The economy can’t grow forever

Commentary: The whole planet must live within its means
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

This is an excerpt. Read the full article here.

Those of us who believe that the economy should serve us instead of the other way around are conflicted.

We know that the only way to end unemployment at home and poverty around the world is to make the economy grow faster. But we also know that nothing can grow forever, that the faster the global economy grows, the sooner we’ll run out of essential resources, including fossil fuels, water, arable land, healthy ecosystems and moderate climate.

Economists and politicians can’t admit it, but the laws of physics apply, no matter what the latest polls tell us. The Earth has finite resources that will someday limit our economic growth.

World leaders gather at the United Nations, where tackling global poverty is high on the agenda. Video courtesy of Reuters.

The Earth cannot forever support 7 billion people consuming as much as Americans consume. And yet we’ve staked our future — individually, nationally, and maybe even as a species — on that impossible dream.

President Obama on the Oil Spill and Alternative Fuel Sources

Watch the full video or read the full transcript of Remarks by the President to the Nation on the BP Oil Spill.

Agriculture as Provider of Both Food and Fuel

The new research paper "Agriculture as Provider of Both Food and Fuel" has been published in AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment by Kesti Johansson, Karin Liljequist, Lars Ohlander and Kjell Aleklett

Abstract

A database of global agricultural primary production has been constructed and used to estimate its energy content. The portion of crops available for food and biofuel after postharvest losses was evaluated. The basic conditions for agriculture and plant growth were studied, to ensure sustainable scenarios.

The net energy contents for the world and EU27 was found to be 7200-9300 and 430 TWh respectively, to be compared with food requirements of 7100 and 530 TWh. Clearly, very little, or nothing, remains for biofuel from agricultural primary crops. However, by using residues and bioorganic waste, it was found that biofuel production could theoretically replace one fourth of the global consumption of fossil fuels for transport.

The expansion potential for global agriculture is limited by availability of land, water and energy. A future decrease in supply of fossil energy and ongoing land degradation will thus cause difficulties for increased biofuel production from agriculture.

A related blog entry has been published by Aleklett which has also appeared on EnergyBulletin.net.

The Best Peak Oil Investments Series by Tom Konrad

Tom Konrad is posting a new series of investment advise on the Alternative Energy Stocks blog which has also appeared on Seeking Alpha. Here is a collection of his Best Peak Oil Investment articles so far:

• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part I, Biofuels
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part II, Hydrogen and Vehicle Electrification
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part III, Natural Gas Vehicles
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part IV, Converting Coal, Natural Gas to Liquids
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part V, Algae
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VI, Barriers to Substitution
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VII, Peak Substitutes?
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VIII, Alternative Fuel Report Card
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part IX, The Methadone Economy

35.5 MPG by 2016 - New US Milage Standards

U.S. Issues Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cars

[via The New York Times]

The federal government took its first formal step to regulate global warming pollution on Thursday by issuing final rules for greenhouse gas emissions for automobiles and light trucks.

The move ends a 30-year battle between regulators and automakers but sets the stage for what may be a bigger fight over climate-altering emissions from stationary sources like power plants, steel mills and refineries.

The new tailpipe rules, jointly written by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, set emissions and mileage standards that would translate to a combined fuel economy average for new vehicles of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Most drivers will see lower mileage figures in actual driving.

The rules are expected to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases about 30 percent from 2012 to 2016.

Officials said the program would save the owner of an average 2016 car about $3,000 in fuel over the life of the vehicle and eliminate emissions of nearly a billion tons of greenhouse gases over the lives of all regulated vehicles.

Reaching the new efficiency figure will add about $1,000 to the cost of the average new car by 2016, according to industry and government estimates.

The tailpipe rule reflects a truce between the auto industry and state and federal governments, which have been feuding over emissions and mileage standards since the 1970s. It is the first time the federal Clean Air Act has been applied to carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants.