27 September, 2007
Traditional economists, politicians and the press understand little about the interaction between natural resources or ecological capital and the state of the global economy. Ecology for them is the playground of naive greenies or excentric academics. It is therefore not surprising that the current financial crisis that has hit the world economy is being interpreted within… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
16 September, 2007
(Quick blog post written in the bar of Azimuth hotel in St Petersburg) There is this strange phenomenon that politicians, once they are out of power, suddenly see the light on some of the most important issues facing the countries or the society they were once leading. Look at how Mr. Gorbatchov became a greenn… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
10 September, 2007
Ministers from the 12 OPEC [see also Wikipedia] countries are expected to be holding their official production output steady when they meet tomorrow in Vienna. Currently OPEC produces about 27 million barrels of oil per day but the International Energy Agency has been pushing them to bring more oil to the market. OPEC, on the other hand… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
7 September, 2007
Technorati Tags: Heinberg, peak oil, ecological economics American journalist Richard Heinberg is one of the most prolific writers of the peak oil community. His books The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003), Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (2004), and The Oil Depletion Protocol (2006) have become real classics… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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ecological economics, Peak oil, resource depletion, sustainability |
17 August, 2007
The current turmoil hitting the financial markets might have a few interesting lessons for those political and economic leaders who keep denying the reality of declining natural resources (peak oil, gas, coal etc.). First of all, just like the peak resources deniers, the financial “experts” and the “establishment economists” have for years underestimated the risks of deregulated globalised… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
The Energy Bulletin has two articles on the declining reserves of phosphorus, one of the essential nutrients for our global agriculture and food system. According to studies done by physicist Patrick Déry, the production of phosphorus peaked in 1989. Unless we learn to create a cycle of nutrients (recycling phosphates and other nutrients), our global… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
19 July, 2007
The publication of a new US report on global oil and gas supplies yesterday confirms that the world economy is on the verge of a new “oil shock”. Coming ten days after the IEA’s gloomy prediction of increasing oil supply tightness by 2012, the National Petroleum Council’s report “Facing the hard truths about energy” admits… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Climate change, Energy efficiency, energy security, Global Warming, Peak oil, resource depletion |
The New York Times has an interesting story on the rising costs for new power plants because of increasing global competition for raw materials such as copper, steel or nickel. The story shows that the so-called energy alternatives (coal, nuclear, wind power) will have their own challenges as demand growth for the raw materials needed… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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European Union, resource depletion, resource wars, sustainability |
9 July, 2007
The normally cautious International Energy Agency surprised energy experts on Monday 9 July with a pessimistic Medium-Term Oil Market Report. By 2012, the world economy will be confronted with a growing gap between demand for oil and levelling-off oil supply as OPEC is not willing (or not capable?) to increase its output and non-OPEC production… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
26 June, 2007
Shell’s CEO Jeroen van de Veer has a remarkable editorial in The Times today, pointing to three “hard truths” about the future of energy. First of all, “global demand for energy is growing, but the reality of how fast hasn’t really sunk in”. Secondly, “the growth rate of supplies of “easy oil”, conventional oil and… » read more
Posted by Willy De Backer
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Climate change, energy security, Global Warming, Peak oil, Population growth, renewable energy, resource depletion |
