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Energy

Sorting out the wheat from the chaff of new energy ideas, while paying close attention to energy-efficiency and conservation.

Emancipating slaves then and now

By April 24, 2013
emancipation cartoon

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. It's a needed chance for Americans to talk about slavery that has helped us reexamine our history. For example, recent documentaries and museum exhibits on America's Founding Fathers regularly show that slavery played a big role in the lives of several heroes of the American Revolution. So, now we know that while Thomas Jefferson proposed legislation against slavery, he may also have fathered children by his slave Sally … [Read more...]

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The Cotton Gin Paradox

By April 24, 2013
cotton gin with slaves

It's not hard to see that, when cars get better gas mileage, people feel that they can afford to drive more. Or that consumers think they can afford a bigger refrigerator if it's Energy Star certified to use less electricity. Blame it on Jevons's Paradox that increasing the energy efficiency of machines doesn't necessarily decrease the total amount of energy people use, but may actually do the opposite. As Jevons put it in 1885, when you can burn coal more efficiently, people burn more of … [Read more...]

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Fukushima meltdown driving increased abnormalities among US infants

By April 5, 2013
baby fingers

In wake of disaster, children on the west coast almost one-third more likely to suffer from thyroid abnormalities Infants on the West Coast of the United States are showing increased incidents of thyroid abnormalities, which researchers are attributing to radiation released following the March 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. According to a new study (.pdf) published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics, children born in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and … [Read more...]

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3 energy-wasting appliances you can easily live without

By April 3, 2013
clothes dryer

In today's economy, who doesn't want to save money? And if you care about climate change or peak oil, then all's the more reason to ease off or even cut out major appliances that make us all burn more coal, nukes and fracked gas without providing much benefit in our daily lives. Clothes dryer. Why do you still have one of these? You already know they ruin your clothes, slowly shrinking them while wearing out the fabric (just check the lint filter). Dryers are also one of your home's biggest … [Read more...]

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Citing mystical vision, Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline

By April 1, 2013
Barack Obama speaking

Cutting short a permit review process expected to conclude this summer at earliest, President Obama today announced that he has decided to block the Keystone XL pipeline planned to carry more than 700,000 barrels a day of Canadian tar-sands crude into the country. "After a careful process of deliberation, and a prophetic vision after Easter service on Sunday, I have determined that permitting construction [of the pipeline] would not serve the national interest of the United States," Mr. … [Read more...]

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The price for energy independence

By March 22, 2013
bumper sticker

Move over OPEC, North America is about to become a net exporter of oil. At least that’s the supposed good news from the International Energy Agency’s latest outlook. According to the IEA, the drilling boom for shale oil is putting US production on track to pass Saudi Arabia. North of the border, output from Alberta’s oil sands is expected to notch a similarly grand expansion. Notions of energy independence, however far fetched they may seem today, play well to the IEA’s target … [Read more...]

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Reassessing Arctic oil

By March 18, 2013
shell-arctic-drilling-ad

Shell Oil will discontinue drilling for oil off the coast of Alaska during the summer of 2013.  According to Marilyn Heiman, Director of the U.S. Arctic Program of Pew Trusts, “[Shell] had some safety and management challenges that I don’t think they had fully thought through.” Shell, along with every other oil company out there, has a lot to learn about drilling in the Arctic Ocean. I'm no expert, but in my opinion, the first thing they need to learn is respect. It’s not that … [Read more...]

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Why it’s imperative that we conserve energy now

By March 8, 2013
peak oil graffitto

As everyone is aware by now, the US is headed towards energy independence 2030, thanks to unconventional sources of oil and gas. If you believe the mainstream media, that is. However, if you know anything about energy, the happy talk that energy from tar sands, fracking and deepwater oil will replace all of America's imports today and in the future is clearly too good to be true. But we can only understand the real problem with America's alleged energy boom if we take it from a … [Read more...]

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Do we have enough water to frack our way to energy independence?

By March 4, 2013
dried mud in drought

In chemistry you quickly discover that oil and water don’t mix. The same is true in the energy industry. It’s unfortunate, because the new fuel sources that the International Energy Agency claims will allow North America to reach energy independence require tremendous amounts of water. Whether it’s from shale plays or the oil sands, millions of gallons of water are needed to pull that energy out of the ground. Alberta’s oil sands mines require more than three barrels of water to … [Read more...]

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Fracking for yellowcake

By February 13, 2013
uranium rock

It works for oil and natural gas, so why not frack for uranium too? After all, America relies on foreign uranium just like it depends on foreign oil. In the U.S. these days, it seems like you can sell almost anything if you spin it as part of the pursuit of energy independence. Enter Uranium Energy Corp. A junior mining company with Canadian roots, UEC is developing the newest uranium mine in the U.S. And it’s counting on fracking to do it. Texans, in general, are no strangers to … [Read more...]

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