Kurt Cobb

Latest articles from Kurt

• Does the IEA Know What It’s Talking About?

  Published 21 November 2013 | viewed 4,314 times

  It was as if the International Energy Agency were appearing on the old American television game show To Tell the Truth last week as it…

• Why Risk Management Plays Such a Large Role in our Energy Future

  Published 11 November 2013 | viewed 8,311 times

  Optimistic, but unwarranted, energy supply forecasts permeate the media (courtesy of the oil and gas industry) even as the occasional dire scenario gets coverage. But,…

• The Battle Against Climate Change: Does the World Need Saving?

  Published 05 November 2013 | viewed 72,182 times

  Hardly a day goes by without someone writing or saying that we need to save the Earth. My geologist friends scoff at such language for…

• Helium: Abundant but Unavailable

  Published 30 October 2013 | viewed 26,049 times

  If I had had space, I would have included a subtitle for this piece as follows: Things do not have to run out to become…

• US Energy Independence: The Numbers Don’t Add Up

  Published 22 October 2013 | viewed 19,519 times

  Energy independence sounds good, and that's why politicians and oil company executives love to say the words. It's so easy to say, but oh so…

• How Our Inability to Calculate Risk Opened the Doors for Fukushima

  Published 09 October 2013 | viewed 8,155 times

  Perhaps the most important energy story on the planet right now is the precarious situation for fuel rods stored in a damaged building at the…

• Fossil Fuel Demand is too High to be Controlled

  Published 04 October 2013 | viewed 6,974 times

  American political conservatives like to say that their strategy of tax cuts all the time is designed to "starve the beast." The "beast," of course,…

• Shell Abandons 800 Billion Barrel Deposit, Beaten by the Regions Geology

  Published 01 October 2013 | viewed 23,969 times

  The belief that technology can always overcome natural limits just took a big hit this week when Royal Dutch Shell PLC decided to shut down…

• The Problems with a Growing Population

  Published 19 September 2013 | viewed 21,961 times

  Albert Bartlett might have been another obscure physics professor had he not put together a now famous lecture entitled "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" in 1969.…

• The Energy Future may Rely on US not THEM

  Published 10 September 2013 | viewed 6,491 times

  With oil prices hovering near historic highs and coal, natural gas and uranium prices yo-yoing during the last several years, concerns about the future of…

• Tight Global Oil Supplies Turn Syria into an International Problem

  Published 03 September 2013 | viewed 10,863 times

  I've been watching old episodes of The West Wing, the acclaimed television series about life and work in the West Wing of the White House.…

• Claims of US Energy Independence, Just Another Case of Snake Oil?

  Published 27 August 2013 | viewed 9,172 times

  It's not exactly clear where the term "snake oil" comes from. But, most everyone knows that it refers to any number of concoctions sold by…

• Why Every Oil & Gas Discovery is a ‘Game Changer’

  Published 19 August 2013 | viewed 8,723 times

  What would you expect them to say?That's the question you should ask whenever spokespersons for the oil and gas industry (or fake think tanks funded…

• Can the US Export its Way to Energy Independence?

  Published 17 August 2013 | viewed 6,458 times

  Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. That's the credo of the oil and gas industry as it continues to…

• Oil Prices and Boiling Frogs – Public Beginning to accept High Prices

  Published 06 August 2013 | viewed 10,255 times

  Many readers will know about the claim that a frog plopped into boiling water will hop right back out if it can, while one put…

• On its Own Obama’s Climate Plan will Not Save the World

  Published 03 July 2013 | viewed 7,714 times

  The one thing you need to know about President Obama's plan to address climate change is that the most it will accomplish is slowing very…

• Why Israel may Rue the Decision to Export Limited Natural Gas Reserves

  Published 25 June 2013 | viewed 5,898 times

  As the United States contemplates exporting natural gas to the rest of the world, previously energy-poor Israel seems about to jump on the export bandwagon.…

• Has the Shale Gas Boom Already Ended?

  Published 18 June 2013 | viewed 11,078 times

  If you've ever looked at the elements that create the images in a kaleidoscope, they are unremarkable: pebbles, beads and bits of colored glass, all…

• Marketing has Created an Overinflated Demand for Energy in the West

  Published 03 June 2013 | viewed 4,740 times

  The name of the popular American television series "Mad Men" comes from the nickname given to those who worked in New York City's advertising agencies…

• The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

  Published 27 May 2013 | viewed 14,529 times

  In Douglas Adams' science fiction series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a computer dubbed Deep Thought discovers the "answer to the ultimate question of…