The Mirage of Fail Safe Engineering

Harsh Reality As I have said many times, all of our energy options require trade-offs. I can’t think of any that don’t have some negative consequences and risks associated with their production and/or use. One […]

What You Aren’t Being Told About Ethanol and Corrosion

Good Ideas Gone Bad History is littered with examples of ideas that seemed to be good for a while, but were later discovered to have unpleasant consequences. The pharmaceutical industry is full of cases of […]

Setting the Record Straight on Cello Energy and E3 Biofuels

The Art of Spin Politicians are known for their ability to spin any situation to make sure it doesn’t present them in an unfavorable light. In that vein, I’m beginning to feel as if Vinod […]

The Failure of U.S. Politicians to Open Electricity and Other Energy Markets

The following guest post was written by Mike Holly, who is the Chairman of Sorgo Fuels in Crosslake, Minnesota. Sorgo is a company involved in the production of energy from sweet sorghum, and Mike can […]

Oil Back at $100

I am between flights and have been traveling for a few days, but wanted to get off a quickie on current oil prices. In hindsight, perhaps I was not aggressive enough with my predictions for […]

A Closer Look at The Commission Report on the Deepwater Horizon Disaster

The following guest essay was written by David Whelpton. David is a private investor in the oil and gas industry. His blog is Knowledge and Investing. Below, David goes through the highlights of the report […]

Due Diligence: How to Evaluate a Renewable Energy Technology

Doing Due Diligence To people who follow the energy industry closely, it’s a common occurrence to come across announcements from companies proclaiming to have developed the key to the ‘next big thing’ — for solving […]

Butanol Q&A With Cobalt Technologies CEO Rick Wilson

In the previous story — Butanol 101 — I provided readers some background on the production of butanol, including my own background on working with butanol. This story is about one company’s efforts to commercialize […]