Peak Oil News

Entropy revisited

2010-02-09T07:19:03-08:00

You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game. Those kernels are my favorite descriptors of the Three Laws of Thermodynamics. Respectively, the clauses mean (1) energy is conserved (First Law), (2) entropy never decreases, thus precluding perpetual motion machines (Second Law), and (3) it is impossible to cool a system to absolute zero (Third Law). The Second Law in particular puts insurmountable, irreversible constraints on everything we do. Without the Second Law, there would be no heat losses in energy systems, and electricity would be far too cheap to meter and commodify.

Gas market goes global

2010-02-09T06:02:54-08:00

Within the past week, Russia's energy giant OAO Gazprom has announced it is delaying the development of the Shtokman natural gas field, while at the same time trotting through major investment centres saying the company is poised for growth. Is it another sign of the rapidly changing nature of the world's natural gas markets or a fresh instance of Russia looking to flex its muscles using its natural resources?

UK: Green energy labels launched by Ofgem

2010-02-09T05:24:55-08:00

The power regulator Ofgem is bringing in a new scheme designed to show if a supplier is making real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Its "green energy certified" label is designed to give users a real guide to who is doing most to source renewable power.

The idea is to reassure householders and small businesses that paying for green energy is actually worth it.

Venezuela's Oil Problem

2010-02-09T05:22:04-08:00

Hugo Chavez had a crummy January. Hammered by a slugging economy and 24 percent a year inflation, the Venezuelan president prepared for his 11th anniversary in office with 61 percent of his countrymen believing they’re on the wrong path. But there ought to be at least one opportunity for Chavez’s salvation: his country’s plentiful oil reserves. A study by the U.S. Geological Survey last week found the Orinoco oil belt to have almost twice as much black gold –- 513 billion barrels in full -- than previously thought.

What would be a boon to most other countries has become a shame for Chavez, who seems to have shot himself in the foot.

Exploring 'uncivilisation'

2010-02-09T05:17:20-08:00

The exhaustion of the planet and existing ways of life presents a creative challenge: exploring “uncivilisation”. Paul Kingsnorth introduces the Dark Mountain Project. I often wonder how we would act if we really believed it. How we would act and how we would write.

Every day, we are hit with more news about the human impact on the non-human world. For decades, the evidence has been piling up. If you want to know about deforestation, species extinction, ocean acidification, overfishing or (the granddaddy of them all) climate change, you doubtless know where to look by now. And if you don’t want to look – because you don’t want to hear it – then nobody can make you.

Making Solar Power Portable

2010-02-09T05:10:37-08:00

Last year, when Jonathan Smith was still the president of Earth911.com, a Web site dedicated to recycling, he said he would often board a plane after a speaking engagement or a day of meetings with a dead cellphone in hand.

With limited recharging options available, “it was really frustrating,” he said. “Having access to a working port or finding an open plug during layovers at the airport was just too unpredictable.”

Year of the Tiger, electric vehicles and wind power

2010-02-09T05:06:30-08:00

Perhaps the most worrying recent example of this is how China has been preparing for a forthcoming peak oil energy crisis. Whilst much of the rest of the world has been asleep, China has been doing the sums and getting ready to react.

U.S. Oil Consumption Remains Weak

2010-02-08T22:53:56-08:00

The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed a surprise climb in crude stockpiles, while distillate supplies posted a smaller-than-expected draw. The agency�s bearish report further added that refiners continued to cut production, and are currently operating at their lowest rate in two decades.

This has instilled renewed doubts about the health of the U.S. economy, and pulled down oil prices to a seven-week low of around $71 per barrel. The only saving grace came in the form of gasoline supplies, which defied market expectations and fell from the week-ago period.

UK: The government has the power, it could make us all pay into a green bank

2010-02-08T22:50:18-08:00

One thing Lord Browne knew better than most was that the energy world is all about power, not money. Sadly, this fact only just seems to have caught up with a British political establishment that thought open markets were all that was necessary. Last week's bombshell from energy regulator Ofgem calling for an end to the UK's liberalised market experiment is still reverberating around Westminster.

UK: Meaner politics is in the gas pipeline

2010-02-08T22:31:41-08:00

Some commentators believe Ofgem was off target with its diagnosis of the perils faced by the UK energy market in its Project Discovery document.

Possibly, but the regulator seems rather more prescient than its detractors, given the news that Gazprom, and its joint venture partners, are mothballing the enormous Shtokman gas field under the Barents Sea.