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No, really

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) recently released a report called Why the "Peak Oil" Theory Falls Down -- Myths, Legends and the Future of Oil Resources. It's getting a lot of attention, and has produced much consternation in the peakoilosphere.

The definitive response, as usual, is on The Oil Drum.

I must say, the more I read about peak oil, the less complicated the whole thing seems to me. That may sound crazy, since everyone involved in discussions of oil prides themselves on their engineering acumen, impeccable logic, and devotion to empirical data (in the form of charts and graphs, of course!). Pull any one thread of the oil tapestry and you quickly uncover a skein of irreconcilably opposed viewpoints, all backed by reams of data, all contemptuous of the illogic and wishful thinking of the others.

So why do I think it's simple?

Enviro group settles on campaign finance violation

The Sierra Club has agreed to pay a $28,000 fine to settle charges that the organization violated Federal Election Commission regulations during the 2004 election.

The FEC found that the club's 2004 election brochure contained "express advocacy" which constituted an "independent expenditure" -- making it off-limits for the nonprofit Sierra Club.

Cellulosic ethanol, that is

Ha. This headline from Greenwire yesterday (sub. rqd) verges on parody:

Cellulosic fuel on cusp of commercialization, but hurdles remain, experts say

How to transform personal transportation with existing tools

Previous posts about CyberTran described next-generation mass transit systems.

But nobody expects automobiles to disappear from U.S. roads in the near future. We need to get efficiency way up, fast.

The automobile equivalent of CyberTran is the ultra-light electric car. Electric cars don't have to be dull; Tesla Motors sells the Tesla roadster, a ~$100,000 electric sports car that can outrun a comparable Ferrari costing almost twice the price.

But they also don't have to be toys for the filthy rich. Solectria demonstrated the midsize four-passenger Sunrise in 1997. It traveled 216 miles from Boston to New York at normal highway speed, using only 85% of the power in a battery containing energy equivalent to less than a gallon of gas (PDF). Solectria claimed at the time it could profitably retail the car for as little as $20,000. So why did it never come to market?

The problem with a mass market car is you have to make in mass quantities. Generally, if you cannot use the full capacity of a major factory by selling at least 40,000+ units per year, a car is considered a niche product. Below that, you cannot get the full economies of automobile mass production.

Inhofe on the U.N. climate summit

The last gasps of a dying chairmanship: Inhofe weighs in on the U.N. climate summit.

His biggest concern regarding the summit -- which, by the way, he didn't attend -- was a children's book (PDF) on climate change, which Inhofe claims is "brainwashing little kids."

Pits of Despair

Coal industry fends off concerns, keeps working on comeback Some of the tap water in West Virginia’s Mingo County is flowing in funny colors: red, brown, and black. Alarmed residents […]

Low-oxygen event troubling in Hood Canal

Arrr mateys, there's nothin' like a noggin o' rum cuppa joe to sober wake ye up on a Thursday morn. And there's nothin' like a depressing video of a fish die-off to harsh ye mellow. The footage of Hood Canal comes from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and includes a brief explanation of the problem:

Green building convention is abuzz

I'm currently attending GreenBuild, the U.S. Green Building Council's big annual convention. This is just the fifth iteration, but already it's a behemoth. Last year it drew over 10,000 attendees, and this year it's expected to best that record.

The vast trade show floor (over 700 exhibitors) testifies to the big business of green building. The show places leviathan bridge-builders next door to some guy selling composting toilets. An entire aisle is lined with suppliers of modular green roofs.

What I find interesting, though, is less the breadth of exhibitors than the depth.

Dear Sir, you know about that global warming thing?

U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) yesterday sent the following letter to President George W. Bush, asking him to commit to working with the new Congress to pass meaningful climate change legislation in 2007.

The Senators are the incoming chairs of three important Senate committees on global warming: Boxer in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Bingaman in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Lieberman in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The senators' letter to the President follows:

France to slap tariff on U.S. over Kyoto non-compliance

For the non-nerds out there, that's "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Everybody's gotta pay sometime.

Which brings me to this: The European Union may apply a tariff on nations that don't sign on to Kyoto, or who fail to meet their obligations. This would include America and Canada.