Tim Miles

Does the World Have a Peak Oil Problem?

Michael Lynch is entitled to his opinion. However, what he does not say is that all the oil he believes is available to the United States and the world (even if his estimates are correct) is more difficult and more expensive to extract despite improvements in technology. The other problems include: 1) the process of recovering oil from tar sands requires a lot of energy; and 2) many of the nations we rely on for our oil imports are not the greatest friends of the United States or are politically unstable. Those facts together with what Ryan notes about the oil consumption trends of emerging nations and the effect of oil-based economies on the environment don't exactly present us with a rosy scenario. One can debate the issue of whether or not we have reached the peak in global production ad nauseum. That really ignores the point that the United States needs to chart a different energy course now if it wants to protect national security and have greater economic stability in the future.

$200 Oil Is Coming While We Waste a Perfectly Good Crisis (Part 3)

Interesting article and analyses. Does anyone wonder why the Chinese are stockpiling oil and trying to build a navy that can protect access to it?

Peak Oil's Bell Is Ringing

Robert:

Oil sands and shale very difficult and expensive to extract. Does not really serve as a good long- or a short-term solution. The United States needs to do a better job of conserving and investing more in alternative energy resources and R&D.

Peak Oil, Cars, and Depressions

Thanks, Jim. Good to know so many deeply care about our energy problems and see the connections.

Peak Oil's Bell Is Ringing

Will lower prices at the pump lull Americans into complacency once again and back to their gas-guzzling SUVs? Or have they learned any lessons yet? I thought the first energy crisis in the mid-1970s would have taught us all something. But then the Reagan Administration eliminated the alternative energy R&D programs that President Carter started and the rest is history. We should listen to T. Boone Pickens and others who say we need to get over our oil addiction for the good of our economy, our nation, and our children's future.

Oil Demand Down, Supply Up

And hurricanes, Alan. The long term trend is for expensive oil too. So the best America can do is to conserve and start weaning itself away from dependence on oil.

Political Energy Policy Just for Laughs

Some sensible arguments. I am all for more conservation and R&D and a permanent R&D tax credit. However, according to National Science Foundation data, the energy companies have invested less than 1/2 percent on average of their net sales in R&D from 2001 through 2005 while the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries spent 9.7 and 10.3 percent, respectively. Not a sterling track record.

Sarah Palin: Wall Street's Candidate

Governor Palin has been running a state with one of the smallest populations in the Union and has benefited from a hugh surplus, thanks largely to Big Oil. She doesn't think much of science and the human effect on global warming. Beyond talking about balancing the budget and continuing the Bush tax cuts for the weathly, including her Wall Street cheerleaders, she does not really have any meaningful answers to the enormous economic challenges facing this country. In addition, her lack of any kind of foreign policy experience, other than being commander of the Alaskan National Guard, would keep me up at night if she became President. I certainly would not want her answering the phone at two in the morning.

Where Does Oil Go from Here?

Has anyone remembered that both China and India have more than 1 billion people each? They also have rising middle classes that are gaining greater wealth thanks to their economic successes over the past decade. I have been to both countries several times and I am astonished by the substantial affluence that exists alongside great poverty.

Tim

Oil: Slippery Road Ahead

Your article treats the United States in isolation. The reality is that rising demand for petroleum in China and other emerging nations will keep oil prices high in the near future. A recent NY Times article shows what a bind U.S. oil companies are in too. And drilling for more domestic oil is not going to improve anything either.

Oil: Demand Destruction Overdone?

Thanks, Andy. Good, well-reasoned analysis. No one should believe that the latest drop in price at the gas pumps is a long-term trend. Get rid of your gas guzzling SUVs and support the development of alternative energy resources. Drilling for more domestic oil is not a viable, long-term solution to our problems when it will take ten years for that supply to come online. Moreover, the new oil will be just as expensive (if not more) and will be sold on the international marketplace, not secured for U.S. consumption.