A Free-Market Energy Blog

'Peak Rock': The ONION Goes Neo-Malthusian (Fixity/depletion curse expands)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 22, 2012

“We are on a collision course to a world without rocks. Only take as many rocks as you absolutely need.”

        – Dr. Victoria  Merrill, author, No Stone Unturned: Methods For Modern Rock Conservation

“Think about it. When was the last time you even saw a boulder?”

         – Henry Kaiser (ge0logist and Onion expert)

The easy oil has been found. There are no more mega-fields. Costs up … prices up … economic stress … crises.

We have such certain knowledge from the smartest guys in many rooms: Paul Ehrlich, John Holdren, Colin Campbell, Jean LaherrèreRichard Heinberg, Chris Skrebowski, Matthew Simmons, …. and Kenneth Deffeyes.

Oil output peaked on December 16, 2005, in case you did not know it, according to geologist Kenneth Deffeyes in his 2010 book When Oil Peaked, available at Amazon in hardcover for one penny (yes, one penny!).…

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Wimp Power: Some Quotations from Wind's Critics

By -- June 21, 2012

Energy and environmental issues need to be addressed using logic and scientific thinking, not emotion, wishes, and depiction.  On a realistic basis, industrial wind energy fails to deliver the goods. By this I mean that windpower:

1) Is not a technically sound solution to provide us electricity, or to meaningfully reduce global warming, and

2) Is not an economically viable source of energy on its own, and

3) Is not environmentally responsible

When you take away the wind lobbyists’ fast-talking shenanigans, their con comes down to these two things: They are telling us what we want to hear, and we’re not really verifying the truth of what they’re saying.

The intellectual conjurers have a clever one-two marketing campaign. First we’re told that the planet is facing imminent catastrophe. And then a salesman comes to our community with a solution!

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New Oil & Gas Talent Needed: Students, Retirees Take Note (industry needs freed renewable-energy talent too)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 20, 2012

“It’s been my experience in 17 years of recruiting in the oil and gas industry [that] this is the ‘sweet spot,'” [Tim] Cook wrote in an email, referring to the 10- to 30-year range. “These are the individuals that companies are wanting to hire, and because of the downturn in the mid-’80s to mid-’90s, this is the missing generation in the oil and gas industry.”

Talent needed! Jobs available! Training required! Students: please major in petroleum engineering. Retirees, we need you back. University of Phoenix–start your oil and gas engines. Staffing professionals–help us please!

This is the good news, the great news, from the energy sector. And it is the reality that President Obama and public-policy makers at all government levels should understand–and heed.

First, some background. Environment & Energy News has a daily subscription service that a lot of us must read each workday: E&E Daily, Greenwire, E&E News PM, and ClimateWire.…

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"Nothing is more fungible than a good idea" (U.S. as global high-tech oil/gas leader)

By Steve Maley -- June 19, 2012
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"Wind Farms Canceled, Layoffs Starting" (government dependence is risky business)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 18, 2012
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Why We Should Love the Oil Companies (Straight talk from an industry outsider)

By -- June 15, 2012
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"Truthland:" Response to Factually Challenged "Gasland"

By Steve Everley -- June 14, 2012
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Congestion Pricing for Road Finance: Time to Replace Gasoline Taxes?

By Randal O'Toole -- June 13, 2012
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Fighting AGW Religion in North Carolina (sea-level-rise debate gets political)

By -- June 12, 2012
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Reconsidering U.S. EPA's Proposed NESHAP's Mercury Emission Rule

By Willie Soon and Christopher Monckton of Brenchley -- June 11, 2012
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