Archive for June, 2009
Tariffs in the Climate Bill
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
A number of people have written to ask why I haven’t commented on the climate bill. There are two reasons. First, the House and Senate versions are very different, so the final form may not resemble the version the House just passed. Second, I haven’t had the time to read through [...]
Geothermal’s Earthquake Problem
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
In a recent post - It’s Always Something - I argued that for seemingly every renewable option, there is a trade-off. In that particular essay I was discussing a recent report that suggested that jatropha curcas - which I have written about as an intriguing option for renewable, liquid fuels - [...]
Wood Gasification Plant Opens
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Been really tied up, but saw this story yesterday and wanted to bring attention to it. I think it is significant, and a sign of things to come. Not much time to comment, but some excerpts from the article:
Plant making gas from wood opens in Austria
GUESSING, Austria (AFP) – A new [...]
Why Every Green Stock Portfolio Should Have Heat Pump Specialist WaterFurnace Int’l in It
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Question: Where was U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu when he recently announced that nearly $50 million of federal stimulus money will go toward advancing development of geothermal heat pumps?
Answer: He was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where one of his two stops was a tour of the manufacturing facilities of leading heat pump firm [...]
John Benemann Responds to Green Algae Strategy Review
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I recently published a review of Mark Edward’s book Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel. Following this review, I published a response from Mark Edwards. In that response, Professor Edwards mentioned Dr. John Benemann, who was Principal Investigator and main author of the U.S. DOE [...]
U.S. Ramping Up Wind Power Programs Even As Concerns Surface About Possible Declines In U.S. Wind Strength
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Once again at DFW Airport, about to make my way back to Europe. So I will be offline for just a bit, but wanted to post the latest from Money Morning, which as I recently explained will be featured here whenever they have topical material to offer. As always, normal caveats [...]
ExxonMobil in the Electric Car Business?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
An interesting link from a reader this morning:
The Maya 300: An Exxon-Assisted Electric Car
If you’ve picked up a magazine in the last year, you’ve likely seen ads touting ExxonMobil’s (XOM) research into lithium-ion batteries.
This week, you will get a further look into how that technology will come to the marketplace.
Electrovaya on [...]
Bet on Global Markets to Surge Soon as Iran Supreme Leader is Replaced by Cleric Friendlier to West
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Thirty years ago I was on the streets of Tehran as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal watching college students lead a people’s revolt against the Shah of Iran’s ruthless dictatorship, only to have the freedom many of them died for immediately snatched away by the equally ruthless dictatorship of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Just [...]
How Much Natural Gas to Replace Gasoline?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I Took This Picture of a CNG Bus on a Recent Trip to D.C.
You may have seen the news this week that a report by the Potential Gas Committee says natural gas reserves in 2008 rose to 2,074 trillion cubic feet. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (via [...]
How Much Natural Gas to Replace Gasoline?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I Took This Picture of a CNG Bus on a Recent Trip to D.C.
You may have seen the news this week that a report by the Potential Gas Committee says natural gas reserves in 2008 rose to 2,074 trillion cubic feet. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (via [...]
Oil Companies Acquire More Ethanol Plants
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
As I noted in my essay Big Oil Buys Big Ethanol, I expected that we would see more oil companies buying up troubled ethanol assets. Per the Houston Chronicle, Sunoco has become the latest:
Oil companies shop for discounted ethanol plants
FULTON, N.Y. — When Sunoco closed this week on the acquisition of [...]
POET Sets the Standard
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
In a recent post (but certainly not the first time I mentioned this), I wrote:
Corn ethanol producers have to move away from fossil fuel inputs - or they need to otherwise find inputs that don’t normally track gasoline prices. This is why the sugarcane ethanol producer can compete on a level [...]
Mulva on Replacing Oil
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
My former CEO Jim Mulva spoke today at the National Summit in Detroit, and had some newsworthy comments. Bloomberg reported on his talk:
Conoco Chief Says Replacing Oil May Take a Century
June 16 (Bloomberg) — ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, said it may take a century for the nation to replace [...]
Response to Green Algae Strategy Review
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I have received a response from Mark Edwards, auther of Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel. I reviewed the book here recently, and as I indicated in the conclusion of the review I would gladly post any of Mark’s comments. So, here they are in [...]
Why Investors Should Look Closer at AeroVironment, Juhl, Abengoa, Acciona, Solar Millenium, EcoSecurities, More
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Lost in the torrent of recent financial news were three news stories about different alternative energy subsectors that serve to point investors in potentially profitable long-term directions.
Story #1 – The American Wind Energy Association reported that the U.S. market for small wind turbines grew 78% in 2008, equal to 17.3 megawatts of new [...]
Solar Stories
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
A couple of interesting solar stories this morning, as well as a new blog covering solar power. First, the new solar-focused blog by Paul Symanski. Paul has experience in the solar industry, and many of his early entries are concerned with solar energy economics:
Rate Crimes - Bringing Transparency to the [...]
It’s Always Something
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I spend a lot of time thinking about the trade-offs involved with different energy options. Take petroleum, for instance. It offers great convenience, and has been relatively inexpensive for decades. Cheap petroleum has enabled numerous people a level of mobility that had never before been possible. Some of the downsides, [...]
The Long Recession
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Sometimes people ask me what I think will happen as a result of peak oil. Well, it depends. We could see alternatives - natural gas, ethanol, GTL, CTL, etc. - fill the gap of falling oil supplies for a while. It just depends on how quickly production falls. But if the [...]
Time to Switch to Natural Gas?
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
A couple of articles, both at Seeking Alpha, got me to thinking about whether it might be time to trade in my Petrobras (PBR) stock for something in the natural gas sector. From the first of the two articles:
Natural Gas Should Get a Boost from China’s New Demand
China has been developing [...]
How to Calculate Ethanol’s Value
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
There was a comment following the previous post that claimed that ethanol producers are making money - minus subsidies - at $1.75 a gallon. I attempted to set the record straight in the comments, but I thought this was probably worth a post.
The way the blender’s credit works is that gasoline [...]
As Cap-and-Trade Bill Moves Through Congress, Is It Time to Sell AEP, Allegheny and Ameren?
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Have you looked closely at what will happen to your portfolio if and when carbon cap-and-trade legislation currently moving through Congress becomes the law of the land?
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute has. While IRRC finds in a new report that cap-and-trade would depress earnings by less than 1% for about 200 of [...]
Book Review: Green Algae Strategy
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Introduction
I love to read. I particularly enjoy books about energy, sustainability, and the environment. One of the benefits of reviewing books is that I end up getting a lot of free books on these topics. One thing about getting free books, though, is that I have to be careful that [...]
Accoya, Ethanol, and an Anniversary
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Coming up I have a book review ready to go for Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel. However, I will wait another day or so to put that out there. For now, I will just share a couple of interesting links that readers sent to [...]
Obama’s Secret Meeting With the Oil Industry
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Sometimes I come across information that isn’t publicly known. That occasionally happens because I am digging, and I uncover something newsworthy. I can generally report on those kinds of things. But sometimes it is because someone sends me information that is confidential - or they tell me something they learned in [...]
