Look out Cleveland You might be tired of reading about AI developments around here, but if so you'll need to get over that - it really is one of the biggest stories in energy. The past 8 months or so have been astounding. There are many perspectives from which to view this, many of which are simply crazy, but some leniency is warranted there - no one has any idea where AI is going to take us or itself, and it is hard to call any prognostication too outlandish. What isn’t crazy though are [Read more]
Energy notes from the edge: AI power demand talk goes mainstream; flame-throwing electro-dogs set to turn the table on squirrels
Data centres to cause unexpected spike in US gas demand, bypassing all the trouble spots North American gas prices are stuck in the mud, and have been for a while. Beyond the odd and brief flareup, producers have found ways to extract massive volumes by optimizing fracs, lengthening horizontal wells, etc., across wide shale plays with results that are at least somewhat repeatable. This is a global anomaly, as there are higher value markets, such as the rest of the world, which is [Read more]
Energy Notes from the edge: Premier Smith, forget the feds – build a local Ludwigshafen; The Revenge of the Beige Corolla
A pitch to Alberta’s Premier to do something big First a disclaimer, because I can hear it already: There is a strong case to be made that governments should leave industry to sort things out for themselves, that picking winners and general meddling is the antithesis of what the free allocation of capital can accomplish. To suggest that governments should get involved is guaranteed to bring two responses from the spectrum’s ends - pure free marketers don’t want governments involved at all, [Read more]
Energy notes from the edge – taxes, the Middle East, and a marriage made in heaven
As springtime approaches, and everything thaws, as I walk through the streets of downtown and the bright tall sun chews away at the cold air emanating from the long frozen concrete, my thoughts echo those of every fellow pedestrian: What is that smell? And what the hell is that on the sidewalk? Are you all high? Why do I have to take every step as though in a minefield or pasture? And, of course and linearly, what’s the deal with those new taxes? Good Lord, run, here comes the tax [Read more]
Energy notes from the edge
Today, some bite sized energy-related pieces because some days that’s all I can handle. It’s like the difference between walking past a road-killed deer and spending the afternoon with one. You’ll see what I mean. Is growing AI power demand a problem or… did he really say that? Once, not long ago, there were a few of us braying in the pasture about what AI was going to do to energy/power demand. Now the chorus is much louder, less theoretical and much more precise. An AP/Reuters article [Read more]
Textbook examples of why new media beats old
Social media is a complex beast. It is simultaneously useful, annoying, addictive, helpful, destructive, and a hundred other things. It is tying humanity into knots. Many people, including yours truly, often deride it as a cesspool of bots and trolls and agitators for hire. All that is true. At the same time most of us, including yours truly, head there reflexively to see what our various symbiotic factions are up to. There are multiple reasons for that. Foremost is that social media [Read more]
444,000 semi-loads of food? Just another day on planet earth
A friend of mine, always with a keen eye on interesting things, passed on an interesting quote from the CERA Week energy conference the other week. The head of the International Energy Forum mentioned a surprising statistic, as quoted by Javier Blas on Twitter: “Heathrow airport in London uses more energy than the whole African nation of Sierra Leone [population ~8.5 million].” Yikes! Here’s another one that turned up randomly in the feed by a credible source: “If we keep growing our energy [Read more]
Energy wise, how do you even describe 2024
Huh. Look at that. It’s been ten years since I started writing about energy. Not that that particular trivia interests anyone, why would it, however it is interesting to look back at the impetus for writing and how that has changed. Ten years ago, as I worked in a communications department for an energy infrastructure business that did not like publicity of any kind whatsoever, it began to dawn on me how dangerous were the habits that formed thereof, and how far reaching the consequences. As [Read more]
MB/SK/AB NeeStaNan Utilities Corridor: First Nations-led utility corridor is a 21st-century nation-building initiative
“The trading of goods has been in our DNA as Indigenous People for centuries, but somewhere along the way this was lost. It’s time to regain our prosperity, for the betterment of our communities and for our country.” - NeeStaNan website Ever feel like you’re being neglected by either governments or the various power centers that dominate life? The big places get all the attention, have all the votes, have all the buzz. In Canada, fewer than ten such centers dominate the country. If you’re not [Read more]
The power of inheritances – changing the world in unexpected and often unfortunate ways
The other day, against my better judgement, I cut up a butternut squash to go into some recipe. You might be familiar; a smelly, obnoxious thing like an angry potato that turns into a truly hideous mushy texture when cooked. And then it stinks even more. The experience left me with a little pang of sorrow, because I couldn’t help but think of how hungry someone must have been at some point in history to think “Hey, I’m going to eat one of those.” Surely they had to have been standing there, [Read more]
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