Chicago Tribune - A travelogue of addiction

Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek tracks oil from rig to pump

Energy Safari

Gulp!!

Australian TV special on Peak Oil


End of Oil is closer than you think


Forecasting Global Oil Supply 2000-2050 by Colin J. Campbell

RTE Drama 'Fallout' doesn't look so bogus after all

Fallout an RTÉ two-part fictional drama, made in the style of a documentary. It deals with the Nuclear fallout following a hypothetical disaster in the Sellafield Nuclear Power and Reprocessing Plant in Cumbria on the British coast of the Irish Sea. The show suggests how Ireland would bear the brunt of the United Kingdom's accident. Given the following article in the The Guardian today maybe it's not so fictitious after all?!?

Documents reveal hidden fears over Britain's nuclear plants

Unexplained cracks in reactor cores increase likelihood of accident, say government inspectors. Government nuclear inspectors have raised serious questions over the safety of Britain's ageing atomic power stations, some of which have developed major cracks in their reactor cores, documents reveal today.

The safety assessments, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, show the Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD) has issued warnings over the deterioration of reactor cores at Hinkley Point B in Somerset and other British nuclear plants. The directorate also criticises British Energy, which operates 13 advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactors including Hinkley.

Guardian Article Continues....

Marlboro Man - the new face of the American soldier

A photographer's lens caught James Blake Miller smeared with blood and dirt during the battle for Falluja. In his eyes, America saw the steely determination that would bring victory in Iraq; now stress and divorce have made him a casualty of the war.


Now, he is a reminder of how war can destroy even those it does not kill. How it leaves behind a trail of victims, whether they are Iraqi civilians or a kid from the Kentucky hills.

Power blackouts for Scotland by 2015

ELECTRICITY blackouts, not seen since the miners' strike, could be imposed on Scottish households within nine years unless new power stations are built soon, experts have warned.

"[Surplus capacity] is predicted by the National Grid to disappear within ten years, ie there will be electricity rationing by 2015 unless significant new generating capacity is installed" - RSE REPORT.

Full link is here

In 10 years House Prices jump up 270% while wages are up 70%

House prices in Ireland increased by 270% over the past ten years, according to the results of a survey published today.

The Permanent TSB/ESRI House Price Index said that the average annual increase in prices was almost 15% for each year since 1996.

Prices in Co Wicklow increased the most at 310% while the smallest increase was recorded in Co Roscommon where prices grew by 190%.

The average house price in 1996 was €75,000. In 2005, the average house price was €280,000.

According to the report, while ten years ago the difference between comparable houses in Dublin and the rest of the country was an average figure of €10,000, the gap now stands at an average figure of €130,000.

Special 10th Anniversary Edition of the permanent tsb/ ESRI House Price Index

Oil production could peak as early as 2020

Earlier this month the boss of French-owned Total, one of the world's major oil outfits, said global demand was so strong that production could peak as early as 2020.

See Telegrpah.co.uk for more