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added: Wed, 28th September 2005 | 424 views | 0x in favourites
feed url: http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/index2.php?option=...
PowerSwitch - raising awareness of oil depletion
Fresh sources of oil equivalent to the output of four Saudi Arabias will have to be found simply to maintain present levels of supply by 2030, one of the world's leading energy experts has said. Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the developed world's energy watchdog, told The Times that the depletion of existing oilfields meant that vast new investments would be required to satisfy the demand for oil. Read more (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article5133757.ece)
The International Energy Agency is to call today for an energy revolution and a major de-carbonisation of global Read more (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/12/oil-gas-companies-credit-crunch)
Energy experts questioned by BBC News are warning that this country will face an unacceptable risk of major blackouts in less than 10 years unless policy is radically improved. They say the government is to blame because it has dithered over policies vital to energy security and climate security. Read more (http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7720000/7720229.stm)
Traffic on Britain's roads is decreasing significantly for the first time since the three-day week of the early 1970s, suggesting the car economy is heading for a crash, official figures revealed yesterday. At the same time, sales of new cars have fallen by 23 per cent and are at their lowest since 1996. The motor industry is suffering across the world, with Volvo, the Swedish giant, selling just 115 heavy trucks over the past few months, compared to 41,970 during the same period last year – a 99.7 per cent fall. Read full article (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/traffic-levels-fall-for-first-time-in-decades-motor-firms-head-for-crash-1003948.html)
On Wednesday 29th October 2008 I attended a press conference at the London Stock Exchange. The meeting was convened by the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil Energy Security to introduce a new report: The Oil Crunch, securing the UK’s energy future. This is a ground breaking report, not so much for its content as for the companies behind it. Shell's inclusion is a very positive development. These are not a beleaguered small minority of voices but billion dollar, international companies, employing tens of thousands of people sounding the alarm bell. Read full article (http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4724)
The Detroit property market and the US car industry are mirror images: both are in freefall. Speculation is mounting that the government is planning a bail-out of the giant 'Detroit Three'. Washington is also said to be trying to engineer a merger of GM and Chrysler as analysts predict that the latter's new owner, private equity firm Cerberus, could pull the plug on it. Without dramatic government intervention, analysts predict all three companies will run out of money some time next year.Read full article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/02/ford-general-motors-chrysler-industry)
The fight against climate change will get an unexpected boost today from oil-rich Gulf states which will pledge to invest some of their petrodollar profits in British green energy projects.Read more (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/02/green-energy-oil-saudi-arabia)
Given the gravity of the news this week you would expect that the front page of every newspaper would be screaming EMERGENCY! begins the October 31st edition of the ODAC newsletter.
Declining availability of oil will hit the UK earlier than generally expected, with potentially devastating implications for the UK economy, report warns.Read more (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/29/fossil-fuels-oil) or Read the report (http://www.arup.com/_assets/_download/490896E6-19BB-316E-403A2233D407A411.pdf)
All of this seems a little strange, though. We are going into the winter months, when demand for oil normally rises because many people around the world heat their homes with oil. We are using somewhat less gasoline in the United States, but apart from the hurricane disruptions, not very much less than earlier this year. While we are going into a recession, it doesn't seem to have hit with full force yet. What other factors may be involved in the current lower prices?Read full article (http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4672)
So where does all this leave the world's oil supply - the life blood of our civilization? Recent reports say world production dropped rapidly in September. As stockpiles seem to be rising, we can presume OPEC will cut production again or be faced with much lower oil prices. Given that nearly all the world's oil exporters have let their economies become accustomed to six years of steadily climbing oil revenues, they, as well as their customers, are in for some hard times.Read full article (http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content view=article id=3670:the-peak-oil-crisis-in-the-eye-of-the-storm catid=17:national-commentary Itemid=79)
In an extraordinary move for a nation proud of its financial prudence and stability, Switzerland was forced to take emergency measures yesterday to shore up its two biggest lenders to prevent a collapse in confidence in the country's banking system. The state will inject SFr6bn (£3.1bn) into UBS, its biggest bank, in return for a 9.3 per cent stake, and will allow UBS to unload $54bn (£31bn) of toxic assets, including sub-prime mortgages and Alt-A securities, into a fund controlled by the central bank.Read full article (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/is-switzerland-the-next-iceland-964325.html)
Countries could protect nature, help halt climate change, and provide food and clean water for a billion people for little more than has been pledged to bail out the world's banks in the last week, according to a series of authoritative economic reports from the UN, world bodies, major charities and banks. So what could investment on the scale of the the bank bail-out money buy?Read full article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/17/marketturmoil-climatechange)
These wild fluctuations in price correspond with the theory of peak oil espoused by Ken Deffeyes of Princeton. The professor emeritus of geology theorized that the world would be hitting its peak in oil production a few years ago. It's not that we're running out of oil. We're just running out of cheap oil. So when demand accelerates, prices rise. When events such as the current recession depress demand, prices fall.Read full article (http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2008/10/where_did_all_of_those_oil_spe.html)
So yes, it was a serious mistake to lend money to people who could not afford it, but why did these people abruptly become unable to pay? The reason is most important and commentators of the crisis systematically fail to discuss and analyze it.In 2006, interest rates were raised in the USA, so the monthly bill, usually poor borrowers of subprime mortgages had to pay, rose dramatically, until they could no longer pay it and saw their houses confiscated; thus contributing to the housing market plunge. Finally, interest rates were increased in order to fight rising inflation, which started with the dramatic surge in oil prices the world faced over the past few years.Read full article (http://seekingalpha.com/article/100550-from-subprime-to-meltdown-is-peak-oil-responsible)
The government has committed the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century. Climate Change and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the current 60% target would be replaced by a higher goal. But Lib Dem climate change and energy spokesman Steve Webb said Mr Miliband's decision not to include aviation and shipping in the 80% target made a mockery of his commitments. It's like telling everyone you're going on a calorie-controlled diet but not counting cream cakes. Read full article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7673748.stm)
Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, is drawing up plans for a big shift in the way Britons heat and power their homes, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The plans – which are scheduled to be published at the end of next month – are expected to include tough targets for cutting energy use in the country's 26 million homes, notoriously the worst insulated in Europe, and generous incentives to make it easy for householders to meet them. Read full article (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/milibands-blueprint-for-greener-homes-966239.html)
A food crisis is highly likely in the UK, with price and availability becoming issues that swing the outcome of future elections, according to a report from the thinktank Chatham House. The UK's food system is unable to cope with rapid changes in supply driven by climate change, rising energy prices and population growth, the report says. Consumers are likely to have to accept a shift from individual preferences to a system in which government and industry have to ensure the food that is sold reflects the wider needs of society.Read full article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/07/food.shortages.prices)
Britain must abandon using almost all fossil fuels to produce power in 20 years' time, the government's climate change watchdog will warn today. The independent Climate Change Committee will publish its advice to the government that the UK should set a 2050 target of cutting all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% - including the emissions from aviation and transport, which were previously excluded.Read full article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/07/carbon.emissions.targets)
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