The U.S. is home to 150 operational on-shore oil refineries, all of which produce vast amounts of oil each year for domestic use. Along with fuel production we see the inevitable production of air and water pollutants and the debate over whether or not it will be beneficial to consider alternative sources of energy and fuel.

There is another issue associated with U.S. oil refinery use, however, and that is the threat of exposure to asbestos, which is more than likely found in each of the 150 domestic refineries. Previous asbestos exposure is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a fatal type of cancer that has no cure and affects thousands of Americans each year.

Earlier this summer the 15 year old Swedish wind turbine Matilda was demolished. Matilda wasn't an ordinary wind turbine. She was a record-holder.

The wind turbine was constructed 15 years ago, and has supplied 15000 homes with electricity. Over the years she has produced 61.4 GWh - that is more renewable energy than any other single power plant has ever produced.

Gotland, an island on Sweden's east coast, has more wind turbines than any other area in Sweden. Matilda was the first wind turbine to be built there, and she will now be replaced by a modern wind turbine.

Gotland's municipality has ordered an electric car fleet for the services it provides for the elderly etc. The car fleet will run on the locally produced electricity from the wind turbines. So in a sense Matilda paved way for a more environmentally friendly way of living.

SVT Play has published a video of the demolition.

The United Arab emirates has started construction of it's 'green city' named Masdar City which will be carbon neutral. This is great news for the climate.

The city will use solar panels and wind turbines to generate the needed electricity. Water will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant.

It is evident that a great deal of thought has been put into this project, as they have even developed modern city walls capable of steering of the hot desert winds and letting in the cooler northern breeze dynamically.

The KunstlerCast is a weekly audio program about the tragic comedy of suburban sprawl.

The episodes have been produced by Duncan Crary, and are roughly 15 minutes long. To this date they have recorded 25 podcast shows, and they're all good.

They cover many implications of Peak Oil, and what the world might look like in the Post Oil Era.

I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.
- James Howard Kunstler

Visit the Kunstlercast website

Oil hovered around $130 per barrel today, the lowest price since the 5th of June over six weeks ago. It seems likely the price of oil is going to keep falling over the next few weeks, but the crew at The Climate Post is sure the price will continue to rise on the long term.

In the year of 2006 diesel became more expensive than gasoline. The demand for diesel fuel had simply risen faster than oil companies had been able to supply us and that is a relevant fact to remember. Supply and demand is what controls the price of any goods.

As old oilfields go into decline, and new oilfields struggle to meet that deficit only one thing is certain. The price of oil will go up, and will likely go up in an erratic way since our buffers are low. There is no such thing as spare capacity after Peak Oil that could cover for any production losses.

DI.se reports 2010 will be an interesting year for car buyers as Renault, Nissan, General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Mercedes and Mitsubishi will start selling their EV:s (Electric Vehicles).

GM will produce it's Chevrolet Volt (image on left) and Volkswagen will produce their Golf Twin-Drive that we have reported on earlier.

You will see more changes in the car industry the next five years than you have seen in the last fifty
- Rod Lache, Deutsche Bank

At The Climate Post we're curious as to why it took them so long, but it's a great step forward. Even though it might not be possible to have one car per family like we're used to, we will at least use our resources more efficiently and slow down Global Climate Change.

Science Daily reports that our oceans are becoming more acidic every year. Acidification of the oceans pose a very serious threat to marine life.

It is known that oceans absorb 2 out of the 7 Giga tons of carbon that humans emit every year, and this carbon is what is causing the acidification.

There has not been enough research into what the effects of the acidification really will be on a larger scale, but the future of two key organisms are in danger.

The extra carbon dioxide has caused the ocean's average surface pH (a measure of water's acidity) to shift by about 0.1 unit from pre-industrial levels. Depending on the rate and magnitude of future emissions, the ocean's pH could drop by as much as 0.35 units by the mid-21st century.

WTI oil reached $146:22 per barrel today, confirming that the oil industry is indeed incapable of supplying demand.

We are now in our fourth week with the price above $130 and nothing seems to be able to push the price down. Not even Abdullah al-Badri, OPEC's Secretary General, had any impact at all when he said:

Supply is enough. The price is driven by many, many causes -- most of which is speculation.

Dow Jones fell 1.5 % and NASDAQ fell 2.3 %. The tight relationship between economic growth and the oil price makes investors nervous. Our economy cannot be sustained with an ever increasing oil price and so it's logical that the markets will keep falling.

General Motors dropped over 15 % when investment bank Merill Lynch said the car maker needs 15 billion dollars. Merill Lynch says bankruptcy is not out of the picture. Their Hummer and SUV divisions sold 60 % less cars in May than the previous year, noone wants to buy SUV:s and incredibly inefficient cars anymore.

Dagens Industri reports that Matthew R. Simmons has said that world oil production peaked back in 2005. Simmons has been an energy advisor to George W. Bush and frequently appears on Bloomberg and other international economic tv news.

We're currently using over 80 million barrels of oil every day, but Simmons predicts that we will not be able to produce more than 60 million barrels of oil per day in the year 2015.

Simmons reminds us that $140 per barrel is still relatively cheap and as the price continues to surge we will see increased profitability in locally produced goods. The end of cheap transportation will change the world.

We think Simmons is a brave man, he has been talking about peak oil for years now and has been ridiculed a long time. Finally media is starting to get their facts straight. We're running out of cheap easily accessible oil.

Source: di.se

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $126.6 million in grants on Tuesday to test carbon capture and storage in underground caverns.

The study will try to store 1 million tons of carbon dioxide under ground. But is this a en economic decision?

Considering that the U.S releases 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year^_[1], the investment can only be seen as an economic disaster. $126 million can buy and install 190 windmills that has a maximum power generation capacity of 540 MW (of which roughly 1/3 is produced on average). That amounts to 62 - 112 tons of CO₂ saved - per hour^[2]. In just one year that amounts to 0.5 - 1 million tons of carbon dioxide saved.

Now with carbon sequestration you need to pay for every ton of CO₂ saved. With the windmills you can have stable production with no CO₂ emissions whatsoever for 12 - 20 years. That is 6 million tons to 20 million tons of CO₂ saved for the same investment.

Now why do people say we need carbon sequestration again

Normal photosynthesis use carbon dioxide and water as raw materials and sunlight powers the entire process. But in one of many future scenarios we depend upon hydrogen to power our fuel cell equipped vehicles.