New description for the debate over oil – Cornucopians vs Peak Oil

There is an old saying to describe someone who is brand new on the job. They are wet behind the ears.  I’m so new to energy issues I need to towel off a while so I can move up to the level of merely wet-behind-the-ears. 

But I’m learning fast. I hope.

If you’ve read many posts here, you know I haven’t found anything from the Peak Oil school of thought that makes any sense at all. Quite the contrary, it is nonstop foolishness to me.

Continue reading “New description for the debate over oil – Cornucopians vs Peak Oil”

Shale boom changing geopolitics?

Incredible growth in shale production, both oil and gas, starting to have an impact on geopolitics.  In his Wall Street Journal column, John Bussey expands on the idea: Shale: A New Kingmaker in Energy Geopolitics.  He describes some of the ways that a dramatic increase in U.S. production is changing the world’s political dynamics.

One big change is the drop in oil imports:

Continue reading “Shale boom changing geopolitics?”

If the 10 commandments are just suggestions on moral issues, then it follows the Constitution is just a suggestion when it comes to energy policy

Check out the importance of the U.S. constitution in the efforts to ban hydraulic fracturing within the city limits of Las Vegas, NM. That’s a small town in New Mexico, not the gambling capital.

Here’s the money quote in an article in the Albuquerque Journal, Group Seeks To Prohibit Fracking from Ms. Hern, a board member of the group which helped write a law which would have banned fracking inside city limits:

Asked about the constitutionality of the ordinance, Hern said, “What people don’t understand is sometimes we have to step outside the boundaries of the Constitution to get things done. Laws are made to protect corporations and we need laws that protect Mother Earth – earth, air and water.”

Background

Continue reading “If the 10 commandments are just suggestions on moral issues, then it follows the Constitution is just a suggestion when it comes to energy policy”

Count of drilling rigs end of September 2012 – 190 and 274 for combined total of 464

190 – Bakken – from the current active drilling rig list at the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources website on 8-31-12.

274 – Eagle Ford – from EagleFordShale blog.

That is down 2 in Bakken and up 4 in Eagle Ford.

National rig count is 1,859 for 9-21-12.

Continue reading “Count of drilling rigs end of September 2012 – 190 and 274 for combined total of 464”

10 ways to encourage change

Writing at Harvard Business Review, Morten Hansen offers Ten Ways to Get People to Change. As I’ve heard for many years, it is less a matter of forcing change and more a matter of creating the environment to encourage change.

Some of his ideas I found particularly appealing:

Embrace the power of one

Continue reading “10 ways to encourage change”

Another forecast for Bakken production – we have probably already hit the peak

Since I’ve started to pay attention to forecasts for the Bakken field, I’ll make note of one that is not so optimistic.

The Oil Drum has a post, Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with “The Red Queen?” that doesn’t see substantial increases in future output.

The forecast in that post is for production to stay at roughly the current level, which for July 2012 was 674K bopd state-wide and 609K bopd for Bakken only. Here are two key comments, the first from the findings and the second from immediately after the findings: Continue reading “Another forecast for Bakken production – we have probably already hit the peak”

Human tissue from 3-D printing

The technology is in its infancy, yet bioengineers are creating human tissue through computerized adaptive manufacturing, or 3-D printing right now. Today.

A Wall Street Journal article, Printing Evolves, An Inkjet for Living Tissue, has details.

Scientists can build tissue, such as a blood vessel, one dot of tissue at a time, just like other 3-D printing applications. Around the tissue a separate nozzle places a water-soluble gel, called hydrogel, that works like a mold to hold the tissue in place until the dots of tissue knit together. After the printing is done, the tissue is stored in a solution that provides nutrients. Then after a few weeks to stabilize, the hydrogel is washed away.

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What number did you have in mind?

The executive search committee had narrowed down the candidates for the company’s next president to four people.  The final four:  a high school algebra teacher, an attorney, an engineer, and a CPA.

The subcommittee had one final question to distinguish between the four. With everyone gathered together, they asked “What is 2 and 2?”

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“Peak Oil” = “Peak Idiocy” – #10 in a series

The ‘Peak Idiocy’ comment is at least three years old.  Let’s visited a couple of dusty articles.

Mike Munger brings the concept into play in his December 5, 2009 post Peak Idiocy where he says:

Of all the idiotic things that people believe, the whole “peak oil” thing has to be right up there. It is literally impossible for us to run out of oil. We have never run out of anything, and we never will.

Continue reading ““Peak Oil” = “Peak Idiocy” – #10 in a series”

Survey of changes in education technology and preliminary assessments

There is a lot of change education. Huge online classes.  Electronic textbooks incorporating ‘net technology.

Here is a survey of 10 developments and an initial assessment of which won’t go anywhere and which are huge hits. The article is Many-to-One vs. One-to-Many: An Opinionated Guide to Education Technology, by Arnold Kling.

The key distinction Mr. Kling perceives will produce the most change is adjusting away from the one-to-many model where one teacher or professor lectures to a group. The new concept he suggests is many-to-one, which he describes as: Continue reading “Survey of changes in education technology and preliminary assessments”

Yergin interview about the oil boom

There’s a great interview with Daniel Yergin in today’s Wall Street Journal:  Making Sense of the U.S. Oil Boom.

He puts the current boom into good perspective. During the last presidential election, we were talking about running out of oil. This time around, we are discussing how close the U.S. can get to energy independence.

He mentions the jobs impact:

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Multiple wells drilled on one site and walking rigs. Isn’t human ingenuity grand?

The wizards of the oil industry can drill 4 or 6 or more wells on one pad. They’ve also developed self-propelled rigs.

So what, you ask?

That means less time to drill, far less surface disruption, less truck traffic, and more economical infrastructure.

It’s call pad drilling.  Here is an illustration:

 

Photo: Chesapeake / Statoil. Used with permission.

There are 24 wells in that illustration, but the drilling was done from only 4 sites.

The Energy Information Administration discusses this in their article Pad drilling and rig mobility lead to more efficient drilling:

Continue reading “Multiple wells drilled on one site and walking rigs. Isn’t human ingenuity grand?”

Robotic cheetah, pack mule, and dog

Way cool. DARPA is working on some amazing things. A robotic cheetah that currently can run 28 miles an hour. Also, a robotic pack mule that can walk over rough terrain, obey simple instructions, and follow its leader (master?) without instructions. It can right itself if it tips over.  A dog that can walk across a rocky surface, up a 45% snow-covered hill, or carry 400 pounds:

Check out the National Geographic article, Animals Inspire New Breed of War Robots.

Check out the pack mule:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xY42w1w0TWk#t=21s]

Check out the cheetah: Continue reading “Robotic cheetah, pack mule, and dog”

How to crush retirees –1970s vs 2010s, or, QE3 kicks off

In the ‘70s it was inflation that crushed retirees. Today it is near zero interest rates.

Inflation rates in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s were terrible. The 1974 rate of 11.0% was just a hint of things to come.

Continue reading “How to crush retirees –1970s vs 2010s, or, QE3 kicks off”

You can hire someone to take your online class. Um, anyone see an ethics problem here?

We Take Your Class is a web service that offers to have a tutor take your online test or complete an online project. They can even take your entire online course.

Wow.  Cheating for hire.

You can find them here on your own.

Their pitch:

Continue reading “You can hire someone to take your online class. Um, anyone see an ethics problem here?”