Great news for the US balance of trade. Starting on 2015 the US will begin to export Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). As the US has a glut of natural gas, this action will up demand by opening another market. There is a great deal of uncertainty on the future of the world LNG market, but European and Asian demand remains strong. If you’re hoping for the US to become a net crude oil exporter, we a long way off from there.
Source: reuters.com
I have questioned how much sense the Chevy Volt Makes. The New York Times did a similar analysis on several hybrid and electric vehicles. The cars are selling nicely. So GM will restart production a week earlier. The city of Detroit really needs this right now even with a the help they are getting from the state. Personally, I am glad to see this move in the direction on energy independence. Even though it does not make micro-economic sense.
Source: politics.slashdot.org
Can we own a life form? The supreme court is going to make a ruling on one of the most import issues of the last 100 years soon. No I’m not talking about ACA (Obama Care). They are going to rule on whether or not private companies patients on Genetically Engineered life forms extend to the descendants of those life forms. In this particular case a farmer never did business with the company that hold the patent, but bought seeds at an open market and planted them. Clearly this farmer is a criminal mastermind. This is interesting because plants cross pollinate in a generally uncontrolled fashion. So if the court rules in favor of expanding the power of the patient holder, they would be able to collect a a fee from everybody who grows that crop.
Source: arst.ch
This shows how a lazy news media allows for distortion of public opinion. And some of the more cost effective ways to distort that opinion.
Source: xkcd.com
WAPO wants you to buy gold, but does this really make sense? Historically, gold price goes up during recessions and drops afterward, as investment flows to industries that benefit from recovery. Several industries benefit from recovery, for example energy prices and demand for consumer electronics go up in a recovery. Looking at the macro picture, we seem to be having a slow recovery right now.
Source: Washington Post
A check list to increase your MPG TODAY. Most of these things involve buying nothing. Many people think they have little or no control over their fuel cost but there are several things people can do to save a little bit of money without changing where they drive or what they drive. Warning: may cause Nempimania.
Source: knol.google.com
At STP 126.67 cu ft has as much energy as a gallon of gasoline. As you can see from the above graph natural gas is cheaper and less prone to price swings gasoline. Price for natural gas is also trending down, due to the large discoveries in North America as the Wall Street Journal explains. Most homes have already have natural gas service. The up and down pattern is because most people to use this to heat their homes (higher demand makes higher price in the winter). From the perspective of building stations, professionally installed home refueling systems seem like the way to go. As the distribution system is already in place in most of the US, this seems like an obvious choice. Conversion kits for existing vehicles are sold today. An interview on TV several years ago with Billionaire Industrialist T. Boone Pickens originally got me thinking about CNG.
Source: eia.gov
This paints a pretty clear picture of what is possible, with energy policy and fair royalties from energy companies using government lands for drilling. I provided links to all the sources I got data from. Lynch’s estimate is an optimistic case 5-6 years out. The key here is for the government to collect a fair royalty, as the economist article explains that does not always happen.
Source: economist.com
Just watched Newt’s energy informational. Like most people, I am happy about the good news in North Dakota. However the former Speaker loses a lot of credibility, when runs fast and loose with facts. Why was gas so cheap when Obama started his term? This was clearly due to reduced demand due to the Great Recession. See the US demand chart for oil attached with comparison to India and China. The data comes from petroleum company BP. Energy issues are particularly interesting to me, so I will be posting more on this. BTW, the chart shows how ineffectively the CAFE standards have worked in the US.
Source: Guardian
