ABN Newswire - VIDEO: Peter Bond CEO Of Linc Energy Speaks with Brian Carlton on Underground Coal Gasification

Brian: With the government looking at a fixed reduction of CO2 reduction of 5% by 2020 at the moment, the use of this sort of technology has the potential for Australia as a nation to push that number way higher. It's pretty significant, isn't it?

Peter: There is a number of ways, if you started to use our gasification process to feed gas fired turbines and using some of the other technology that we have access to, by using gas turbines, you are going to drop the CO2 footprint by 25-35% straight away. If you are using fuel cells in some of those applications you are going to drop by 85-90% because there is still some footprint and then you have the synthetic fuels production where the great benefit for that is because Australia has gone past "peak oil", every year that goes past we are importing more oil, and we have to pay for that , we have to physically write the cheque to the overseas countries to buy that oil. So the coal we export, the wheat we export, the iron ore that we export, etc. that is going towards paying for the oil we consume, and some of the other commodities, but every year that goes past we are basically just exporting our wealth to pay for the right to drive our cars. Now if you can produce the oil in this country and retain the wealth in this country, by doing something like we are doing with gas to liquids, then you don't have to write that cheque, the wealth stays in the country

Nelson Mail - Sustainability WOF for local businesses

The Transition Nelson business group is made up of volunteers who want to help Nelson businesses become more sustainable. Our group grew out of the Transition Nelson launch, when locals met at the Victory Community Centre to discuss how we, as a community, could make Nelson more resilient to withstand the effects of peak oil and climate change.

This link from the SMH is a little old (from back in December) but its worth noting what the Australian Energy Market Operator (combining Nemmco's old electricity market operator role with that of the gas market as well) views as the outlook for the eastern states natural gas and coal seam gas supply - Rise and fall of the gas provinces.

Next week's Bullroarer may be late. I am rapidly turning into a "Doomer" :-( I will be spending next week vapourising my remaining debt, then touring the country, looking for locations that would do well in hard times.
aeldric

SMH - We've already sacrificed too much to the suburban dream

Under our current economic model, food production, packaging and distribution contribute to more than 20 per cent of our energy use. With most of the cost of food taken up by packaging and distribution it is easy to see how rising food prices, an inevitable consequence of peak oil, could be alleviated by localising and intensifying food production. This is the "Transition Town" notion of decoupling food from oil.

The Gisborne Herald - Post-peak oil scenarios bleak

If world governments neglect to take action on this matter local governments will at least need to pave the way for a more gentle transition.

On December 21, 2009, Bloomington issued a press release fully endorsing a report into post-peak oil scenarios

ABC - Nippon Oil Company signs Gorgon agreement

Chevron Australia has entered into a 'heads of agreement' contract with the Japanese Nippon Oil Company to take 300,000 tonnes of natural gas per year from its Gorgon project.

Otago Daily Times - Oil companies signal further petrol price increases

Petrol prices in New Zealand appear likely to rise again shortly - having hit almost $1.70 this week - as crude oil and refinery production prices edge up around the world and profit margins of the big four suppliers are squeezed.