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The Oil Drum: Europe | Olduvai revisited 2008: Feb 29, 5:02pm 2 reviews economics, energy, globalization, geo-politics
http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3565; Olduvai revisited 2008 in The Oil Drum by Luis de Sousa and on You Tube by Nate Hagens and Chris Vernon
Richard Duncan's Olduvai Theory is re-assessed with the latest available data and modern fossil fuel depletion models. On the second half it is analyzed how can alternative energy sources fill the gap left by those finite resources. Olduvai 2008 post Olduvai 2008 movie Forecast for Conventional Fossil Fuels per Capita. Sources: UN for Population model, Jean Laherr\u00e8re [pdf!] for Natural Gas, Energy Watch Group for Coal and The Oil Drum - Khebab for Oil. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2656287165913612688&hl=en My reading of what is going on today around the world integrates a set of factors that will be determining the future of humanity: - Environmental Chaos: Climate Change, loss of bio-diversity, poisoning of land, water and air, - Resource Collapse: Oil. Water. Topsoil. Fisheries. Seeds. Arable land. Minerals. Copper. Food. - Societal Atomization - Economic Globalization: Financialization, Outsourcing, Institutional lag The Oil Drum (TOD) is all about Peak Oil and the collapse of our energy resources...

Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels: Jan 25, 10:44am 4 reviews science, energy, sustainability
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OrganicCubawithoutFossilFuels.php; Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels in The Institute of Science in Society Online
Cuba's experience has opened our eyes to agriculture without fossil fuels, a possibility rapidly turning into a necessity for mitigating climate change as world production of petroleum has also peaked. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Organic Cuba without Fossil Fuels FAO report on Cuba UN report "Hunger and malnutrition in the countries of the Association of Caribbean States" Comments on MetaFilter This is no time for ideological sabre-rattling. All societal experiments to power the economy with non-fossil fuels are important. Peak-oil is at our doors and we better have access to experiments shedding light on possible alternative paths for entering the future.

http://www.aspousa.org/proceedings/houston/presentations/Chris%20Skrebowski%20me…: Jan 12, 5:23pm 1 review economics, energy-industry, energy, peak-resources
http://www.aspousa.org/proceedings/houston/presentations/Chris%20Skrebowski%2...; Just how close to Peak Oil are we? via TOD, by Chris Skrebowski
Chris Skrebowski, Trustee of the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre and Editor of Petroleum Review, Energy Institute, London, has written a 42-page peak oil analysis entitled "Megaprojects update: Just how close to Peak Oil are we?" Much of the arguments are similar to those presented by Matt Simmons, founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International. But some of the charts, like the one below, show some interesting numbers. Just how close to Peak Oil are we? FREE 42 pages PDF Peak Oil & Beyond in Resouce Investor, an interview by Bud Conrad of Matt Simmons ( Investment banker for 40 years. He is the founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International). All liquids in Million Barrels per Day (MBD) All liquids in Million Barrels per Day (MBD) Are we prepared for the energy crunch that is coming our way? I don't think so. But one think I'm sure about is that peak oil shall soon be accepted as a fact under the duress of oil's rarefaction that will impose price levels that more and more people simply will not be able to pay. So we are in for a social crisis without precedent.

The Oil Drum | At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor?: Jan 4, 10:05am 1 review economics, energy-industry, energy
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3412; At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor? in The Oil Drum by Nate Hagens
While we are used to thinking about the economy in monetary terms, those of us trained in the natural sciences consider it equally valid to think about the economy and economics from the perspective of the energy required to make it run. When one spends a dollar, we do not think just about the dollar bill leaving our wallet and passing to some one else. Rather, we think that to enable that transaction, that is to generate the good or service being purchased, an average of about 8,000 kilojoules of energy (equal to roughly the amount of oil that would fill a coffee cup) must be extracted from the Earth and turned into roughly a half kilogram of carbon dioxide. Take the money out of the economy and it could continue to function through barter, albeit in an extremely awkward, limited and inefficient way. Take the energy out and the economy would immediately contract immensely or stop. At $100 Oil - What Can the Scientist Say to the Investor? Other papers by Charles Hall "The Power of Community" Charles Hall is a systems ecologist. He studies and models how complex systems of nature and humans interact. One of his main points is that without energy human economies collapse. Earth, as a very complex system, is finite. Point. States can print, and the financial system can create, as much money as they wish. This difference between the 2 is not relative. It is an absolute difference. Hiding from that fact can only lead our societies to disaster. But such disaster would not only spell doom, for, it would also bring us closer to the end of the cycle of materialism... But this is another matter.

Asia Times Online :: Central Asian News and current affairs, Russia, Afghanis…: Dec 21, 2007 12:02pm 2 reviews economics, energy-industry, energy, geo-politics
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/IL22Ag01.html; Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose in Asia Times by M K Bhadrakumar career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including India's ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
... how Moscow proceeds with the reconfiguration of Russo-Iranian relations could well form the centerpiece of the geopolitics of energy security in Eurasia during 2008. The dynamics on this front will doubtless play out on a vast theater stretching well beyond the Eurasian space, all the way to China and Japan in the east and to the very heart of Europe in the west where the Rhine River flows. Russia, Iran tighten the energy noose The general context of the world energy game: - the demand for energy is bound to increase fast in the next decades due to the rapid economic growth of the BRIC countries. - the worldwide offer of energy is stalling since a few years at its present plateau of some 86 million barrels per day. According to Peak Oil theory that plateau is bound to be left behind soon by decreasing output levels. This general context indicates that the prices of fossil fuels are bound to continually increase over the next decades until other sources of energy can successfully reduce the demand for fossil fuels by significant quantities. In the meantime we'll assist at a feverish dance on two fronts: - geopolitics: countries will position themselves so as to control the supply of the available fossil fuels to their own shores or to avoid the supply of their competitors. All means will be used including resorting to military force. - science and technology: huge budgets will be made available to scientists in order to devise new methods to generate energy and free us from our fossil fuel bind. Bhadrakumar gives here a masterly description of the geo-politics of fossil fuels.

A Solar Grand Plan: Scientific American: Dec 21, 2007 10:00am 9 reviews economics, environment, energy
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan&page=1; A Solar Grand Plan in Scientific American by Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis
* A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.\u2019s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050. * A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours. * Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well. * A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country. * But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive. A Solar Grand Plan Great article and great proposal. The point here is not that this proposal has necessarily to be adopted. The point is that the discussion about an alternative energetic road at last starts to take place. No one alternative to fossil fuels will answer all of our needs. Our energetic future will comprise different technological roads among which solar and geothermal will definitely play a leading role. But peak oil and climate change are upon us now and those alternative roads are only expected to start answering our energetic needs in a meaningful way within a few decades at best. In the meantime we will need to revise drastically our ways of living in order to limit the size of our footprint on mother nature and our energetic consumption to do that. There is no escaping that fact. Or we voluntarily change our ways or we will be imposed to change as a consequence of catastrophic events of our making.

Samuelson: Food vs. Fuel | Newsweek Voices - Robert J. Samuelson | Newsweek.com: Dec 18, 2007 9:20am 1 review economics, energy
http://www.newsweek.com/id/77501/page/1; Food vs. Fuel via The Oil Drum, in Newsweek by Robert J. Samuelson
The world's food system may be about to go into crisis, and the U.S. government's energy policy may be partly to blame. ... It's the extra demand for grains to make biofuels, spurred heavily in the United States by government tax subsidies and fuel mandates, that has pushed prices dramatically higher. The Economist rightly calls these U.S. government subsidies "reckless." Since 2000 the share of the U.S. corn crop devoted to ethanol production has increased from about 6 percent to about 25 percent and is still headed up. Food vs. Fuel A worrisome forecast for the world's crops The Price of Biofuels Soaring food prices threaten millions: UN The logic of capital works to maximize returns... Human reason would like us to believe that what counts is to maximize the chances for human life to thrive. The logic of capital and human reason are operating on different planes of reality. The articles linked to here above are about an emerging energy crunch that sees demand rising faster and higher than offer. Answer: - the logic of capital wants to increase the offer by producing more of that energetic stuff that now sells at prices that allow for fat returns. - human reason pleads for a rapid reduction of our energetic needs, through higher efficiency of our energy consuming activities, that could eventually lead to a revision of our ways of living. Under modernity the logic of capital always triumphs because it is what powers the economy and the ideology of modernity. It is our culture. Only a break-down of the machinery of modernity could give a chance to human reason. But we better be aware that if the machinery of modernity breaks down we'll be confronted with enormous economic misery leading to much violence in the name of survival...

The Oil Drum | The Air Car - A Breath Of Fresh Air Or A Waste Of Breath ?: Dec 17, 2007 7:46pm 1 review cars, economics, energy
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3388; The Air Car in The Oil Drum by Big Gav
The Air Car was created by MDI (Moteur Developpement International) which is headquartered in Luxemburg, while the prototype factory is in the south of France. Originally conceived by former Formula 1 engineer Guy Negre back in 1991, the official names for the "Air Cars" are the OneCAT, CityCAT and MiniCAT. The OneCAT is expected to sit three or five people, with the MiniCAT and CityCAT models expected to follow. MDI recently signed a deal with India's Tata Motors, to build the air-powered vehicles in India. Zero Pollution Motors is looking to market the car in the US, and the Thai government has also invited Tata to manufacture the car in Thailand. A Colombian company (MDI Andina S.A) is also looking to produce the cars and sell them in Latin America. The Air Car A new agreement between Tata Motors and MDI bring the air-car closer to reality An elegant idea that has the potential to reduce drastically the input of energy into our transportation activities. Great. For sure you will still need electricity to fill the tank with compressed air but all in all the input of energy will be far lower. And the price could be as low as 8000 $... and the design is clearly French... It seems that the future has still some pleasant surprises in store for us.

Solar chimney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Dec 1, 2007 6:25pm 1 review energy, sustainability
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_chimney; The path to passive energy in Wikipedia
A solar chimney - often referred to as a thermal chimney - is a way of improving the natural ventilation of buildings by using convection of air heated by passive solar energy. A simple description of a solar chimney is that of a vertical shaft utilizing solar energy to enhance the natural stack ventilation through a building. The solar chimney has been in use for centuries, particularly in the Middle east, as well as by the Romans. Solar chimney Passive Solar Heating and Cooling solar chimney to produce electricity Passive means that you employ techniques that don't require any initial energy input. Passive techniques are generally simple to implement and, most importantly, they help you to reduce your demand from others and from society. You then become more autonomous which means that you increase you level of freedom. Dependency creates serfdom while autonomy creates freedom!

How Africas desert sun can bring Europe power | Science | The Observer: Dec 1, 2007 6:03pm 4 reviews economics, alternative-energy, energy, sustainability
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/02/renewableenergy.solarpower?...; How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power in The Guardian by Robin McKie
Europe is considering plans to spend more than 35bn dollars on a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores of northern Africa and the Middle East. More than a hundred of the generators, each fitted with thousands of huge mirrors, would generate electricity to be transmitted by undersea cable to Europe and then distributed across the continent to European Union member nations, including Britain. Billions of watts of power could be generated this way, enough to provide Europe with a sixth of its electricity needs and to allow it to make significant cuts in its carbon emissions. At the same time, the stations would be used as desalination plants to provide desert countries with desperately needed supplies of fresh water. ... Europe would provide initial funds for developing the solar technology that will be needed to run plants as well as money for constructing prototype stations. After that, banks and financial institutions, as well as national governments, would take over the construction programme, which could cost more than 400 bn dollars over the next 30 years. How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power Desertec, as this project between Europe and North-Africa is called, is based on a technology dubbed 'concentrating solar power'. Things are staring to move in the right direction and hope is thus on the way. But before such projects materialize in supplied electricity it will take a decade or two. So in the meanwhile the energetic problem of humanity will persist. In short the demand for oil and gas is growing faster than its supply and prices are shooting up. This shows us that the world will soon enter into a period of scarcity and the intensity of the problem will thus be multiplied: - peak oil means that half of all the oil in the ground has been pumped in the past. It was the cheapest oil to pump and costs will now increase drastically. But peak oil also means that the total oil supplied is going to decrease annually by a percentage of 2 to 7%. - the oil producing countries are on an oil consumption binge that is leading to less and less oil available for export. The next 2 decades will thus be extremely difficult for all of us in terms of our energetic bills. My personal take is that we should start by reducing our needs for energy in our homes through insulation and the use of passive solar and geo-thermal techniques to reduce the quantity of energy we need. Our transportation needs could be solved by a combination of increased public transportation choices and our private use of vehicles running from non-fossil power sources: compressed air, auto-generation of hydrogen,etc...

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