The Oil Drum

'We're in meltdown'

Climate change is certainly changing people's lives in the Arctic. The rising temperatures in the spring and summer months have resulted in an astonishing demand for air conditioners. "The day Arctic people buy air conditioners, you go, 'Something's wrong here!'" She explains that Arctic homes and offices are designed for the cold and therefore do not lose the heat. "Two springs ago, temperatures hit 35C near my home town. Inuit elders had to wet their sheets with cold water in order to help them sleep because it was so hard to breathe." As a child, Watt-Cloutier does not recall wearing shorts or T-shirts in the summer or bathing in the river. "Today, we can go weeks on end at 25 to 30C when the community swim in the river in bathing suits."

Preparing Australian Agriculture for Rising Energy Costs and Water Insecurity

Conventional agriculture has evolved to the assumption that oil and gas will always be cheap. Large amounts of energy are used in food production making agriculture the third largest energy consuming sector globally. Most people would be aware of the diesel fuel requirement to power the machinery used in crop production. What they would not be aware of is that diesel use is only a small component of the total energy demand in primary production. It is in fact through the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers used to fuel crop growth where the largest energy liability accrues. To put it into visual perspective, it takes the energy from roughly one litre of oil to produce one kilogram of urea, the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer. To grow wheat in Australia, the energy equivalent from roughly 150 litres of crude oil per hectare is required just to account for nitrogen demand. Then of course there are the petrochemicals and energy required for herbicide and pesticide manufacture.

Myanmar's junta continues arresting protesters, but makes concession on bus fares

Anti-government demonstrators in Myanmar faced more arrests and intimidation Friday, but their protests against economic hardships achieved some success as the government ordered a rollback of bus fares that had been hiked along with fuel prices.

More Bearish Economic Trend Negatively Impact Oil Demand

Despite the calls to open taps, OPEC continues to tread a cautious course. With the world oil demand projections put forward by various stake holders falling into a still more widening range, global economic woes coming to surface finally and the crude prices falling, uncertainty in the market seems steering the OPEC to maintain the status quo.

Global markets are definitely in a spin, with some hinting at a recession down the road. Doubts about the global crude demand growth are now being circulated.

Coal miner's nation

LATE IN HIS presidency, George Bush finally brought himself to lament the nation's addiction to oil. But neither he nor leading Democratic politicians have ever rallied the country to break its addiction to a more lethal form of energy: coal, which supplies half the nation's electricity.

Industrial Agrofuels Have No Future; Does Food?

Advocates claim that cellulosic ethanol has a positive energy return – that is, the magnitude of energy required for biomass production and conversion is smaller than the magnitude of energy displaced by the ethanol produced. And this claim has been carefully crafted to convey the idea that (a) cellulosic ethanol can replace fossil fuels, and that (b) we should be happy with this new technology, because cellulosic ethanol is an energy-positive fuel and therefore, the more we drive the more we save.

This is clearly not the case. The positive energy return proposition assumes that fossil fuels alone are the limiting factor in the production of an agrofuel, and that all other factors are limitless, and therefore irrelevant.

GM tests engine that could raise fuel economy

General Motors Corp. says it is testing a new combustion process that could increase fuel economy in conventional engines by up to 15 percent.

The announcement comes as fuel economy has become a increasingly important issue as gasoline prices have risen. Foreign automakers have captured a bigger share of the U.S. market in part by emphasizing fuel efficiency.

The World's Sole Superpower in Fast Decline

Yet there are other explanations -- unrelated to Washington's glaring misadventures -- for the current transformation in international affairs. These include, above all, the tightening market in oil and natural gas, which has enhanced the power of hydrocarbon-rich nations as never before; the rapid economic expansion of the mega-nations China and India; the transformation of China into the globe's leading manufacturing base; and the end of the Anglo-American duopoly in international television news.

Pitt envisions day when energy bills will be ‘useless'

Brad Pitt wants to make energy bills go away, and he doesn’t think that’s an outlandish pipe dream. In the second part of an exclusive one-on-one interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry, he showed how the new houses he’s helping to build in New Orleans will make a giant stride toward that goal.

Priority changes on green policies

"Congress is putting its money where its mouth is," said Lowell Ungar, senior policy analyst at the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington coalition of business, consumer, environmental and government leaders. "They are devoting real resources to trying to address the problem of climate change."

Changes in human behavior blamed for new ills

A ballooning world population, intensive farming practices and changes in sexual behavior have provided a breeding ground for an unprecedented number of emerging diseases, the U.N. health agency said Thursday.

BP says it won't increase pollution

BP backed down Thursday from its plans to dump more pollution into Lake Michigan, but critics want the oil giant to ensure its promises are legally binding.

Responding to a month of unrelenting criticism from politicians and the public, BP pledged it will not invoke provisions of a new permit that allows the largest oil refinery in the Midwest to release significantly more ammonia and suspended solids into the lake.

Aramco sells fuel oil at record high

"The strike price was quite shocking, to say the least. I don't think we have ever quite seen A961 done at premium levels before. It was quite keenly contested this time and Koch managed to pip everyone because I think they have some freight advantage," a Singapore-based Asian trader said.

Myanmar cracks down as protests spread

Myanmar’s military government quashed a new protest on Friday by pro-democracy supporters in downtown Yangon, as activists said the demonstrations had spread to other parts of the country.

A group of 20 demonstrators, mainly women, had gathered near Yangon’s city hall to rally against a massive hike in fuel prices that has sparked the most sustained protests against the junta in at least nine years.

“They were arrested before they could do anything. They had just started walking,” said an activist who witnessed the incident.

ASEAN energy ministers gear up for ASEAN power grid

To battle the global energy price crisis, Southeast Asian energy ministers have agreed to form a regional ASEAN power grid and to work closely with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep costs manageable.

German Biodiesel Industry Peaks, Trouble Ahead

Germany's biodiesel production capacity is set to rise to a record 5 million tons in 2007, but analysts have warned that the boom in the country's biodiesel industry is coming to an end after the industry failed to block the government from rolling back a key tax relief scheme in court this July.

An Israeli company drills for oil in algae

There may be a revolution blowing our way: The Israeli company Seambiotic has found a way to produce biofuel by channeling smokestack carbon dioxide emissions through pools of algae that clean it. The growing algae thrives on the added nutrients, and become a useful biofuel.

Innovation needed to replace aging bridges, reduce traffic congestion

We know that building new roads isn't the answer - there's no place to put them, for one thing. And there is no single solution that will reverse the growth in our local traffic congestion - this is going to take some fresh thinking and innovative ideas. Fortunately, San Francisco has no shortage of those.

Lukoil reportedly cuts oil supplies to Germany by one third

Talking to Dow Jones Newswires, Grigorev later confirmed that the shortfall was from Lukoil and several smaller oil companies, adding that it was not linked to any repair of the pipeline through which the oil is exported to Germany.

"Maybe they're looking for another market," Grigorev said.

A Lukoil spokesman declined to comment, but said a statement would be released in the coming days.

Sprawl exceeds reach of hydrants

When Robert and Tammy Weber bought their dream home in 2004, they didn't give a thought to the fact that the nearest fire hydrant was more than a mile away.

"Having the entire house burn down is one of those things you don't ever think is going to happen to you," Robert Weber says.

On July 17, that's exactly what happened. Three tankers of water couldn't put the fire out in their late 1990s subdivision house.

Is it more sustainable to live in the middle of a city or in the middle of the countryside?

This year, for the first time in human history, according to the UN, there will be more people on the planet living in cities than in rural settings. It is true that city dwellers have a much greater opportunity to reduce their transport emissions, say, by benefiting from better public transport networks. But is this cancelled out by the increased need of city folk to use, say, air conditioning in high summer? And what about all the food that needs to be imported?

Rule to Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining

The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

Japan Seeks to Share Oil Reserves with Neighbors in Emergencies

Japan aims to implement a program that will allow countries in East Asia to share oil reserves when disaster strikes, The Nikkei learned Wednesday.

As a first step, the Japanese government will begin negotiations for such a program with New Zealand. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry believes that an emergency-oil-sharing program in East Asia, where demand for oil continues to soar, will help stabilize oil prices and the region's economies when shortages hit.

South Korean carmakers facing tough times, Hyundai says

South Korea's auto industry is facing increasingly tough times due to the strong won, high oil prices and sluggish domestic consumption, an executive of the biggest carmaker said Friday.

The Depauperate World of 2049

There is no road to a sustained, desirable human future that does not include enlightened self-sacrifice and voluntary simplicity as we learn to live well and sustainably in a post-modern age. The obstacles include vile talking heads such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity; that as evil incarnate stupidly and in an ill-informed manner defend a system careening towards planetary self-immolation. And in my opinion only slightly less damaging to long-term planetary prospects are Madonna, Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio -- knowing there is an urgent crisis, using their formidable skills to communicate it to others, but showing unwillingness to lead by example and check their own opulent conspicuous consumption.

Renewable energy can save East Asia two trillion US dollars in fuel costs

Shifting to renewable energy could save countries in East Asia as much as two trillion US dollars in fuel costs over the next 23 years, or more than 80 billion dollars annually, environmental group Greenpeace said Thursday.

A shift from oil and coal could also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 22 percent in the same period, it said in a report released to coincide with a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) energy ministers here.

Urgency and Global Warming: An Interview with Martin I. Hoffert

There will always be those who challenge disturbing facts no matter how good the science. Many Americans don’t believe in evolution; some geologists don’t accept plate tectonics, and some think the NASA Moon missions were a hoax. Self-interest can also create cogitative dissonance between what one wants to believe and what is. Some smokers kept insisting smoking doesn’t cause cancer or heart disease after the Surgeon General’s Report. An African leader who perhaps can’t afford proper drugs holds that the HIV virus doesn’t cause AIDS. Should people die from disinformation and delusions? So what if some don’t believe in global warming? They’re wrong. Survival of high tech civilization is at stake. Time to stop dithering and get serious about policies that could make a difference.

Bush climate meeting must stay within UN fold: official

The UN's top climate change official said Thursday it was crucial for George W. Bush to keep efforts to curb global warming within a UN framework, as the US president prepared to host a meeting of the world's top carbon polluters.

"It is important that the United States is bringing together the group of major emitters to talk about the kind of reductions they can commit to," said Yvo de Boer, head of the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"But what is even more important is the US indication that ultimately their intention is to bring this back to the UN process," he said in an interview with AFP.

Climate fight must be won in developing nations: UN

More than two thirds of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed by 2030 to fight climate change will have to come from developing countries, the United Nation's climate change secretariat said on Thursday.