How Facebook will save the polar bears
A brief analysis of social networking in a time of crisis, the bourgeoisie luxury of flight, and why disregarding Arctic wildlife will save Arctic wildlife.
Technology
The humble battery: 210 years later, the breakthrough we still await
The battery could be a shoo-in for the most confounding of all technologies. Invented in 1799 by Alessandro Volta, it not only has yet to be perfected, but has operated all along on essentially the same chemical principles. Were that it were different: If engineers could figure out how to store sufficient electricity in a sufficiently small, light, safe container, there would be a cascading revolution — in super-utilities, electric cars, laptops and mobile phones. (Review of new book)
Renewables out of the bottle
Renewables have been growing as inside a bottle so far; a bottle made of disbelief, red tape and not enough financing. It is time for a little satori in renewable energy. Renewables can hold on their own with new and more efficient technologies, in particular the CdTe thin film version which may have an EROEI of 40. With such EROEIs, we can start thinking of renewable energy as abundant and cheap.
ODAC Newsletter – April 9
Improved job creation data in the US along with strong Asian demand led to a run on oil prices this week taking the price of a barrel beyond $87 and out of the ‘goldilocks’ $70-$80 territory of recent months. Forecasts for the rest of the year are all over the board…
Innovation – April 4
– The salty taste of energy independence
– New ‘smart’ roof reads the thermometer, saves energy
– Dept of Energy: Give us your ideas
Faith-based economics in two graphs
A newly available graph of projected oil supplies prepared by the U. S. Energy Information Administration shows us exactly how much faith it takes to practice faith-based economics. To be a true believer one has to wager the entire future of our oil-dependent civilization.
Food & clothing – April 4
– Marijuana, dark horse savior of California agriculture
– Bill McKibben: The only way to have a cow
– On job creation—local fruits and vegetables vs. corn and soybeans
– Farmers can return to proper role as innovators and stewards of the land
– Should we be planning a new approach for producing clothing?
Will enhanced oil recovery be an oil supply savior?
Oil supply optimists often say that the application of enhanced oil recovery techniques to existing and future wells will vastly expand oil reserves and oil production. The trouble is these techniques aren’t new, and they are already being widely applied. That means current oil reserves and production already reflect any effect they have had.
ODAC Newsletter – Mar 19
OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna this week caused no surprises in deciding to keep production quotas unchanged. Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi described current prices as “beautiful”. Indeed as the group met the oil price rose to $82/barrel, close to its 2010 high despite only 53% compliance by OPEC to its quotas and low US demand.
ODAC Newsletter – Mar 12
What do you do if you’re an energy consultancy that finds itself on the wrong side of the peak oil argument just as much of the oil industry and the rest of the world embraces the idea? The solution devised by eternal optimists IHS CERA, hosting a conference in Houston this week, is to sidestep this embarrassing development by simply rebranding the problem: ‘peak demand’.
Gas – Mar 10
-US EPA chief concerned about gas drilling fluids
-Europe the new frontier in shale gas rush
-The true cost of shale gas production
-The Natural Gas Shopping Spree Quickens
No, no, we won’t go (GM) – Mar 8
-Fury as EU approves GM potato
-France blasts GM crop approvals by EU agency
-Are GMOs the ‘financial innovations’ of agriculture?
-GM and farming technology ‘key to fighting climate change’