Gail Tverberg

Latest articles from Gail

• IEA Investment Report – What is Right; What is Wrong

  Published 12 June 2014 | viewed 6,436 times

  Recently, the IEA published  a “Special Report” called World Energy Investment Outlook. Lets’s start with things I agree with:1. World needs $48 trillion in investment…

• Converging Energy Crises – And How our Current Situation Differs from the Past

  Published 07 June 2014 | viewed 6,669 times

  At the Age of Limits Conference, I gave a talk called Converging Crises (PDF), talking about the crises facing us as we reach energy limits.…

• The Connection Between Oil Prices, Debt Levels, and Interest Rates

  Published 26 May 2014 | viewed 9,043 times

  If oil is “just another commodity,” then there shouldn’t be any connection between oil prices, debt levels, interest rates, and total rates of return. But…

• Eight Energy Myths Explained

  Published 24 April 2014 | viewed 11,586 times

  Republicans, Democrats, and environmentalists all have favorite energy myths. Even Peak Oil believers have favorite energy myths. The following are a few common mis-beliefs, coming…

• Oil Limits and Climate Change – How They Fit Together

  Published 16 April 2014 | viewed 6,171 times

  We hear a lot about climate change, especially now that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently published another report. At the same…

• The Absurdity of US Natural Gas Exports

  Published 07 April 2014 | viewed 13,059 times

  Quiz:1. How much natural gas is the United States currently extracting?(a) Barely enough to meet its own needs(b) Enough to allow lots of exports(c) Enough…

• Reaching Limits to Growth: What Should our Response Be?

  Published 20 February 2014 | viewed 9,443 times

  Oil limits seem to be pushing us toward a permanent downturn, including a crash in credit availability, loss of jobs, and even possible government collapse.…

• Why Current Solutions to Solving our Energy Problems Won’t Work

  Published 01 February 2014 | viewed 19,921 times

  In order to understand what solutions to our energy predicament will or won’t work, it is necessary to understand the true nature of our energy…

• The Ten Reasons Why Intermittency is a Problem for Renewable Energy

  Published 30 January 2014 | viewed 33,043 times

  Intermittent renewables–wind and solar photovoltaic panels–have been hailed as an answer to all our energy problems. Certainly, politicians need something to provide hope, especially in…

• Why Long Term Energy Forecasts are Wrong

  Published 23 January 2014 | viewed 13,673 times

  What is the correct way to model the future course of energy and the economy? There are clearly huge amounts of oil, coal, and natural…

• The Problems of Living in a Finite World

  Published 09 January 2014 | viewed 7,112 times

  Why is a finite world a problem? I can think of many answers:1. A finite world is a problem because we and all of the…

• How Low Oil Prices could Cause the Death of Oil

  Published 18 December 2013 | viewed 25,449 times

  There is a lot of confusion about which limit we are reaching with respect to oil supply. There seems to be a huge amount of…

• How Diminishing Returns and EROI can Lead to Economic Collapse

  Published 12 December 2013 | viewed 37,171 times

  What do diminishing returns, energy return on energy invested (EROI or EROEI), and collapse have to do with each other? Let me start by explaining…

• Oil Prices Unlikely to Climb Much Higher

  Published 19 November 2013 | viewed 33,327 times

  Nearly everyone believes that oil prices will trend higher and higher, allowing increasing amounts of oil to be extracted. This belief is based on the…

• The Key to Sustainability Involves Going back to Nature

  Published 06 November 2013 | viewed 29,943 times

  A few years ago, I had an ah-ha moment when it comes to what we as humans would need to do to live in a…

• Why Rising Energy Costs are Responsible for Widespread Economic Recession

  Published 25 October 2013 | viewed 36,315 times

  How does the world reach limits? This is a question that few dare to examine. My analysis suggests that these limits will come in a…

• Exploring the Real Reasons Behind the Current Economic and Energy Crisis

  Published 17 October 2013 | viewed 14,799 times

  As the US heads toward debt default and continues with government shutdown, the underlying reason for the predicament is generally not clear to the American…

• Our Reliance on Oil Continues to Threaten our Future

  Published 11 October 2013 | viewed 26,567 times

  If a person reads US newspapers, it is easy to get the impression that all of the world’s oil problems are over. But this is…

• Economic Forecasting in a Time of Diminishing Oil Supplies

  Published 23 September 2013 | viewed 21,619 times

  What will the world economy be like ten years from now? Or fifty years from now? Is it something that we can forecast by looking…

• Depleted Global Oil and Gas Reserves have Led to Greater Interest in Syria

  Published 11 September 2013 | viewed 26,988 times

  In my view, oil and gas resource limits are major contributors to the conflict in Syria. This is happening in several ways:1. Syria is an…