Peak Oil has been a theory of immense discussion and though I don’t get much of it, the comprehension that it has something to do with maximum oil production around the globe is ample for me and for the rest of you. I may not understand the basics of Peak Oil, but what I do know is that the global oil reserves are diminishing fast. Indeed, the heavy oil consumption now leaves us at a point where only half of the earths’ oil reserves are left.

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Stop the dependence on oil is the rallying cry.  Are there alternative, alternate fuel sources to oil?

There are. Here are 12 of them …

1. Wind power – is a converted form of solar energy. The atmosphere warms differently. Hot air rises, reducing the atmospheric pressure at the earth’s surface, and cooler air is drawn in to replace it. The result is wind.
2. Solar power – concentrating solar power systems, passive solar heating and daylighting, photovoltaic systems, solar hot water, and solar process heat and space heating and cooling.
3. Tidal power – Energy produced by tidal waves

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They say the balance of power shifts with the control over natural gases and oil reserves. It might be the right notion with Russia, US, Canada and Denmark staking their claim over the region that falls north of the Arctic Circle.

These countries would get back to staking their claims as scientists from the USGS in collaboration with international researchers have revealed that the Arctic may hold twice the oil previously found there. Not just the oil reserves, the sedimentary basins in the area, also house natural gas reserves.

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Made from the world’s excessive dependency on oil for energy— largely thanks to their huge oil exports, the gulf nations today have arguably some of the highest GDP on the planet. But with a green wave spreading across the planets and nations calling for a cut in relying on oil for energy, the Gulf countries are now worried about the implications of the eco-friendly movement in their economies. And they … should.

Gulf Nighttime - The dunes, the ocean and oil rigs

As more and more people are turning away from gasoline, conventional power and crude oil products and head towards solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells, the economies of the Middle East nations could take a hit of around 5 to 20 percent. Some say, even more!

At an OPEC energy conference, Mohammad al-Sabban of the Saudi Ministry of petroleum expressed his growing concerns in this regard and said that if the trend continued, then the nations of the Gulf had a huge share of international wealth to lose out on. And already, nations like Saudi Arabia are thinking of tapping into the solar industry to avert future ‘disasters’.

Is it time to understand that relying on oil is not going last forever? Those wells WILL eventualy dry. And it could be pretty soon …

Original image by chriscpk214

Irrespective of the reasons that have contributed to this, it is indeed heartening to see that the amount of crude oil that is being used currently in the US, has dropped to the consumption levels of 2003.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, demand for oil in the U.S. in 2008 went down by 6% to 19.4m barrels/day. And while that still forms huge chunks of carbon dioxide constantly released into the atmosphere, it still is a considerable decline indeed.

The reduction in oil consumption might have come from a variety of reasons. From the bad economy that forces more commuters to use public transportation to a switch the alternate fuel, this is obviously a development that one can be slightly happy about.

Still, no reason to feel ecstatic.

The US oil consumption in 2003 was no small number in itself and despite the 3.3 percent drop in use of gasoline one cannot help but think that this has more to do with the ‘green dollars’ rather than ‘green thoughts’.

Is environmental awareness starting to become a by-product of sound economy? Very well could be and we are not complaining as long as the results keep flowing in.

Source: TreeHugger & AutoBlogGreen
Original Image by marinephotobank

Japan gets almost all of its oil from the Middle East and has nothing to give in return…except water.

Ultra dry Middle East needs water, (doesn’t everyone?) and must produce it from the salt water nearby. There’s a consortium including Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. and Toray Industries Inc. that is developing a desalination plant. That’s not new news. But the plant will use half as much power as existing facilities. That’s BIG news. Imagine, using less fossil fuels to produce electricity to desalinate.

Desalination Process

There is a group of 14 companies, including Kajima Corp. that will build a prototype this year. They will work together in such areas as membrane production and plant design. More energy savings will come from reworking the water-treatment process. The new process exceeds current quality standards.

The Middle East is the target of the consortium. From 2010, other countries wil be in their sites

Honda knows that fuel-saving cars and low inventory are the keys to staying competitive.

The company also knows that saving fuel is saving our environment and producing cars on demand doesn’t tax other global resources as well.

Honda’s President was interviewed – excerpts:

“Compact cars like the Jazz (known as the Fit in Japan) remain stable in the region, but we are having a hard time selling larger vehicles.” Duh?!

“…the rise in crude oil prices will have long-term implications for us. Accordingly, what we should do now is develop more inexpensive, fuel-efficient vehicles.” Why wait till the economy is a mess?

“It is equally important to improve the lineup of energy-saving vehicles. We will go into an offensive mode highlighting hybrid vehicles.”

Honda knows that making cars friendlier to our environment and less taxing on our resources is a long term solution. America’s Big Three! Are you reading?

Image courtesy of Clint M Chilcott

An Exxon Mobil green ad was banned in the UK because it was said to be misleading, an ad-industry watch dog reported.

“We concluded that the ad misleadingly implied that natural gas was one of the cleanest sources of energy and that liquefied natural gas was environmentally friendly,” ASA said in a statement.

Exxon on the other hand said “they accurately stated that natural gas is one of the world’s cleanest fuels and that liquefied natural gas will play an important role in delivering new energy supplies.” Just to make up your opinion here is the advertisement.

What do you say?

A friend and I were discussing a couple of days an incident that happened at the Rose Bowl parade. One of the floats ran out of gas. The whole parade was held up because the float sponsor didn’t think to put enough gas in the car that carried the float. The sponsor, one of America’s huge oil company.

Perhaps oil companies should take care of the simple things, get their house in order before they make claims about the ‘other things’ they do, like go green or just put on a pretty face at a parade for example.

What do you think?

As Bush made a move to protect the world’s largest marine sanctuary, on the other side of the world there is another surprise leader in the protection of the marine environment – China. China held its first international drill against oil spills with South Korea off the coast of Qingdao. Some 500 people, one helicopter, one fixed wing aircraft and 29 vessels were involved … none of them leaking anything, of course.

The Northwest Pacific region is at the highest risk of oil spills and a natural place for pollution prevention training. China gets some 400 oil tankers visiting each day carrying some 420 million tons of crude oil annually. In the past 24 years there have been 79 accidents involving oil spills of at least 50 tons of oil. Gosh, that’s about a year’s worth of crude oil wasted, no?

China lags in maritime firefighting capability and oil cleaning equipment. But, perhaps the Middle Kingdom is turning the corner. South Korea had the most serious oil spill in history last year when 15,000 tons of crude oil leaked into the sea near Hong Kong.

The U.S. Geological Survey has some insight into what lies beneath/near/on the Arctic Circle:

1. An estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil
2. Enough oil to supply the WORLD’s needs for nearly 3 years.
3. Maybe 1.670 trillion cubic fee of natural gas
4. About 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil
5. About 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas
6. About 20% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas liquids
7. Some 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle
8. The home to polar bears already losing their natural habitat to melting of their land
9. A possible cause for a conflict between Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark and the United States who are laying claim to chunks of the huge energy resources.

So, should we go drilling or not? Remember what arthroscopic surgery can do before answering that question.

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