Energy Wars

There is no end in sight to the recent strong gains in oil prices, endangering world economic growth and food equilibrium. This prediction is supported by our own modeling, which indicates that prices are more likely to go up than down in the near future. Could this mess have been avoided, why did it come about and what can be done?

Why is everything running out at the same time? We did a series on Planet Green where we looked at why those basic things that we take for granted, like water, food and fuel are getting expensive and scarce, all at once.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) member's recent call for the agency to require nuclear power plants to better protect high-level radioactive waste on site was seconded by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which has advocated for safer storage of spent nuclear fuel rods for years. In a May 13 speech at a nuclear industry trade group forum, NRC Commissioner Gregory B. Jaczko said it is much safer to store spent nuclear fuel rods in steel and concrete containers, called dry casks, than in large water-filled concrete pits, known as wet pools. He recommended that his agency require plants to expeditiously transfer spent fuel from wet pools to dry casks rather than allow it to accumulate in the pools.

What's it got to do with the price of gas? Would some reporter with access to the Republican presidential candidate please ask John McCain why he wants to continue President Bush's Mideast policy when it has proved so ruinous for American taxpayers? Because McCain is determined to ignore our economic meltdown and shift the debate to foreign policy, shouldn't he have to explain why an open-ended military presence in the Mideast will make us economically and militarily more secure when the opposite is clearly the case?

The world's premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand.

Peak Oil blog and website

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half - and food by 80 percent - people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time.

The following is an article I prepared for the Peak Oil Review, which is produced by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas. The United States was blessed with abundant reserves of crude petroleum, high quality and easily taken from the ground. Up until 1973, we were the world's biggest producer of crude oil, and even today remain the third biggest, ranking behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Could the combination of record household and government debt, rising interest rates, soaring energy prices, the bursting housing bubble, a falling dollar and a little nudge in the right direction from Osama all conspire to create that perfect economic storm? Could it all just collapse on us here in the largest "economy" on earth? And if it does, what would the new America look like after the fall?