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The Roma (or Rroma) of Italy are probably the poorest fraction of the residents in the country. They normally live in segregated camps, in trailers or in self built sheds. Only about half of the 150,000 Roma in Italy are Italian citizens; in most cases, they have no stable job and live a very precarious existence as the target of hatred and of open racism. The image above, from Excite Magazine, shows the Roma camp in the suburb of Ponticelli, in Naples, as it was before being burned to the ground by an angry mob in 2008.

Oilwatch Monthly February 2010

Posted by Rembrandt on February 24, 2010 - 10:20am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: demand, eia, exports, iea, imports, joint oil data initiative, non-opec, oilwatch, opec, original, stocks total liquids, supply, world production [list all tags]

The February 2010 edition of Oilwatch Monthly can be downloaded at this weblink (PDF, 1.24 MB, 33 pp).

Figure 1 - EIA World Crude Oil Production January 2002 to November 2009

The Oilwatch Monthly is a newsletter that is available free of charge with the latest data on oil supply, demand, oil stocks, spare capacity and exports.

Below the fold is an executive summary, subscription form, and latest graphics. For much more detail and a country by country profile, download the .pdf.

Peak soil

Posted by Ugo Bardi on February 13, 2010 - 10:24am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: agriculture, humus, peaking, resources, roman empire, soil [list all tags]

"Dirt" (2008) by David Montgomery deals with the relation between soil erosion and civilization collapse. It is neither the first nor the only book that examines this subject. It is, however, written by a soil scientist, and it brings to a deeper level the understanding of how soil disappears and how this affects agriculture and, in turn, society.

The Release of the Industry Taskforce Report on Peak Oil and Energy Security

Posted by Chris Vernon on February 10, 2010 - 1:43pm in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: depletion rate, energy security, government, jeremy leggett, peak oil, united kingdom [list all tags]

This is a guest post from Erica Thompson, formerly with the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC Report) and now working on a PhD at Imperial College, London. She attended the ITPOES report launch on our behalf.

Today's (10th Feb 2010) launch of the second report of the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) was rather more high-profile than the previous one. After summaries of the report from other contributors, Richard Branson arrived late to read out a short speech and media interest (informally measured by the rate of camera flashes) picked up; we can expect a scattering of news stories about the report to follow, in the usual places.

As we reach maximum oil extraction rates, the era of cheap oil is behind us. We must plan for a world in which oil prices are likely to be both higher and more volatile and where oil price shocks have the potential to destabilise economic, political and social activity.

Our message to government and businesses is clear. Act now.

Click to download .pdf

Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security

Posted by Euan Mearns on February 10, 2010 - 10:15am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: energy security, peak oil, united kingdom [list all tags]

In London this morning (10th February 2010) the UK industry task force on peak oil and energy security launched a new report warning of the dangers of the forthcoming oil crunch.

Note: The Oil Drum post relating to this task force report is now posted. This is a link.

Offshore Wind taking off - some background on installation issues

Posted by Jerome a Paris on February 3, 2010 - 10:53am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: offshore wind [list all tags]

Recent statistics have been published showing that Europe has now installed over 2,000MW of offshore wind capacity, with more than a quarter installed in the past year, and lots more to come in the next few years. I discussed these numbers in more detail here, but wanted to give you here some insights on what these numbers mean on the ground.

Left: Offshore wind installations. Source: EWEA - The European offshore wind industry
key trends and statistics 2009 (PDF) )
Right: Transition pieces for the Belwind offshore wind farm, Zeebrugge harbor, 22 January 2010

I recently visited the port site in Zeebrugge, Belgium, where the foundations for the Belwind offshore wind farm (the financing of which I worked on) were stored before their installation. This is a good opportunity to give you a glimpse of the kind of logistics involved, and what kind of problems can happen (and how they are solved), on offshore wind installations.

Follow me below for a tour of a small bit of Europe's fastest growing heavy industry.

Part of the windpower series.

What difference would Nord Stream mean to European energy supply?

Posted by Chris Vernon on January 28, 2010 - 10:16am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: baltic pipeline, eu, europe, gas, nord stream, pipelines, russia [list all tags]

This is a guest post from Selene Rebane. She is from Estonia, has a degree in journalism and recently graduated from an MSc in International Relations from University of Bristol. She's particularly interested in energy issues in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Nord Stream (also known as the Baltic Pipeline) stirs emotions in Europe.

Nord Stream route (EEZ = economic exclusivity zone).

Peak Fat

Posted by Ugo Bardi on January 22, 2010 - 10:20am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: diet, junk food, peak oil [list all tags]

A section of a graph published by the New York Times on Jan 14 2009. It shows that the number of obese people in the USA has stopped growing. Peak fat?

Oilwatch Monthly January 2010

Posted by Rembrandt on January 21, 2010 - 10:15am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: demand, eia, exports, iea, imports, joint oil data initiative, non-opec, oilwatch, opec, original, stocks total liquids, supply, world production [list all tags]

The January 2010 edition of Oilwatch Monthly can be downloaded at this weblink (PDF, 1.24 MB, 33 pp).

Figure 1 - World Crude Oil Production January 2002 to October 2009, OECD Crude Oil Consumption January 2002 to October 2009, OECD Crude Oil Stocks January 2002 to November 2009

The Oilwatch Monthly is a newsletter that is available free of charge with the latest data on oil supply, demand, oil stocks, spare capacity and exports.

A summary and latest graphics below the fold.

Aruba's New Windfarm

Posted by Jerome a Paris on December 30, 2009 - 10:03am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: aruba, wind [list all tags]

As Copenhaguen ended, unsurprisingly, in confusion, I have the opportunity to give you a more positive tale, and show you it is possible for people - including even bankers amongst them - to work towards a more sustainable future without necessarily endangering our way of life.

The Vader Piet 30MW wind farm on the island of Aruba.

In this case, it involves the construction of a windfarm in a place where it will directly replace fuel-oil-burning power plants. As you'll be able to see below, this wind farm is quite remarkable in a number of ways which means that this experience will not be replicable as easily everywhere, but it shows that there are many places and energy systems which it is possible to materially improve under almost all criterai using renewable energy.

(part of the wind power series)
Full disclosure: As indicated below, I financed the project discussed in this post last year.

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