None of the various technofixes on offer alter the fact that humanity has to learn to stop living on the last drops of cheap energy, and to start living within its means
… up to natural limits, or face a 1970s-style energy crisis Paul Mobbs | 19th January 2010 Comment Energy Climate Change Oil Gas 3globes.jpg None … to stop living on the last drops of cheap energy, and to start living within its means …
A wholesale corruption of science underlies the UK Government's insistence that gas from fracking offers a 'low carbon', low cost route to energy abundance, writes Paul Mobbs. On the contrary: it's expensive, over-hyped - and just as bad for climate change as coal.
… exposed Paul Mobbs | 30th May 2014 News Energy Fossil Fuels Fracking UK Climate Change … offers a 'low carbon', low cost route to energy abundance, writes Paul Mobbs. On the … small'? In December 2012 the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) commissioned …
The 'death of peak oil' has been much exaggerated, writes Paul Mobbs. Take out high-cost 'unconventional' oil and production peaked ten years ago, and even North America's fracking and tar sands boom has failed to open up new resources both big enough to make good the shortfall, and cheap enough to reward investors. We really do need to be thinking 'beyond petroleum'.
… of peak oil Paul Mobbs | 5th May 2015 News Energy Oil Economics syncrude-cut.jpg The … in the USA - though few heard them. The US Energy Information Agency (USEIA) had issued … have to go all out to realise the 'US shale energy revolution' . It has been sold to the …
Fracking is just another step on the fossil fuel treadmill, according to 'Snake Oil' by Richard Heinberg. High costs, diminishing returns and growing pollution will ultimately nail its future. Paul Mobbs urges readers - give a copy to your MP before it's too late!
… Heinberg began to look at the issue of energy and the environment in the early 2000s, … known as 'peak oil' and 'peak gas' - the energy industry has looked to other 'unconventional' energy sources to keep their business models …
Political support for fracking is not just about energy, writes Paul Mobbs. It reflects the greater ecological and resource crisis at the root of our current economic woes - and only postpones the essential shift to a new kind of economy.
… support for fracking is not just about energy, writes Paul Mobbs. It reflects the … to tour those areas next in line for extreme energy developments - South Wales , The … biased towards the business interests of the energy service and investment industries …
The Environmental Audit Committee today calls for shale fracking in the UK to be 'put on hold', writes Paul Mobbs. But the EAC is missing an even more dangerous technology that the Infrastructure Bill would support - underground coal gasification.
… Mobbs | 26th January 2015 Comment Fracking Energy Oil Gas UK Politics ugc-cut.jpg The … generation. Shortly thereafter the North West Energy Task Force , a local ' astroturf ' … ongoing debate about a ban , fuelled by Dart Energy's proposed coalbed methane (CBM) …
After over a century of coal ash and colliery waste dumping, the Tyne and Wear coastline is no stranger to industrial pollution. But soon a horrific new technology - underground coal gasification (UCG) - will endanger human health and the environment, backed by unflinching Government support and generous lashings of taxpayers' money.
… Sea Paul Mobbs | 3rd April 2015 News Oceans Energy Gas Fracking Fossil Fuels UK Finance … or it could be supplied to large industrial energy users. Don't confuse this process with … for the pollution they have created. Linc Energy have also allegedly exposed workers to …
The UK's insistence on opening up the UK to fracking is symptomatic of a deeper malaise, writes Paul Mobbs. Of course we need a change of government, but more than that, we need a deeper, enduring change of the nation's governance if we are ever to effect the transition to sustainable policies on energy and environment. It's time for the UK to become truly democratic.
… Mobbs | 21st December 2015 News UK Politics Energy Fracking Regulation Farming Natural … the transition to sustainable policies on energy and environment. It's time for the UK … circuitous consultations, the Department of Energy and Climate Change's 14th Landward …
A company bidding to undertake 'underground coal gasification (UGC) - a notoriously hazardous and polluting process - in the UK has threatened a Scottish clean energy campaigner: shut up or get sued. Paul Mobbs reports ...
… - in the UK has threatened a Scottish clean energy campaigner: shut up or get sued. Paul … Mobbs reports ... Lawyers for Five Quarter Energy Holdings have sent a 'cease and desist' … In the early 2000s three companies - Cougar Energy at Kingaroy, Linc Energy at Chincilla …
The UK government claim that fracking is a 'clean' energy source rests on the conclusions of a single scientific paper, writes Paul Mobbs. And now that paper has been conclusively invalidated: it uses misleading figures that understate the methane emissions from fracking, and subsequent findings have left it totally discredited. Yet the paper is still being quoted to justify fracking, and the fool the public on its climate change impacts.
… government claim that fracking is a 'clean' energy source rests on the conclusions of a … a realistic result. Fracking and Whitehall's energy policy The Government in Whitehall … means to meet climate change obligations. As Energy Secretary Ed Davey claimed in 2013 , …
Medact, the organization of health professionals for a safer, fairer and better world, has called for a five year moratorium on fracking due to its serious hazards to public health, writes Paul Mobbs. Their new report is a powerful challenge to government policy that cannot be ignored.
… | 31st March 2015 Comment Health Fracking Energy Politics murphy-oil-la-cut.jpg Medact, … might aid the transition towards a low carbon energy system. The conclusion of the report, … 2014 report for the Nova Scotia Department of Energy by the Independent Panel on Hydraulic …
The Government is struggling to spin its policy to fast track fracking, writes Paul Mobbs. So as it cuts the public out of the regulatory process, exempts exploratory wells from controls, and forces the Environment Agency to issue permits with 1-2 weeks, its spin machine has resorted to outright lies and misinformation to conceal the scale of the attack on our environmental rights.
… Paul Mobbs | 15th June 2015 News Fracling Energy Fossil Fuels UK Politics Law Regulation … our environmental rights. The Department of Energy and Climate Change - DECC - and the … play a key role in securing Britain's future energy supplies." We may have 'resources, but …
A new financial crisis is threatening to dwarf the 'subprime' mortgage debacle, writes Paul Mobbs. Cheap money from central banks has fuelled some $1.3 trillion of risky investments in high-cost 'unconventional' oil and gas. Now, with oil sinking below $60, all that paper is turning to junk - and that's putting the entire economic system at risk.
… was seen as the new 'revolution' in America's energy system, and a new, politically approved path to energy independence . When that funding stream … as one carried out by the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies in early 2014, reckoned that …
Three years after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe hit our TV screens, Paul Mobbs examines the still unfolding global disaster - and the motives of politicians whose love of nuclear power is stronger, than it is wise.
… News Japan USA UK Nuclear Power Radiation Energy fukushima-water-sampling.png Three … discussion never really focused on the real energy issues - which I also set out in The … never mind that it will cost UK taxpayers and energy users untold billions in subsidies, and …
The greatest myth of the consumer society is that modern lifestyles are 'normal' - and this can continue forever because we're clever little apes who can solve any problem, writes Paul Mobbs. That hubris, in the face of insurmountable ecological limits, will be our collective downfall.
… change in material consumption - and thus the energy required to enable that activity to … are a problem, let's switch to renewable energy. This is reason why the green … deception. Not least because while the energy produced might be physically …
Low oil prices are putting a stop to some of the world's most environmentally damaging 'extreme energy' projects, writes Paul Mobbs, and may close down the entire fracking and tar sands industries. So why are so many 'Greens' issuing dire warnings, instead of celebrating the good news?
… crisis Paul Mobbs | 8th January 2015 Comment Energy Oil Fracking Tar Sands Consumerism … most environmentally damaging 'extreme energy' projects, writes Paul Mobbs, and may … the IEA consider essential to maintain global energy production - which requires a near $100 …
Edelman, the global PR group, has a history of aggressive 'consent engineering' for the fossil fuel industry in North America, writes Paul Mobbs. So what are they doing running 'impartial' UK bodies including a Parliamentary group on unconventional oil and gas, and the 'independent' Task Force on Shale Gas? Are they really US-style 'astroturf' bodies designed to fool us all?
… for the stalled Keystone Pipeline - the East Energy Pipeline . Even before the route was … "drive an active public discussion about Energy East that gives Canadians reasons to … had written an email to the Department for Energy and Climate (DECC) office promoting …
UK politicians and officials are studiously ignoring the growing evidence that fracking is an economic and environmental disaster, writes Paul Mobbs. As the circle of 'acceptable' view spins ever smaller, industry PR is dominating a phoney debate that's increasingly remote from reality, public opinion and core democratic principles.
… | 20th January 2015 News Fracking UK Politics Energy Finance Oil Gas … the proposals outlined by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. And though the … pursue policies such as unconventional energy in the absence of balanced evidence, …
Campaigning has never been so easy - sign an Avaaz petition here, send an email there ... and the world is soon put to rights, no? No, writes Paul Mobbs. We must examine the impacts and implications of our e-life, from climate change to corporate dominance, and take control of the technologies we increasingly depend on.
… Technology Corporations Climate Change Energy agbog-trash.jpg All too quickly, our … the supply of minerals, while others, such as energy consumption, are implicit in the nature …
In the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 we have found oil slicks and debris everywhere - none of it connected to the missing plane, writes Paul Mobbs. The seas are littered with human trash, and it's killing the oceanic ecosystem.
… Microplastic ingestion decreases energy reserves in marine worms , Stephanie L. …
The UK Government's policy is to frack at all costs, against public opinion and compelling evidence of environmental damage and poor returns, writes Paul Mobbs - a timely reminder that as far as the Government is concerned, it has a God-given right to rule over us, no matter what we think or want.
… know there's a problem with unconventional energy sources; and that there will be no …
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just begun to take oral evidence from a very select group of witnesses, writes Paul Mobbs in this open letter. Sadly its choices betray a systematic bias to industry and establishment figures - while community groups are entirely excluded.
… unconventional oil and gas production : The Energy and Climate Change Committee's Fifth …
Public Health England is guilty of gross scientific misconduct, writes Paul Mobbs, for its apparently deliberate whitewashing of the public health impacts of fracking. But it's all part of a pattern of maladministration that reaches to the heart of government.
… of information request, the Department of Energy and Climate Change released a wad of … Extreme energy and public health: How the Government …
Food is so much more than a heap of pre-processed consumer products snatched from supermarket shelves or websites, writes Paul Mobbs. And the key to unlocking its deeper meaning is to prepare, bake and cook your own from basic ingredients: in the process expressing creativity, developing skills, building independence from the industrial food machine, meditating in doing, saving money ... and making some pretty amazing hummus!
… of heat - hence why pressure cookers are more energy efficient. If you can chop garlic and … This avoids using excess 'mechanical' energy to cool the hummus. Last, and most …