Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Flying Robots Replace Oil Roughnecks
September 20th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Oil rig inspection is a dangerous business. Traditionally roughnecks dangled from a wire, in gale-force winds if needed, to manually log wear and tear on the girders. Assessments include giant chimneys — called flare stacks — that belch fire during million-dollar-a-day shutdowns. Increasingly the industry has found that swapping abseiling humans for small […]
Russian Gas Stations Ordered To Install Electric Chargers by November 1, 2016 [???]
September 15th, 2015This is absolutely bizarre. Via: Gas2: Let’s get a little perspective on the electric car market in Russia at the moment. First, there are no government incentives that encourage a person to buy an electric or plug-in car. Second, there are fewer than 500 such cars in the entire country. … If previously the number […]
The Oil-Sands Glut Is About to Get a Lot Bigger
September 4th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: The last place oil producers want to be when prices plummet to profit-demolishing lows is midstream on a billion-dollar project in one of the costliest parts of the planet to extract crude. Yet that’s exactly where half a dozen oil sands operators from Suncor Energy Inc. to Brion Energy Corp. find themselves with […]
U.S. Crude Hits 6.5 Year Low on Surprise Stock Build
August 19th, 2015Down nearly 5% right now. Via: Reuters: Oil prices fell about 4 percent on Wednesday, with U.S. crude hitting 6-1/2 year lows and threatening to break below $40, after a huge unexpected stockpile build in the United States reinforced concerns about a growing global oil glut. U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels last […]
Apple Is Building a Self-Driving Car in Silicon Valley
August 14th, 2015Via: Guardian: Apple is building a self-driving car in Silicon Valley, and is scouting for secure locations in the San Francisco Bay area to test it, the Guardian has learned. Documents show the oft-rumoured Apple car project appears to be further along than many suspected. In May, engineers from Apple’s secretive Special Project group met […]
New Competition for Tesla: Fisker to Open Factory in Riverside County
August 13th, 2015Update: Audi to Build a Tesla Competitor — Via: Los Angeles Times: Southern California is in the car business again. Fisker Automotive has signed a deal to lease a large factory in Moreno Valley, where it will begin building plug-in electric hybrid vehicles that could be offered for sale as early as the middle of […]
Saudi Arabia May Go Broke Before the U.S. Oil Industry Buckles
August 5th, 2015No more Fed-Exing the Lamborghinis to London for oil changes? Via: Telegraph: If the oil futures market is correct, Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years. It will be in existential crisis by the end of the decade. The contract price of US crude oil for delivery in December 2020 is currently […]
Big U.S. Coal Miner Alpha Natural Files for Bankruptcy
August 3rd, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. I’m long Enphase Energy. — The price of solar power will continue to fall, until it becomes the cheapest form of power in a rapidly expanding number of national markets. By 2026, utility-scale solar will be competitive for the majority of the world, according to BNEF. The […]
Chevy Spark EV Review
July 24th, 2015Disclosures: I sell solar power systems in NZ and I’m long Enphase Energy. — Via: LaserHacker:
Boeing Patents Laser-Powered Fusion-Fission Jet Engine for Airplanes, Spacecraft
July 13th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Assume the brace position. Boeing has received a patent for, I kid you not, a laser-powered fusion-fission jet propulsion system. Boeing envisions that this system could replace both rocket and turbofan engines, powering everything from spacecraft to missiles to airplanes. The patent, US 9,068,562, combines inertial confinement fusion, fission, and a turbine […]
