One thing that’s been mentioned here in the past, and that’s sort of come up again in the utility/transit discussion is that things like auto electrification might be difficult to do on a grand, economy-wide scale. Running electrical capacity to every parking spot in the land would be feasible, but not particularly easy. Which isn’t to [...]

Geologists estimate that there are 800 billion barrels of oil locked away in the shale rocks of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. But there are some serious obstacles to unlocking that oil, not the least of which are the formidable political forces that oppose oil shale development. If you want to learn more, there was an [...]

Lou’s not here right now, which is just as well. I have something I really need to get off my chest. What is it with people who are so narrowly focused on The One Big Issue That Really Matters that they can’t see the interconnected nature of our world? You know the people I’m [...]

One of the most interesting things that happened on my recent trip to the west coast occurred looking for a restroom. After pulling off I-5 south of Portland, Oregon, I missed the turn-in for a name brand gas station. I noticed another up ahead. My girlfriend Libby was skeptical. I peered ahead. “It has a [...]

Ikea plans to start selling solar panels and other green technology products soon. With approximately 270 stores in 35 countries, IKEA’s foray into greentech products will have a major impact on the cost and accessibility of greentech products.  No longer will greentech merely be offered by a select few environmentally friendly companies.  Greentech will be available [...]

While land-based wind turbines can generate 5 megawatts of power, offshore turbines now in the planning stages could generate as much as twice that amount. The winds blowing 15 miles or even farther off the U.S. coast potentially could produce 900,000 megawatts of electricity, or roughly the same amount as all the nation’s existing coal, nuclear [...]

In the world where global warming and peak oil are discussed Americans are condemned for their use of energy and other resources. This is seen as a moral failing. Unfortunately it is not. Constant and unlimited growth is how our capitalist economy stays healthy. When growth stops our capitalist economy will collapse. So the question at issue is not self centered wasting of resources vs sustainability but capitalism vs socialism. The real problem...

A $4 billion hydroelectric plant to be built in southwestern British Columbia will be the largest private sector investment in hydro power in Canada. The Upper Toba Valley project consists of three sites with a capacity of about 120 megawatts and the Bute Inlet project is made up of 18 sites with a capacity of 900 [...]

I'm wondering sometime are we trying to solve new problems with old tools?

In fact I'm not really sure that we are coping really with new problems but they are certainly new to us.

Just yesterday I watched a show on the history channel about the Permian-Triassic extinction event. No humans were around to create a greenhouse effect but it happened nonetheless probably because an asteroid hit the earth so powerfully that it caused huge tsunami waves...

You’ve probably noticed the uptick in media stories about shocked American drivers dealing with the bombshell of a new  energy reality. Open a paper and you’re swimming in adjectives describing consumer astonishment. Drivers are “horrified”, “traumatized”, “outraged”. They’re “shaken”, “stunned”, “dazed”,  “worried” and “seeing red”.

The media are having a field day reporting on car dealerships on the verge of bankruptcy (because ...

Per a story in today's Austin American Statesman:

Is oil at its peak? Experts split

A sampling of the opinions cited:

'As much as you're uncomfortable with today's oil prices, these are going to be the good old days. We're talking about pain here that is unimaginable. There's no question in my mind that we're likely to see oil production go into decline somewhere between 2010 and 2012.'

Robert Hirsch, oil expert and author of the Hirsch Report

'For t...

OK, my little Calculator Commandos, time to whip out your Texas Instruments- and HP-logoed units and join me on a sanity check of something that popped up in the news yesterday. From Utilities say grid can handle rechargeable cars: Which draws more juice from the electric grid, a big-screen plasma television or recharging a plug-in hybrid car? The [...]

In last week's newsletter, The Energy Collective wondered whether efficiency could get a date to the prom. Efficiency, as most readers here already know, is by far the lowest hanging fruit for addressing climate change and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Well today the answer is in: not bloody likely.

We came across this gem at The National Review, ridiculing Barack Obama's claim that if Americans would fill their tires to the correct pres...

Over at the Freakonomics blog, Steven Dubner hints that we could be in the process of witnessing what Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter called "Creative Destruction."

From his post "Don't Throw out Capitalism just yet."

The turbulence of the U.S. economy has lots of people railing against capitalism itself, and with good reason: capitalism is inherently turbulent. That’s why the legendary economist Joseph Schumpeter called it “creative destru...