Quit complaining and get used to high prices - King Abdullah
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whose nation is the world’s number one oil exporter, called on consumer countries to get used to high prices in comments published on Tuesday.
“Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and the mechanisms of the market,” the king said in an interview published by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassah.
“We have nothing to do with the current sharp increase in crude prices,” he said reiterating the Saudi position that speculation, rising demand and the taxation of oil products in consumer countries were to blame.
“These countries must reduce their taxes on fuel.. if they want to contribute to easing the burden on ordinary consumers,” he said.
Claims that Saudi’s have nothing to do with price escalation blames speculation, rising demand and the taxation of oil products.
OPEC president Chakib Khelil said there was uncertainty surrounding future investment in facilities to boost crude output.
International Energy Agency (IEA) said growth in supply would outpace demand until 2010, after which the market would likely experience supply tensions.
“Blaming speculation is an easy solution which avoids taking the necessary steps to improve supply-side access and investment or to implement measures to improve energy efficiency.” - IEA
Abdullah reasserts that the Gulf has “enough oil resources to satisfy demand.”
The world had long assumed that Americans were just unrepentant energy pigs. If gas prices went up, well, we kept our Explorers aimed at the horizon, and little changed. We truthfully didn’t have lots of options. Unlike Europeans, we didn’t have jobs we could bike to or convenient public transit. Gasoline prices never stayed high enough long enough to force those kinds of shifts in how we lived.
Hey, I decree that civil servants must chill on Friday - Utah Governor Jon Huntsman
Starting next month, thousands of government employees will only work 4 days per week, in an effort aimed at reducing energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Starting next month, it will be “TGIT” for Utah state employees. As in: “Thank God It’s Thursday.”
In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees.
They will put in 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday, and have Fridays off, freeing them to golf, shop, spend time with the kids or do anything else that strikes their fancy. They will get paid the same as before.
yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek
Golf courses expected to benefit greatly from the extra free time
Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman’s order will affect about 17,000 out of 24,000 executive-branch employees.
Turning off the lights, the heat and the air conditioning on Fridays in 1,000 of 3,000 government buildings will save about $3 million a year out of a state budget of $11 billion
many states are looking at cost-saving measures, including expanded telecommuting, compressed workweeks and more flexible schedules.
Old ideas, revived in an era of new relevance…bring on the “new normal.” Kudos to another Republican for grabbing another low hanging fruit! I wonder if Mr. Huntsman stole this idea from the Work Less Party manifesto?
WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential Republican senator suggested Thursday that Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit to save gasoline and possibly ease fuel prices. Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to look into what speed limit would provide optimum gasoline efficiency given current technology. He said he wants to know if the administration might support efforts in Congress to require a lower speed limit.
Congress in 1974 set a national 55 mph speed limit because of energy shortages
55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day, or 2 percent of the country’s highway fuel consumption, while avoiding up to 4,000 traffic deaths a year.
Spokeswoman for DOE says “If Congress is serious about addressing gasoline prices, they must take action on expanding domestic oil and natural gas production.”
fuel efficiency decreases rapidly when traveling faster than 60 mph. Every additional 5 mph over that threshold is estimated to cost motorists “essentially an additional 30 cents per gallon in fuel costs,”
Hip hip hooray for a Republican…wow that sounded weird.
Congress has always had a soft spot for “experts” who tell members what they want to hear, whether it’s supply-side economists declaring that tax cuts increase revenue or climate-change skeptics insisting that global warming is a myth.
Right now, the welcome mat is out for analysts who claim that out-of-control speculators are responsible for $4-a-gallon gas.
Back in May, Michael Masters, a hedge fund manager, made a big splash when he told a Senate committee that speculation is the main cause of rising prices for oil and other raw materials. He presented charts showing the growth of the oil futures market, in which investors buy and sell promises to deliver oil at a later date, and claimed that “the increase in demand from index speculators” — his term for institutional investors who buy commodity futures — “is almost equal to the increase in demand from China.”
In May, Michael Masters, a hedge fund manager told a Senate committee that speculation is the main cause of rising prices for oil and other raw materials.
Master further stated “the increase in demand from index speculators is almost equal to the increase in demand from China.”
politicians are eager to pin the blame for oil prices on speculators because it lets them believe that we don’t have to adapt to a world of expensive gas.
buying a futures contract doesn’t directly reduce the supply of oil to consumers it “may” however encourae “some” producers to hoard oil.
the usual telltale signs of a speculative price boom are missing
growing demand from emerging economies, not speculation, is the real story behind rising prices of raw materials, oil included (iron ore is a good example because it is not traded in the futures market but its price has surged)
Oil prices will fluctuate in the coming years but the long-term trend is surely up.
Why is it so hard to understand that there could be several different mechanisms at work on oil prices? We tend to want to talk in terms of absolutes but in reality there are complex competing mechanisms at play and oil is no exception. Each effect has different sensitivity to price. We can have speculation, rebel groups, war, falling dollar, etc factors that are all at play but the underlying cause with the highest effect is geologically and politically restricted oil supply.
As the “peak” of global petroleum production rapidly approaches, EcoDensity may not be enough to save our oil-dependent society
Michael McCarthy, Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, June 27, 2008
Gazing out his kitchen window in Kitsilano, Richard Balfour can see a clear picture of the future. We are running out of oil, says the founder of the Vancouver Peak Oil Executive, a group of local planners and community organizers concerned about this dilemma and looming crisis that will have a major impact on Vancouver in the near future.
“We are in for a very hard landing,” says Balfour, an architect, recently retired member of the Vancouver City Planning Commission and co-founder of the newly formed volunteer organization Metro Vancouver Planning Coalition. “Anything to do with oil will rise sharply in price, and so much of what we consume is dependent upon oil. We can expect imported food prices to jump as aviation and maritime fuel costs increase, and anyone driving a vehicle that’s a gas guzzler is in for a painful adjustment… There are lots of people who tell you this won’t happen, but these deniers said oil would never go past $100 a barrel.
Climate change could increase flooding in coastal areas, like the flooding that hit the Philippines.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Global warming could destabilize “struggling and poor” countries around the world, prompting mass migrations and creating breeding grounds for terrorists, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council told Congress on Wednesday.
Climate change “will aggravate existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions,” Thomas Fingar said. “All of this threatens the domestic stability of a number of African, Asian, Central American and Central Asian countries.”
“Economic refugees will perceive additional reasons to flee their homes because of harsher climates” That will put pressure on countries receiving refugees, many of which “will have neither the resources nor interest to host these climate migrants,” - Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence Council
storm surges that could affect nuclear facilities and oil refineries near coasts, water shortages in the Southwest and longer summers with more wildfires,
“The United States depends on a smooth-functioning international system ensuring the flow of trade and market access to critical raw materials, such as oil and gas, and security for its allies and partners. Climate change and climate change policies could affect all of these,” he warned, “with significant geopolitical consequences.”
Wealthy countries will be able to handle the situation better than poorer ones
potentially increased migration and water-related disputes — could have a harmful global impact
By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 6, 7:06 AM
TOKYO - The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.
The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a “energy revolution” that would greatly reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.
1400 new nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power (increased by 17,000 units annually) to 1/2 GHG’s by 2050
to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2
International Energy Agency envisions a “energy revolution”
require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale
massive investment in energy technology development and deployment…increase energy efficiency, and a wholesale shift to renewable sources of energy.
$45 Trillion (1.1% of World GDP) - 3X the size of the US economy
an average of 35 coal-powered plants and 20 gas-powered power plants would have to be fitted with carbon capture and storage equipment each year between 2010 and 2050.
Failure to act would lead to a doubling of energy demand and a 130 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050
This is very sobering news. I once again pose the following question: Is the size of our collective response equivalent to the magnitude of the problems we face? If the answer is ‘no’ then what does that mean?
Despite Mayor Sam Sullivan’s electoral loss, the plan to increase city densities has widespread support
Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008
VANCOUVER - For the past two years, EcoDensity has been ridiculed as a marketing ploy, an empty phrase for self-promotion by now-deposed Mayor Sam Sullivan, a giveaway to developers, and a recycled version of existing Vancouver policy.
But it was also praised as a much-needed and exciting kickstart for Vancouver in thinking about how to build a more sustainable city.
