Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published my piece “Let’s Get Real About Renewable Energy.” The piece used basic arithmetic to show that solar power and wind power – while growing dramatically – are not going to replace hydrocarbons any time soon.
Read moreDuring his address to Congress last week, President Barack Obama declared, “We will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years.”
Read moreThe last of the lectures at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ annual conference at the Westin Galleria in Houston ended two weeks ago.
Read moreThe next time you hear someone say “we are addicted to oil” or “we are addicted to coal”, try this exercise: substitute the word “prosperity” for “oil”. Do the same for “coal”.
Read moreFor years, the US has been inundated with claims that it should follow Brazil’s lead on biofuels. These arguments have largely been made by a small, but influential group of neoconservatives who claim that the US should quit using oil altogether.
Read moreOn Friday, during the CERAWeek conference in Houston, MIT professor Andrew Kadak provided a graphic that showed the share price performance of electric utilities that rely on nuclear power versus utilities that rely primarily on fossil fuels.
Read moreLast week, as a friend of mine and I were discussing the energy business, an acquaintance of ours came into the room. When told the topic of discussion, she immediately denounced Exxon Mobil.
Read moreA couple days ago, I published a piece listing 14 studies that have exposed the high costs of the ethanol scam. I overlooked three points: A new study by Cornell University’s David Pimentel, the latest numbers showing the amount of corn ethanol distilling capacity that has been idled due to negative margins, and finally, a story by Bloomberg News which says that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is talking with the Environmental Protection Agency about raising the amount of ethanol blended into the US gasoline supply.
Read moreTexas has long had a jujitsu hold on the American psyche. Residents of other states share a combined revulsion and admiration for the Lone Star State, the only member of the union that—stop me if you’ve heard this—was a country before it was a state.
Read moreJim Schwertner can almost see food prices rising in real time. He only needs to look through the big smudged window behind his paperwork-covered desk. Schwertner’s second-floor office overlooks the dusty pens and loading docks at Capitol Land & Livestock, the sprawling cattle brokerage business that he owns about 45 miles north of Austin.
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