Gone Surfing

I'm off on holiday for the next 2 weeks, so Peak Energy will be going on hold until I get back. I'd like to wish all of you a Happy Christmas / Holidays/ Hanukkah / Summer or Winter solstice or whatever name it is you give to the end of year holiday season, and I hope to see you back next year.

Its been quite a fun year for me - the political tide has turned somewhat, with the neocons on the ropes in the US and the Rodent out on his backside here in Oz, plus a steady stream of encouraging news about solutions for both peak oil and global warming (even if nothing meaningful has been done about either during the year from a political point of view).

For those new to the site, or regular readers who have somehow failed to read every single post, here is a sample of some of the posts I most enjoyed writing throughout the year :

* The Future Of Venture Capital - The year kicked off with a look at the latest (and most desperately needed) trend in technology investment - cleantech.
* Bright Green Buildings and Dark Green Buildings - A look at energy efficient architecture. Viridian Pope Emperor Bruce Sterling linked to this one from his Wired blog, which made the year from the point of view of this disreputable outpost on the edge of the Viridian world.
* The Shockwave Rider - A homage to John Brunner and the accuracy of his futurism. Easily my favourite post, even if it did generate some weird indirect feedback and some bizarre domains in the logs. Back in the search results at Google at last, after being exiled to some dark memory hole for several months after a brief stay on the front page of a search for "Shockwave Rider" straight after it was published. You can find it via Yahoo (number 7 today) too, but it seems to have disappeared from Live / MSN now. Chances are, if you read it you will learn something new.
* The Fat Man, The Population Bomb And The Green Revolution - Another book review that went a little feral - this time I looked at Herman Kahn's "The Next 200 Years" and tested some of his predictions. Make your "peak food" doomer friends read it.
* Black Earth - A look at Terra Preta / Biochar.
* The Turning Of The Worm - Further exploration of the world of soil.
* Better Living Through Green Chemistry - Who needs fossil fuels when you can make bioplastic ?
* Geothermia Revisted - A look at the potential power we could harness from the centre of the earth.
* Running Cars On Lawn Cuttings - An update on developments in the world of cellulosic ethanol.
* Tapping The Source - A brief look at some ocean energy projects. I'll do a much larger version next year.
* Queensland Shale Oil Billions in The Balance ? - An update on the question of shale oil.
* Jump Starting Electric Car Production - An update on developments in the world of lithium ion batteries.
* Iraq, Oil, Law And Order - The war in Iraq drags on, and should be a lesson to everyone as to why we need to abandon oil as an energy source anyway (amongst other much needed reforms). This one outlines the background behind the oil law the US is trying to get the Iraqi government to pass (thus far utterly unsuccessfully). While some peak oil followers find this inconvenient to acknowledge, there is far more oil under Iraq than is commonly believed, and a basic understanding of the proposed oil law combined the history of Iraqi oil exploration demonstrates what the war was all about. More at The Iron Butt Strategy, Honest John ?, and We're Not In Iraq For The Figs.
* The Air Car - A Breath Of Fresh Air Or A Waste Of Breath ? - Are these things for real ?
* Peak Oil In The Australian - Are these guys for real ?
* Should Natural Gas Be Used To Power New Zealand ? - Or these ones ?
* Use Your Vote Wisely - Mission accomplished - RIP Rodent.
* A Theory Of Market Power - Bits and pieces about energy politics and economics. I might try some free market philosophy around the economics of abundance next year that tries to come up with a system that both libertarians and marxists would find appealing (secure in the knowledge that I'll probably be roundly denounced by everyone).
* Dynamite Surfing. Totally off topic but a great piece of viral marketing.