A few months back, Jeff Goodell, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, contacted me with some questions about ethanol. Jeff’s name may be familiar to those in the energy business, as he is the author […]
Rolling Stone Article
Author: Robert Rapier
Google Solar, Hydrogen, and Farm Bills
I wanted to briefly comment on several issues. Some of them deserve their own essays, but I am too pressed for time. Google Solar If you are into solar, Google’s Solar Panel Project is incredibly […]
A California Solar Dilemma
After grappling with the thought experiment of replacing all of our electricity consumption with solar panels, the problem came into focus. This problem seems simple, but it isn’t trivial. As I mentioned, I have seen […]
A Solar Thought Experiment
Note: This is a work in progress. I am modifying the calculations as I get constructive feedback. Credit goes to several people for that. I think I have figured out the best approach to solving […]
What’s Wrong with Nuclear Power?
A couple of days ago I was reading the CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate transcript. Of course I am always interested to hear what the candidates have to say about energy. There were a lot of […]
This Week in Petroleum 7-25-07
Just a quick update on the highlights of the weekly EIA report: U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged over 15.8 million barrels per day during the week ending July 20, up 172,000 barrels per day […]
Solar Redux
The previous essay on solar energy got picked up and linked to from a number of places. Between those links and the original blog entry, some of the comments I read were largely in left […]
The Future is Solar
I have done a lot of research lately into various alternative diesel technologies as I was working on my renewable diesel chapter. One thing that became very clear to me is that the world will […]
Venezuela’s Production Difficulties
I think this speaks for itself: Venezuela drops 2007 rig count target by 40 pct CARACAS, July 20 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s difficulties in acquiring oil rigs amid soaring global demand could lead to lower oil […]
Current Status of the Renewable Diesel Chapter
Most sections are pretty well filled in. Below is what the outline looks like. I still have this weekend to work on it. What am I still missing? I am not quite satisfied with all […]