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 California Solar Dilemma
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 […]
Predictions: Hits, Misses, and Pending
I have made a lot of predictions in my writings, and my own impression is that my track record has been pretty good. But I started wondering a few days ago if that’s because I […]
This Week in Petroleum 7-18-2007
It’s been a while since I updated one of these, but this seems like a good time for an inventory review. Crude inventories are very high, distillate inventories are about normal, and gasoline inventories were […]