Author Archives: Gail Tverberg

About Gail Tverberg

My name is Gail Tverberg. I am an actuary interested in finite world issues - oil depletion, natural gas depletion, water shortages, and climate change. Oil limits look very different from what most expect, with high prices leading to recession, and low prices leading to financial problems for oil producers and for oil exporting countries. We are really dealing with a physics problem that affects many parts of the economy at once, including wages and the financial system. I try to look at the overall problem.

Supplemental energy puts humans in charge

Posted on August 2, 2018

Energy is a subject that is greatly misunderstood. Its role in our lives is truly amazing. We humans are able to live and move because of the energy that we get from food. We count this energy in calories. Green … Continue reading →

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The world’s weird self-organizing economy

Posted on July 11, 2018

Why is it so difficult to make accurate long-term economic forecasts for the world economy? There are many separate countries involved, each with a self-organizing economy made up of businesses, consumers, governments, and laws. These individual economies together create a … Continue reading →

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Eight insights based on December 2017 energy data

Posted on June 22, 2018

BP recently published energy data through December 31, 2017, in its Statistical Review of World Energy 2018. The following are a few points we observe, looking at the data: [1] The world is making limited progress toward moving away from fossil fuels. … Continue reading →

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Our Energy Problem Is a Quantity Problem

Posted on May 30, 2018

(This post consists of a short overview article I recently wrote for Transform, a magazine for Environment and Sustainability Professionals, plus six related Questions and Answers.) Reading many of today’s energy articles, it is easy to get the impression that our … Continue reading →

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How the Economy Works as It Reaches Energy Limits — An Introduction for Actuaries and Others

Posted on May 11, 2018

Why have long-term interest rates generally fallen since 1981? Why have asset prices risen? Can these trends be expected to continue? The standard evaluation approach by actuaries and economists seems to be to look at past patterns and assume that … Continue reading →

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