In yesterdays drumbeat there was a little string on the Smart car.
Fuel efficiency: The diesel version gets around 80 miles to the gallon.
Safety standards: equal to Mercedes E-type; you're actually sitting in a superstrong carbon fiber egg, sort of formula-1 monococ. It is not as vulnerable as it looks.
They are also launching an EV version
http://www.smart.com/-snm-0157694444-1157920986-0000029233-0000015043-1162561619-enm-is-bin/INTERSHO P.enfinity/WFS/mpc-uk-content-Site/en_UK/-/GBP/SVCPresentationPipeline-Start?Page=issite%3a%2f%2fmpc -uk-Site%2fmpc-uk%2ecom%2fRootFolder%2fsmart%2fsmart_news%2fsmart_news_2006%2fsmartEV_news%2epage

Westexas, what do you think of http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/10/25/13020/044#more
The issue this raises with me is if we are at peak right now, is it a possibility that the world will be able to stretch the so-called "bumpy plateau" until, let's say, 2012?

BTW, for all non-PO-doomers, the Stern report as well as this should turn every single one of you into a doomer http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/02/seafood.crisis.ap/index.html
Maybe PO will prevent commercial fisheries to accomplish this.

And last but not least, my wife finally got it yesterday: "O MY GOD, WE HAVE TO MOVE!" (We live in Holland)

Apologies for the long links

The issue this raises with me is if we are at peak right now, is it a possibility that the world will be able to stretch the so-called "bumpy plateau" until, let's say, 2012?

I was enjoying the good life in Venice when this story was posted, and I think I made one short comment when I signed on briefly in Venice, while my my wife was checking her e-mails at an Internet site.

IMO, insufficient attention was given to the decline of the super giants, which is also my beef with the Mega Projects analysis.

Again, let's consider Texas.  The East Texas Field, which was found around 1930, was showing rising production in the 10 years prior to the Texas peak in 1972.  How would a "Mega Projects" analysis of Texas in the early Seventies treated the East Texas Field?  

In fact, Hubbert, as we know, correctly predicted the time frame for the overall Lower 48 peak.  As I noted on the Simmons thread, Deffeyes has considerably better data to work with than Hubbert had in 1956.  IMO, the HL model, combined the near certain simultaneous decline of all four current super giants, is an overwhelming case for "Yes, we have peaked."

Thanks. Damn it.
Recall our discussions of oil exporters moving away from the dollar?

CNBC said that the UAE has announced that they are diversifying their assets out of dollars, and especially into gold.

Hmmmm....so that makes Russia (they have changed their US$/Euro ration in favor of the Euro), Syria, UAE....who else?
Just a quick hint, Paulusp, if you use "auto format" It is quite easy to make your links shorter, here are the instructions.
Thanks richlev. 1 more hour work to do in the office but I promise you to dig into it tonight.
BLOCKQUOTE [what is this] BLOCKQUOTE
it allows you to quote text.
by making these fancy grey boxes !
You are bored, my friend. You need a good book.
Indeed you have to move!!

The Future Oceans - Warming Up, Rising High, Turning Sour

Here are some shocking figures from this report.



In the first figure almost a straight line can be drawn through the blue dots. The big question is how fast will the sea level rise to the new equilibrium? One meter until 2100 sounds too optimistic for me, when the rise in the recent years was higher than the models predicted.


I'm a believer in Global Warming, but the first chart seems to be suggesting is that the oceans are going to rise ~50 meters in the next 100 years.

You're talking ~50cm changes every year between now and then!

Meanwhile actual Satellite measurements show a rise of ~4cm over the past 12 years (1993-2005).  ~.3cm/year

I DO understand about positive feedback systems, but what kind of acceleration do you see???

Thanks,

Garth

The real question is what will it take to overcome inertia and start the big meltdown. That is probably not something that can be known before it happens. If you're feeling pessimistic you can look at that accelerating curve and think that inertia is breaking now. Or you can feel more phlegmatic if you want.
In the last big interglacial meltdown it went 5m/century, 5cm/year. Should that get underway there will be panicked migration from coasts.
Hi Garth,
take a look on page 33/34 of the referred document. It says:

The end of the last ice age provides information about the possible rate of sea-level rise. At that time the global average temperature rose by around 4-7 °C, an amount that is also reached in pessimistic scenarios for the future. But the warming at that time took around 5000 years, which is much slower than the present trend. From 15,000 to 10,000 years ago sea level rose by around 80m, an average of 1.6m per century (Fairbanks, 1989). During some intervals rates of up to 5m per century were reached (Clark et al., 2004).

These values cannot simply be applied to today's situation. The ice sheets at that time were considerably larger, which means the melting regions on the margins were greater, allowing a greater flow of meltwater. In addition, due to Earth's orbital cycles around the sun (Milankovich cycles; Ruddiman, 2000), the incoming solar radiation at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere was considerably stronger, a situation that cannot be directly compared with the global increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. These two factors suggest higher melting rates at the end of the ice age than during the present warming. The much slower warming at that time, by contrast, would suggest lower melting rates. In fact, the disappearance of ice sheets at that time for the most part kept pace with the gradual climate warming, so the assumption that ice masses would have melted significantly more rapidly with faster warming
is quite plausible.

Two conclusions can be drawn from this discussion. Firstly, rates for sea-level rise of up to 5m per century are documented, and these probably do not represent an upper limit. Thus climate history shows that a much more rapid rise than that expected by the IPCC for the 21st century is possible. Secondly, such rates of sea-level rise suggest dynamic melting processes of the ice sheets, also taking account of the conditions at the end of the last ice age. This means there can be not only a simple melting through contact with warmer air, but also an accelerated flow of
the ice into the sea.

= ----------------------------------------------- =
In daily live we are familiar with the last type of melting, when we clean up ice from our freezer. I'm aware that the boundaries of the cases are different, but it explains well why we can expect higher melting levels. Already are some glaciers increasing their flow speed.

Bart


All I know is if the oceans start rising 50cm/year, I expect all hell to break loose.  Even 5cm/year would be extremely drastic.

Interesting times.

Garth

Mercedes-Benz Boxfish
At a constant speed of 90 km/h the direct-injection diesel unit consumes only 2.8 litres per 100 kilometres- corresponding to a range of 84 miles per gallon in the US test cycle.

Twice the fuel economy of the Smart(the version to actually be imported), and twice the passenger capacity too!  The Smart just perpetuates the belief that you have to sacrifice functionality for fuel economy.