Alternative Energy & Global Warming

Don't Let Bush & Limbaugh Fool You On Global Warming!

2008-01-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

During his tenure as president, President Bush (& his pal, Rush Limbaugh) denied the existence of Global Warming as presently do a number of right-wing "scientists." Limbaugh is at his obnoxious best when ridiculing the very concept of global warming.

The right-wing scientists often won't even use the term "global warming." Instead, they prefer the term "climate change." (In a way they are not completely wrong.......there will be a drastic climate change associated with global warming!)

In this blog, I am going to stick with the global warming term as much as possible. That is the term that Al Gore uses and that is good enough for me. After all Al Gore was smart enough to invent the Internet!

This blog is concerned with global warming!

Is Anyone Listening to Al Gore on Global Warming?

2007-06-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

I think highly of Al Gore and even voted for him in 2000. I also think highly of his warnings regarding global warming. Living in a New Orleans surburb probably has a lot to do with the last statement since I saw a great city virtually destroyed by a storm that many of us think was fueled by a much hotter-than-normal Gulf of Mexico. We believe the extra heating was the direct result of global warming.

But is anyone else listening to Al Gore's warnings? Certainly not down here in the New Orleans area. I am repeatedly shocked by the gigantic size of the pickup trucks that people are buying down here. I know the pickups are less expensive than they would normally be due to the near bankruptcy of the automobile companies. And I also observe that there is an awful lot of money floating around down here due to insurance settlements, reconstruction work, and plain old government handouts. So the money to buy whatever you want in the way of automobiles/trucks is available.

Still I was hoping that folks would put 2 and 2 together and figure out the giant pickups are not good for the environment. Such is not the case.

So, all of Al Gore's data and warnings are being ignored here. I have not traveled outside Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina (2005). Are you seeing the same thing in your areas?

GTL - The Alternative Energy Diesel

2007-06-03T14:09:00.001-07:00

Natural gas is used to produce, via the GTL (gas-to-liquid) process, a clean diesel-like fuel. The production process is very advanced overseas, particularly in South Africa. In addition to being clean, the diesel fuel produced is non-explosive.

The diesel fuel produced by the GTL process is so ultra clean, it can be blended with regular "unclean" diesel to produce a blended diesel that meets government standards. This is important because many nations are developing new regulations for diesel requiring the sulfur content of diesel fuel to be extremely low. The GTL diesel fuel's cleanliness gives it a built-in advantage. Additionally, the GTL diesel has a higher Cetane No. than conventional diesel. A higher Cetane No. means the GTL diesel is more powerful and more efficient than conventional diesel.

Europe is where the GTL diesel will have its greatest direct impact. Europe has gone bananas over diesel and more diesel than gasoline is now used for automobiles and trucks there.

However, it will have an indirect effect on the U.S. because we import large amounts of gasoline from Europe. The GTL process will, in effect, decrease the gasoline demand in Europe and more gasoline will be available for export to the U.S. thus helping us with our fuel shortage.

Here, again, many energy experts would not define the GTL diesel as an alternative fuel source since the diesel fuel is produced from conventional natural gas. However, the product fits my definition of alternative energy source just fine since the product availability, in effect, allocates existing fuel resources more efficiently. Also, natural gas is in more plentiful supply than crude oil, so converting the natural gas to a useable liquid fuel makes good sense. It conserves the amount of available crude oil which is in very short supply.

LNG - Frozen Alternative Energy Source!

2007-06-03T07:01:00.001-07:00

LNG (liquefied natural gas) , technically, might not, by most experts standards, be considered an alternative energy source since it is really frozen natural gas. However, by my definition of an alternative energy source being any energy source that replaces or reduces the demand for crude oil, natural gas, or coal, LNG is an alternative energy source. Much of the natural gas used in producing LNG is obtained from natural gas deposits for which there is no local market ("stranded natural gas") and transported to hot markets, e.g., U.S. and Japan.

Significant global trade in LNG has developed and as the U.S. eventually runs out of domestic oil and natural gas, imported LNG will play an increasing role in supplying the U.S. with an "alternative energy supply." Although only a few LNG terminals have been constructed in the U.S. so far, a number of others are planned.

Unfortunately, as with oil, the largest natural gas deposits are in the Middle East, notably Iran and Qatar. Qatar, a small country on the Persian Gulf, is rumored to have truly massive deposits of natural gas just offshore. Their small population has little need for the gas so look for Qatar to be a major player in the LNG field. Fortunately, Qatar and the U.S. are very friendly. Not so with Iran which has very large natural gas fields. Iran is also looking to become a major exporter of LNG. Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union are two other countries with large natural gas deposits. They are also moving into the LNG export business.

LNG is transported via special vessels designed to handle the frozen natural gas. Most LNG will be offloaded into offshore LNG terminals, heated back to the gaseous form, and send by existing gas piplines throughout the U.S.

LNG is an alternative energy source whose time has come!

(Update: The recent discovery that massive deposits of natural gas is present in U.S. shale formations and can be economically extracted, may alter our position in the LNG market. Conceivable, the U.S. may now have large enough reserves of natural gas that we could become a major exporter of natural gas in the form of LNG. What a change that would be!)

Alternative Energy Sources That Actually Work!

2007-06-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Ethanol and solar energy are alternative energy sources that may be valuable in the future. But now, they either are not practical or they function mainly to funnel government subsidies to farmers, e.g., ethanol.

But some alternative energy sources are moving ahead at a fast rate.

(Please be informed that I define "alternative energy sources" as anything that has the potential to reduce our dependence on oil, natural gas, and coal.)

Canadian oil sands are the best example of an alternative energy source where progress is astounding. Admittedly, to my surprise, techniques for recovering a product from the messy oil sands have been developed and the production rate for the oil product is soaring. As the success becomes more apparent, money is pouring into Canada from nations, e.g., China, wanting to stake their claim on some of the production.

The success of recovering a product from the oil sands, profitably, is a tribute to the market system. The good news is that there are about a trillion barrels or so of product that can be recovered from the oil sands.

There is some bad news. Environmentally, the recovery processes produce a large volume of waste which is stored in waste ponds. This waste will eventually have to be dealt with. Additionally, some of the recovery processes contribute heavily to acid rain which can damage the lakes and forests in the area.

Other bad news for the oil sands, is that the the drop in the price of oil may, at least temporarily, make it unprofitable to mine the oil sands. Only time will tell! (In recent months, the price drop has been reversed and oil prices are now rising.)

Still, on balance, economic recovery of oil sands products has to considered a success for the long run.

Two other alternative energy success stories - LNG and hybrid cars - will be dealt with in future posts.

Alternative Energy Sources or Subsidies

2007-05-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

A major reason that alternative energy sources need publicity is that there are so many phony "alternative energy sources" out there. The worst recent phony source, no doubt, was the moth balls that you could add to your gas tank to increase gas mileage. Of course, no engineer, scientist, or half-way intelligent person paid attention to the moth ball claims but I am sure that many Americans seriously looked at the moth balls as the genuine article. The moth balls even received quite a bit of TV coverage. If we had a government that cared, someone would have gone to jail over the moth ball scam.

A few decades ago, solar energy was going to be our savior. Nothing could stop it! Driven any solar powered cars lately?

To be fair, solar energy is going to play an important role in the energy equation - - someday. The price per unit of electricity delivered is dropping rapidly and solar energy's "time on the stage" may not be too many years off. We certainly need to keep working on its development.

Ethanol is a alternative energy source that needs to be carefully looked at. Its production is being heavily subsidized by both the U.S. government and by foreign countries.

The reprocussions of the subsidies are beginning to be felt. Corn prices are rising rapidly and countries like Mexico where corn is a staple food are hurting.

Even the beer drinkers are hurting in Germany because of the ethanol craze. The growing of barley, the major grain used in German beer production is being reduced sharply in favor of growing subsidized crops better suited for ethanol production. The German beer drinkers (99% of the population?) are getting a little restless as beer prices rise.

So, we need to take a close look at so-called alternative energy sources that actually end up having a negative effect. I personally do not favor any long-term subsidies on any alternative energy source.

I don't want to give alternative energy sources a bad name. Many alternative energy sources, e.g., oil sands, LNG, hybrid cars, etc,. are going great. These sources will be discussed in detail in later posts.

Introduction to Global Warming & Alternative Energy Sources

2007-05-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Global Warming & Alternative Energy Sources blog. I feel that the two items are closely related. Global warming is the problem and development of alternative energy sources is a possible solution.

I'm assuming that visitors to this blog agree that global warming is an actual occurrence and not a "myth" as some folks believe. I am not against some discussion on the "myth" question but I don't want that discussion to dominate the blog.

In regards to alternative energy sources, I define them as any acceptable substitute for crude oil products, natural gas, or coal. In the alternative energy category, I place such items as oil sands oil, LNG, and coal bed methane although it is obvious these are questionable alternative energy sources as many experts would define them. I am very loose on the definition because I don't believe we will ever solve the energy crisis by strictly limiting ourselves to ethanol, solar energy, windmills, tidal energy, and other exotic forms of energy. I also include hybrid cars in the alternative energy category although they are not a form of energy. But, do the hybrids ever save a lot of energy!

I must note that there is considerable undesirable self-interest in the ongoing development of certain alternative energy sources like ethanol which are heavily subsidized by states and the federal government. Ethanol is certainly an alternative energy source but could it survive without government subsidies? Additionally, there is some indication that the heavy use of corn to produce the subsidized ethanol is creating corn shortages in the U.S. livestock area and in poor foreign countries like Mexico where corn is a staple food. There is a question in my mind as to whether subsidized ethanol production from subsidized corn is desirable.

With that introduction, I look forward to your comments on global warming and alternative energy sources.