Soliciting TOD Reader Feedback for My Energy Book
Some of you may be aware that I am writing a book - the title is Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil. While I have contributed several chapters to books in the past, this is my first full book, and I only recently learned that the public...
Five Misconceptions About Peak Oil
I recently attended the annual ASPO conference in Washington, D.C. This was only my 2nd ASPO conference; the other one I attended was in 2008 in Sacramento. There were many familiar faces, some of whom I had previously met and some I only knew by reput...
Keeping Michele Bachmann Honest on Gas Prices
Like many of you, I am often unhappy with our political leaders. One thing that annoys me the most is that many will say or do just about anything to get elected. By now, you have surely heard the news that Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachm...
Getting Even with ExxonMobil
It is no secret that consumers are suffering from very high gasoline prices. And as a result of these high prices, ExxonMobil just reported a first-quarter profit of $10.7 billion — 69 percent higher than a year ago. The national level of disgus...
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 the world’s energy crisis. Mayb...
Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Begins to Set In
Delusional Mandates
It is hard to believe that just a few short years ago, Congress mandated a massive increase in usage of cellulosic ethanol. This was remarkable, because no commercial cellulosic ethanol facilities even existed at the time. But peopl...
The Ethanol Rhetoric Ramps Up
It has been interesting to watch the flurry of ethanol rhetoric since the recent elections. With the $0.45 per gallon subsidy (called the VEETC) and the ethanol tariffs both set to expire at the end of next month, both sides feel that there is a lot at...
Inside Shell’s Bintulu Gas-to-Liquids Plant
Bintulu. For many people involved with gasification, that word often invokes a specific image. In fact, colleagues know when I say “Bintulu” that’s shorthand for Shell’s Bintulu, Malaysia gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility (officiall...
The Palm Oil Conundrum
People sometimes ask which biofuels are competitive head to head with crude oil. By competitive, I mean those that can actually compete favorably with oil prices on a level playing field (i.e., they don’t require big subsidies or mandates in order to...
Peak Oil Interview: Misconceptions, Replacing Oil, and False Solutions
Back in June, I gave a presentation on Peak Oil at the Global Footprint Conference in Siena, Italy. (More on the event here). Following my presentation, I was asked to do a pair of interviews. One was for an upcoming documentary called Critical Mass. T...
How to Run an Oil Industry into the Ground
Hugo Chavez is putting on a clinic in Venezuela. The theme is “How to Destroy a Domestic Oil Industry.” I have warned for years that this would be the end result of Chavez’s actions. As I wrote in 2007:
So, can Chavez under-invest in...
