Energy Efficiency

WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 18 — Record high crude prices, combined with the declining value of the US dollar and growing signs of a recession, make increased US oil and gas production necessary not only for the nation’s energy security but also for its economic survival, a leading advocacy group told reporters Apr. 17.

“Energy security can’t be subjugated to climate change. If we don’t address both, we’ll have neither,” said Robbie Diamond, president and chief executive of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), as the organization released a new report, A Different Type of Price Spike.

[Read more →]

In 2001 – in my Guide - I wrote of a food shortages as oil and water shortages grow.

This a transcript on an interview with IEA chief economist Published: November 7 2007 15:50 | Last updated: November 7 2007 18:36 Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, interviewed by Ed Crooks and Javier Blas of the FT.

ED CROOKS: There was a phrase in your report that leapt out at me: “Rising global energy demand poses a real and growing threat to the world’s energy security.” Is that your most important message today ?

FATIH BIROL: There are two major messages I was getting from the book. The first one is exactly what you say. The energy security risks are so strong, and probably increasing, for an upward event in the markets, and the second is on the climate change, on the CO2 emissions, the levels are reaching a certain level that we are [getting to] an irreversible trend for our planet.

For energy security, we may have supply disruptions, huge implications for economy, this and that, but at the end of the day, the world economy can again recover. We can have the prices come to a certain level that people adjust their lives. But in terms of climate change, in terms of the planet’s temperature, if it reaches a certain level, this, the implication on our planet and human beings, animals and the plants and everything, these implications are irreversible.

[Read more →]

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated
——————————
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated’ people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
—————————–
Defenceless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
[Read more →]

The frozen water pipe this morning was a rude awakening. I managed to thaw the pipe without bursting it, thus saving the cost of a plumber. However, a few hours later, I opened our bill for home heating oil.

At $2.70 per gallon, it was a blunt reminder that, with petroleum at $100 a barrel, the future cost of keeping fuel in our furnace — and gasoline in our cars — will make the plumber’s price pale in comparison.

According to the “experts,” those of us who drive to work will be paying $4 per gallon for motor fuel soon, and we all will be paying more for electricity, consumer products, air travel and to heat our homes. Happy New Year.

[Read more →]

New study of mammals’ shows large animals have been pushed to globe’s farthest reaches. Peter Calamai Science Reporter, Toronto Star

The expansion of humanity that began with European colonization has exacted a far deadlier toll than previously realized on the world’s other large land mammals, a new study has found. Only one-fifth of the Earth’s surface is today home to the same diversity of large mammals as five centuries ago and most of that lies in six remote wilderness areas, such as the Canadian Arctic and the Amazon basin.

Wildlife researchers say this large-scale vanishing act is bad news for the continued health of ecological systems. “Areas retaining a full complement of large mammals are more likely to be ecologically functional than those missing one or more large mammal species,” warns John Morrison of the World Wildlife Fund. [Read more →]