I am going to be offline for a few more days, enjoying some time with the family. In the interim, Tom Standing has sent some detailed replies to some of the comments following his posts […]
Government and Industry Incompetence
I fear that gross incompetence in our federal and state governments – as well as in some of our major industries – is going to make life much more challenging for our children and grandchildren. […]
Top 10 Energy Stories of 2008
Tis the season for Top 10 stories, and here are what I think were the Top 10 energy stories of the year. 1. Unprecedented volatility in the energy markets Oil prices raced to nearly $150 […]
Loading Up on PBR
A little over a month ago, as a result of the dramatic fall in the market capitalizations of oil companies, I opened up a brokerage account with Ameritrade to take advantage of the fire sale. […]
Ambitious Solar Plans in France; Solar Capacity Factors
The following guest post was written by Tom Standing, a “semi-retired, part-time civil engineer for the City of San Francisco.” In Part 1, Tom took a critical look at a 280 MW solar thermal plant […]
Arizona Solar Power Project, Calculations
The following guest post was written by Tom Standing, a “semi-retired, part-time civil engineer for the City of San Francisco.” In Part 1, Tom takes on the calculations for a 280 MW solar thermal plant […]
Cellulosic Ethanol Targets Slipping
For those who read this blog, this story will come as no surprise. I have been warning for a couple of years that the cellulosic ethanol proponents have been getting ahead of themselves with predictions […]
The Next Secretary of Energy: Will He Flinch & Cave to the Fossil Fuel Culture?
The following guest submission is from a poster who wishes to be identified as ‘Silverthorne-Cebes’, and describes himself as: “Economist, retired; passionate about; ocean energy, development of eco-batteries for transportation, global debt repudiation, and research […]
Thoughts on the New Energy Team
In case you are just venturing out of your cave for the first time in a week, you are probably aware that President-elect Obama has announced his new energy team: Obama names energy team The […]
Carbon Sequestration in Practice
First of its Kind: Sequestered Carbon in Sneek, the Netherlands Back in March, I left my job with ConocoPhillips to become the Engineering Director for London-based Accsys Technologies, PLC (but my work is focused within […]