2/17: 'Thousands May Lose Jobs As Cost of Energy Soars': (RedOrbit) - The leader of one of Wales' biggest trade unions has warned the 'lights could go out' and employers be forced to shed thousands of jobs because of a mounting energy crisis.  (Could this happen at home?)

2/17: Cantarell -- An Omen?: (Falls Curch News Press) - There are a lot of bad things out there waiting to bite as the world moves towards peak oil— Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela, China, globalization, and hurricanes to name a few. Last week a new bogeyman arose — super fast oil depletion.  The Cantarell Field in Mexico, second largest producing oil field in the world, is now depleting.

2/16: Japanese Putting All Their Energy Into Saving Fuel: (Washington Post) - The government has set strict new energy-saving targets for 18 kinds of consumer and business electronics. Home and office air conditioners, for instance, must be redesigned to use 63 percent less power by 2008. The targets have sparked a gold rush among electronics makers, who are churning out record numbers of energy-saving -- but higher-priced -- consumer products.  21% of all autos on Japanese roads are hybrid.

2/16: End of the Fossil Era?  Matt Simmons: (Harvard University Gazette) - Simmons said it's unlikely that the world will actually run out of oil, it's entirely possible that, contrary to assurances from the industry, we've already entered a period of peak production. That sets up a tug-of-war over limited resources between rapidly industrializing China and India and the continued demand increases in the West.

2/16: Shortages Fuel Debate on Gas: (Northwest Herald) - There is no single solution to offsetting supply disruptions, but economists, industry executives and analysts tout one means to ease future shortages against increasing demand.  "If we don't have LNG in a big way, our marketable source of fuel is going to be, like, burning furniture, which is only joking partly," said Bob Ineson Cambridge Energy Research Associates' director for North American natural gas. "Without LNG, you are going to have gas shortages, sooner rather than later, and the price situation after hurricanes would grow to be far worse than it is."

2/16: Shedding Light on Solar Cooking: (San Antonio Express News) -  One morning in the spring of 2003, Dell View resident Monica Salyer woke up with the words "solar cooking" on her mind.  Salyer logged onto the Internet and typed the phrase into her search engine. After a bit of research, she purchased a $189 box cooker. "It's easy, easy, easy," the software engineer for Harcourt Assessment said. "You keep your energy. You preserve the planet."

2/16: Spiraling Energy Prices 'Boost' Cost Of Living: (DeHavilland News) - [Sing of things to come?]  Soaring energy costs are placing a burden on industry and having a detrimental effect on the cost of living for British households.  A report by analyst Datamonitor warns that consumers in Britain not only face gas and electricity bill hikes, but also increases in the cost of train tickets, council tax, groceries and hotel bills.

2/15: Africa's Key Role in Oil and Gas: (Rigzone) - -- An influential energy consultancy says Africa will account for 30 percent of the world's liquid hydrocarbon production increase by 2010.  Colorado-based IHS Inc. also said Monday that Africa would supply more than 25 percent of global liquid natural gas capacity by 2010.

2/15: AirGen Tests Ambient Temperature On-Demand Hydrogen Generator: (EV World) - Breakthrough involves novel colloidal metal catalysis reactions that generate ambient temperature on-demand hydrogen. Bench test demonstrator continues to run after more than 384 hours of continuous operation.

2/15: Exxon Mobil Announces Reserves Replacement: (Rigzone) - Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) announced today that additions to its worldwide proved oil and gas reserves totaled 1.7 billion oil-equivalent barrels in 2005, excluding the effects of using single-day, year-end pricing. Production totaled 1.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels in 2005, with 917 million barrels of liquids and 3.7 trillion cubic feet of gas produced. The corporation replaced 112 percent of production including property sales, and 129 percent excluding property sales.

2/15: Saskatchewan Premier Calvert Talks Energy with US VP Cheney: (Rigzone) - Saskatchewan is eager to share some of the spotlight with Alberta when it comes to feeding an insatiable thirst for energy in the United States.

2/15: GE Renewables Unit Gets a Favorable Wind: (International herald Tribune) - When President George W. Bush called last month for more effort in alternative energies, the 300 engineers and financiers at GE Energy Financial Services, a business that last year attracted about $7 billion in investment in the United States, were cheering.  "The renewables space has really heated up, and I hope it will account for 20 or 30 percent of our investments in five years," said Alex Urquhart, the unit's president."

2/15: OPEC Lowers '06 Outlook on Oil Demand: (CNN/Money Online) - OPEC trimmed its forecast for 2006 oil demand growth Wednesday and said uncertainties over consumption in Asia and North America may trigger more cuts as months of near-record prices make themselves felt.  OPEC, supplier of more than a third of the world's oil, said in its monthly report it expects global demand to increase 1.57 million barrels per day (bpd) to 84.64 million. That compares with a projected 1.62 million bpd increase in OPEC's January report.

2/14: One man’s efforts to prepare for the Peak.: (Transition Culture) - Kicking Our Fossil Fuel Addiction: one man’s efforts to live sustainably - by John Watson

2/14: Buckle Up: The (Plug-In) Hybrids are Coming: (Energy Biz Insider) - Palo Alto-based Electric Power Research Institute, which is working on development of the plug-in hybrid along with Daimler-Chrysler, says that the price to run such vehicles is 75-cents a gas-equivalent gallon.

2/14: OPEC Output Down 120,000 bpd in January: (Rigzone) - Overall crude production by oil cartel OPEC fell again in January, dropping by 120,000 barrels per day to 29.68 million barrels per day (mil b/d) from December's 29.8-mil b/d, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed February 13. (5-month Chart)

2/14: Mideast to Dominate Petroleum Products Export Market: (Financial Times) - Europe and the US will become increasingly dependent on the Middle East as an exporter of refined petroleum products over the next 10 years, according to data published on Tuesday.  Aggressive investment in expanding and building new refineries is forecast to boost capacity in the Middle East by 60 per cent, according to the study published by Wood Mackenzie.

2/13: Acciona to invest 220 mln eur in 64 MW solar plant in the US: (Forbes.com) - MADRID (AFX) - Acciona SA said it will invest 220 mln eur in the construction of a 64 MW solar-powered plant in the US state of Nevada.  In a statement, Acciona said the 'Nevada Solar One' plant will be operating by 2007 and is the largest to be built worldwide for 15 years

2/13: Experts assess impact of China's oil needs: (BangorDaily News) - In 1993, there were just 700,000 passenger cars in the entire country of China.  By 2003, there were 5 million. In 2005, Chinese companies sold 5 million [more] new passenger cars and its 2006 production capacity is now estimated at 8 million new cars.  The increased use of passenger cars in China is just one factor that has made the country the second largest consumer of energy in the world behind the United States.

2/12: The Iran crisis & global peak oil: (EV World Blog, by Charles Whalen) - "... my biggest worry in the meantime, and specifically this year, is that I think there's a better than even chance that the US and/or Israel is/are going to launch an aerial bombing campaign with air strikes and cruise missiles on Iran's nuclear facilities sometime this year. If (or rather *when*) that happens, we're going to see oil at over $300 and gasoline over $10 at the pump."

2/11: Energy focus for G8's Moscow meet: (BBC News) - As energy importers, most of the G8 members are alarmed by the way oil and gas prices have been sent rocketing by record demand and political instability in places such as Iraq, Iran and Nigeria.  They have seen rising fuel prices stoke inflation, pushing up business costs and dampening consumer spending.

2/10: Pioneers Look To Solar Future: (BBC News) - "It feels very good," says Lynn Stevenson. "We like it; it's like we're in control and managing something."  The "something" they are in control of sits on the roof above our heads; a swathe of solar panels, book-ended by two small wind turbines on six- metre (yard) poles.

2/10: Who Needs More Coal?: (TomPaine.com) - Opinion by Amory B. Lovins, Chief Executive Officer of the Rocky Mountain Institute and a consultant experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford.  "Coal-fired power plants generate half of U.S. electricity. Yet mountaintop removal, smokestack pollution, and global warming aren't inevitable; they're artifacts of using electricity in ways that waste money."

2/10: Mexico's Oil Output May Decline Sharply: (Wall Street Journal) - Mexico's huge state-owned oil company may be facing a steep decline in output that would further tighten global oil supply and add to global woes over high oil prices. (Subscription required for full article.) 

2/10: 4 Countries, 31 Litres For New Micra Diesel: (motoring.co.nz) - A diesel-engined Nissan Micra, due for its official launch in South Africa in March, has been driven all the way from Botswana's capital Gaborone to Maputo in Mozambique on way less than a tank of fuel.  When the car was topped up in Maputo it took 31 litres – giving a fuel consumption figure for the 963km run through four countries, at an average speed of 81km/h, of 3.3 litres/100km.

2/09: The Hard truth About Oil: (Fortune/Money/CNN) - No matter what the president says, conservation is America's only route to energy independence.  The only way we're ever going to be able to boost oil supplies here at home is through conservation, and that's something the government is going to have push aggressively, at least until technological advances like cellulosic ethanol, hydrogen and other alternative energy forms become available.

2/08: World''s First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant: (Agriculture Online) - Opening of the world's first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is slated for this fall in northern Spain, even though costs of producing alcohol fuel via the emerging technology are still estimated to be about 50%-100% higher than that for plants which use grain as a feedstock.

2/08: Natural gas Has Eight Years Left: (The Republic) - The University of Calgary’s Geology Department played host to a presentation given by Dave Hughes: “The Coming Energy Sustainability Crisis: Alternatives to Oil, Implications of Demand Growth and the Way Forward.”  Hughes is a full-time employee at Natural Resources Canada. He spends much of his time delving into North America’s energy situation, heavily focusing on the natural gas component.

2/08: Peak oil in the U.S. Congress: (House transcript) - Speech to the U.S. Congress by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), referencing the Hirsch Report.

2/08: EU To Boost Use of Green Energy Sources: (AP) - The European Union on Wednesday proposed boosting the production of alternative fuels like biodiesel and ethanol through additional aid and investment, aimed at reducing Europe's heavy dependence on polluting oil and natural gas, but acknowledged it would be a challenge to make biofuels viable.

2/08: Sweden Plans To Be World's First Oil-Free Economy: (Guardian Unlimited) - Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations.

2/08: The Next Conservative Energy Policy: (National Ledger) - By Congressman Roscoe Bartlett -- President George W. Bush was half right and half wrong about oil in his State of the Union speech. "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," he said. However, we can't "break this addiction through technology" alone. Two words conservatives should champion were missing from his speech: conservation and efficiency.

2/07: Will Iran dispute push oil to $130?: (CNNMoney.com) - Not a drop of oil from Iran reaches the nation's gas pumps. But escalating tensions about Iran's nuclear program are already being felt in oil and gas prices in the United States.

2/07: ExxonMobil Sees 50% Increase in Energy Demand: (MenaFN.com) - Scott Nauman, ExxonMobil's corporate planning manager, highlighted that his company expects an increase of about 50 percent in global energy demand, reaching close to 335 million barrels per day within 25 years.

2/07: Oil Falls as Concern Eases Iran Will Soon Cut off Crude Exports: (Bloomberg) - Crude oil declined for a second day as concern eased that Iran, the world's fourth-largest producer, would cut off its exports. Expectations the U.S. will report its supply of crude increased last week helped to lower prices.

2/07: Sunoco agrees to pay $325,000 to settle price-gouging suit: (NorthJersey.com) - Sunoco Inc. on Monday became the second major oil company to settle state charges of gasoline price gouging last summer, agreeing to pay $325,000 without admitting guilt.

2/07: Saudi nervous that U.S. doesn't want its oil: (Reuters via Yahoo!) - Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, will continue to bolster its output capacity to quell global shortages, but has "concerns" about the Bush administration's call to cut its addiction to Middle East oil, the kingdom's petroleum minister said on Tuesday.

2/06: Peak Oil: Former WH official admits SOTU Energy comments were about Peak Oil: (Daily Kos re: Hardball w/Chris Matthews)  - The world is producing oil, the Middle East, every country at its full capacity and it's very unlikely that we're going to be able to see supply in the world grow from the levels where we are right now." - Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans

2/06: Citigroup raises 2006 oil futures forecast: (CNNMoney.com) - Investment bank sees average price at $60 a barrel, up from $51, on lack of spare production and supply woes.

2/06:  Peak Oil: Big Guns Want Reserve Accounting Change: (Rigzone) - Oil companies want to change reserve accounting rules raising questions about the timing with regards to peak oil...

 2/06: Oil Prices: The New Reality: (BusinessWeek Online) - Futures traders are already assuming sky-high prices are here to stay.  Everyone knows it: oil prices have gone through the roof. The price of benchmark crude rose 11% this year alone, to about $67 per barrel, before pulling back a little...

2/05: Farmers Try To Limit Pain Of High Fuel Prices: (Argus Leader) - "The direct cost of getting corn in the ground, I think we're talking about a 7 or 8 percent increase over last year," said Don Guthmiller, South Dakota State University cooperative extension marketing and farm management specialist. "The bulk of that increase is in the fertilizer."  "The interruption in natural gas supply drove up the price. [sic]  A lot of production was shut down between Canada and the U.S. when natural gas got so high." 

2/05: North Sea production slump casts doubt on government figures: (Scotland's Sunday Herald) - A marked downturn in North Sea oil production means that the UK will become a net importer of oil at least three years earlier than the government anticipates, according to new figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland...

2/05: Preparing For A Life After Fossil Fuels: (The Sydney Morning Herald) - Does Australia's fledgling biofuels industry have a future?

2/04: The end of denial on oil imports: (The Oregonian) - Addicts seeking sobriety know that recovery is a long journey that begins with a single step. And that first step is to admit they are powerless over an addiction that has made their lives unmanageable.  President Bush took that step this week, using his State of the Union address to describe the nation as "addicted to oil" and in need of recovery.

2/04: ASPO February 2006 Newsletter: (Association for the Study of Peak Oil) - This month's newsletter covers Kuwait admitting to Exaggerating its Reserves, Europe faces first phase of its Energy Crisis, Aviation Fuel, USGS Update, The New Dinosaurs, Norway Re-visited, . ASPO-5  Conference in July, New Depletion Study by German Government Agency, Australian Senate Inquiry into Peak Oil, Shell follows Chevron’s lead in admitting to Peak Oil in as many words, What they don’t want us to know about the coming oil crisis, and other topics.

2/03: A Vision For Meeting Energy Needs Beyond Oil: (The Financial Express) - ON top of concerns about high oil prices now comes the fear that we have reached "peak oil" and that global oil output will start to decline. Have we? If oil has peaked, do we face a future of growing energy shortages, rising prices and international conflict for supplies?

2/03: Buildup to A New Peak For Oil?:  (The Australasian Investment Review) - If supply is affected, real panic can set in. Supply disruptions mean actual shortages that have immediate effect on everything from workers getting to work to factories being able to operate, [and transport systems being able to function.] Naturally, the price responds, but whereas increased demand forces a general consideration of alternative fuels or lifestyle choices, loss of supply causes fear.

2/03: Shell President Forced to Address 'Peak Oil' Theory: (Resource Investor) - Shell announced their record profits at two press conferences this week. The first in Hague in Holland and the second later in the same day in their London centre. The London conferences were attended by Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer and Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser.  Then they were asked some difficult questions.

2/02: British Fuel Rationing Threatens US - London Flights: (USA Today) - A Dec. 11 explosion and fire at Buncefield, one of Britain's biggest fuel depots, has reduced jet fuel supplies to Heathrow.  U.S. airlines are chafing under the added costs of a jet fuel shortage at London Heathrow airport, and travelers to Great Britain may face fewer flight options as a result.

2/02: Technology Won't Solve America's Oil Addiction, Experts Say (oilposter via PRWEB) - America’s dependence on oil took center stage Tuesday in President Bush’s State of the Union address, in which he declared “America is addicted to oil,” but a growing number of experts now say that technology alone won’t wean the country from it's oil addiction. The root cause of our dependency, they say, is a more intractable problem -- the depletion of finite global oil resources -- and that any solution will require massive conservation efforts in addition to developing alternative energy sources.

2/02: What Peak Oil means To Every American: (Tidepool) - A message from Congressman Tom Udall, a senior member of the House Resources Committee. His web site is tomudall.house.gov.

2/02: Hybrids' dangerous drawback: (San Jose Mercury News) - It was during her first trip out of the driveway on a warm August morning that Sant'Anna learned about one of the dangerous drawbacks of driving a hybrid: It's so quiet that pedestrians can't hear it when it's starting up or idling, and they often walk right into the path of the moving vehicle.

2/02: Bush's plan to wean US off imported oil: ambitious enough?: (Christian Science Monitor) - Parts of Mr. Bush's "Advanced Energy Initiative" - including a fresh focus on cellulosic ethanol research and attention to battery technology and plug-in hybrid cars - won plaudits from some energy experts. Others called the plan "misleading" for lumping proposals for electricity generation with initiatives to save oil.

2/02: Oil Profits, Prices Scrutinized: (Houston Chronicle) - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that Congress would attempt to address growing concerns about rising fuel prices and soaring oil industry profits.

2/02: Asia's Energy Thirst Will Stretch Refiners: (International herald Tribune) - Asian demand for gasoline and other petroleum products is likely to outstrip refining capacity for the rest of the decade, even as new plants start up in countries like China, Caltex Australia said Thursday.

2/02: Bush hits the road to take a green message to his nation of oil addicts: (Guardian Unlimited) - President George Bush yesterday began a three-day tour on a new-found mission to break his country's addiction to oil, but some American environmentalists worried that the initiative could be too little, too late.

2/02: Oil Fuels City's Food Supply: (straight.com) - More than 120 people crowded into a conference room at the downtown Vancouver Public Library on election night, January 23. Some went without seats, and still more were turned away. But they hadn’t gathered for a play-by-play analysis of the vote. They had come to learn about another pressing issue: the future of our food supply.  Wayne Roberts, project coordinator with the Toronto Food Policy Council, spoke on an alarming topic: What Will We Eat When the Oil Runs Out?  Oil and gas are used in food production: to power farm equipment, for example, and manufacture fertilizers and pesticides. Energy is required to run the factories that make processed food. Oil is key to food distribution: we import produce by truck and boat, and other edibles by refrigerated jet.

2/01: Administration backs off Bush's vow to reduce Mideast oil imports: (San Jose Mercury News) - One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

2/01: Fossil Fuel Worries: (Newsweek) - Remember that ’70s oil crisis? Those long gas lines and the run on sweaters? It’s more complicated this time around. Oil prices—currently hovering close to $70 a barrel—may be lower now than then, but oil consumption is growing at unprecedented rates. Global demand has grown 1.5 percent a year for the last 25 years and will likely grow 2-3 percent a year for each of the next 15 years, due in large part to the voracious needs of developing countries like China and India, predict experts like Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neil.

2/01: Drought Forces Tanzania To Ration Electricity: (Mail&Guardian) - Tanzanian authorities on Thursday began rationing electricity because of water shortages at hydroelectric plants caused by a drought that has placed millions at risk of famine across East Africa.

2/01: Reflections on Energy and Our Future: (Times-Standard) - We lived without electricity for a few days. The wind blew, trees fell, and people lost connection to the electric grid. There was still natural gas for cooking and heating water, comforts that made it bearable with no electricity. For those without wood stoves, it was a cold couple of days.

2/01: FuelCell Picked for DOE Fuel Cell Project: (BusinessWeek online) - Fuel cell power plant manufacturer FuelCell Energy Inc. said on Wednesday it was selected by the Department of Energy to work on a five-year, $2.1 million cost-shared project.

2/01: State of the Union: The Advanced Energy Initiative: (The White House) - In His State Of The Union Address, President Bush Outlined The Advanced Energy Initiative To Help Break America's Dependence On Foreign Sources Of Energy.  This is a link to the official text of that initiative.

2/01: State of Union Energy Proposal Assures Dependence on Foreign Oil, Boosts Oil Profits at Consumer Expense, and Endangers National, Homeland Security (Cleanpeace via PRWEB) - President's State of the Union energy proposal continues energy dependence, high gasoline prices, and endangers national security. Fails to conserve and replace oil in largest market. Ignores peak oil, proven renewable energy technology and oil company acknowledged abundance of enough renewable energy to meet world energy needs