Why Are Oil Prices Rising? The Picture Tells the Tale (Credit to Optimist) The recent, rapid climb in oil prices has started to get everyone’s attention. In fact, when people use Google to search for […]
An Amazing Disconnect
Crude Cracks $130
I am still trying to extract myself from underneath an avalanche of e-mails, but thought I would post just a bit on oil prices, which are again in record territory: Oil passes $130 for the […]
Lumeta: Peel and Stick Solar
I wanted to thank a reader for sending me the following YouTube link. This is very cool. A solar company called Lumeta – a subsidiary of California-based DRI Companies, has created a peel and stick […]
Redundant Ethanol Subsidies
The proposed farm bill just sent to President Bush (and expected to be vetoed) contains several ethanol provisions. One is to cut the corn ethanol subsidy from $0.51/gal to $0.45/gal. Forbes explains: Ethanol For Everyone! […]
Nissan Enters the Electric Arena
I am feeling more and more optimistic that we are going to soon have a decent choice of viable plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). Nissan has now announced that they will have an offering in the U.S. […]
Replacing Gasoline with Solar Power
Executive Summary If you don’t want to run through the calculations, here is the summary. I attempted a thought experiment in which I calculated whether it would be feasible to use solar power to generate […]
News on a Lazy Sunday
First up, Vinod Khosla: On the Record: Vinod Khosla On biofuels: I have no question that in 10 years, there’s no way oil will be able to compete with biofuels. Even in five years. Now […]
SUV for Sale: Cheap!
Some of the consequences of very high oil prices are pretty predictable. Homes way out in the suburbs are likely to lose value. Prices will rise across the board for goods and services. Airlines will […]
Stop Filling the SPR?
To me, some of the most humorous ideas for relieving high oil prices are the perpetual calls to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Note what the SPR is actually for: The Strategic […]
My Next Car?
I was talking to my wife on the phone yesterday, and she asked what I knew about the 2009 Prius. I asked what she was talking about, and she started telling me about some of […]