Peak oil reported in mainstream NZ media -- a sea-change ?

Peak oil has been discussed in the mainstream New Zealand media in the past week. What is pleasing and maybe a sign of a sea-change is that unlike previous flirtations with the subject which have been disparaging and condescending, the latest articles take the issue seriously.

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10 reasons why converting lignite coal to diesel is insane

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) has released a report "Lignite and climate change: The high cost of low grade coal"

The PCE report also covers using lignite to make urea and briquettes, but this post will focus on the insanity of plans by Solid Energy and L & M Group to convert Southland lignite to diesel

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Dunedin City Leads on Peak Oil

In a first for NZ, Dunedin City Council has commissioned a Peak Oil Vulnerability Analysis Report, which included surveys on travel habits, private fuel consumption and vehicle dependence and the effect of petrol prices . Appendices to the Report here

It assesses the city’s vulnerability to increased fuel prices and reduced availability of oil. It helps identify the associated challenges and opportunities for Dunedin’s communities.

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Staring down the barrel of oil shortages - but seeing nothing

Business writer Rod Oram and Transport Minister Steven Joyce have been debating the government's current and potential roading and rail projects ( Sunday Star Times) The essence of their spat seems to be "my cost benefit analysis is bigger and better than yours - nah nah na nah na".

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NZ will live with less oil -- its official

Whether you are a petrol head or a mum and dad happy motorist you will be living with less oil in the future. That's the sober conclusion of the New Zealand government's most trusted energy adviser -- the International Energy agency (IEA) in its latest annual report.

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NZ Defence Report Ignores Peak Oil - US / German Military Warn it’s a Big Threat

The just released Defence White Paper on New Zealand's strategic and security interests to 2025, as Gordon Campbell points out, is long on rhetoric, and short on coherence and detail.  But worse still it fails to even mention a very serious and imminent threat to our security which both the US and German military have warned about - namely the peaking of global oil production leading to dwindling world oil supplies.

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NZ Hits Peak Oil in 2010. Zero oil production by 2023 -- MED official

This year NZ reaches peak oil.  We then face a steep decline in our domestic oil production from currently producing oilfields. This is a double jeopardy for New Zealand's economy as the domestic decline will coincide with global oil supply shocks, rapidly rising oil prices, ushering in a period of sustained recessions - according to a New Zealand Parliament report published last month.

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