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Posts tagged "United States"

US Energy Security Council Inaugural Event 2011

Posted by Matt Beer - December 14, 2011 - Energy, Geo-politics, Level 4, Oil, Peak Oil Level 4
0

This 105 minute informal talk with a panel of about 10 members of the US Energy Security Council which includes many former heads of the military, US Senate, oil industry and governmental bodies most of which have “honorable” before their names (Ex CIA Boss James Woolsey, Senator and Professor Gary Hart and Alan Greenspan to name a few).

While this is not a new subject, this event attempted to frame the debate as there being a monopoly in one of the most profoundly important sectors in our economy and that monopoly is a great weakness which leave us all exposed if we do not do something about it. I am of course talking about oil being the only real source of energy for all the cars, trucks and airplanes currently operating in the world today. This council argues that the principle role of government is to create markets and have them work. A monopoly is an example of a market not working. In this regard they argue that they are not being anti-oil but rather pro choice or pro fuel choices.

The decades of inaction on developing a proper energy policy has meant that the US has developed one by default. That is: “We do have an energy policy. We rely on a single fuel. We buy it from a cartel controlled by people who don’t like us very much. And every five years we go to war to maintain that privilege”. The council members are deeply worried about the effects that an inevitable oil price shock will have on the US economy and the people within it as history has shown these price spikes help trigger recessions (I will assume they are also concerned about the rest of the world but as they are talking to an American audience we’ll let it slide).

Talk covers a range of issues, such as:

  • How there are many hidden costs to oil – the War on Terror, 30-40% of the US military budget directly and indirectly securing oil, climate change, social tension when oil prices rise, etc.
  • Another supply shock is on the cards. As most of the oil reserves are located in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region where there is great political instability, especially after the Arab Spring.  How long will it be until the next Libya occurs? There have already been attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, when will there be a successful one?
  • Rise of developing nations. China is securing first rights to purchasing oil around the world meaning when a supply shock comes they will be more insulated and the world market will be that much tighter.
  • Alternative fuels. There were a few on the panel gunning for methanol though some of their arguments sounded a little too good to be true for me. While it theoretically makes a lot of sense the actual practical and economic reality is less clear.

Perhaps the most important point is that all cars built today should be flex fuel vehicles. It only costs $100 to add in a sensor chip that detects the fuel on board and makes small changes to the fuel injection and spark plug timing to enable the engine to burn whatever mixture of ethanol or petrol/gasoline is in the tank. $100 buys flexibility for the fleet of the future and may in the long run save us billions, potentially trillions of dollars. This has happened successfully in Brazil and should be an easy mandate to pass by governments in the rest of the world. Key word should.

The same goes for developing a sensible policy on energy.

Biofuels, Conventional oil, Crude Oil, fossil fuel, Gasoline, Geo-politics, Oil, Transport, United States, Video

Stanford Uni – US Shale Gas

Posted by Matt Beer - November 28, 2011 - Energy, Level 4, Natural Gas, Peak Oil Level 4
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John Curtis, Professor of Geochemistry and Director of the Potential Gas Agency at the Colorado School of Mines, looks at the US shale gas industry from a holistic level right down to the molecular level. He covers the different formations found throughout the States with the size of the potential resources in the ground. He then talks about the differences in make up of the shales which affect how easily this can be extracted with the relatively new hydraulic fracturing techniques. A key point of his talk is that the different shale formations cannot be treated the same and production is not uniform, even within the same formation. A lot of the molecular science is still unknown but early research has shown that studying the carbon isotopes (carbon atoms with differing numbers of neutrons) can be an indicator of how productive a gas well might be. A good talk to watch this as there are many things he covers along the way which help fill in the gaps of how the shale gas industry works and what the potential of it is in the future.

fossil fuel, Natural Gas, Stanford University, Unconventional Gas, United States, Video

Stanford Uni – Evaluating Energy Solutions to Climate Change

Posted by Matt Beer - November 21, 2011 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Energy, Level 4
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In this video Mark Jacobson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, tries to objectively compare the main energy sources that could be used to fuel the current US vehicle fleet. In doing so he compares a variety of factors such as life cycle carbon emissions, air pollution, land and water use. He tries to amalgamate these factors into a final weighted score but by that stage it’s clear that the winners are wind and the two varieties of solar (surprise, surprise) and the losers are biofuels and coal, even with sequestration. The main point of this is to try and give policy makers a clearer guide of what to help subsidise. Of course in the real world, where money is involved, things are never that sensible.

Biofuels, Climate Destabilisation, fossil fuel, Renewables, United States, Video

Does Civilization Have a Promising Energy Future?

Posted by Matt Beer - November 17, 2011 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Energy, Level 4, Nuclear, Renewables
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This video taken from Wonderfest 2008, Festival of Science poses the question “Does Civilization Have a Promising Energy Future?” to a series of speakers including the now US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu who moderates the panel. While there isn’t much new (at least for me) in this talk it is an excellent round up of the general issues facing energy and climate change today. In particular there are some good descriptions, including perhaps the best climate change metaphor I have heard to date (which I won’t spoil, watch the first 10 mins for it). So thank you Dr. Chu I think I will have to steal that one.

Speakers include:
Steven Chu (mediator) – Nobel Laureate & Director, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Dan Kammen (conservation) – Professor of Energy Resources, UC Berkeley
Mike McGehee (solar) – Assoc. Prof. of Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford,
Lynn Orr (carbon capture) – Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Stanford
Per Peterson (fission) – Professor of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley

Carbon Price, Climate Change, Climate Destabilisation, Economy, fossil fuel, Global Warming, Renewables, United States, Video

Stanford Uni – Unconventional Gas Potential Boosted with Carbon Sequestration

Posted by Matt Beer - November 13, 2011 - Climate Level 4, Energy, Level 4, Natural Gas, Peak Oil Level 4
0

Geophysics Professor Mark Zoback explores the potential of unconventional natural gas (shale gas, coal bed methane and tight gas) sources replacing coal as a step in transitioning the US economy towards zero carbon. He briefly describes the three different varieties and how they are produced. During his description of coal bed methane he talks about how the methane found in coal seams is actually adsorbed on to the surface of the coal and in order to extract it, the methane needs to be desorbed off the coal by reducing the pressure. But another way is to actually pump CO2 down into the coal seam and as the carbon dioxide likes to adsorb to the coal surface more than the methane it can actually replace it. So the concept is pump down CO2 into coal bed methane wells and boost methane production. Just like EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) in oil reservoirs it could be a huge win-win scenario. The concept may also apply to shales as well.

Unconventional gas production as well as this type of Carbon sequestration is still in the very early days of study, but the potential could be very promising.

Update (Oct 2012) – found the link was dead and here is what I hope is the same or a very similar talk.

Carbon Capture & Sequestration, CCS, Climate Change, Natural Gas, Unconventional Gas, United States, Video

Corrupted?

Posted by Matt Beer - October 19, 2011 - Economics, Economics Level 4, Energy, Level 4
0

Before the financial crisis I never really understood what all the business bits in the news really meant, the whole economy was a bit of a mystery. Since then I have learnt a few things, one of which is that money is largely an illusion. As an individual it is very real, how much I have will determine much of how I live my life. But on a societal/global level it is simply a way in which we humans organise ourselves and the economic system is just a loose rulebook on the distribution of materials and labour. As much as we think the rulebook is based on rules that are fixed like the laws of nature, it can in fact be changed at any time, you just need the political will to do so.

Which is why it is encouraging to see the whole Occupy Wall Street movement spread throughout the world. As this great Business Insider chart article shows the economic system is well and truly broken. I have said for a long time that the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t a crisis enough. Maybe I was wrong.

If economic growth is the main driver in human behaviour (on a governmental level) and this apparently is for the good of the people and the future why is this link now broken?

The current system is now supporting the rich at the expense of the 99%. Also the levels of debt will not be able to be paid of for decades. The way in which we extract our energy and extract resources to feed this economy is slowly poisoning or eroding the natural capital base on which we are all dependent. Our desire for babies and our belief in family values has caused a boom in consumption, indirectly harming others. The notion of “love miles” – jumping on a plane to see our loved ones – is also doing the same thing. And once again, the bottom 99% are going to be most affected by all of this. Just what is the system designed for?

One of the problems is that we have all grown up thinking our actions are inherently “good”. It has been a long time since we as a society have looked in the mirror and questioned this.

If this video of Dylan Ratigan doesn’t stir the blood and get you thinking I don’t know what will. Just as the political process has slowly been corrupted, so too have our values as a society.

Bailout, Debt, Economics, Economy, environment, fossil fuel, Politics, United States

Banned US Commercial About National Debt

Posted by Matt Beer - September 20, 2011 - Economics, Just for Fun
0

Considered a tad controversial this short 1 min advert pictures the world from the Chinese perspective in 20 years time. It will probably be not far wrong.

China, Debt, Economy, Money, United States

Everything Leaks – US Oil Pipeline Spills

Posted by Matt Beer - September 11, 2011 - Level 4, Oil, Peak Oil, Peak Oil Level 4
0

The New York Times reports that since 1990, more than 110 million gallons of mostly crude and petroleum products have spilled from the nation’s mainland pipeline network. More than half of it occurred in three states — Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana — where more pipelines exist.

Source: Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Crude Oil, environment, Info-graphic, Oil, Oil Spills, Pipelines, Polution, United States

The Real Story on Fuel Economy – Stanford Uni

Posted by Matt Beer - September 10, 2011 - Climate Level 4, Level 4, Oil, Peak Oil, Peak Oil Level 4, Sustainable Economy
0

January 7, 2009 lecture by Lee Schipper for the Woods Energy Seminar. In his talk “When the Rubber Hits the Road: The Real Story on Fuel Economy in the US and other Developed Countries, with Implications for Developing Asia,” Schipper discusses better and more realistic fuel economy options in the US and other industrialized nations.Lee Schipper is a Senior Research Engineer at the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University.

His discussion on solutions covers the main areas for improved fuel efficiency and how the difficult areas of transport policy and urban design usually get ignored. Until these are properly addressed vehicle use will only expand in undesirable ways causing gridlock in our cities and further dependence on oil. Technology and pricing can only go so far in the quest for a sustainable transport model.

Economics, fossil fuel, Fuel Efficiency, Gasoline, Oil, Peak Oil, Petrol, population, Stanford Uni, steady growth, sustainability, Transport, United States, Video

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