Can Climate Change Be Stopped by Turning Air Into Gasoline?
David Fridley Richard Heinberg
It sounds too good to be true. Is it?
Politics versus the Future: Canada’s Orwellian Energy Standoff
Governments telling us we must increase emissions from oil and gas production in order to meet emissions reduction targets would make George Orwell proud.
The Problem with EIA Shale Gas and Tight Oil Forecasts
Each year the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) produces forecasts of U.S. oil and gas production in its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), which is widely viewed as an authoritative assessment of what to expect for future U.S. oil and...
Getting Past Trump, Part 2: The Russia Connection
In Part 1 of this essay we surveyed the historical, economic, and cultural context for the upset victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. I did not mention Russian interference in that election. That’s because it is a subject...
Getting Past Trump, Part 1: This Is How Democracies Die
Ed note: This piece is part of a 3-part series. Part 1 is also cross-posted on Truthout. Donald Trump’s 13-month tenure (so far) as president of the United States has been an exhausting sprint for onlookers concerned about the state...
New U.S. Record-Level Oil Production! Peak Oil Theory Disproven! Not.
Well, I’m amazed and impressed. Tight oil production has pushed total United States petroleum output to more than 10 million barrels a day, a rate last seen almost a half-century ago. It’s a new U.S. record. Fifteen years ago...
The Brief Sad Story of GDP—and the Happy Alternative
Local Futures and the Economics of Happiness, Richard discusses why GDP growth became a measure of success, why it’s officially a failure, the reasons growth can’t continue indefinitely, and why we need a metric that reflects human and ecological wellbeing. Originally presented...
U.S. Department of Energy Doubles Down on Shale Optimism
The U.S. stock market is not the only thing that’s gotten overheated in the last few years. Exuberance over U.S. energy output has hit a record high as natural gas production has reached its all-time peak, and oil production...
EIA: U.S. Energy Abundance for Now— But Don’t Peek Behind That Curtain!
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy is about to release its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) 2018, with forecasts for American oil, gas, and other forms of energy production through mid-century. As usual, energy journalists...
Why Bitcoin’s Value Could Eventually Approach Zero
According to most observers, the speculative bubble-of-the-year award for 2017—had there been one—would have gone to Bitcoin, the value of which soared from under $800 in January of last year to almost $20,000 by mid-December. In fact, though, Ripple (a...