The battery technology firm A123 burned cash faster than it was coming in the door in a market for PHEV that is not as hot as many would like. But unlike other green energy companies to flame out the A123 bankruptcy saw one an industry giant, Johnson Controls, ride in to make a bid for its assets. Not even the $7500 Federal tax credit has been enough to get car buyers to buy a Chevy Volt. Toyota Prius is turning from the name of one car into a franchise of several model types in an effort by …Continue Reading »
Getting to Solar Energy Sustainability
October 13, 2012 By 2 Comments
The search for market equilibrium is an elusive quest in the solar energy industry. But the addiction to subsidies, carve-outs and other political favors has done little to improve the success potential for solar. Quite the reverse, by creating the conditions that made possible and induced China to expand its aggressive export strategy of market dominance and deploy its zero sum game of taking market share from regional players the solar industry and its political patrons has effectively …Continue Reading »
Coal Fights Back, and Wins in Europe
September 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A funny thing is happening on the way to the clean energy future. While the US government wages a regulatory war on coal fired generation, in Europe, the land of the oh so politically correct the drive for greenhouse gas emissions reduction is meeting a new competitor----reality! The EU emissions trading scheme had fallen on hard times as the number of permits issued was large and demand in a falling economy was weak so prices fell. Some reforms were made and the freebie credits were reined …Continue Reading »
Will Regulation of ‘All of the Above’ Energy Cost 20X More on Public Lands?
September 12, 2012 By 1 Comment
More than 96% of the domestic energy production growth from shales has taken place on private lands safely out of the reach of the Federal government bureaucrats and regulators. That energy production growth is transforming America’s energy future by increasing supply reliability and driving down the price of natural gas from more than $13 per MMBTU to less than $3 per MMBTU in a period of less than five years. Meanwhile, on public lands production has actually slowed as the Department of …Continue Reading »
Between an Argentine Shale Rock and Hard place
September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
You must admit there is a certain irony in reports out of Argentina by none other than the newly named CEO of YPF, (NYSE: YPF) Miguel Galuccio, that his company has found a significant shale deposit waiting to be developed and if he can do so it will make Argentina s significant exporter of oil and natural gas. What’s the irony? YPF is the company that Argentina recently seized from Spain’s Grupo Repsol and nationalized. The action created a huge international dispute and Repsol’s demand …Continue Reading »
Let's Make a Deal on National Energy Policy
September 3, 2012 By 1 Comment
When you read the Obama Blue Print for a Secure Energy Future and compare it to Romney’s Energy Plan for market-driven competitive energy growth to help advance the cause of energy independence, these two guys actually have opportunities for common ground that could make for a rational national energy strategy consensus as one outcome from this election. Quit laughing! I know what you are thinking! These guys are polar opposites. What makes you think they can find common ground? But …Continue Reading »
American Shale E&P Growth is Creating a Global Energy Independence Transformation
August 31, 2012 By 1 Comment
The growth of oil and gas exploration in shales begun in North America is setting off a global race for shale E&P development and threatens to turn the old conventional energy order on its head. Based primarily on the phenomenal growth of domestic energy production from shale E&P in the United States, the world is waking up to realize that we are not running out of oil or natural gas. As in every revolution there are both opportunities and risks. Here in America our politicians are …Continue Reading »
High Gasoline Prices and Politics are a Volatile Mix
August 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Nothing infuriates Americans more than volatile, spiking gasoline prices. Often the causes given for gasoline price hikes seem contrived. Iran and Israel trade harsh words in press reports and before the ink is even dry of the page oil prices tick up. Word of a fire at an oil refinery is enough to send prices shooting up as high as the flames on the cracker ---and just as fast. Those price spikes never seem to come down nearly as fast as they shoot up. Politicians are quick to blame oil …Continue Reading »
Shale Growth in other Nations: How Realistic is it?
August 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
American leadership in developing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing used in shale oil and gas plays is spreading around the world making it possible to extract previously uneconomic oil and natural gas resources from shale. These resources are often called unconventional because the horizontal drilling and fracking are newer techniques than the conventional methods of drilling vertical wells down into large pools of hydrocarbons. While we think of these technologies as “new” in …Continue Reading »
Can the Big Shift in Energy bring a Return of Industrial Demand?
August 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Outsourcing has become a dirty word in the 2012 election, in part, because over the last decade the US lost more than 5 million jobs to offshore emerging markets. While politicians are busy scoring points about which party or players are responsible for these job losses, they are losing sight of a reversal of fortunes now taking place that offers the potential of bringing many of these manufacturing jobs back to the US---if we get our policy and political act together. Accenture just released …Continue Reading »