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.

How Renewable Energy Models Can Produce Misleading Indications

Posted on October 24, 2019

The energy needs of the world’s economy seem to be easy to model. Energy consumption is measured in a variety of different ways including kilowatt hours, barrels of oil equivalent, British thermal units, kilocalories and joules. Two types of energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Energy policy, Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 1,605 Comments

Understanding Why the Green New Deal Won’t Really Work

Posted on October 2, 2019

The reasons why the Green New Deal won’t really work are fairly subtle. A person really has to look into the details to see what goes wrong. In this post, I try to explain at least a few of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternatives to Oil, Financial Implications | Tagged , , | 1,326 Comments

Our Energy and Debt Predicament in 2019

Posted on September 12, 2019

Many people are concerned that we have an oil problem. Or they are concerned about recession and the need to lower interest rates. As I see the situation, we have a problem of a networked economy that is not functioning … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 1,325 Comments

Debunking ‘Lower Oil Supply Will Raise Prices’

Posted on August 22, 2019

We often hear the statement, “When oil supply is lower, oil prices will rise because of scarcity.” Now, we are getting to see firsthand whether oil prices really do rise, as oil supplies become more scarce. Figure 1 shows that … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 1,469 Comments

Rethinking Renewable Mandates

Posted on July 31, 2019

Powering the world’s economy with wind, water and solar, and perhaps a little wood sounds like a good idea until a person looks at the details. The economy can use small amounts of wind, water and solar, but adding these types … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy | Tagged , , , , | 1,461 Comments