Interview with Eike Batista, the Brazilian industrialist, in World Changers: Question: Why did you expand out of mining? You have essentially created a conglomerate in Brazil, which is unusual for most entrepreneurs. Answer: I wanted to do other things, although I am on overload now. I’m spending $40 billion in ten years in natural resources [...]
Archive for the ‘Energy’ Category
Batista’s View on Energy Efficiency in the U.S.
Posted in Energy on May 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Power Brown-Outs and Gas Prices
Posted in Energy, Political, Sustainability, tagged brown-out, gas prices, market manipulation on April 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I remember clearly traveling in Northern California in May of 2000. I was driving through Glenn County and stopped for breakfast in a country restaurant off I-5. The table-cloth was red and white checkered, like Arafat’s headdress, my coffee was hot, and the omelet tasted great. I was reading the morning paper. Then the lights [...]
Continuing Problems with San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant
Posted in Energy on April 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
We live within the evacuation radius of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in San Clemente. We’re basically straight downwind from there. The plant has been shut down since summer due to leaks that they can’t identify and therefore not correct. It is now shut down indefinitely per this article in CNN. Gary Headrick, founder [...]
Price of Gas
Posted in Energy on March 13, 2012 | 1 Comment »
What a difference three years makes. The pundits all say that gas was less than two dollars when Obama took office. That seems impossible, when I drive by my gas station every day and I read $4.37 for the cheapest grade. Less than two dollars? Then I checked Consumer Reports: My memory is selective. This almost [...]
Secretary of Energy on Lower Gas Prices
Posted in Energy, Sustainability on February 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Forget lower gas prices. Our Secretary of Energy does not really want them lower. We’ll all have to put Nutella into our gas tanks soon. And stop taking showers. NakedDC does a nice job outlining our gas future based on Barack Obama and Steven Chu.
Supply of Fossil Fuels
Posted in Energy, Sustainability on January 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The most common fossil fuels we are using are oil, coal and natural gas. We started using them in earnest about 125 years ago, when combustion engines were invented. Of course, it started small and gradually increased, and today we are burning more fossil fuels than ever. Estimates range widely on how much we have [...]
Solyndra Boondoggle
Posted in Business, Energy, Political on December 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
What is a boondoggle? Boondoggle – a wasteful or impractical project or activity The Obama Administration loaned Solyndra $535 million as part of the 2009 stimulus package. Obama visited Solyndra in California in May 2010. He said: “It is here that companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter, more prosperous future.” Praising the [...]
The Tortoise Stops the Power Plant
Posted in Energy, Nature, Sustainability on July 2, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The article in Forbes Magazine of June 27, 2011, titled Spot the Tortoise discusses the plans for the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the first large-scale solar thermal power plant project to be built in the United States in 20 years. The green spot on the right upper side of the image is a golf course. To the [...]
The Price of Gas – Take Four
Posted in Energy on May 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Price of a gallon of gas per country as of March 2011: Country Price Norway $6.82 Hong Kong $6.25 Belgium $6.16 United Kingdom $5.96 Italy $5.80 Canada $5.36 Japan $5.25 Brazil $4.42 India $3.71 Australia $3.42 South Africa $3.39 Mexico $2.22 Argentina $2.09 Saudi Arabia $0.09 Kuwait $0.08 Venezuela $0.12 Largest Oil Producing Nations as [...]
Gulf Spill Put Into Perspective
Posted in Energy on April 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a nice video that puts the Gulf Oil Spill of spring 2010 into perspective.
