Technology is Magic

I am freshly arrived back on the U.S. mainland, with a couple of stops before I head back to Hawaii. I have been reading about energy developments during my travels, and finally wrote something on […]

Transcript from My EIA Panel Session

I only recently became aware that the 2009 Energy Conference put on by the Energy Information Administration has posted the audio and transcripts of all of the sessions. You can hear the audio or download […]

Son of Xethanol Goes Bankrupt

I have written several essays on Xethanol over the past few years. If you recall, they were a poster child for the theme of “overpromise, boost your stock price, and get rich quick” on biofuels. […]

Catching Up

Back home now, just trying to catch up on the energy news of note. Four stories that I want to highlight. First was POET’s announcement on their progress on cellulosic ethanol: Poet hits ‘long shot,’ […]

Slides from the Pacific Rim Summit

I am hopping on a plane again today, this time bound for the Orlando Energy Conference. The topic I will present is An Overview of Global Energy Issues. Good thing they asked for something easy […]

What Happened to a Buck a Gallon?

Coskata will produce ethanol for under US $1.00 a gallon anywhere in the world, from almost any input material. – Coskata Vision Statement A bit more than a year ago, I read a number of […]

Energy Potpourri

I am at the 2009 Gasification Technologies Conference this week, with a pretty full schedule. But there are three stories that I wanted to quickly hit. One is a follow-up on the previous cellulosic ethanol […]

Cellulosic Ethanol Falling Short

The reason I spend time debunking wild claims is that I think they damage the entire bioenergy sector in the long run. People who issue press releases claiming they can produce fuel for $1/gallon – […]

Corn Ethanol Breakthrough?

I just read an interesting story from Reuters courtesy of a reader: UK technology could turn U.S. ethanol industry green DUNSFOLD PARK, England (Reuters) – A compost bacteria bred by a British company could be […]

The First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in the U.S.

I received a two-week reprieve on the book chapter deadline, as some of the other contributors aren’t finished. So I now have time to pick a few other things back up. I have ended up […]