A friend sent me this piece on the environmentally disastrous coal ash accident that occurred earlier this year. I wrote in return: Yes. I saw that recent “60 Minutes” piece in which Leslie Stahl (and the editors) totally barbecued the CEO …
Category: Fossil Fuels
The Oil-by-Rail Problem
Here’s a piece on railway disasters involving oil tankers. I could be wrong, but it seems that the ecological damage of these incidents is an externality of the oil business that is seldom counted—even by the people who are counting.
World Energy in 2075: Planetary Chaos?
My friend and frequent 2GreenEnergy commenter Cameron Atwood just sent me this quote from Lawrence Wilkerson, former aide to Colin Powell, in which he (Wilkerson) talks about Royal Dutch Shell’s two main scenarios for the world in 2075: What I’m …
No One Should Be Afraid to State the Truth: Big Energy Really Is No Friend To Humankind
A reader who’s been around here for a great while responded to my newsletter this morning: Craig. Sorry to see you’ve declared Big Energy your worst friend forever. Whenever waging warfare, it’s good to carry a Big Gun. I respond:
When and How Will China Stop Burning Coal?
Below is a graph that illustrates the pickle the world is in vis-a-vis a sustainable course to energy. Apparently, China has promised to max out its consumption of coal by 2030, and the author of this article seems quite exuberant …
Ban on Fracking in Santa Barbara County
I have to say that I’m on the fence about our Proposition P here, which, if passed, would ban fracking in Santa Barbara County. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, those in favor of the ban don’t have their facts straight; the …
How Much Control Does Big Oil Really Have?
I had a discussion the other day with a fellow who studies energy closely, during which he told me, “Clean energy will happen when Big Oil decides it’s time.” I was quite surprised to hear this. Yes, the bad guys …
Specialty Hydrocarbon Fluid Production – Another Breakthrough from ExxonMobil
Those of us who believe that a rapid migration to renewable energy is underway often point to the raw power of technology advancements. We cite the numerous improvements in the efficiency of solar, wind, hydro, etc., while noting the downward …
Specialty Hydrocarbon Fluid Production – Another Breakthrough from ExxonMobil Read More »
Replacing Coal with Natural Gas
As I wrote yesterday, a wholesale replacement of coal-fired power plants with natural gas has short-term appeal, but an unacceptable array of long-term unintended consequences, e.g., creating an environment in which the development of renewable energy isn’t financially attractive. The …
Cheap Natural Gas May Be the Devil’s Bargain
From the days in which I used to ply my trade as a marketing consultant to the Fortune 50 tech companies: IBM, H-P, Sony, Xerox, 3M, Microsoft, etc., I recall one particular client who rebuked “consultants” generally. Although he and …
