Peak Oil News

Natural gas should be the vehicle fuel of the immediate future

2009-11-06T17:50:26-08:00

By Sen. Mark Udall and T. Boone Pickens

Too often in Congress, and in our political debate, people stake out a position and, in the course of defending that position, refuse to credit anything their opponent is saying. We�ve all seen that.

When it comes to passing a clean energy plan for the United States, we need to take a broader, longer look at all of the tools we have at our disposal to accomplish two very important goals: Enhancing national security and reducing our dependency on foreign oil.

Wind sector cash inflow may blow small firms away

2009-11-06T17:40:45-08:00

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Small wind energy companies could be taken over cheap because fresh funding for the sector is set to flow selectively to bigger names, placing them in a stronger negotiating position.

Analysts say the big firms are unwilling to pay premiums for the "pipeline" projects at the smaller players -- wind farms approved or awaiting construction -- which are normally added to current operating assets to arrive at a valuation.

First Look at Carbon Capture and Storage

2009-11-06T17:37:55-08:00

The world's first power facility to capture and store a portion of its carbon dioxide has begun operating in Appalachia

NEW HAVEN, W.Va.�A 100-story smokestack belches a roiling, white cloud of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other leftover gases after burning daily as much as 12,000 tons of coal at the Mountaineer Power Plant�a total of 3.5 million tons a year. The facility just outside the town of New Haven boasts a single 65-meter-high boiler capable of generating enough steam to pump out 1,300 megawatts of electricity�enough to power nearly one million average American homes a month�continuously. And now roughly 1.5 percent of the CO2 billowing from its stack is being captured in an industrial unit rising from the concrete in its shadow and then pumped underground for storage. In case you were wondering, this last phase is called "clean coal".

Canada steps up oil sands push in United States

2009-11-06T17:35:39-08:00

CALGARY -- Canada has mounted its biggest campaign yet to sell the United States on the energy security benefits of the oil sands as Washington debates new environmental policy, the country's energy minister said on Friday.

Canadian Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said she and her staff are lobbying interests in the United States at all levels, trying to send the message that the huge heavy-oil resource in Alberta is being developed responsibly and that U.S. input on environmental fixes is welcome.

Chris Smith on His New Doc and the Impending Fall of Civilization

2009-11-06T16:35:48-08:00

None of the we�re-totally-screwed documentaries we�ve seen over the past few years could've prepare us for the terrors unleashed on our minds in Chris Smith�s riveting new documentary Collapse (out today). Basically a monologue by writer and thinker Michael Ruppert about the state of the planet and the problem of peak oil (the theory that once our oil resources reach their peak and begin to dwindle, industrial society will crumble along with it), Collapse at first seems miles away from previous films by Smith, which include such hits as American Movie and The Yes Men. And yet, despite its grim, intense atmosphere, Collapse subtly, almost imperceptibly, begins to show some of Ruppert�s very human vulnerabilities. Slowly, we become aware that the man is not a prophet, but just another human trying to come to terms with the decay he sees all around him. And, of course, that's when it becomes even more frightening. Director Smith sat down with Vulture this week to talk about the scary experience of discovering Michael Ruppert and the even scarier experience of making a movie about him.

Interview With Ian Gordon

2009-11-06T15:57:06-08:00

IAN: Well I do subscribe to the theory of peak oil. But again, I think the demand for oil is going to drop precipitously. Simply because no one�s gonna be working. Again if we use the idea that 45% of the U.S economy is going to be halted. That means essentially that the same kind of oil demand is the percentage dropping oil demand is also going to occur in the United States. And we are only picking on the United States because she has the largest economy in the world but we are all going be in be in the same boat.

So the whole world economy is going to drop by that kind of percentage.

Jolly eschatology

2009-11-06T14:19:01-08:00

Claus Leggewie and Harald Welzer have written a book about the end of the world as we knew it. They tell Jan Feddersen why.

HW: Look, I'll put it very simply: what they sell us as realpolitik these days is a complete illusion, because it doesn't address any the problems of the future – climate change, dwindling resources, mounting water and food deficits, the escalating global conflict potential, the exploitation of our children's future. If you look at it this way, it's the realpoliticians who seem who have a fondness for crises. Crises also provide an excellent opportunity to score points for tireless crisis management. This is good for distracting from the fact that there is nothing on the political agenda.

Chevron, Exxon and Dong Form Group for Greenland Exploration

2009-11-06T13:23:19-08:00

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and five other companies searching for oil and gas on Greenland formed a group to share information about exploration in the waters around the island that may hold as much in reserves as the North Sea.

The Greenland Oil Industry Association, or GOIA, will hold talks with the local Inuit government on environmental and safety issues, Skaerbaek, Denmark-based Dong Energy A/S, one of the seven companies, said today in a statement.

Gore's book a toolbox for fixing climate crises

2009-11-06T12:54:49-08:00

WASHINGTON � With global warming taking center stage in world affairs, Al Gore can't be far behind: The Nobel-Prize-winning former-vice president-turned-energy entrepreneur is releasing his plan to crack the climate conundrum.

"The clock is ticking with respect to solving the crisis," Gore, 59, said Thursday as he sat in pinstripes and black cowboy boots in an environmentally certified conference room, with glass walls and white surfaces. Our Choice, A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, which debuted Tuesday, "offers us the tools to find a way out."

Boat tail reduces truck fuel consumption by 7.5 percent

2009-11-06T11:53:48-08:00

An articulated lorry was driven for a period of one year with a boat tail (of varying length) and one year without a boat tail. The improved aerodynamics, depending on the length of the boat tail, resulted in reduced fuel consumption (and emissions!) of up to 7.5 percent. The optimum boat tail length proved to be two metres.