High per-barrel prices spur oil companies to continue to explore technological innovations. I found an interesting article about what is going on in various countries in regards to oil production and oil consumption.
Consumer demand, technology, and global politics are shifting in a way that could spell a future of oil abundance, not of catastrophic dearth. As Leonardo Maugeri, a senior executive at Italian oil major ENI, puts it: "There will be enough oil for at least 100 years."
U.S. oil consumption dropped by 9 percent over the last two years. The recession certainly hurt demand, but many analysts think oil use in the West has peaked and will not rebound to previous levels.
Auto emission standards in China are now tougher than those in the U.S. China's official policy mandates that alternate sources support 15 percent of the country's energy needs by 2020, up from 9 percent now. So China's petroleum consumption will keep increasing, but perhaps at not so steep a rate as expected.
The most surprising action is unfolding in Iraq, which has just cut deals with ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell as well as with Chinese and Russian companies. If all these ventures meet their targets, Iraq could produce as much as 12 million barrels a day, putting it in the super league with Saudi Arabia and Russia.
This article is from January 12th, and was written by Stanley Reed for Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Peak travel and the suggestion that there will be less car ownership and usage
Happy New Year!
Aren't you tired of spending all that time in your car? Whether it's moving or not moving?
“You get to a point where everybody who could possibly drive, drives.”
A Road Less Traveled by Melinda Burns, miller-mcccune.com
Silvia's suggestions:
You can bike or walk your errand.
Change your perspective on what a "walkable" distance might be. Increase it.
Carpool.
Use public transportation.
Look for a job closer to home. A lot of people like to say that this is not possible. But when we achieve it, don't we like to brag about it?
Aren't you tired of spending all that time in your car? Whether it's moving or not moving?
Car ownership has declined in the U.S. since 2007 because of the recession.
“You get to a point where everybody who could possibly drive, drives.”
Researchers "speculate that highway gridlock, parking problems, high prices at the gas pump and an aging population that doesn’t commute may be contributing to peak travel."
Silvia's suggestions:
You can bike or walk your errand.
Change your perspective on what a "walkable" distance might be. Increase it.
Carpool.
Use public transportation.
Look for a job closer to home. A lot of people like to say that this is not possible. But when we achieve it, don't we like to brag about it?
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