I spent this weekend on a couple of offshore production platforms. The isolation provided a very reflective atmosphere for me, and some things came into focus. I have been trying to juggle a lot lately. […]
Author: Robert Rapier
Ethanol/Alternative Fuel FAQ
Of course you are against ethanol. You work for Big Oil. Is ethanol reducing dependence on foreign oil? What’s this EROI/EROEI/Energy Return Business? Is EROEI the Same Thing as the Process Efficiency? Isn’t the Energy […]
Big Oil and Iraq
I am about to be traveling, but I wanted to throw this out for discussion. Over the past few years, I have heard various claims that oil companies were complicit/ultimately responsible over the Iraqi invasion. […]
National Geographic Story
Update: This was a story originally posted in August of 2006 (Wow, that’s been the fastest year of my life), but E3 Biofuels has come up in discussion quite a few times lately. I am […]
Xethanol: Another Multimillion Dollar Loss
Xethanol continues to demonstrate that even with generous subsidies, they can’t make any money: Xethanol Announces Second Quarter 2007 Financial Results For the second quarter of 2007, the company reported a net loss of $6.6 […]
Biodiesel’s Green Diesel Nightmare
I have been saying this for months, and others are starting to realize the same thing: Renewable Diesel: Biodiesel’ s Nightmare I first heard of this process last October at an NREL presentation (they called […]
The Chevy Volt Rolls On
General Motors is moving forward with the Chevy Volt: Novel Batteries Get a Boost General Motors has announced it will work directly with A123 Systems, a start-up based in Watertown, MA, to develop batteries that […]
The Implosion at Oil Watchdog
Once upon a time, I ran across a website called the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR). Some of their hysterical claims about the oil industry gave me a great deal of easy essay […]
How to Kill the SUV and Save the World
The UK, which already only uses half the per capita energy of the U.S. (See Note 1), is taking aim at the SUV. As British taxes target gas guzzlers, sales of greener cars double London […]
Solar Thermal
I wish I could tell you that the following story happened when I was a kid, but it actually happened just a few years ago. We were back home at the family farm in Oklahoma, […]