Paul
Mobbs/
Mobbs' Environmental Investigation & Research
Articles & Papers
For details of my forthcoming/recent lectures, publications and other events see the Information, Events and Updates page.
This page contains details of my articles and other papers/reports since 2005 – for my earlier work goto the Work Archive.
Note that, since 2009, I've begun an occasional blog entitled Ecolonomics – you'll find a number of recent essays on various subjects there.
Recent articles/papers:
» Jam Tomorrow: Unconventional Gas and Britain's
Energy Future
A new presentation/discussion on shale gas/coalbed methane, gas "fracking", and the
future of Britain's energy economy – developed by Paul Mobbs and the Free Range Network
» "When the facts change,
I change my mind. What do you do, sir?", March 31st 2011
This week my critique of George Monbiot's pro-nuclear arguments has been released – you'll
find it in the Ecolonomics
newsletter section.
» Global
Information Society Watch 2010
Information related to my contribution to Global Information Society Watch 2010,
due to be published by APC in December 2010.
⇒ Hacking
the Truth: The Curious Case of Yes2wind
Free Range News and Alerts Network, 22nd June 2010
» The
Simple Future Beyond Oil
An article for the Banbury and Evesham Quakers Adderbury
Gathering, January 2010
» Face
up to natural limits, or face a 70s-style crisis
The Ecologist, January 2010
» Peak
Oil, the Decline of the North Sea and Britain's Energy Future
A presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil, Tuesday 24th November 2009
» Uranium
Supply and the Nuclear Option
Published in Oxford Energy Forum, the quarterly journal of the Oxford
Institute for Energy Studies, Issue 61, May 2005.
» Turning the World Upside Down
Published in an edited form in The World Today, the journal of
the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House),
vol.60 no.12, December 2004.
"Jam Tomorrow": Unconventional Gas and Britain's Energy Future
Paul Mobbs/Free Range Network, November 2011
As plans for the development of shale gas and coalbed methane in the UK are advanced (along with
underground gasification, they're collectively called "unconventional gas"), the debate
on our energy future is seemingly reduced to a single factor; carbon. In fact the complexities of
how we source our energy today, and how – and how much – we will be able to produce
in the future are far more complex than the issue of carbon emissions. Irrespective of whether we're
looking at renewable energy, shale gas or nuclear power, the groups that promote their alternatives
to present energy policy all argue that we can be secure in our present lifestyles and economic
well-being if we adopt them today. Is this a reality, or is it, as in Lewis Carroll's Alice in
Through the Looking Glass, a case of "Jam tomorrow" – the rosy future that these
protagonists promote with their energy technologies will never really arrive.
For information related to this work see:
Free Range 'Energy Beyond Oil'
Project: 'Jam Tomorrow' – Unconventional Gas and Britain's Energy Future- The introductory page of the Free Range 'Energy Beyond Oil' Project's new 'Jam Tomorrow' initiative –
a research project that seeks to investigate the unconventional gas issue in the UK and develop information
and resources for local communities to use in response to local development proposals.
- Ecolonomics No.13: 'Hype, hearsay and hyperbolæ – shale gas and the
UK energy economy' (1,206 kilobyte HTML file)
- An Ecolonomics post which covers some of the background to my recent work on unconventional gas. Whilst out for a relaxing walk, I find that instead my mind fixes on the issue as to whether shale gas is a "game changer", or whether that's just wishful thinking by American politicians and the self-interest of the energy industry.
Free
Range Sheet E11: Fracking and Coalbed Methane – Unconventional gas in the UK- When gas fracking and other "unconventional" energy resources are discussed in the media the focus is usually on the technology used to produced the energy, or the impact this might have on the environment. In fact, the significant feature of the exploitation of unconventional energy resources is that our present energy situation has become so precarious that companies and government consider these valid energy sources, and the public interest demands that this aspect of the problem be examined.
- Free
Range Workshops: The Jam Tomorrow Discussion/Presentation
- This is the on-line information page for the 'Jam Tommorrow' discussion/presentation event that I'll be travelling the UK with during late 2011 and 2012. The 'virtual' version of the presentation will hopefully be on-line by January 2012.
Global Information Society Watch 2010
Association for Progressive Communications/Hivos, December 2010
One of my significant commissions this year was writing the thematic introduction for
the Association for
Progresive Communication and the Humanist
Institute for Development Cooperation annual report, Global
Information Society Watch. The theme of this year's report was, "Focus on
ICTs and environmental sustainability" – and with my research this year
concentrating on the ecological impacts of electronics and technology the editors
welcomed my input. You can download the large file from the GISW web site, or just
the sections that I wrote, below:
GISW 2010: Introduction
(48 kilobyte PDF file)- My introduction to GISW 2010, examining the lifecycle of information and communication
technologies (ICTs). "To understand the sustainability of ICTs we must look at the life
cycle of the devices themselves, from the sources of raw materials, through production, use,
and finally disposal. The ever greater use of ICTs is taking place within a finite
environmental system, and that system, like the human system in general, has limits."
- GISW 2010: UK Country Report
(276 kilobyte PDF file)
- My report on the ecological trends related to the use of ICTs in the UK. This covers various themes, especially the impacts of new communication and entertainment techologies and the digital switchover, and the continuing problems of managing electronic waste (e-waste).
GISW 2010: Full Report
(5.4 megabyte PDF file)- The full report covering different aspects of ICTs and the environment, and with national
reports on related themes from countries all around the globe.
The Global Information Society Watch web site- Get additional information about GISW 2010, and view the previous years
reports.
The Simple Future Beyond Oil
An article for the Banbury and Evesham Quakers Adderbury
Gathering, June 2010
An article to accompany my presentation on Britain's energy future.
It explores the contrast between 'tradition' and 'change' and, using the Adderbury
Quaker Meeting House (built in 1675! – see picture on right) as an
example, how our perceptions of change or permanence affect how we may view energy,
economic growth and consumption.
Face up to natural limits, or face a 70s-style crisis
The Ecologist, January 2010
This the original/unedited and referenced text (for a copy of the published Ecologist article,
click
here) of my 'Comment' article that outlines the parameters that will define our energy
future. Recent gas shortages may have made politicians focus on energy security once more, but
the deeper systemic problems of Britain's energy economy go far deeper than the limited capacity
of our gas importation system. Energy represents far more to the economy than just a fuel source;
understanding the biophysical limits on our future use of energy, and how this affects the
general economy, is essential if we are to create a strategic vision that can address the
ecological crises of the Twenty-First Century.
Peak Oil, the Decline of the North Sea and
Britain's Energy Future
A presentation to the All Party Parliamentary
Group on Peak Oil, Tuesday
24th November 2009
This is the paper, slides and background data that I produced as
part of a special presentation for the
All Party
Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil.
The central message of the presentation is that Britain – irrespective of the ramifications of the
global issue of peak energy – faces a series of problematic choices in order to re-negotiate our
lifestyle within the biophysical limits that will assert themselves over the next few decades. These
problems cannot be avoided, and they are complex because they affect so many aspects of our economic,
social and material well-being today. For that reason they are innately political, and thus require the
political parties of Britain to engage with these issues in order to map out a means of dealing with the
crises these changes will generate.
You can download:
- The presentation handout – coloured graphs
(1.6
megabyte PDF file)
- The presentation handout – shaded graphs (for photocopying)
(2.3
megabyte PDF file)
- The slides from the presentation
(390
kilobyte PDF file)
- Tables of background statistical information
(331
kilobyte PDF file)
- The APPGOPO web site
Uranium Supply and the Nuclear Option
Published in Oxford Energy Forum,
the quarterly journal of the Oxford Institute for Energy
Studies, Issue 61, May 2005.
A short paper on the global availability – past, present
and future – of uranium, and the critical limitation that
the likely future shortage of uranium represents to the much
trumpeted "nuclear renaissance".
Turning the World Upside Down
Published in an edited form in The World Today,
the journal of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House),
vol.60 no.12, December 2004.
An article I wrote for Chatham House, to which they added the snappy
introduction, "Could you live with the same amount of energy
now available to those in the third world? A dramatic change such as
this is likely within fifty years as present energy sources are used
up. So future generations will have to manage with just a third of
the energy we use now."
