Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
For my ultimate post of 2011, I would like to write about something that was little to not noticed at all, yet as crucial as the increased importance of extreme weather events : oil prices were at their highest average ever this year.
According to some research carried out by the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (Cera) mentioned in Le Figaro [Fr] oil prices averaged $111 throughout 2011.
In 2008 – when oil prices reached the all-time high levels of $147 – the barrel of brent had averaged ” only ” $99. We had then noticed a near-exponential escalation of oil prices… Continue »
Here is something we never heard about before. To the Associated Press : ” Environmentalists estimate at least 1 percent of Russia’s annual oil production, or 5 million tons, is spilled every year.
That is equivalent to one Deepwater Horizon-scale leak about every two months. Crumbling infrastructure and a harsh climate combine to spell disaster in the world’s largest oil producer, responsible for 13 percent of global output.
(…) Half a million tons every year get into rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, the government says, upsetting the delicate environmental balance in those waters.
To Business Week : ” Sun-drenched Kuwait, a desert nation with no solar-power plants and electricity demand that’s growing about 8 percent a year, has set the most ambitious target for using renewable energy in the Gulf region.”
The country plans to have ten percent of renewables in its electricity mix by 2020. This exceeds by three points the goals of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. This is a huge goal as the local energy demand doubled in ten years.
Fully understanding that they won’t be able to rely on oil indefinitely, many Middle East countries are diversifying their economies and energy supplies.
To Echo Sierra : ” According to the UN Population Fund, the global population will reach 7 billion souls on the 31st of October 2011, giving concerns about the natural resources scarcity and inequalities a renewed and actual acuity.”
” According to UN estimates, world population could grow to 15 billion by the end of the century, while global economy is based on limited – and thus craved – resources. Conditions are met for an escalation of tensions and conflictuality.”
I personally believe that it will prove difficult to reach even nine billion people as climate gets warmer and weirder. Olivier is absolutely right in saying that we will face an escalation of tensions… Continue »
Here is another post I wrote on Cleantechies : ” While I was visiting my family in the Region of Lorraine – North Eastern France – I came across two distinct news illustrating the possible future of the region, and in a way, of the whole country. ”
” The first one is about dirty polluting fossil energy as to Elixir Petroleum, an Australian company, there would be massive quantities of shale oil and gas in Lorraine’s soil. ”
As always with guest posts, to keep reading, please check out their website. I look forward to reading your comments and thoughts there.
I have been a huge fan of Thomas L Friedman’s op-ed pieces in the New York Times for years. Here is another one that won’t change my mind about this brilliant journalist and author (See my review of his latest book)
I believe he is one of the best thinkers on our current economic, environmental and energy problems to date. Anyone who is willing to act on these issues should read him.
Indeed, Friedman believes America – and the world as a whole – should start as soon as possible a Green Revolution. I couldn’t agree more. Continue »
To Climate Progress : “ Wednesday, Shell claimed responsibility for two oil spills dating to 2008 (which) are estimated to exceed the 11 million gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster. “ (over 40 million liters)
” As a 2010 article by the Guardian’s environment editor explained: With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. “
” Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations… ” Continue »
According to Fast Company : ” Many major cities have seen a decline in driving over the past few years. The reasons for this are varied, but if it’s a continuing trend, it’s going to mean drastic changes for the way we shape our cities. “
” (…) There’s just one caveat: The study only looked at car usage patterns in Europe, North America, and Australia. In rapidly developing countries like India and China, car use is likely to grow for the foreseeable future. “
So perhaps peak car will occur in peak oil in Western countries. But it is most unlikely that on a global level it will be the case… Indeed, there might be billions of cars on the roads in 2050, when there are 600 million today.
According to Environment America, a federation of US organizations, the country could reduce its oil dependence by 79 billion gallons per year—more than all of their imports from OPEC nations.
For those who are not familiar with gallons and other non-metric – I almost wrote exotic – measures, this represents 299 047 530 936 liters of oil, or 1.88 billion oil barrels. These would save the United States 5 million barrels of oil per day !
These are huge savings, perhaps not as much as the US could and should do but by any means, this would represent an excellent beginning. Would this be enough in the face of peak oil ? Continue »
To TreeHugger : “A measure that would remove roughly $6 billion in annual ethanol subsidies just passed the U.S. Senate, signaling, among other things, a shift in public attitude towards the once-heralded alternative fuel.
” It wasn’t so long ago that corn ethanol was considered a plausible replacement for oil – but that was before further scientific inquiry revealed it to be nearly as environmentally damaging as black gold. ”
” Today, the Senate has cleared the way towards ending the ethanol industry’s generous federal funding.” I hope that other rich nations will understand that biofuels aren’t the sustainable solution they promised to be…
