North Dakota regulators looking at how to make sure someone is around to pay for taking down wind turbines

In the first article I’ve seen on the issue, North Dakota regulators are looking at the decommissioning plans for the aging slice-and-dicers in the state. They are considering a requirement to provide some sort of financial assurance that there will be money available to pay for disassembling the towers.

The estimated costs for decommissioning from three different operators for their specific slicers are $68,700, $82,567, and $75,720. The average of those three point estimates is $75,662. Let’s call that $75K each. That is the cost per turbine.

Continue reading “North Dakota regulators looking at how to make sure someone is around to pay for taking down wind turbines”

“29 Ways to Stay Creative” plus a few bonus ideas

Check out this video on how to stay creative:

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-mlSrKo16D0]

 

A few more ideas:

30 – Read political, economic, and social opinions from people with a different worldview – Twitter is a superb for this.

31 – Read a book by an author you haven’t looked at before. I just did this and got an amazingly depressing view of post-reconstruction America while finding I enjoy someone whose work I’ve not read before.

32 – Write a blog. You will be amazed how much it stretches you.

Next post: there are times when we shouldn’t be creative.

Oil production in North Dakota starts to recover from winter slump – 951,350 bopd average in February ‘14

Here is an updated graph of monthly production in the state, for the Bakken fields and whole state.

2-14 bakken and statewide

Can you pick out the winter months just by looking at the graph?

There were 18 days in February with temps 5 degrees lower than the usual frigid, 4 days with high wind that stopped completions, and production stopped on over a hundred wells because a gas processing plant was off-line for upgrades. With all that, production grew 16,224 bopd to 951,350 bopd.

That is off the high of 973,280 in November.

For more info, check out Amy Dalrymple’s report: Helms says curtailing oil production necessary to reduce flaring. Additional news there is planned rules for the state will place a limit on flaring, which will slightly hold back production.

 

Revolution in higher ed is slow to arrive; still desperately needed

The Economist has a suggestion on how to reverse the current situation where some college degrees aren’t worth the time and effort: Making college cost less.

A few points from the lead article:

Thirty years ago there one college bureaucrat for two academic staff. Now the ratio is one support staff to one academic.

The tech revolution is working its way into academia, but the progress is very slow.

Continue reading “Revolution in higher ed is slow to arrive; still desperately needed”

Forecast for Bakken production in 2014 and 2020

Forecast from Wood Mackenzie, as announced in Oil & Gas Financial Journal: Bakken Drilling and Completion Capex to Top $15B in 2014.

Their predictions:

  • 1.1 million BOPD average for 2014
  • 1.7M BOPD average for 2020

Highest 30 day Initial Production rates are above 1,000 bopd in the Nesson Anticline.

EURs are highest in the Fort Berthold subplay at 700,000 barrels.

Peak what?

About 40% of American households don’t have a landline

Cool graph in the Wall Street Journal article Consumers Weigh in on AT&T’s Move to Cut Landlines shows the steadily increasing number of households that have dropped a landline and only use cell phones.

My estimates from reading the graph show this portion of US households don’t use a landline:

  • ’05 – just under 10%, I estimate 8%
  • ’07 – over 10%, estimated 14%
  • ’09 – just over 20%, estimated 22%
  • ’11 – just over 30%, estimated 31%
  • ’13 – 39.5%

Last September, I mentioned About one-fourth of households rely on cellphones instead of landlines. So, 28% last fall, 39% now.

Article describes a town in Alabama where AT&T wants to drop landline service completely.

Excerpt from The Boom, new book on fracking

Russell Gold, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal has a new book out, The Boom, which discusses the amazing changes in the energy world due to hydraulic fracturing.

The WSJ has a great excerpt from his book in the 4/8 paper edition. You can find the online edition at A Look Inside America’s Fracking Boom.

You can find the book at Amazon here.

The excerpt is superb, by the way.

Book was released today. I already have my copy on my e-reader. Also have a lot of other books on my to-read list, so may be a while before I have any comment on it.

More good stuff on the Bakken – decline rate and sustained drilling – 4-8-14

A few years ago, I would have had a 500 word post on each of the following articles from Million Dollar Way. Now I’m to the point where I get the knowledge quicker and only want to summarize in a few sentences. The news in these two posts is huge: First, the horrid Bakken decline rate might not be as big a deal as previously thought. Second, the drilling rate of 2,500 new wells a year is probably sustainable.

Wow.

The declining relevance of the decline rate

3/31 – Million Dollar Way – Decline Rate And The Bakken – Continue reading “More good stuff on the Bakken – decline rate and sustained drilling – 4-8-14”

Cost of building various types of electricity sources

Here are a few data points on the cost of building various kinds of facilities to generate power. Accumulated for future reference.

3/27 – Bismarck Tribune – North Dakota regulators approve peaking station turbines – Continue reading “Cost of building various types of electricity sources”

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte and especially someone with 13,700 Twitter followers

There’s an old line from the newspaper era: Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. If you do, tomorrow you will see 10,000 printed copies of the next step of the argument.

The internet equivalent is:

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte.

Today’s addendum is: especially when said person routinely prints 13,700 copies of tweets.

(Cross post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Francine McKenna got a threatening email from a guy who had a role in a failed company. You can read all about it: Benjamin Wey Sent Me A Threatening Email About AgFeed.

The company, AgFeed, is the recipient of litigation, a target of SEC investigation, and the subject of many news reports. Mr. Wey didn’t like Ms. McKenna’s coverage and threatened her with some sort of harm. I can’t quite tell what the harm will be (opinion), but there will be something. Continue reading “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte and especially someone with 13,700 Twitter followers”

Sgt. Saunders, star of documentary series “Combat”, still in the labor force, with no immediate plans to retire

Sergeant Chip Saunders’ World War II exploits were chronicled in a 1960s television series, Combat!!, a reality show decades ahead of its time. The documentary series is available at Amazon here and here. A generation of youth grew up following tales of his experiences. Many of his peers found reward in hearing of his journey across Europe.

After he withdrew from public life for a season, this blogger is pleased to report that Sgt. Saunders is still at work, doing a little double dipping to increase his pension when he eventually retires.

Where is he now?

He keeps a low profile, but is currently a supervisor in the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank. I was able to track him down after a recent PR piece from the Richmond Fed unintentionally gave me a hint of his location. I can now confirm that formerly Sgt. Saunders is now a Lieutenant supervising a Quick Reaction Force in the Richmond Fed’s Law Enforcement Unit.

He continues to use a trusty, battle-proven .45 caliber automatic rifle as his personal weapon as he again leads a squad protecting American national resources.

Tracking down the WWII hero

Here’s the clue followed to track down Lt. Saunders: Vintage Thompson Machine Gun. The Richmond Fed has two of the trustworthy Thompsons in the Law Enforcement Unit’s inventory.

Continue reading “Sgt. Saunders, star of documentary series “Combat”, still in the labor force, with no immediate plans to retire”

35,000 tons of CO2 annually equals insignificant environmental impact (solar #18)

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The Ivanpah solar facility will need to increase the amount of natural gas burned in order to keep the facility running efficiently. Using an extra 601 million cubic feet of gas each year will not have any significant environmental impact.

Chris Clarke reports on the plant owner’s request on 3/27: Ivanpah Solar Plant Owners Want To Burn a Lot More Natural Gas. The application is found here. Most of the application is over my head, but I was able understand much of it.

To keep each of the three powerplants running requires having a gas-powered turbine running 4.5 hours a day. This is to help warm up the water and maintain production as the sun goes down.

Continue reading “35,000 tons of CO2 annually equals insignificant environmental impact (solar #18)”