Global Oil Reserves Fell in 2008 on Russia, Norway, Says BP

Global Oil Reserves Fell in 2008 on Russia, Norway, Says BP.

Don't forget Peak Oil.

Take the Crash Course.

Crash Course Chapter 17a: Peak Oil



Crash Course Chapter 17b: Energy Budgeting



Crash Course Chapter 17c: Energy and the Economy

Sent to my CEO just now - Peak Oil.

Hi D,

I'm going to pass this around to some others, but I thought I'd pass yours along with a short personal note.

We haven't talked in quite some time, but if you remember, I have a particular interest in Energy Issues. I couldn't go into too much detail on all of the aspects without turning this into a book, so I'll keep it short. :)

Linked, you'll find a 18 minute long video, which puts the concept of "Peak Oil" into sharp relief, and I hope that you can find the time to watch it.

As you've probably noted, discussion of Energy Issues have increased in volume over the last year or so, and with very good reason. Of all of the reasons that are typically mentioned, however, Peak Oil is not one of the more common items mentioned, though it is arguably the most critical.

In terms of a specific relationship to and ; in brief, the wellbeing of a Company and Economy has no greater dependence than to the sources of Energy that allow for the functioning of all of its parts. Consider just the incredible feat of staffing a Company with hundreds of Employees who must travel regularly to work from all parts of a City, or County, or Country, or even the World.

Maybe this doesn't seem like so much of a miracle to you; but it can certainly be said that such a possibility has not ever been had in any historical setting prior to about the middle of the last century, and it was Fossil Energy that has made it possible.

So, without further adieu, here is the video: http://www.chrismartenson.com/peak_oil .

FYI, the creator of this video is very credible, and his facts are sound. The remainder of the videos at the site are also excellent primers for understanding of the Economic Challenges that we find ourselves in at the moment, from the basics on money creation, debt, inflation, etc. I go out on a limb and suggest that you surely have a strong basis in Economics, but I'll also suggest that you may have never seen many of these concepts presented in such a way as in these presentations.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the video, and I hope you don't mind the intrusion into your day. Also know that if you have any questions on this issue, please don't hesitate to ask.

Yours,
DP

Must See Video - Peak Oil - TheEndofMoney.com

http://www.chrismartenson.com/peak_oil


This is a great video, and there are many other videos on the same site.


Please take a few minutes and watch it.


My thoughts in brief:

So far, the market itself is doing a shitty job of preparing us for the physical realities that we're about to face. Entrenched Energy interests are suppressing potential competitors (Solar, Wind, etc.) in various ways (both in the Private Sector and in Government). The valuations assigned to things by the market, as dependent on the decisions of its participants; is dependent on the level of information had by those participants. Americans are NOT informed on Energy Issues, and particularly they're not informed on just how critical these issues are in comparison to just about every other issue.

I'd like to see the market do the trick here, and in some way's it is getting started, but its opponents have an incredible amount of power to manipulate the Markets. At the very least, I think they're waiting till November before accepting the fact that things are changing, and the time for massive investment has arrived.

Peak Coal.

Peak coal: sooner than you think

"Looking to the future, many analysts who are concerned about emerging supply constraints for oil and gas foresee a compensating shift to lower-quality fuels. Coal can be converted to a gaseous or liquid fuel, and coal gasification and coal-to-liquids plants are being constructed at record rates.

This expanded use of coal is worrisome to advocates of policies to protect the global climate, some of whom place great hopes in new (mostly untested) technologies to capture and sequester carbon from coal gasification. With or without such technologies, there will almost certainly be more coal in our near future.

According to the widely accepted view, at current production levels proven coal reserves will last 155 years (this according to the World Coal Institute). The US Department of Energy (USDoE) projects annual global coal consumption to grow 2.5 per cent a year through 2030, by which time world consumption will be nearly double that of today."

Peak Oil on CNBC.

Robert Hirsch of the Hirsch Report.

Market tanks, oil blamed. Time to ponder.

Stocks stumble on record oil, inflation worries


It's a day like this when investors and market watchers are reminded of the importance of affordable energy to their future. It's not a bad thing to be reminded of.

Oddly enough, Solar was mixed (See below).




A basic Reminder: when we think "Inflation," we must think "Energy Supply." When we think "Energy Supply," we must not just think "Oil," but also "Coal." Both of these primary sources of Energy are at risk of runaway prices. Therefore, when we think of either of these two forms of Fossil Energy, we must think of the "competition." This should lead us right to "Solar," "Wind," and "Geothermal." We need to stop thinking about Energy only in terms of "Burning Things."

Energy is Conserved, and energy from Fossils is ultimately the same as Energy from the Sun, or the Wind. Yes, the form is different, and the technology required to make use of the different forms of Energy are different, but given that one form of energy is increasing in scarcity, it is incumbent on those who have concern for the Economy to develop additional sources of available Energy. There is simply no choice in the matter. There is no Economy without Energy.

Peak Oil Paper - For future Reference.

http://www.peakoilassociates.com/PeakOilAnalysisOctober6-2007.pdf

Bloomberg - Vehicles, Oil, Oil Sands, Peak Oil, Environmental Impact.

Prius Designer Says Industry Must Lose Oil Addiction

Meanwhile, at Fort McMurray's pit mines, it takes 2 tons of sand, 250 gallons (947 liters) of water and 1,400 cubic feet (39.6 cubic meters) of natural gas to produce one barrel of synthetic crude, says Peter Wells, director of research firm Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd. in Abingdon, England.

Schlepping Sand

That's enough water for a day's use for a U.S. family of four and enough natural gas for 5.6 days. The gas is burned to power a process that extracts a tarry substance called bitumen from the sand and then refines it into synthetic crude.

In turn, each barrel generates as much as 110 kilograms (240 pounds) of carbon dioxide equivalents, the same as refining three barrels of traditional light crude.

``When you're schlepping around two tons of sand for a barrel of crude, it shows that conventional oil is already well into depletion,'' says Jeffrey Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets Inc. in Toronto.


Excellent article from Bloomberg. Lots of facts and info about Oil Production, Peak Oil, and Current Events in the Auto industry.

Peak Oil...

This is modified from a discussion on the Yahoo board.



OPPONENT: "It is about economics. If we need 100 units of cheap energy to develop one unit of energy with a higher value (both in energy density and financial terms) then guess what -- we spend the 100 units. Peak oil doesn't properly assess the economics of energy development."


ME:

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

One unit of energy is one unit of energy.

Say you have 1000 units of useful stored energy and it takes 100 units of energy to develop one unit.

Let's say each person requires 1 unit of energy to stay alive for some amount of time (supporting the basics like food production, shelter and infrastructure maintenance, etc).

Let's say you have 100 people to keep alive.

Ok, so in the first unit of time your people use 100 units of energy.

You have 900 units remaining.

At this point think of this as a story problem. What combination of support for the population vs. gathering energy at a 100:1 ratio will keep the people alive the longest? Is there any possibility of keeping a sustainable population of people? Will any number of little green pieces of paper be of any help in this situation?

...

Economics is irrelevant. It is trumped by physical reality.

There is no economic activity without energy. In order to grow an economy, you either need to use energy more efficiently (waste less), or increase the supply. They supply of oil-based energy is no longer capable of growing at rates required to support the growing world economy over the medium term. If we want to keep growing the economy, then we have no choice but to produce alternate sources of energy in a big way, right now, while we have available fossil sources to make use of.

And some say that it's the alt-energy movement that wants to destroy the economy. These people don't understand the stakes. They just figure that if energy gets scarce, then they will get to control more little green pieces of paper.

...

On loss and inefficiency:

It's true that converting energy from one form to another ultimately involves loss. However, it's entirely possible to use 1 unit of energy to release 2 units of energy IF THOSE 2 UNITS are available in nature to be released. For instance the amount of energy required to tap a vast oilfield is much less than the amount of energy stored in the oil that is extracted. Remember, we did nothing to actually produce the oil itself, nature did that. Oil is the product of solar energy shining down on the ancient ecosystem, which then got buried and refined by millions of years of geologic processes. Yes, more energy went into the oil production over that time than we can release in the end, but that is irrelevant to us; we're just taking that stored energy and releasing it to do work. For us, it's a net positive, but only because we didn't actually have to produce the energy in the first place.

As oil supply shrinks, we'll be depending on less convenient sources like Solar. If we fail to establish an efficient infrastructure to make use of alternate sources of energy like sunlight before "peak oil" then we're in big trouble.


Original Yahoo Discussion

Interview of Richard Heinberg

Author, "Peak Everything Waking up to the Century of Declines."

http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2007-0922-2.asx