Peak Oil is the point of maximum global oil production. In Peak Oil and the Second Great Depression (2010-2030), the author argues that the likely peak in global oil production occurred in the period 2005-2008, due to the peaking of Saudi Arabian oil production during that time. The evidence of a peak in Saudi crude oil production in 2008 is presented and discussed in some detail. The most significant piece of evidence of a Saudi peak in production in 2008 was the inability of Saudi oil ministers to increase production in the period 2005 to 2008 despite record crude oil prices and the drilling of thousands of new wells in Saudi Arabia's seven major oil fields. Because it could not increase production in the face of rising global demand, Saudi Arabia was unable to prevent a spike in the price of oil to around $150 a barrel. A dramatic economic contraction in the developed economies ensued. In the years ahead, it is argued, continued economic growth in the developing world including China will put upward pressure on the price of oil, which will create severe economic difficulties for the indebted developed economies such as the US which rely on imported energy. The book examines the likely policy responses of American statesmen and central bankers to the economic difficulties created by very high prices for petroleum. Oil at very high and indeed painful prices in the face of already historic levels of personal and governmental indebtedness, it is argued, will create large scale unemployment on levels not seen since the (First) Great Depression as expenditures for foreign oil dramatically reduce spending available for the domestic economy. The author argues that the policy response to the economic difficulties will be to create a general rise in the price level to reduce the burden of the existing debt on households, businesses and governmental entities. As prices, and especially wages, rise, domestic spending will recover and unemployment will be reduced, although this process could take several decades. Very significant inflation will likely be necessary to prevent an even more severe drop in employment and output in the economy than that we are already experiencing given the magnitude of the shock to the economy created by continued declines in global oil production. The inflation thus created, as well as the other dramatic changes in the economy as a result of Peak Oil, will alter the approach that would optimally be taken by investors and those wishing to preserve savings. The issues of asset allocation and sector weighting are explored together with alternative investments in commodities and real estate. The focus is primarily on domestic equities, but a rather unusual sector weighting strategy is proposed as most likely to produce positive results during two decades that will otherwise be most disappointing for the investing public. Peak Oil will also create opportunities for speculation which are explored in the final chapters of the book.

The ongoing changes in population, climate, and the availability of energy have resulted in unprecedented threats and opportunities that all project and program managers, portfolio managers, and public planners need to be aware of. The New Triple Constraints for Sustainable Projects, Programs, and Portfolios offers a clear look at how these constra

In addressing the urgent questions raised by climate change, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the anthropology of climate change guided by a critical political ecological framework. It argues that anthropologists must significantly expand their focus on climate change and their contributions to responding to climate change as a grave risk to humanity. The book presents a human socioecological framework for conceptualizing climate change. It examines the emergence and slow maturation of the anthropology of climate change; reviews the historic foundations for this work in the archaeology of climate change; and presents three alternative contemporary theoretical perspectives in the anthropology of climate change. The book synthesizes anthropological work and perspectives on climate change in the form of case studies in various regions of the world revealing the nature of global climate change as constituting multiple and somewhat diverse changes in local settings. It explores the applied anthropology of climate change in terms of the ways anthropologists are contributing to climate policy, working with communities on climate change issues, as well as within the climate movement both internationally and nationally. Finally it provides an overview of what other the social sciences are saying about climate change and explores ways that the anthropology of climate change can interface with sociology, political science, and human geography in order to create an integrated social science of climate change. This book gives researchers and students in Environmental Anthropology, Climate Change, Human Geography, and Sociology, a novel framework for understanding climate change that emphasizes human socioecological interactions.

This book presents an analytic history of American energy policy, examining policy failures and how the policy process itself leads to failure.

In addressing the urgent questions raised by climate change, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the anthropology of climate change, guided by a critical political ecological framework. It examines the emergence and slow maturation of the anthropology of climate change, reviews the historic foundations for this work in the archaeology of climate change, and presents three alternative contemporary theoretical perspectives in the anthropology of climate change. This second edition is fully updated to include the most recent literature published since the first edition in 2014. It also examines a number of new topics, including an analysis of the 2014 American Anthropological Association’s Global Climate Change Task Force report, a new case study on responses to climate change in developed societies, and reference to the stance of the Trump administration on climate change. Not only does this book provide a valuable overview of the field and the key literature, but it also gives researchers and students in Environmental Anthropology, Climate Change, Human Geography, Sociology, and Political Science a novel framework for understanding climate change that emphasizes human socioecological interactions.

Thirty years ago, our global energy landscape did not look remarkably different from what it does today. Three or four decades from now, it certainly will: dwindling oil reserves will clash with skyrocketing demand, as developing nations around the world lead their citizens into the modern energy economy, and all the while, the grave threat of catastrophic climate change looms ever larger. Energy worries are at an all-time high—just how will we power our future? With The Powers That Be, Scott L. Montgomery cuts through the hype, alarmism, and confusion to give us a straightforward, informed account of where we are now, and a map of where we’re going. Starting with the inescapable fact of our current dependence on fossil fuels—which supply 80% of all our energy needs today—Montgomery clearly and carefully lays out the many alternative energy options available, ranging from the familiar, like water and solar, to such nascent but promising sources as hydrogen and geothermal power. What is crucial, Montgomery explains, is understanding that our future will depend not on some single, wondrous breakthrough; instead, we should focus on developing a more diverse, adaptable energy future, one that draws on a variety of sources—and is thus less vulnerable to disruption or failure. An admirably evenhanded and always realistic guide, Montgomery enables readers to understand the implications of energy funding, research, and politics at a global scale. At the same time, he doesn’t neglect the ultimate connection between those decisions and the average citizen flipping a light switch or sliding behind the wheel of a car, making The Powers That Be indispensible for our ever-more energy conscious age.

The world is undergoing major transitions due to three driving forces—population changes, climate changes, and energy resource constraints—making it essential for us to move toward sustainability in the implementation of projects and programs as well as our everyday life. Real sustainability exists where there is a balance between population and energy usage and a stable climate—global equilibrium. Designed for program and portfolio managers and senior planners, Sustainable Program Management provides essential information on the three major driving forces of the coming decades and presents options to assist us in moving toward a sustainable future. This book offers a unique approach to accommodating the three new constraints of population change, climate change, and energy resources as impacts on programs and portfolios. It presents them in the form of overlays, which facilitate planning by considering the effects of these additional constraints on a program, along with schedule, budget, and performance constraints. The overlays summarize the book’s extensive analyses of these global challenges. The book is divided into sections on population change, climate change, and energy resource constraints and provides background information and overlays for each one. The author discusses scenarios, possible solutions, and probable outcomes, which provide the basis for evaluating the risks and the sustainability considerations involved. The final section of the text addresses planning for real sustainability and describes six pathways toward a sustainable system. This practical book familiarizes readers with these new global challenges to program management and provides a basis for developing sustainable and successful programs.

This book analyzes Germany's path-breaking Energiewende, the country's transition from an energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels to a sustainable energy system based on renewables. The authors explain Germany's commitment to a renewable energy transition on multiple levels of governance, from the local to the European, focusing on the sources of institutional change that made the transition possible. They then place the German case in international context through comparative case studies of energy transitions in the USA, China, and Japan. These chapters highlight the multifaceted challenges, and the enormous potential, in different paths to a sustainable energy future. Taken together, they tell the story of one of the most important political, economic, and social undertakings of our time.

Because of their historical roles and politico-economic significance in contemporary international politics, Iran and China have perpetually been in the crosshairs of both policy circles and interested observers in almost every other part of the world. Crucial interactions touching upon any aspect of Tehran–Beijing ties, from diplomatic and military links to economic and cultural connections, have especially been in the limelight of such riveting inquisitiveness which has often given rise to a flurry of rash comments, sensational claims, and impetuous conclusions. But a detached probe into critical developments involving Iran and China, however, elucidates this rather inconvenient eventuality that the relations between the two important countries are not essentially based on pivotal principles and clear-cut commitments, nor do their ties really rest on tenuous thoughts and flimsy foundations devoid of any common interests in short term or well-conceived objectives in long run. In the same way, the two political systems in Tehran and Beijing may ultimately end up each contributing to a separate pole of power regionally and internationally rather than moving faithfully and steadfastly in lockstep with what it requires them to truly materialize their more recent aspiration and design to move toward achieving a very close strategic partnership.