Comments on: Why is Obama Drilling?

By: Lawrence Gostlin

Lawrence Gostlin — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:45:24 +0000

There are many many people that track the crude oil price per barrel. Not only do oil investors keep track of the prices but average people do as well because it affects the price they pay per gallon of gas. Where do you think the price per barrel of crude oil will be heading this summer? Maybe all this crap in Israel will send it through the roof!

By: Emanuel

Emanuel — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:10:48 +0000

You miss a very important point here. The amount of oil in the tar sands of Alberta is irrelevant, because the *rate* at which that oil can be extracted (even with the best technology) is miniscule. If the world uses a fire hose of oil, tar sands are a dripping kitchen sink. It doesn’t matter if there is 100 times the amount of “recoverable” oil in Alberta. It cannot add any appreciable amount to production rates. All it will do is make a few people a lot of money as the price continues to rise and rise.

By: Guava

Guava — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:52:34 +0000

President Obama’s offshore drilling proposal may be a non-event in the short-term, says Reuters commodities specialist Christopher Henwood. However in the long-term it may have a positive impact as U.S. dependence on foreign oil may wane…

By: Willem

Willem — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:06:20 +0000

Peak oil theory is not only about ultimately producible quantities, but also about production rates and energy return on energy invested. Oil production from marginal sources has a lower energy return and poses the problem that proportionally higher resources must be directed towards production if similar production rates (compared to conventional oil) were to be maintained. At an energy return of energy investment ratio of one, the production effort only re-circulates energy and does not produce ay excess for use in the economy. This is the cut-off point for classifying a resource as a potential energy reserve.
This poses a major and imminent energy security risk. My own analysis indicates that the impact on global warming is that the maximum attainable emissions trajectory (based on analysis of supply potential opposed to the more regularly encountered demand projections) compares well with some of the IPCC mitigation scenarios.
See “Implications of fossil fuel constraints on economic growth and global warming” in Energy Policy journal and “Defining limits: Energy constrained economic growth” in Applied Energy journal for more details.

By: Ricardo Coelho

Ricardo Coelho — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 09:50:44 +0000

“Oddly enough, our national policy is now to increase fossil fuel production, in the hopes of winning support for reducing fossil fuel consumption.”
That is if you think that a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases will reduce fossil fuel consumption. I disagree and see carbon trading as a way to continue fossil fuel burning. The recent e-book by Carbon Trade Watch (downloadable on their site) makes this point very clearly. Ironically, some Senators also made the same point, as a way of showing support for the cap-and-trade bills.

By: T R Nagesh

T R Nagesh — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:11:35 +0000

Alternative sources of Power

We have been reading and listening to this valid and significant talk about developing alternative sources of power for decades. Again, environment-related conferences get much hype and attention. The fact remains that nothing substantial has been done by either developed or developing nations. Are the policy makers really listening or they atleast follow-up on their commitments made at the International fora ? We often end up playing the blame game. The real issue is however left unresolved and is passed on to next generation.

By: Off-shore drilling and misplaced incentives « Public Goods: The economics of climate, equity and shared prosperity

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:16:02 +0000

[...] what will it mean for greenhouse gas reductions? My colleague Frank Ackerman has a posting on the TripleCrisis blog today on off-shore drilling, peak oil, and how they relate to a carbon tax: Solving our energy [...]