Thursday, January 31, 2013

Going car-free could save nearly $10K in D.C. - WTOP.com

Going car-free could save nearly $10K in D.C. - WTOP.com: "Using public transportation instead of driving could save commuters an average of $10,502 a year, according to the American Public Transportation Association."

'via Blog this'

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Stupid Growth Collides With Transit Planning In Alexandria | Transportation Nation

Smart Growth Collides With Transit Planning In Alexandria | Transportation Nation: "“Duncan, why does the Easter Bunny have to park his car on East Lynhaven Drive?” asks Joe Bondi, president of Lynhaven Citizens Association."
Simple solution. STOP PLANNING. No urban planning makes sense until the private auto is brought to heel. Make public transit fare-free. End #autosprawlsubsidy. Then you will see where to put the apartments and rail.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

U.S. oil production measured by energy instead of barrels.

The Oil Drum | Peak, What Peak?: "Historic production of crude oil in the U.S. is resolved into several Hubbert curves.  The tallest one is the original Hubbert curve published in 1956.  The smaller curves starting from 1960 were generated by producing shallow, deep and ultra-deep Gulf of Mexico, Alaska (mostly Prudhoe Bay), and then everything else that was not in the original curve: large waterflood projects, thermal and carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects, horizontal wells, hydrofractured wells, etc.  The broad curve peaking in 2002 was introduced in late 2002, and the model represented fairly well the U.S. crude oil production until 2010.  The last small green curve on the right was introduced last month to describe the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales, as well as the increased production of crude oil from the Permian Basin near Midland, TX.  The right-most black curve depicts a hypothetical production of 7 billion barrels of oil from the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.  So the last point on the blue step-line represents 5.7 MMbopd produced in the U.S. in 2011. This rate is predicted by EIA to grow to over 6 MMbopd in 2012."

It's ironic that there is oil in the Permian Basin. The late Permian era saw one of the great life extinctions of all time, probably due to low-oxygen levels and anaerobic bacteria in the ocean creating hydrogen sulfide. We seem to be heading that way now we are using the oil stored back then.