Peak Energy - A Nation Powered By Waves

I like to think I'm pretty bullish about the potential of ocean energy, but the guys at Carnegie Corp are thinking a lot bigger than I am, claiming that Australia has a resource base of 171 GW of wave power and that it could provide 35% of our power needs in this report from the SMH - Nation could be powered by waves: report.

SELECT COMMITTEE ON IMPACT OF PEAK OIL ON SOUTH AUSTRALIA - Testimony from James Ward (pdf)

Mr WARD: My name is James Ward. As you know, I am the coordinator of the Adelaide Division of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, which is a volunteer organisation looking at oil vulnerability, studying the peak oil phenomenon, modelling world oil supply and so on. That is who I am. I have a civil engineering degree and an environmental management degree, and I am about 90 per cent of the way through my PhD at Flinders University, looking at groundwater hydrology. If you are happy for me to move through this presentation, that will hopefully facilitate some discussion.

frogblog - Peak oil, subprime loans and poor oversight

At the slimmest edge of his reasoning, I find myself agreeing with that great Kiwi free market apologist, Roger Kerr. Poor oversight has pumped billions of dollars into useless paper assets, primarily property. However, It is entirely disingenuous to blame the government for that. An oil price spike, one of the early symptoms of the onset of peak oil, is popping the bubble and bringing down the free market house of cards. Kerr just refuses to acknowledge the invisible hand of fear and greed in our unregulated marketplace.

Roger Kerr says that tight monetary policy caused the 1929 depression and that easy money is causing this meltdown. He blames governments and heavy handed regulation, claiming that the market, if left to it’s own devices, would not have let this happen.

What’s wrong with his logic? The US Federal Reserve is not the government. It is privately owned by some very wealthy American families and only chartered - at arm’s length from the government - to manage the US banking system. To blame the government for the loose monetary policies behind this massive speculative bubble is ludicrous. Kerr wants us to think that governments did this. They didn’t.

Crikey - Dismal logic: Garnaut at a glance

Ross Garnaut’s final report warns that Australia faces an even grimmer climate change future than previously estimated, with scenarios previously considered unlikely now a greater chance of inflicting major shocks on Australia and the world.

However, Garnaut’s final recommendation maintains the dismal logic of his earlier work on targets and trajectories, proposing that an international agreement is the only means of addressing climate change and that an international agreement aimed at a long-term stabilisation of emissions at 550pm is the best we are likely to get. Such a level assumes significant permanent environmental damage to Australia.

Peak Energy - Petrol Price Tracker

Google has released an iGoogle gadget that tracks petrol prices - iGoogle: Petrol Price Tracker. I'm not sure if it works outside Australia, but it seems to work fine for Sydney. As they say in the video, you are better off cycling, walking or taking public transport - but if you have to drive, this will help make it less expensive.

Scoop.co.nz - NZ security of energy supply in trouble

NZ security of energy supply in trouble National Party Energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee says the security of New Zealand’s energy supply continues to be a significant issue and a driver of significant costs to both householders and business. “Constraints on electricity transmission from generation source to end user in the months of July and August appear likely to continue unless there is a change of approach.”

Mr Brownlee is commenting after reports this morning that South Islanders face years of soaring power prices until North Island transmission bottlenecks clear and the new inter-island link opens. According to those reports, South Islanders can expect power prices to rise each year for at least another four or five years, and the pace of those southern price rises will outstrip those in the North Island. “The failure to invest in transmission projects, both large and small, have effectively divided the North and South Islands into two separate markets.

frogblog - The carbon report - we’re certainly not running out

Last Thursday, the Global Carbon Project released its annual report on the state of the carbon cycle, Carbon Budget 2007 [pdf]. And the news is that carbon dioxide emissions are up 3 percent for 2007.

Peak Energy - Ride To Work Day

While it doesn't make much difference to me (I ride to work pretty much every day), Australian readers might like to note that October 15 is national ride to work day.

The Australian - Roc Oil to focus on growth in Asia-Pacific

NEW Roc Oil chief executive Bruce Clement plans to tighten the company's focus on the Asia-Pacific region and may sell or trade off the company's producing British North Sea assets if he can secure reserves in this part of the world.

The Australian - Fast-track clean coal or face rival fuel threat

ONE of Australia's leading clean coal researchers claims that the technology needs to be implemented widely within 10 years or other fuel sources will emerge.

The Australian - 'Closure of power stations on cards'

THE chief of one of Victoria's main brown coal power stations has said the plant in its present form would be forced to close under the proposed emissions trading scheme. Graeme York, the chief executive of International Power Hazelwood, said the Hazelwood station was one of several in the Latrobe Valley that could not survive a carbon price in its current guise.

Peak Energy - The Next Internet: The Internet Of Things, Smart Grids And Environmental Monitoring

Internet pioneer and Google evangelist Vint Cerf has a blog post on the expansion of today's internet to include the "internet of things" Bruce Sterling spends a lot of time talking about and the provision of the environment monitoring and "smart grid" features we need to optimise our (clean) energy acquisition and usage - The Next Internet.

Peak Energy - Darwin To Host Inpex LNG Plant

Peak Energy - Amory Lovins: The frugal cornucopian

Peak Energy - Those who buy hybrid vehicles are not going back to SUVs

Peak Energy - Solar Panels In Japan

Peak Energy - Masdar: A Glimpse Of The Future

Peak Energy - Does thinking globally require unpleasant action locally ?

Peak Energy - Turning Rubbish Into Biogas In Sweden

Peak Energy - Were The Founding Fathers Of The United States Anarchists ? Is Britain A Gigantic Hedge Fund ?