TRANSITION ST. ASAPH

Tranasaph: Peak Oil in a nutshell

The North Seas dwindling oil and gas reserves are pushing companies to tap unstable reservoirs at high pressure and extreme heat, while safety checks and maintenance are behind schedule, a North Sea rig auditor who works for the industry told Reuters.

via Exclusive – Safety check backlog at UK oil rigs | Reuters.

The news that nuclear giants RWE and E.ON are dropping plans to build any new UK reactors has sent a toxic cloud not only over Wales, but over the nuclear industry itself.

Of course, everyone knows nowadays, post-Chernobyl, post-Fukushima, that nuclear power plants are not really safe. Even if there are a few noisy die-hards, arguing that the resulting radiation is harmless, and that “hardly anyone” dies as a direct consequence of atomic meltdown, that old canard just won’t wash any more.

Other nuclear myths, though, have lingered on. Atomic energy, unveiled by Her Majesty with grand aplomb at Calder Hall half a century ago, still has a hi-tech glamour, an aura of somehow being “the future”. The reality that atomic plants are basically steam engines staffed by thousands of casual workers who would otherwise be picking strawberries or digging up roads somehow never impinges. Perhaps one of the most shocking images post-Fukushima, was of unskilled workers hosing sea water on to the smouldering wreckage. Not here the calm, fatherly figures in their white lab-coats in front of consoles worthy of the Starship Enterprise.

continue reading at Nuclear industry dreams dashed by current economic reality | Business | The Guardian.

Some of the world’s most commonly used pesticides are killing bees by damaging their ability to navigate and reducing numbers of queens, research suggests.

Scientific groups in the UK and France studied the effects of neonicotinoids, which are used in more than 100 nations on farm crops and in gardens.

The UK team found the pesticides caused an 85% drop in queen production.

Writing in the journal Science, the groups note that bee declines in many countries are reducing crop yields.

via BBC News – Pesticides hit queen bee numbers.

Army drivers are being trained to deliver fuel to petrol stations around the country in anticipation of a possible strike by tanker drivers.

The Unite union is balloting on industrial action and the government is drawing up contingency plans to avoid major disruption to fuel supplies.

Unite has been balloting more than 2,000 of its members who work for seven major fuel distribution companies.

The vote closes on Monday and any agreed strike could be held next month.

via BBC News – Army training to deliver petrol in case of strike action.

Officials at the Bank of England say that rising oil prices present “clear risk” to the economy.In minutes from the Monetary Policy Committee MPC meeting earlier this month, officials said that high oil prices could slow the global and UK recovery and drive up inflation.

via BBC News – Oil price worries for Bank of England rate setters.

Oil spikes usually metastasise once energy costs reach 9 per cent of global GDP. The longer they stay there, the greater the damage.That proved to be the pain barrier in the 1970s and again in 2008, and we are just shy of that level right now.”Oil is already capturing a higher level of European GDP than in 2008,” said Francisco Blanch from Bank of America.

The rule of thumb is that a 10 per cent rise in crude cuts United States growth by 0.2 per cent four quarters later, but the science is flabbily soft and nobody knows where the inflexion point lies.The effect is famously “non-linear”. Nothing much seems to happen until confidence suddenly snaps.What is deeply troubling is that Brent crude should have reached fresh records in sterling, £79 S$157, and euros, €94 S$155, with a knock-on effect on US petrol prices, mostly tracking Brent – even though the International Monetary Fund has sharply downgraded its world growth forecast to 3.25 per cent this year from 4 per cent in September, and even though the International Energy Agency IEA has cut its oil use forecast for this year by 750,000 barrels per day bpd.

Oil is not supposed to ratchet defiantly upwards in a downturn, which is what we have with the euro zone facing a year of contraction in 2012, and much of the Latin bloc sliding into full depression. Japans economy shrank in the fourth quarter.

via TODAYonline | World | Peak Oil is back with a vengeance.