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    Oil Crunch from ABC Down Under

    By Donal on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 9:15pm | Technology

    A Peak Oil special from Catalyst on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 

    Former veterinarian and science reporter Dr Jonica Newby (above) interviews Dr Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Prof Kjell Aleklett of Uppsala University and President of the Association for Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO), Dr Jeremy Leggett, Chris Skrebowski, and Professor Robert Bea. There's nothing terribly new to anyone who has been following the subject, but it is interesting to watch the issue creep into the mainstream media, and the production values are much more sophisticated than most energy depletion vids. 

    The report uses mostly sound bites, but Catalyst's site includes longer interviews, five to ten minutes, with Birol, Aleklett, Leggett, Skrebowski and Bea. There is also a short video (5:28) on Australia's Nuclear Future, a very short look at a sustainable home and various other goodies.

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    Comments

    The ABC does a pretty good job on most subjects.


    by cmaukonen on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 11:06pm

    yeah! They're a refreshing change when compared with what we have to accept from the US media. I'd much prefer their point of view. Unfortunately, all countries lock out access to those of us outside their territorial borders. I wouldn't mind paying for access and have written them on the subject, but it's a political roadblock on the internet highway that restricts access from what I understood. Same with access to the BBC as well.


    by Beetlejuice on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 6:55am

    From the video, which does do a pretty good job overall: "if we're already bouncing around in peak oil, how come nobody has noticed?"  That question alone demonstrates some of the problem.  People DID notice.  But those people have long been written off as crazy doomsday fearmongers just because some of the foreesable peak oil scenarios lead to geopolitical chaos. Still, you're definitely right that it's good to see some mainstream coverage.


    by Jamie Friedland on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 11:41pm

    Thanks for the link! I'm a peak oil hobbyist so I really appreciate any and all tidbits from the etherworld.

    By the way, here's a link to BP's world stats on energy resources:

    Historical data
    Download the full Excel workbook of historical statistical data from 1965-2009

     Workbook (xls, 1798KB)

    Click on line 16 - Oil: Consumptiom (after 1965)

    All the way to the right you'll see in 2007 the US was consuming 20.68 millon barrel of oil daily. In 2009 it dropped to 18.686 million barrels. Of course, that after the financial markets went bust and tossed millions out of work too. I'm waiting for a GOper to introduce a bill stating the best way to reduce oil consumption in the US off oil will be for industry to fire everyone. Think of all that oil readily available for industry to harness at affordable prices since the public demand would be totally absent.

    There's a hell of a lot of other stats in the workbook as well so it's interesting reading and a valuable reference resource too.


    by Beetlejuice on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 7:14am