DrumBeat: April 24, 2008
Posted by Leanan on April 24, 2008 - 9:21am
Topic: Miscellaneous
Good-Bye, Cheap Oil. So Long, Suburbia?
Author James Kunstler says the Automotive Age is almost history and deconstructs McMansion living
The suburban landscape has been marred by foreclosures and half-built communities abandoned in the subprime aftermath. But James Howard Kunstler, author of a dozen books, including The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, thinks there's a bigger threat to those far-flung neighborhoods: the scarcity of oil. As Kunstler sees it, oil wells are running dry and the era of cheap fuel is over. Given the supply constraints, he says the U.S. will have to rethink suburban sprawl, bringing an end to strip malls, big-box stores, and other trappings of the automotive era.
Suncor CEO says current oil prices unsustainable
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Current oil prices above $115 a barrel are not sustainable over the long term, but the oil industry needs at least $75 a barrel to attract investment and bring on increasingly tougher to find reserves, Suncor Energy Inc's chief executive said on Thursday."To keep those new supplies coming on, which are going to be smaller and smaller, you're going to need a good oil price. I just don't think you're going to need $115," Suncor CEO Rick George told reporters after Suncor's annual meeting.
He said the current floor price for the industry to operate could be in the $75-$80 a barrel range, although exact numbers are hard to estimate.
Iraq boosts oil exports -- and pressure to pay for rebuilding
Iraq boosted its crude oil exports by 3.3 million barrels in March over the previous month, bringing in nearly $15.5 billion, Oil Ministry figures showed Thursday.
Pump glitch adding to gas costs
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Angry about the price of gas? Just imagine paying for gas you don't get.Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years: A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That's what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve," which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts.
Water Needed To Produce Various Types Of Energy
According to the study, the most water-efficient energy sources are natural gas and synthetic fuels produced by coal gasification. The least water-efficient energy sources are fuel ethanol and biodiesel.In terms of power generation, Younos and Hill have found that geothermal and hydroelectric energy types use the least amount of water, while nuclear plants use the most.
Sudan Targets Extra 100,000 B/d Output Mid-2009
Sudan is targeting an increase of 100,000 barrels of oil a day mid-2009 as the result of new investments, particularly Chinese, come on stream, the Sudan oil minister has said.
Serbia-Russia deal still on hold
Serbia should further negotiate the price for the sale of its oil monopoly to Russia before finalizing a key energy deal between the two countries, the defense minister said Thursday.
MOTORISTS have been warned not to put lives at risk by stockpiling petrol.Fears have been raised that desperate car owners are beginning to store highly-flammable fuel ahead of predicted shortages.
A six step guide for preparing for a fuel shortage
As the scene in Scotland seems to be set for another round of petrol and diesel shortages due to the industrial dispute within INEOS Grangemouth refinery it is reasonable and timely to review a list of contingency actions that all affected by this potential shortage could take.
Helensburgh’s only filling station ran out of fuel this week as divers fearing a petrol drought rushed to the pumps.The panic buying was sparked by the threat of strike action at Grangemouth oil refinery — which supplies 10 per cent of the UK’s fuel. Huge tailbacks formed in East Clyde Street as drivers queued outside the Tesco Express garage. Despite ordering in extra supplies to cope with demand, the petrol station had to turn customers away on Sunday after running out of unleaded, super unleaded and diesel.
Electric usage drops 20 percent
In the face of Juneau's energy crisis, the city is experiencing a shortage of an item not usually associated with a rain forest - clothespins.By Sunday, a person was hard pressed to find a bag of clothespins on the shelf in either of Juneau's two big chain department stores, and nearby space, where wooden clothes-drying racks once stood for sale, were empty.
People are buying anything they can to reduce power usage during the crises, said David Tobias, a True Value Hardware employee. Drying racks were sold out the day after the avalanche, he said.
Sharp rise for natural gas feared
As spring warmth allows homeowners and renters to turn off their furnaces, it may be time for tough choices about next winter.Suppliers have just started to stockpile natural gas for the main area heating fuel for winter, and it doesn't appear there will be a shortage.
Nonetheless, experts are concerned that prices are higher than normal and could rise significantly this summer.
When you're paying more at the pump, don't blame the station owner. He feels your pain.
Schools struggle to fuel buses
Soaring fuel prices will cost Middle Tennessee school systems hundreds of thousands of dollars more just to keep buses running until the end of the school year.To save fuel, bus drivers are being asked not to run their engines when they are parked, even for a short time.
The Williamson County school board on Monday approved dipping into the district's fund balance, money that has been uncommitted, for an additional $250,000 to buy fuel.
Rising crude oil prices are not only hurting drivers at the pump. They will prevent some roads in disrepair from being resurfaced.The Mississippi Department of Transportation plans to spend between $55 million and $60 million on road overlays in fiscal 2009, up about $10 million past few years. But MDOT chief engineer Harry Lee James said that will cover fewer miles.
FACTBOX-Why oil prices are at a record high
The fall in the value of the dollar against other major currencies has helped drive buying across commodities as investors view dollar assets as relatively cheap.It has also reduced the purchasing power of OPEC's revenues and increased the purchasing power of some non-dollar consumers.
The Future of American Power: How America Can Survive the Rise of the Rest
Despite some eerie parallels between the position of the United States today and that of the British Empire a century ago, there are key differences. Britain's decline was driven by bad economics. The United States, in contrast, has the strength and dynamism to continue shaping the world -- but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.
Waste Not: A steamy solution to global warming
The U.S. economy wastes 55 percent of the energy it consumes, and while American companies have ruthlessly wrung out other forms of inefficiency, that figure hasn’t changed much in recent decades. The amount lost by electric utilities alone could power all of Japan.
Group touts telecommuting's green benefits
An estimated 1.35 billion gallons of gasoline could be conserved annually if every U.S. worker with the ability to telecommute did so 1.6 days per week, according to a report released today by the American Electronics Association.
Oil prices, gasoline costs to double: CIBC report
OTTAWA — Crude oil prices will soar to more than $200 (U.S.) per barrel over the next five years – driving Canadian pump prices to $2.25 a litre and forcing a fundamental transformation in the North American economy, says Jeff Rubin, chief economist with CIBC World Markets Inc.In a new report, Mr. Rubin forecast a continued run-up in crude prices, despite a slowing world economy and slumping petroleum demand in United States, the world's leading oil consumer.
...“Whether we are already at the peak of world oil production remains to be seen, but it increasingly clear that the outlook for oil supply signals a period of unprecedented scarcity,” the economist said.
Caltex chief tips oil to reach $US200
The CEO of Australia's largest oil refiner says he expects the price of oil will reach $US200 a barrel.The Caltex annual general meeting has heard refining margins dropped during 2007, as the Australian dollar and the price of crude oil soared.
Oil prices soar to $120, and this is not the limit
The world has enough proven oil reserves, which have almost doubled since 1980. But spending on developing new and difficult fields, for example on Russia's Arctic shore and in east Siberia, will be much higher than oil production costs in the 20th century, especially given the current price situation on the oil market.The logical conclusion is that the current price, $120 per barrel, is not the limit.
Kuwait Boosts Sales to China, Stake in Sinochem Plant
(Bloomberg) -- Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the fourth- largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, wants to increase crude oil exports to China to 100,000 barrels a day this year, a company official said.
Fuel costs send US Airways to $236M loss
PHOENIX — US Airways Group said Thursday it swung to a loss in the first quarter, punished like other airlines by the rising cost of jet fuel.The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier said it lost $236 million, or $2.56 per share, versus a profit of $66 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, the net loss was $239 million or $2.60 per share.
Australia: Carbon tax adds 10c a litre to petrol
THE country's largest oil refiner, Caltex, has stepped up its calls for the Federal Government to quarantine motorists from its proposed carbon-trading scheme, warning it could add an extra $1.4 billion or 10 cents a litre to the nation's fuel bill each year.In an abrupt U-turn on the 10-cents-a-litre carbon tax the refiner advocated several weeks ago, Caltex yesterday said the Government should "not impose a carbon cost on motorists".
State works to stop Juneau energy crisis
JUNEAU — With avalanches having severed Juneau from its source of cheap hydro power, a high-level state disaster cabinet is looking for ways to help the town cope with a sudden spike in power costs.The 17-member group of commissioners and other state agency representatives met for two hours Wednesday to consider how to soften the blow of what’s expected to be about a 450-percent increase in utility bills next month.
Electric ratepayers may have to cover repair costs as well
Juneau's electric ratepayers won't only be asked to pick up the price tag for the diesel fuel being used to keep the city's lights on.They may also have to pay for repairing the transmission line and electric towers that were damaged in last week's avalanche near the Snettisham hydroelectric project.
Air emissions spike in Juneau with increased diesel use
Juneau's electric utility predicts that by late May or early June, it will exceed some air quality permit limits by powering the city on diesel. State permitters may go easy on the company because the cause is a natural disaster.
Lehman warns that oil boom will deflate
The roaring oil boom of the last few months may be on its last legs as economic growth slows hard across the world and a clutch new refineries come into operation, Lehman Brothers has warned in a hard-hitting report.“Supply is outpacing demand growth,” said Michael Waldron, the US bank’s oil strategist.
“Inventories have been building since the beginning of the year. We have pretty significant projects starting soon in Saudi Arabia, and large off-shore fields in Nigeria,” he said.
Big Oil Price Caution Persists Amid Latest Spike
HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--In September 2004, oil prices surged above $50 a barrel for the first time, foreshadowing today's bullish energy market that shows no sign of abating.Despite that landmark price, BP PLC (BP) continued to base its investments on $30 oil, BP Chief Executive John Browne told analysts a few months later on a conference call. BP's restraint reflected the residual caution of an industry that has grown accustomed to boom-bust cycles, including the 1998 downturn that sent oil to the single digits.
Will gas prices finally drive us to the tipping point?
The most mind-boggling statistic in the EIA report was this one: U.S. gas consumption during the summer driving season - April 1 through Sept. 30 - is expected to decline 0.4 percent.Yes, that's only four-tenths of 1 percent.
It's discouraging that, when faced with record-breaking gasoline prices - not to mention the specter of fossil fuel-driven climate change - Americans are only likely to curtail their driving by the tiniest of margins.
Don't blame OPEC for record oil prices, Brown told
A professor of energy policy economics Wednesday confronted Prime Minister Gordon Brown on resorting to again blame OPEC for the ever-escalating price of crude oil."Should the prime minister not recognize that there are in fact other causes of high oil prices, in particular unsustainably rapid increases in demand, depleting reserves and the behavior of futures markets?" Philip Wright of Sheffield University said.
Australia: Get used to $1.50-a-litre petrol, experts say
Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil spokesman Elliot Fishman agreed that the emerging economies of China and India were driving up petrol prices, saying demand far outstripped supply. He said that 1964 was the year the most oil ever was discovered."Since that time we've been finding less and less oil and we've reached a point now where we consume four barrels of oil for every one discovered," Mr Fishman said.
"Bad Money" author says our focus on finance could be our downfall
To hear Kevin Phillips tell it, the U.S. is a world power on the skids, an overstretched empire slumping toward the fate of Hapsburg Spain, the maritime Dutch Republic and imperial Britain.The culprits: Wall Street and Washington.
The former Republican strategist lays out his harsh case in "Bad Money," an update of his 2006 best-seller, "American Theocracy," which warned that the U.S. was dangerously dependent on debt and oil. Events have so far vindicated his views.
"Profit From the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century"
There is no doubt that oil production will peak, if it hasn't already, and that all other fossil fuels will peak soon after. The important questions for investors are: when will it happen, to what extent, and what can I do to capitalize on it?According to Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder, the authors of "Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century (Wiley; March 2008; $27.95; 978-0-470-12736-0; Cloth)," we are quickly facing the end of our oil-based economy. Half of the world's known oil reserves are gone, and with roughly a trillion barrels remaining -- and consumption up to eighty-six million barrels a day -- the world has about thirty years of oil left. And that's a best-case scenario.
Australia: Here's what 2020 needed to be about
Given the challenge of global warming and peak oil, debate about tax reform should be focused on what changes are necessary to encourage environment-friendly investment and lifestyles instead of the old debate about the "tax burden", which is completely divorced from what taxes buy.Measures to stimulate consumption of fossil fuels total more than $4 billion a year. Why should the fringe benefits tax reward those who use their company cars mostly for private use while lesser mortals pay income tax and GST on their public transport fares?
‘Cash in on mixed future for farming’
A huge rise in North Wales plantings already reflects the drive for self-sufficiency and Tony Little, of Organic Centre Wales, told the meeting consumers would also have to change what they eat in the post peak oil economy.“Feeding animals to feed ourselves is not efficient, though getting rid of livestock altogether is not desirable or obtainable,” he said. “But to produce more food, we need more people. One estimate suggests 20% of the workforce – we just need another 19%!”
Sneaky ways to get better gas mileage
Motorists in the United States looking to save as much as 32 cents on a gallon of gas needn't drive across state lines in search of cheaper prices at the pump.The answer is right under the hood. That's because more frequent air filter changes can improve your vehicle's gas mileage by as much as 10%, the Car Care Council says.
U.S. arms sales to OPEC at risk over oil: senators
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. senators on Thursday will call on the Bush administration to use its leverage with OPEC to increase oil supplies or risk Congress holding up multimillion dollar arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other members of the oil producing group."As Americans are paying more than ever to fill up their cars at the gas station, it is clear that oil production by OPEC members is below the capacity at which they could be producing," the lawmakers said in a joint advisory announcing a press conference in which they will release a letter to President George W. Bush asking him to pressure OPEC for more oil.
Russia is now the world's largest oil producer ahead of Saudi Arabia
Last year, Russia was the world's largest oil producer ahead of Saudi Arabia. At roughly 9.84 million b/d, Russia produced almost a fourth of non-OPEC crude oil in 2007. However, the latest data now suggests that the days of strong Russian oil output growth are over. After an increase of 2.3% in 2007, crude oil production plummeted in January & February. The decline accelerated further in March, to 1.0% YoY, and Russia's first quarter crude oil production averaged just 9.75 million b/d, down 0.8% YoY.
Nigeria to oblige oil companies to refine output
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Nigeria is planning legislation to oblige international oil companies to refine a proportion of their crude in the West African country, a Nigerian state oil official said on Wednesday."Everybody producing in the country will be mandated to refine a percentage in Nigeria," said Sola Alabi, Group General Manager for refinery projects at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC).
Nigerian Union Begins Partial Strike Against Exxon
(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's white-collar oil workers union began a partial strike today at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s operations in the country after the two sides failed to reach an agreement over compensation, company and union officials said.
Libya halts 45,000 bpd offshore oil output - Ghanem
LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Some 45,000 barrels per day of Libyan offshore oil production has been halted due to a technical problem and could be off line for a few weeks, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Thursday.
Ireland: Electricity bills tipped to soar
Electricity costs in Northern Ireland may rise by as much as 30% this year.The price hike could come as early as June. It follows news that consumers face a rise of 28% in the price of gas.
UK: 'Local storage' for nuclear waste
Waste from a new nuclear reactor in Somerset would be kept on site, local residents have been told.British Energy is looking to build a third reactor at Hinkley Point after the government approved a new generation of nuclear power stations.
The company has explained its plans to people living near the site.
Warming shifts gardeners' maps
Every gardener is familiar with the multicolor U.S. map of climate zones on the back of seed packets. It's the Department of Agriculture's indicator of whether a flower, bush or tree will survive the winters in a given region.It's also 18 years old. A growing number of meteorologists and horticulturists say that because of the warming climate, the 1990 map doesn't reflect a trend that home gardeners have noticed for more than a decade: a gradual shift northward of growing zones for many plants.
ConocoPhillips Profit Up 17% on Higher Oil Prices
HOUSTON (AP) -- ConocoPhillips said Thursday its first quarter profit rose almost 17 percent as the third-largest U.S. oil company benefited from record oil prices.The Houston-based company said Thursday net income rose to $4.14 billion, or $2.62 a share, for the January-March period, from $3.55 billion, or $2.12 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Brazil Oil Finds May End Reliance on Middle East, Zeihan Says
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's discoveries of what may be two of the world's three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere's reliance on Middle East crude, Strategic Forecasting Inc. said.Saudi Arabia's influence as the biggest oil exporter would wane if the fields are as big as advertised, and China and India would become dominant buyers of Persian Gulf oil, said Peter Zeihan, vice president of analysis at Strategic Forecasting in Austin, Texas. Zeihan's firm, which consults for companies and governments around the world, was described in a 2001 Barron's article as "the shadow CIA."
..."We could see that world becoming a very violent one," said Zeihan, former chief of Middle East and East Asia analysis for Strategic Forecasting. "If the United States isn't getting any crude from the Gulf, what benefit does it have in policing the Gulf anymore? All of the geopolitical flux that wracks that region regularly suddenly isn't our problem."
The head of Oklahoma’s largest independent producer of oil and natural gas debunked the myth of peak oil on Wednesday, saying the biggest hindrance to recovering new reserves of oil and natural gas are governments and their policies.
Oil’s quest to find tomorrow’s fuel
The world’s major oil companies are being forced to turn to the once unimaginable raw materials of chicken fat, tar and algae to make fuels and sustain their businesses into the next century.For, in spite of massive legacy positions in oil and gas built over 100 years, gone are the days of the 1970s, when the majors controlled 85 per cent of the world’s oil reserves – the raw materials on which they built their businesses.
Big Oil Asks: Where Will Tomorrow's Oil Come From?
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading petroleum exporter. Officially, it has reserves of about 260 billion barrels of crude oil - approximately 24% of the world’s total proven petroleum reserves.But Saudi Arabia has a problem. And it’s the same one that every oil-producing nation will face someday: Its oilwells are drying up.
Saudi Aramco Aims to Double Crude Oil Supply to China By 2010
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest state oil company, aims to double its crude oil supply to China by 2010 from about 500,000 barrels a day last year, an official from unit Saudi Petroleum Ltd. said.
Strike could close key Grangemouth oil refinery for a month
Plans to haul fuel by road from locations in England and Wales to Scotland will be put in place today ahead of a two-day strike at Grangemouth, Scotland's biggest oil refinery....It will take up to a month to bring the refinery back up to full capacity, according to its owners.
BP says power cut at UK refinery would shut Forties
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Forties oil pipeline will have to close completely if a power plant at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland stops running because of a strike planned for Sunday, a spokesman for pipeline operator BP said on Thursday.
Gazprom's New Focus On Production
Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom plans to increase investment in gas production and transportation substantially while cutting spending on acquisitions. This will reassure European customers concerned about its capacity to meet export commitments. However, Gazprom's capacity to deliver will be severely tested as it tackles an array of ambitious projects.
Far from Middle East, U.S. farmland yields new oil
NEVADA, Missouri (Reuters) - George Stapleton has been in the oil business for 30 years, helping plumb sands and shale across the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Now the chief executive of MegaWest Energy Corp is drilling deep into Missouri farmland.In a non-descript pasture bordered by a pecan grove and a fish pond, Stapleton's company has hit black gold -- and in doing so is demonstrating how record prices of more than $100 a barrel are fueling a modern-day American wildcat oil era.
EU eyes raise of emergency oil stocks as prices soar
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on whether changes should be made to the management of emergency oil stocks held by EU member states as oil prices edged closer to $120 a barrel on Tuesday (22 April).The consultation will seek input into the "shortcomings" of the current system in the face of the growing risk of oil supply disruptions caused by rising global demand for oil, the Commission said on Tuesday. The consultation is open until 17 June.
‘China not main driver of soaring oil’
Soaring international crude prices are driven by a range of factors including speculation and depreciation of the US dollar, not mainly by China demand, Saudi Aramco regional vice president Mohammed al-Mahdi said today.
Rocky Twyman says nothing else has worked, so he's urging motorists to pray for lower gasoline prices when they fuel up.Twyman says he and his fellow volunteers at a church soup kitchen launched "Pray at the Pump" today at a gas station in Washington D.C.
After fueling up their cars, Twyman says they bowed their heads and asked God for cheaper gas.
Although AirTran hastened to assure investors that the quarter's loss was just a bump caused by rising fuel prices, the company's decision to issues shares and stall expansion plans indicates there's more than a little turbulence ahead for the airline.
Airline flies slower to cut costs
Belgium's Brussels Airlines has announced it is slowing speeds and reducing weight on some of its aircraft in order to reduce fuel costs.The airline said slowing its planes by about 10km/h would cut its annual fuel bill by 1m euros ($1.6m; £800,000) and add a minute or two to flight times.
EasyJet Exec Predicts Cull Of Budget Airlines
Oil prices well above USD$100 a barrel will drive most of Europe's low-cost airlines out of business, the head of easyJet's French subsidiary said on Wednesday.The stark warning of a cull of low-cost airlines came as the British budget airline's shares fell more than 4 percent after another increase in oil prices towards USD$120 a barrel.
Hamish McRae: A permanently high oil price might not be a bad thing if it forces conservation
Oil is in blow-off territory and a reaction in the price is inevitable, probably quite soon. But that does not mean that we will return to cheap oil in our lifetimes.
Panic at the pumps: Soaring petrol prices and fuel rationing introduced to prevent garage droughts
Demand for unleaded fuel has risen by 68 per cent, according to the UK Petroleum Industry Association, a trade body for the industry.Demand for diesel was up 40 per cent, it added.
To protect supplies, some garages have introduced unofficial "rationing", limiting customers to £10 of fuel.
As if the credit crunch wasn't bad enough, the oil price is now piling on the agony
No wonder the British Airways share price fell to a new four-year low yesterday. Less than two months ago, the finance director Keith Williams warned that his operating profits would be completely wiped out by an oil price of just under $120 a barrel, and that, if sustained, such a price would lead to fundamental change across the airline industry as a whole.Back then, it seemed quite unlikely prices would reach such an elevated level, yet here we are, less than two months later, with the price of oil at a point which apparently spells financial Armageddon even for relatively healthy airlines such as BA. I hope you have already paid for this summer's airline tickets, for, the way things are going, the age of cheap air travel may already be a thing of the past, along with cheap mortgages and low-cost flatscreen TVs from China.
The end of cheap clothes is near
US cotton consumption is set to fall 6.5% from last year to less than a million tonnes whilst EU consumption is expected to fall 11% to about 460,000 tonnes, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predicts.At the same time, they are hit by more expensive raw materials and by soaring oil prices, which make their factories more expensive to operate and which pushes up the cost of shipping to foreign markets.
Surge in oil prices prompts warnings of global recession
The price of oil has surged to a new record above $119 per barrel. Given the spate of "Record Oil Price!" stories that have filled newspapers in recent months, investors might be inclined to dismiss the latest threshold crossed – if it weren't for the increasingly dire warnings being issued about the havoc that expensive oil may wreak on the global economy.
Fuel poverty summit branded a disaster
One of Britain's biggest charities has condemned today's energy industry summit as a "disaster" for the 4.5m households who now find themselves living in fuel poverty.Mervyn Kohler, special adviser for Help the Aged, described the lack of concrete measures to come out of the summit as a slap in the face to the poorest consumers who are now forced to spend at least 10% of their income to heat and light their home.
Spectre of food rationing hits US
The spectre of food rationing arose in America today as retailers began imposing limits on rice and flour sales following bulk purchases by customers alarmed by rocketing global prices for staple foods.
Bill McKibben: The Greenback Effect
Greed has helped destroy the planet—maybe now it can help save it.
Pine beetle outbreaks turn forests into carbon source
DENVER - An outbreak of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia is doing more than destroying millions of trees: By 2020, the beetles will have done so much damage that the forest is expected to release more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, according to new research.The study, led by Werner Kurz of the Canadian Forest Service, estimates that over 21 years trees killed by the beetle outbreak could release 990 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — roughly equivalent to five years of emissions from Canada's transportation sector.
New Zealand's largest glacier will disappear: scientists
WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand's largest glacier is shrinking fast due to climate change and will eventually disappear altogether, scientists said Thursday.The 23-kilometre (14.3 mile) long glacier in the South Island's Southern Alps is likely to shrink at a rate of between 500 and 820 metres a year, said Martin Brook, a physical geography lecturer at Massey University.
GMO coupled with organic farms best for environment
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Genetic engineering, combined with organic farming, may be the best way to grow food for a rising population as the world confronts climate change and environmental degradation, a U.S. rice scientist said.
China will go further in climate change talks, UN official says
BEIJING (AFP) - The impact of climate change on China's environment will likely lead Beijing to make greater concessions in negotiations on a new global warming pact, a senior UN official said Thursday.
Scientists say accumulation of greenhouse gases accelerating
WASHINGTON - Major greenhouse gases in the air are accumulating faster than in the past despite efforts to curtail their growth.Carbon dioxide concentration in the air increased by 2.4 parts per million last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday, and methane concentrations also rose rapidly.
Learn Permaculture in the Catskills. Get certified by the Permaculture Institute of USA.
August 16-29, 2008 in Woodbourne, New York
http://green-phoenix.org/08-08-pdc.html
A Certificate Course for Urban and Rural Residents, Planners, Land Managers & Design Professionals. This training covers the fundamentals of ecological design, given by two of the country's most experienced permaculture instructors, and many local guests. Join us at a rural retreat center near Woodbourne, New York. Upon completion, course attendees will receive a Permaculture Design Trainee Certificate from the Permaculture Institute.
Who Should Take This Course: The Permaculture Design Course has transformed the lives and enhanced the careers of thousands of people around the world, including architects, landscapers, community developers, social workers, city planners, teachers, students, farmers, gardeners, homeowners, Yoga teachers, business owners and others. It's for anyone serious about creating a sustainable future! The principles of permaculture apply to any scale of design, to highly urbanized areas, suburbs, and rural communities and properties. The permaculture approach crosses between disciplines and creates links between them.
Hi,
does anyone know if something like this exists in the UK?
Regards, Nick.
Yes it does. Permaculture is a global movement. UK has a great magazine: http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk/ that will find where this is being offered near you. The dominant magazine here in the USA is http://www.permacultureactivist.net/ . Be careful of anyone treating the concept like it's some sort of gardening technique. Here is a good place to start in the UK: http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/ and his free Beginner's Guide: http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/permaculture/
Thanks, Semaley. Good links. Here's a para that made sense to me..
"Putting massive effort into attempting to ‘tame nature’, such as by damming valleys and flood plains or creating and maintaining bare soil by plough, is not only energy consuming, unsustainable and destructive, it is also unnecessary when we can meet the needs of people and the environment by working in harmony with, or even directly utilise, natural systems. Instead of using massive chemical inputs to control pests, why not encourage predators such as ladybirds and hoverflies to do our work for us? Or why not construct homes that utilise passive solar energy and wind power rather than building nuclear power stations?" http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/permaculture/ (Item #7, 'Work with nature, not against')
My wife is reading Pollan's 'Omnivore's dilemma', and is very excited by the 'Grass Farmer' Joel Salatin. Another approach to many of these ideas of using Nature's energy to our and it's advantage, not looking on it as an Opponent to Best.
Bob
This is great if like me you are building a home out in the country on 20 acres surrounded by 100-300 acre farms. I can grow most of the food I need, without almost any added fertilizer and the ground water table is still in pretty good shape for small amounts of irrigation, what fertilizer I do need the neighbors cows can provided if I let him harvest 5-10 acres of grass to fed them in the winter. I prefer to use the tractor but could get by without it. I can also trade some of what I grow with my neighbors for things they can more easily grow and I want.
Problem is with the exception of building the house in the country, I don't do any of those other things food is still far too cheap to bother at this point. Modern agricultural techniques fertilizers, pest control, large tractors allow us to pull huge yields per acre 5 and in some cases 10 times as high as natural methods. While you and I may have enough land to sustain ourselves via natural means unless you have a way to give everyone enough land to do this, or are able to get farmers to increase land in production about 5 times, we still need the chemicals and fuel to be able to feed the cities.
This all goes back to Carrying Capacity we as the world are long past the point in population to be able to just live off the land with out massive outside inputs. Sure I can and you can but there are 6+ billion of us on this rock and not everyone can.
I actually live in a small city, and while we have growing potential at our house and at a community garden, we also have farms nearby, several CSA's to choose between. Farmers need customers, as far as that goes, so shipping produce to a city isn't a bad deal.. probably not enough, esp with the fisheries crashing, but it's a concentrated market, so if there's a usable freight link, river, ocean, railway between them, then that exchange will proceed.
I don't deny we are in all probability in population overshoot, but aside from education and availability of birth-control in the third world, it's an aspect that I can do very little to affect, while lifestyle choices and creating the best community designs/infrastructure is where most of us can work to make the system as resilient and survivable as possible. I just can't let the UNworkable problems make me so overwhelmed and despondent that I don't do any of the preparations that are going to push us in the right direction.
We'll all get ours at some point anyway. 'Survival' is just a form of procrastination, after all.
Bob
"Life is a short warm moment. Death is a long cold rest." - Pink Floyd
Hi Jokuhl--If your wife likes Joel Salatin's farming methods, she'll love Logsdon's All Flesh is Grass.
Why would anyone need a freakin certification? Sounds like a conventional moneymaking scheme to relive the naive of their money. "You have a need, we have the product... sign here".
Nothing against Permaculture, but when it is used as just another business opportunity to make money, forget it. If people are serious about Permaculture then they supply the knowledge, you supply the labour, money need not enter into the transaction. Otherwise it is just another conventional business about the bottom line and scaling/leveraging up the product to simply make money to live a conventional lifestyle.
False prophets? I'm sceptical, convince me.
Burgundy,
I've had the same thought.
There is surely something to permaculture (small p), but Permaculture (TM!) seems a bit overly interested in charging cash money for this and that.
That said, there is plenty of permacultural information to be found for free here and there.
Permaculture is not something you can learn out of a book, it takes experience and knowledge to get it right. And where do you think that experience knowledge about permaculture came from? People who are serious about permaculture INVEST their time and money in learning these skills and in publishing. None of this is free. You're naive if you think people will invest without any return.
I can see your sentiment, but this isn't a gardening course. I'd be happy to break down the costs so you can see that nobody can make a serious living charging this amount. Certainly I won't make anything (money out of my pocket, not in it). I seriously doubt the teachers are in it for the money, either. Even the Ashram will have expenses from buying food for two weeks, cooks, cleanup, etc. Inevitably, somebody has to clean the toilets and somebody needs to be available to answer a phone to validate someone took the step to learn this design concept. Imagine you put classes down on your resume and nobody could answer the phones where you took the course to validate what you said on your resume (did they do well, present for the whole course, what does the piece of paper mean, etc).
If a teacher wanted $10/hr, that would be similar to 80+ hrs of work for a 72 hour course, or $800. I don't know about you, but $20k/yr doing this full time wouldn't pay my rent either (beginner teachers tend to ask $1k to $2k per course, as teaching these courses is part time at best). To make it worth the effort to a dedicated teacher, you might want to pay more. These particular teachers, though considered among the best available, aren't expecting top dollar (I've seen teachers charging over $5k). Since this course will have multiple top notch teachers, you can imagine we'll need at least a dozen or two students at the $850 tuition being charged.
Inexperienced teachers won't have many students, so end up charging more to make up for having only a few students. Experienced teachers attract many students, so can ease up on tuition. Experienced teachers also tend to have successful design businesses, such that a course is more of a sense of duty than a business interest.
Any extra money after paying the teachers and other course costs (travel expenses, advertising costs, drafting supplies, architecture drawings, handouts, etc) will be used to seed future PDC courses, help students who can't afford it, etc. I can tell you first hand that some students end up not paying anything. Green Phoenix Permaculture is a 501c3, so your contribution to help lower course costs would be tax deductible. There is already a list of folks wanting to take this course, if you'd be willing to help them (I still won't be paid).
If $850 is still too much, feel free to look for an alternative. Either way, the individual skills and concepts being taught (through hands-on demonstration and direct involvement in the design process) would cost you far more than $850. This is an intense course and isn't for everyone. My course included some 18 hour days, though the course itself is billed as 72 hours.
A weekend series course might also be an alternative, if you can't afford paying for accommodations in addition to the course tuition (there are plenty of course offerings). However, even weekend courses range from $700 to $1000, depending upon location (still need to pay the rent for classroom space). We had a $300 weekend course here in NYC, which we can't find class space to repeat. Note that these weekend courses tend to involve the entire weekend, plus heavy homework (your design project).
In the ideal sense, we would have properties near cities that didn't have a mortgage to pay, provided all of their own food (including for students, teachers, apprentices, and interns), and housed teachers that didn't need any further money. It's a nice thought, but not reasonable to expect we can magically provide. Personally, I have that in mind, but it takes time to raise money to buy million dollar properties that can support this sentiment.
Re: "The head of Oklahoma’s largest independent producer of oil and natural gas (Devon Energy) debunked the myth of peak oil on Wednesday. . " (link uptop)
With a quick search, I could only find data back to the early Eighties, but crude oil production from Oklahoma has dropped by about two-thirds since the mid-Eighties.
So, if private oil companies, using the best available technology, with virtually no restrictions on drilling, could not reverse the declines from Oklahoma, Texas and the North Sea, could someone explain how they can reverse the post-peak conventional declines from any region anywhere in the world?
Of course, he is also arguing that unconventional will save us. I expect that it will slow the rate of decline of total production. After a vast expenditure of capital, the Barnett Shale Play (Devon's primary area), has basically stabilized Texas gas production at about 60% of our 1972 peak rate, with a huge drop in per well production rates.
Westexas.
Individual fields peak and decline, oil regions do the same, so do nations. What makes you think that the world will peak and decline?
Well, as we have discussed, it's magic. It's the "Huber/Lynch" oil field that I am still hunting for, where individual oil wells peak and decline, but the total field production--the sum of the output of depleting oil wells--increases forever. The Huber/Lynch oil field will be run by elves and fairies, with unicorns grazing in the pastures.
In regard to another story:
Re: Brazil Oil Finds May End Reliance on Middle East, Zeihan Says (link uptop)
Stratfor.com has been opposed to Peak Oil for a long time, and note that there are several "if's," to say the least. For starters, it will take a long time to bring these fields online, and in less than 10 years, our middle case is that it would take the combined net oil exports of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Norway, Iran and the UAE to meet 2007 US net oil import demand.
"Elves and Fairies" .. works for me, as long as we can hitch up those unicorns to pull Semi-trailers around for us. Do they fly?
I didn't even look at the NEWSOK article to see if there were comments.. but I had an inkling of trying to sway the argument by suggesting that Peak Oil was just another word for 'Intelligent Decline'
Bob
And IF the new Brasilian find does have 33Gb of URR in it, this is how much the world uses in 13 months.
This is so, so, so important to remember. Such a huge quantity - and it only represents 13 months of world consumption at present consumption rates.
According to export land theory, we will also eventually be independent of the Middle East and maybe just dependent upon Canada. Hellelujah!!! The promised land is at hand. Of course, by then, we will also be drowning in oil and natural gas brought to us courtesy of Devon. All environmentalists, thank God, will be in jail or will have been executed for crimes against the state.
And Eastern Canada including Ontario will be riding bicycles (Albertan "Canadian" oil is reserved for the USA).
tstreet "All environmentalists, thank God, will be in jail or will have been executed for crimes against the state."
I know you meant to be funny but for the past six years under new tighter policies related to the Patriot Act the Justice Department has moved to punish and make examples of "Monkey Wrenchers".
Take the case of Jeffrey Lehr, a former resident of Eugene, Oregon who helped establish Red Cloud Thunder, a group of activists that organized a tree sitting campaign to stop the thinning and clear-cutting of old growth forests outside of Fall Creek, Oregon.
In 2000 he set fire to three SUVs at Romania Chevrolet dealership in Eugene as a protest against excessive consumption and global warming, along with Craig "Critter" Marshall, who was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Luers was initially sentenced to 22 years, 8 months in prison.
The crime caused only $28,000 property damage but was branded as Eco-terrorism by the Justice Department ergo the Draconian Sentence.
In February of this year his sentence was reduced to 10 years. Scary...This dangerous lunatic may be free as early as December of 2009, so remember your Escalade could be next!
There is a prison support network where you can learn more about individuals who have been incarcerated or murdered as a result of "eco-activism":
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/addresses.html
"A true patriot has to be willing to defend his country from his government" Edward Abbey
Meanwhile, how many have heard of him, while a fellow named Singer, has been doing cartoons against car-based living and SUVs for years and they're being put on t-shirts and getting the word out, I'm willing to bet has done more to discourage SUV purchases than burning SUVs did.
This is why, between the Molotov and the really witty cartoon, always choose the really witty cartoon.
Not to mention that torching a SUV is counterproductive. The fire will put toxic gases into the atmosphere, The insurance company will pay for the losses. The dealer will simply replace them with the cost paid for by the insurance or deducted from taxes and passed on.
There will have to be a response by he fire department putting the first responders at risk, because every run has risks, and also putting the public at risk as a result of the response not just from the fire trucks will be racing through the streets. But as an auto fire is all hands on deck operation should there, at the time the responders are putting out needless auto fires, be another incident where it to be a house fire, auto-bus accident, medical call etc. the response will be delayed. The fire response and factory replacements will just use up more valuable oil.
"...will be run by elves and fairies..."
What? There's oil in San Francisco???
Judging by the price, it's very special oil.
Stratfor also was quite certain that a nation-state was behind 9/11.
kornhauer, hich nation state?