By Wang Ying
Original article

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) — China’s central province of Hubei, which has the world’s largest hydropower station, has started rationing electricity to meet demand during the Olympics and the summer after fuel supplies fell.

The provincial government decided to cut power supplies to the capital city of Wuhan by 34 percent, the city of Huangshi by 31 percent and Huanggang by 16 percent, the local economic commission said in a statement posted on its Web site.

China, facing its sixth year of electricity shortages, mothballed 3 percent of its coal-fired generating capacity as of July 25 after fuel supplies dwindled, State Grid Corp. of China said last week. Coal stockpiles at Hubei’s power plants have fallen below the “caution line” of 750,000 metric tons, the provincial government said. Read the complete Post.

By Patrick Barry Web edition
Science News
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Burying carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants could increase other pollutants. As pollution bad guys go, carbon dioxide may be the media darling, but trying to capture it and lock it away could allow other repeat offenders to go free.

Power plant emissions that cause acid rain, water pollution and destruction of the ozone layer may actually be made worse by capturing the CO2 and pumping it deep underground, a new study reported online and in an upcoming International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control suggests.

This increase of other emissions is largely because collecting and burying CO2 — a process called carbon sequestration — requires additional energy, new equipment and new chemical reactions at the plants. And using current technology, meeting all of these requirements releases extra pollutants. Read the complete Post.

Original post with slideshow

Some people get a little concerned about more electrics and electric-hybrid cars. That’s because 50% of electric power in the U.S. comes from coal-burning power plants. And, just about every state wants to build more power plants to meet peak demand.

The big automakers are working on coming up with plug in hybrids. By the end of 2010, G-M and Toyota plan to have cars you can plug in to charge up batteries, backed up with small gas powered engines. Lester Graham reports there are concerns about whether pollution from power plants will be any better than pollution from tailpipes:

A related article from USA TODAY
A related blog post from TreeHugger

Producer: Lester Graham
Release Date: August 25, 2008
Running Time: 3:11

by Staff Writers
New York (AFP) Aug 25, 2008Original article

VPO note – global warming and peak oil connect to create food shortages that are soon going to both trump and worsen political and religious conflicts between countries. Good example.

Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran’s search for agricultural self-sufficiency.

According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Iran has bought about 1.18 million tonnes of US hard wheat since the beginning of the 2008-2009 crop season in June.

The number, which has been growing steadily all summer, already represents nearly 5.0 percent of US annual exports forecast by the USDA.

The last time Iran imported US wheat was in 1981-1982. Read the complete Post.

PIOTR DUTKIEWICZ
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
August 26, 2008 at 7:46 AM EDT
Original article

VPO note – this article is included not just because the recent mini-war in Russia may have simply been an attempt to diffuse the stigma or America’s war for oil in Iraq, but also because (like the war in Afghanistan) it’s likely to turn out to be as much about natural gas pipelines as anything else.

Some critics have pointed to the conflict in Georgia as another example of botched Bush administration foreign policy. But, in fact, America’s real strategy was brilliantly executed, and it achieved exactly the intended outcome. Unfortunately, it’s not an outcome that makes the world a safer place.

First, it’s important to note that this dispute is not about Georgia or South Ossetia, both victims of collateral damage in geopolitical manoeuvring. It is not about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili miscalculating the Russian response to his attack or overestimating the amount of support he would get from the West – Mr. Saakashvili is really just a colourful bit player. Nor is this entirely a case of an emboldened Russia striking back at the West for its support of Kosovo independence, or the Orange Revolution, or the Eastern European missile-defence shield, though all of these things are factors.

Simply put, this was about the U.S. depositioning the only globally significant country that consistently challenges it on foreign policy issues, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was a successful but wrongheaded attempt to undermine Russia’s global status by setting a trap into which Russia had to fall. And it was about creating a villain for U.S. domestic political reasons. Read the complete Post.

By Christopher Swann
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Original article

VPO note – this is what happens when you don’t think of the Big Picture of Overshoot and all its consequences. The solution to one problem (like addressing poverty) makes another problem (like global warming) worse.

Once the new Tata Ultra Mega power plant in western India is fired up in 2012 and fully operational, it will become one of the world’s 50 largest greenhouse-gas emitters. And the World Bank is helping make it possible.

A year after World Bank President Robert Zoellick pledged to “significantly step up our assistance” in fighting climate change, the development institution is increasing its financing of fossil-fuel projects around the globe.

The $4.14 billion, coal-powered Ultra Mega plant will emit more carbon dioxide annually than the nation of Tunisia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The World Bank in April agreed to provide $450 million in loans and guarantees for the project and also may buy a $50 million stake in it.

“The World Bank’s lending record does not match up to Zoellick’s rhetoric,” says Heike Mainhardt-Gibbs, a consultant to the Bank Information Center, a Washington watchdog group. “The institution is simply not slowing down its significant funding to fossil-fuel projects that will emit greenhouse gases for 20 to 40 years.” Read the complete Post.

August 23, 2008
By JAD MOUAWAD
NY Times
Original article

VPO Note – Hmm, okay, so when the price goes up, it’s speculation, but when the price goes down, it’s supply and demand?

Until recently, it seemed that oil prices could move in only one direction: up. But in the last few weeks, the great energy rally that kicked off at the beginning of the decade has shown signs of running out of steam.

A combination of weak economic growth, slowing demand and shifting perceptions has sent oil prices down 21 percent from last month’s peak. Prices have fallen in two of every three trading sessions this month despite hurricanes looming over the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore wells, a war in the Caucasus that threatens Caspian supplies and more violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta.

Only a short while ago, such events would have sent prices still higher. But energy markets, which for years had focused mainly on risks to supplies, have suddenly started paying attention to the impact that high prices are having on consumers. Read the complete Post.

Visit the conference website now.
Hold these dates for the Fifth U.S. Conference
on Peak Oil and Community Solutions:
October 31- November 2, 2008
Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan

Why Attend This Conference?

Skyrocketing oil prices, mounting geopolitical tensions, grave economic realities, and dangerous climate changes are threatening our lives and communities like never before.

The age of cheap, abundant fossil fuels is coming to an end, and urgent action is required to transform our over-consumptive society into one that uses far less energy.

By acting now to reduce household energy use and re-localize economic production, we can create resilient, sustainable communities that will be able to weather the coming economic and ecological storms. Read the complete Post.

by Ellen Brown
Global Research, August 14, 2008
Original article

“I’m in show business, why come to me?”

“War is show business, that’s why we’re here.”
– “Wag the Dog” (1997 film)

Last week, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up. Strangely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300 points, the dollar strengthened, and gold and oil were crushed. What happened? Read the complete Post.

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 21, 2008; Page A01
Original article

Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses.

But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol’s books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol’s portfolio — at one point in July, the firm held 11 percent of all the oil contracts on the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange. Read the complete Post.