Those who are concerned the U.S. might run out of natural gas in the years ahead ignore estimates made by government and industry experts that this country has enough shale gas to meet domestic needs as well as export opportunities through the rest of this century and beyond. (The Washington Examiner, November 2017). There’s a fine line, sometimes indistinguishable, between saying things no one wants to hear and being the crazy guy on the corner shouting at governments or mailboxes. The weird [Read more]
Oh for…governments once again do what they do best – shoot the wrong horse
If you like solitude and a good view, the steppes of Mongolia are pretty darned attractive. The country is the least densely populated in the world, so the vast town-less southern plains that border China are like nirvana to us antisocial introverts. Until recently, that is. A remarkable story appeared in Reuters the other day, with equally remarkable photos showing queues of coal-laden trucks up to 80 miles in length waited to cross the border into China. You know what it’s like to be at the [Read more]
Saudi Arabia’s admirable plans most likely involve another oil price shock, and soon
Sometimes it’s funny listening to armchair quarterbacks, the ones who comfortably critique the pros because there is zero chance they’ll ever be in a position to show the world how miserably they’d perform in a similar situation. It’s not just a sports phenomenon; we see it in business too. A recent wave has been OPEC bashers, specifically Saudi Arabia. While some of us (ahem) may make fun of their gold Ferraris, it is very unwise to think they don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to [Read more]
Who pays for all this stuff? Green energy, debt, and our way of life – we can’t have it all
One of the biggest changes of current times, beyond technology or communications, has been the amazing progress of our standard of living. A fundamental shift has occurred in the way we acquire the necessities of life, and even how we define what those necessities are. My ten-year-old son says his worst nightmare is no WiFi. The rest of it is just a given; if you want food well duh, the grocery store is full of it. Any other device he can conceive of is a google search away. There is no value in [Read more]
BC happy to export US coal but not Canadian petroleum – that’s bad for the environment and for Canada
If drunk drivers terrify you, would you let your drunken guests drive themselves home well in advance of when you go out, to avoid the danger? Or, less esoterically, if you want to fight climate change, should you work to enable a substance that produces a quarter of global greenhouse gases or one that produces a small fraction of that? It’s not a hypothetical issue, we’ve just seen it in all its misery. This past summer during British Columbia’s provincial election, a brazenly hypocritical [Read more]
Germany’s electrical Franken-system illustrates green energy challenges and the importance of fossil fuels
Several European countries have spearheaded the global push towards renewable energy. There are several reasons for this drive, care for the environment being the most commonly heard. That factor is no doubt important to the progressive countries of western Europe, but there are other non-trifling reasons as well. Consider this problem for western Europe – would you like to be dependent on Vladimir Putin, or Russia, or anything connected to Russia, for your heat in winter? That is one of the [Read more]
Money laundering and windmills – Canada’s remaining economic engines
Canada is the world’s second largest nation, with only the 38th largest population. It has indescribable natural resource potential, and utilization of these resources has given it one of the world’s highest living standards. It has tens of thousands of miles of coastline accessing three oceans and favourable trade relations with most of the world. It offers, as Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr puts it, “a stable and predictable investment climate, world-class energy reserves, proximity to [Read more]
Energy efficiency, not electro-energy anarchy, is the future and hybrid vehicles point the way
As a youth, I, like most others, did my best to drive my parents crazy by spending my time reading magazines as opposed to anything they might have considered worthwhile. I knew nothing about any historical events before the most recent Tuesday, but I could tell you anything about fast cars. To this day I remember little about high school biology but I do remember quite clearly a review of a Porsche 911 from the early 1980s. I can see the pictures and stats page in my mind, and I can remember [Read more]
Provincial government schemes may be annoying, but it’s the international madness that might bring down the house
Picking on governments is an easy sport. It’s not hard to find dumb policies or some initiative that goes against an ideological viewpoint and infuriates exactly 40 percent of any given population. Instead of getting bogged down in provincial matters (both literally and legislatively provincial), I encourage you to expand your ire to the bigger picture where truly serious damage is happening. Current global policies are impacting not only energy but the whole economic framework. I’m not [Read more]
Saudi Arabia’s new strategy: $130 billion for nuclear/renewables, privatization, neighbourhood turf wars and a radical new vision
The Mariana Trench – the 6 mile deep canyon in the Pacific Ocean, not the misspelled pop band – is notable for at least two things: First, The Onion, the world's best "alternative" news site, described it as “once again the worst place to raise a child” and secondly, it may be the only place in the world yet to be explored for hydrocarbons. True; there are probably other undrilled places like the top of Mount Everest or under St. Paul’s cathedral. But considering that the largest global [Read more]
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