Arabs urged to develop nuclear energy

The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council urged Arabs to assume proactive roles in the development of nuclear energy. The GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah said cooperation programmes must be launched instead of remaining idle or depending on other states.

"It is time for serious work and for starting Arab nuclear cooperation which we see as a vital future necessity," he said. "This will enable us to launch an Arab programme for nuclear energy that could be used in several areas, including medicine, agriculture, industry and science," he said. The programme would also help the creation of a reserve backup for other sources of energy such as oil and gas, he added.

- This is scary and do you know why? The Gulf Cooperation Council consists of the following countries : Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - in other words, these are the big guns of the Middle East oil exporters. If the countries with the largest oil production and reserves are looking to fall back on nuclear power, that's saying a lot.

(2006-09-11 17:14:43 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Gas mileage, not Gulf oil

peakoil.com -> news.yahoo.com :

Environmentalists are unimpressed by reports this week of a massive, new oil find in the Gulf of Mexico. "It would be bad public policy to continue to concentrate our nation's oil and energy supply in the Gulf of Mexico, which we know is a hurricane highway," Environment Florida's Farrulo said. "Every time a tropical wave forms thousands of miles away the price of oil skyrockets."

Farullo argues that requiring better gas mileage on cars and trucks would be a better way to drive down the price of gas. A recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists found U.S. drivers would spend $50 million less each day on gasoline if fuel efficiency increased by only one mile per gallon.

Tank low and running on fumes

peakoil.com -> theage.com.au :

A controversial theory that global oil production will peak within 25 years has been embraced by a Senate committee with the warning: be worried now. The committee says that, like Sweden, which plans to be oil-free by 2020, Australia should be preparing for an irreversible decline in world oil supplies. A report released last week by the Senate's rural and regional affairs and transport committee is the first official recognition at a national level of the "peak oil" theory.

Geoscience Australia, a Commonwealth agency, predicted that self-sufficiency would drop from 84 per cent to 20 per cent, although these figures excluded undiscovered resources and enhanced oil recovery. The agency forecast that crude oil production would continue at about 550,000 barrels a day until about 2009, then decline to about 224,000 barrels by 2025.

Greens senator Christine Milne, who initiated the inquiry, said evidence to the committee showed that those living on the outskirts of cities were already facing financial pressure because of rising fuel prices and poor public transport. "The Federal Government must begin preparing Australia to reduce its dependence on oil, starting with substantial investment in public transport and redesigning our cities," she said.

Florida county plans to vaporize landfill trash

peakoil.com -> usatoday.com :

A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads - all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than the sun. The $425 million facility expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world. Only two similar facilities are operating in the world - both in Japan - but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.

The 100,000-square-foot plant, slated to be operational in two years, is expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill - 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 - will be gone in 18 years.

No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based company building and paying for the plant. Synthetic, combustible gas produced in the process will be used to run turbines to create about 120 megawatts of electricity that will be sold back to the grid. The facility will operate on about a third of the power it generates, free from outside electricity. Sludge from the county's wastewater treatment plant will be vaporized, and a material created from melted organic matter - up to 600 tons a day - will be hardened into slag, and sold for use in road and construction projects.

(2006-09-11 08:37:41 SGT) [Env] Permalink

Oil Depletion Protocol launches

peakoil.com -> oildepletionprotocol.org :

As we move into an era of oil depletion and energy constraint, everything from transportation to medicine to food to climate change response strategies will be affected. Almost everything we do is dependent on oil.

The transition to a future of reduced oil supply will require the development of clean, reliable, and renewable energy sources and reduced oil production and consumption. The Oil Depletion Protocol will allow us to accomplish both - simply, conservatively, and cooperatively. It is a plan for a sensible energy future.

(2006-09-11 08:25:56 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Australians guzzle oil while supplies dwindle

peakoil.com -> abc.net.au :

Some members of the Federal Coalition are urging the Government to start planning for the time when the world's supply of oil starts to run down. But new figures show that Australians are relying on their cars more than ever.

MARYANN WOOD (Bureau of Statistics): In the year ending 31st of October 2005, the report actually shows that Australian vehicles travelled just over 206 billion kilometres. This is actually a record figure.

CHRISTINE MILNE: Australia should be planning for peak oil before 2030. There is overwhelming evidence that the world is running out of oil and certainly the age of cheap, plentiful, easily accessible oil is over.