable energy. I asked about the chances […]


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