About Social Media Today
Posts by Geoffrey Styles Subscribe 
Oil Prices and Inventory
Oil prices set another record last week, closing above $145 per barrel for the first time, on the strength of heightened fears of an attack by Israel or the US on Iran, combined with a dip in US commercial oil inventories below 300 million barrels...
The Ethanol Tariff and Subsidy Reform
Brazilian ethanol producers have long sought a level playing field on which to compete with their US counterparts, and this week they are launching a campaign to publicize their message that ethanol derived from sugar cane could be imported from...
The Anti-Manhattan Project
If rising oil prices truly constitute an oil shock capable of destabilizing the economy, and if climate change poses a threat not just to the weather, but to our security, then it is fair to say that we face an urgent and complexly-linked challenge...
The Baby and the Bath
Over the course of the last year, speculation has become a primary focus of concerns about the rapid increase in oil prices. For a Congress under intense pressure from constituents to address energy prices, regulating speculation in energy...
Perception vs. Reality
Last week I had a very interesting meeting with Mr. Norman Johnson, Director of External Affairs for the North American division of Robert Bosch GmbH, the massive German electronics and auto parts supplier. While receiving a helpful update on...
Striking a Bargain
For several years I have been intrigued by the possibility of a "grand compromise" on energy and the environment, so I was pleased to see this idea resurface in Steven Pearlstein's column in today's Washington Post. Starting with the proposition...
Mutually Inclusive Solutions
The combination of the current presidential campaign and the high price of energy is prompting a long-overdue national debate on the relative contributions of the various energy options available to us. A new grassroots campaign, "Drill Here, Drill...
Crush Spreads and the Price of Gasoline
The ongoing debate about the growing connections between food and energy has focused mainly on the influence on food prices of high energy prices and the diversion of crops into biofuel production. We are about to get our first real taste of the...
Speculation And Crude Oil Differentials
An article in today's Financial Times provides key insights for anyone trying to understand how oil prices reached their current heights, and where they might go from here. This requires more than just an examination of the highly-visible oil...
Throw Out The Kitchen Sink
As I was watching a bit of the Senate debate on the latest energy legislation on C-SPAN, I couldn't help noticing how dysfunctional this process has become. This bill was assembled like Frankenstein's monster, out of mismatched provisions selected...
The Price of Alternative Fuels
A heat wave is hardly the ideal time for one's home/office air conditioning to break down--an unspoken risk of telecommuting, I suppose--but it's given me an opportunity to catch up on a raft of articles, as I camp out in libraries, coffee shops,...
Unlocking Demand Elasticity
Among the factors contributing to higher oil prices, energy subsidies in developing countries are finally attracting the attention they deserve. As noted in this week's Economist, fuel subsidies and price controls are prevalent in many developing...
