Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Chart: The Cost of the War in Iraq vs. Spending on Solar Energy Research
November 10th, 2007In The Power Crisis Mythology, the 40% Efficient Solar Cell and the Cost of the War in Iraq, I wrote: Spectrolab, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, has developed a solar cell technology that has a conversion efficiency of 40.7%. They accomplished this with a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. […]
Wave Power Attracts Investors
November 10th, 2007BIG investors. And it’s fascinating, the shit-for-brains level of context that Business Week manages here: “…if wave power becomes commercially viable.” A far more fascinating question is why and how it didn’t become viable over forty years ago?! Who died, and who made a killing? Think of it another way: The U.S. landed guys on […]
Like it or Not, $100 Oil Forces New Energy Policy on U.S.
November 10th, 2007“The reality is that the oil companies are going to lift our wallets and then flip us upside down to shake loose any change that may have remained in our pockets.” —From an upcoming Cryptogon essay Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. BP solar panels, Chevron wave power, etc… Who knows? Cheney’s […]
PetroChina: First Firm Worth $1 Trillion
November 5th, 2007Via: AP: PetroChina became the world’s first company worth more than $1 trillion on Monday, surging past Exxon Mobil as the Chinese oil producer’s shares nearly tripled in their first day of trading in China. State-owned PetroChina Co., a unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., is the country’s biggest oil and gas producer. Its […]
NZ: Power of the Sea Waits to be Harnessed
October 30th, 2007Imagine my shock. Via: New Zealand Herald: In just a decade New Zealand may be drawing on the sea to supplement its energy supply. Marine energy technology, also known as blue energy, is being developed overseas and there is growing interest in it here. Our large coastline means the country would be well placed to […]
World’s Largest Wind Farm Slated for South Dakota
October 29th, 2007Via: AP: Plans for the world’s largest wind farm, proposed to be built in South Dakota, have become more grandiose. South Dakota is officially rated No. 4 in the nation for the potential capacity to make electricity from wind, although the ranking is more than a decade old. Many industry officials believe the Great Plains […]
It’s the Oil
October 26th, 2007Via: London Review of Books: Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’, a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is […]
OIL $91, GOLD NEARLY $780
October 26th, 2007WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Congratulations to all Cryptogon BullionVault clients who have stood so hard on the bid lately. I hope you are diversified and managing your risk well. Gentle reminder, after looking at the weekly gold chart, stochastics and RSI: Nobody ever went broke […]
German-Based Energy Watch Group: Oil Production Peaked in 2006
October 22nd, 2007From the article: “When I was an adviser to government, I proposed that we set up a taskforce to look at how fast the UK could mobilise alternative energy technologies in extremis, come the peak,” he said. “Other industry advisers supported that. But the government prefers to sleep on without even doing a contingency study. […]
Wavebob Works
October 20th, 2007And they’re in a partnership with Chevron. That’s right, that Chevron. Via: AFP: A prototype wave energy converter has begun harnessing electricity from Atlantic waves off the west coast of Ireland, the Wavebob company said on Tuesday. A “Wavebob” floating buoy device that automatically adjusts to the size of the waves to maximise the amount […]
