[seldom_seen]

This affirms the need for the use of every scrap of marginal hill land available for deciduous forestry.

One man's marginal hill is another man's paradise. The trees, the ones that remain, have a lot of pressure on them already. From logging to becoming a new parking lot or condoplex, and wait to see if home heating oil and NG becomes too expensive this winter. People will decide that cutting that hill of trees down would be cheaper than trying to pay the oil man.

Or you can look at what Malayasia is doing to the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. Burning down the forests to raise palm for bio-diesel to the point where their city was smoked out.

CNG seems like a reasonable idea in Iran, until they run out of course, or sell it all, or someone invades and tries to take it.

[MrBean]

I think vehicle fuel is the only acceptable use for natural gas. All other uses are wasteful, as perfectly useful, economic alternatives exist both for electricity generation and heating

Even though I am a 'gas man', I partially agree with this, though I think natural gas is acceptable for chemicals production and when it is used efficiently, eg CHP. It is also OK in central heating in cold places like UK, provided used efficiently (lots of insultation, condensing boilers).

We need to build as many nuclear plants as possible, aiming to catch up with France rather than relying on France to make all Europe's electricity! The gas fired CCGTs that we have in UK can then be closed down, freeing up that gas for central heating and transportation.

We also need as many windmills as possible, as much solar as possible, as much conservation as possible, even tidal and wave if we can do it. Also bio-fuels seem to make sense if there is land available.

I agree with you on nuclear and renawables, but given that North Sea is running out, using more NG for heating is idiotic in UK. Nearest pipeline source is Algeria, through France. For some reason, Sweden which is much colder than UK manages without practically no NG, having turned down offer of Russian pipelines through Finland. Heat pumps (and better efficiency) are best future solutions for heating.

I have to smile when EU says it is giving its clean coal and CO2 sequestration technology to China!! Exactly what is that then? Its not exactly rocket science, take the CO2, put it down a well into the ground!! If China can make DVD players for about $5 they can manage that I think!!

Well I smile too, but because it's nice to hear some positive news too. There's allways tons of issues where sharing experiences can help, starting from the huge logistics problems of changing a whole sector of industry.

[BorneoRagnarok]

Or you can look at what Malayasia is doing to the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. Burning down the forests to raise palm for bio-diesel to the point where their city was smoked out.

Yup, correct. Forest been chopped down to grow biodiesel. In fact, everyone here shout "I want cheap fuel" . So there goes the forest. When the monsoon season come , New Orleans will be like a walk in the park..

Here is buried under few metres of mud... Why mud ? No forest. Why no forest ? No trees. Why no trees ? Cut for biodiesel. Why biodiesel ? Cheap fuel for car.

[Liamj]

Or you can look at what Malayasia is doing to the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. Burning down the forests to raise palm for bio-diesel to the point where their city was smoked out.

Yup, correct. Forest been chopped down to grow biodiesel. ...

Ah, i thought the main uses of Palm Oil were processed foods and 'quality' soaps & cosmetics
e.g. see
http://www.pacidunia.com/palmoil/palmoiluses.html
http://forests.org/archive/indomalay/oilpalm.htm
or

Most palm oil is produced in Malaysia or Indonesia. Production in Indonesia has grown more than 30-fold since the mid-1960s, to the point where almost 12,000 square miles are planted in oil palm. In Malaysia, 11 percent of the total land area (about 62 percent of the country's agricultural land) is devoted to palm oil. Companies sometimes profit from selling logs from the rainforest and then burn the area to make way for oil palms. The associated road-building, soil erosion, air and water pollution, and chemical contamination also have contributed to the loss of wildlife habitat and the displacement of indigenous peoples.

"Consumers should understand that a seemingly small decision in this country—what kind of cookie, cracker, or hand lotion to buy—can have major consequences on the other side of the world," said Brown.
Centre for Science in the Public Interest
http://www.cspinet.org/new/200506021.html

[bigfnman]

Why does this particular spot have so much more oil in the ground compared to the rest of the planet?

[rockdoc123]

All the key elements of source, trap, reservoir and closure work together perfectly. There are a number of potential source rocks here but the Jurassic is thick, rich and laterally extensive, surce kitchen areas are located very close to potential traps. The Arab D is a spectacular reservoir...high porosity, high permeability albeit slightly hetrogeneous. On top of the Arab lies a perfect seal...anhydrite which is effectively impermeable. The structures are very large compared to most places in the world. The structures are buried deeply enough to prevent extensive biodegradation but shallow enough to avoid oil cracking. Basically a perfect world for oil generation, migration and accumulation.

[FatherOfTwo]

No, no, it's because Allah is the one and only God and he wanted his followers to have the most oil. The Christians have been trying to steal it ever since.

[venky]

God, Allah whatever it seems has a peculiar sense of homour

The land that guzzles the most oil depends on the nations that hate it the most. Should be interesting how it plays out.

[something_awfull]

"who put my oil under your sand?"

[Dukat_Reloaded]

150-90 million years ago the world was a very hot place, therefore alge bloomed and covered the entire worlds oceans in a thick mat and consumed all the excess co2 from the atmosphere and deposited it into the oil reserves we know today. I learn't that from Colin Campbell.

[rockdoc123]

150-90 million years ago the world was a very hot place, therefore alge bloomed and covered the entire worlds oceans in a thick mat and consumed all the excess co2 from the atmosphere and deposited it into the oil reserves we know today. I learn't that from Colin Campbell.

shows a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In actual fact the main source rock for the Saudi oil fields is the Jurassic Hanifa Fm which is Kimmeridgian in age or 156-150 MMya. In essence the main source rock was laid down prior to the time span you speak of. As well the "worlds oceans" were very complex beasts at this time... the Arabian plate sat on the flanks of what was called the Tethys Sea during late Jurassic and gradually through the end Cretaceous this seaway closed off. At the sametime the Atlantic Ocean was completely closed in Early Jurassic and gradually opened throughout the Cretaceous.
The source rocks are more bacteria than algae and are not "a thick mat" but are distributed along paleo-coastlines where there was ocean water thermal up-welling.
Christ I really hope you are mis-quoting Campbell or I dread the kind of crap he was teaching his students.

[stu]

Strategic Realism in the Middle East and US and Arab relations.

PDF document

[ohanian]

The United States must be prepared to fight the 'war on terror' for decades to bring peace to Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, US Vice President Dick Cheney said overnight.

Cheney: Relax, O'oppressed muslim cousins. I'm bring peace to the Middle East in the near future. As my nation has brought peace to the native indians in North America, so shall my nation bring peace to you. Everlasting peace so you may rest your tired souls in peace.

George: So how do we start?

Cheney: Fetch me my peacemaker.

George: Yes master! At once.

[stu]

Cheney: Fetch me my peacemaker.

You meant pacemaker right?

[ohanian]

Cheney: Fetch me my peacemaker.

You meant pacemaker right?

No. I mean peacemaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Singl ... my_handgun

[Specop_007]

I thought you meant the LGM-118 Peacekeeper.Thats the only way the world will ever see peace in the Middle East.

[stu]

Never mind. It wasn't that funny anyway.

Pacemaker

[Teclo]

The 'peacemaker' is big like a big long cock that america boasts, but no a black mans cock is bigger

[sklump]

Hint: No-one cares about peace in the Middle East. War serves Wall Street at least as well.

Beware any politician who even talks about this as though
a) it were a real possibility
b) his administration could bring it about
c) some sort of moral code drives realpolitik instead of operational concerns.

That politician is lying to you.

[TorrKing]

A Norwegian Middle-east expert named Terje Roed-Larsen has discribed the situation in the Middle-east as very complicated and serious.

There are already so many manifested conflicts in the area and the picture has become even more serious after the Muhammed cartoons. He claims the situation is spiralling out of control.

The link (in Norwegian):
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/utenriks/5461831.html

-------

Is this the beginning of something worse, or do you think it will calm down again?

Torjus Gaaren