Fran O’Sullivan has a wildly optimistic take on New Zealand being a major petroleum exporter in the future. In 15 years, New Zealanders could be the oil sheikhs of the Pacific if Government projections over the potential of our petroleum sector bear fruit. Ministry of Economic Development estimates suggest the […]
peak oil
7 posts
An article in the NZ Herald on Wednesday looked at the need for a change in vision regarding New Zealand’s transport planning. Mr Gunstan, a commercial manager for the Marsden Pt oil refinery before becoming a fulltime “futurist strategist”, advised planners to break free of incremental thinking wedded to the […]
Dr Fatih Birol of the widely respected IEA has never been one to shout that the sky is falling. This warning should be taken very seriously. From the Herald: The world is heading for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a global economic recovery because most of the major […]
I’m reading an excellent book at the moment – Resilient Cities by Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley and Heather Boyer. I commented on this book a few posts ago, with particular reference to how pathetic our preparedness for peak oil is and how stupid Treasury’s oil price predictions are. I have […]
Somewhat continuing the theme of Friday’s post, it can feel difficult to be a “peak oil believer” at the moment. The narrow-minded retorts of “oil was $147 a barrel in July 2008, now it’s barely a third of that – pah!” seem to blind the average driver/politician/roading-lobbyist into believing that […]
Cameron Pitches asks what strategy the Government has for rising oil prices. A little over a year ago, when oil was $US56 a barrel, I wrote an article which concluded that New Zealand needed to diversify away from fossil fuels in order to survive and prosper. One year on, and […]
Cameron Pitches / NZ Herald During the debate about the forthcoming 5c per litre increase in petrol excise, a number of politicians and commentators have suggested deferring the increase until oil prices stabilise at lower levels. Yet no one has been able to offer a valid reason why prices should […]