The Standard » peak oil

A sustainable future

Ben Clark — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:10:05 +0000

The UN High Level Panel on Global Sustainability has delivered a report about creating a future that's sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. Our government and political parties should be looking at it and measuring themselves against it.

MoT reveals massive budget shortfall from peak oil

James Henderson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:33:01 +0000

Almost missed among all the blacked out paragraphs of the Transport Briefing to the Incoming Minister are 2 interesting graphs. While not explicitly mentioning peak oil, the graph of the National Land Transport Fund shows a massive shortfall in revenue in a 'high oil price, low growth' scenario. The other shows how low-quality National's highway spending is.

Oz & NZ govts suppress official peak oil warnings

The Standard — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:40:32 +0000

Dennis Tegg has a good piece on the release of a secret Australian government report that warns peak oil is upon us: The Daily Telegraph has revealed how the Australian government has attempted to suppress its own report on peak oil. The response from the New Zealand government had been equally secretive and obfuscating.

Adapting to peak oil

James Henderson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:45:19 +0000

As peak oil slowly grinds down our economy - meeting any hint of growth with sky-high petrol prices and making $2 a litre the 'new normal', we are actually, gradually,starting to react. Not at a governmental level, where action is most urgently needed, but in the decisions made by ordinary Kiwis every day.

Denis Tegg: Officials muzzled on peak oil

The Standard — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:41:46 +0000

Denis Tegg on National's head in the sand Energy Strategy. All the official international warnings have been dismissed and the government has forced official to remove any reference to peak oil. The minister flatly refused to answer questions about the impact of peak oil on her fossil-fuel centred plan at the strategy launch.

Govt hits peak denial

Zetetic — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:05:54 +0000

Should we be more angry or scared? Just read the first official government presentation on peak oil. The IEA says conventional oil peaked in 2006 but our government offers only crude denialism and, paradoxically, blithe assurances that they're ready. This is the kind of crap we used to see before we had 2 oil shocks in the past 4 years.

A real plan to save the world does exist

Guest post — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:17:33 +0000

A feasible plan to power 100 percent of the planet with complete renewables exists. This plan excludes Nuclear and Biofuels, which the Scientific American authors of this plan also considered to be ultimately unsustainable technologies as well. Instead this plan revolves around Wind, Water and Solar - WWS

Chart of the day: peak oil squeeze

Zetetic — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:05:03 +0000

Peak oil enters mainstream: Labour listening, Nats not

Guest post — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:00:43 +0000

The Greens and environmentalists have been talking about peak oil forever. Now, the IEA and IMF have joined them in warning that governments need to act immediately. Labour has pledged to cancel one of National's white elephant motorways but that must only be the beginning. Meanwhile, the Nats are planning more 'Roads of National Significance'.

Inflation credit and blame

r0b — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:50:43 +0000

Back in October last year the Nats, in a sea of bad news on the economy, latched on to the low inflation rate as something that they could claim "credit" for. No doubt they will now be just as ready to accept blame for the worst inflation rate in 20 years. Almost half of this figure is driven by the Nats' GST increase...

Oil spike takes off

Marty G — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:50:39 +0000

Get ready for another petrol increase this week. Last week, the Dubai crude benchmark, which most of New Zealand's imports are priced of, shot up over 4% in NZD terms. Unless that rise reverses right away, petrol will have to rise past $2.25 a litre. We're now pay $160m a week for oil imports - $2b a year more than a year ago.

Even the IMF is starting to get peak oil

r0b — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 19:58:22 +0000

Peak oil. We've long had warnings from scientists and greens. Right wing governments never listen to those. But recently we've also had warnings from organisations that you might think that any government would pay attention to. The IMF is the latest to sound the alarm.

A goal is not a strategy

Marty G — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:36:03 +0000

Last year, the New Zealand Institute lambasted the Nats' 'aspiration' to catch Australia by 2025 with a report entitled 'A goal is not a strategy'. Did the Nats change? Of course not. Yesterday, their energy strategy was released. It offers some goals but is mute on how to get there. It's not really a strategy at all, but it serves the Nats' purpose nonetheless.

Kiwis want buses, not holiday highways

Marty G — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:34:43 +0000

Kiwis are voting with their feet, or rather their arses. Patronage of public transport is skyrocketing to the point of overcrowding while state highway use is falling among except for freight. You have to wonder why the government keeps building expensive highways that will be underused when public transport is full to the brim.

$1.80 petrol = recession

Marty G — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:42:35 +0000

The other day I was arguing $100 a barrel oil equals a global recession. I wanted be more precise: is there a certain price of petrol, above which the economy goes into recession? There is, and we're way above it. The political upshot: the best way to promote growth is decreasing our oil dependence.