In the energy sector, there are few topics that generate more debate today than the relative merits/demerits of fracking. To see just how strongly-held yet evenly-divided opinion is, check out this online debate moderated by The Economist and sponsored by Statoil (NYSE: STO). The question is framed simply: “Do the benefits derived from shale gas [...]
On February 13, the Cleveland office of the law firm McDonald Hopkins hosted a panel to discuss the pivotal water issues facing producers of oil/gas from shale via fracking. In addition to three MH attorneys, the panel also included Jeff Dick (Director of the Natural Gas and Water Resource Institute at Youngstown State University), Samuel [...]
The phrase “Black Swan” was coined in the book of the same name by author Nassim Taleb to describe an event that is hugely important and influential that was not anticipated but yet in retrospect could have been. September 11, 2001 is a classic example of a Black Swan. It was only a failure of [...]
It’s Presidential Election year. Ergo, time to discuss our 40 year whacked out excuse for an energy policy. Royally botched up by every President since, umm? Objectives: Make US energy supply cheap for the US consumer and industry, fast growing and profitable for the American energy sector, clean, widely available and reliable, and secure, diversified, [...]
We all know energy is global, and as much policy driven as technology driven. We have a quote, in energy, there are no disruptive technologies, just disruptive policies and economic shocks that make some technologies look disruptive after the fact. In reality, there is disruptive technology in energy, it just takes a long long time. [...]
Here’s a musical experiment for you: play a song such as ”Penny Lane” from The Beatles (or, if you prefer classic rock, “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin will do nicely) on your sound system…but with the balance set all the way to one side or the other. There will be enough recognizable content for you to still recognize the song, but [...]
It’s that time again: sifting through the detritus of a calendar year to sum up what’s happened over the past 12 months. Everybody’s doing it — for news, sports, movies, books, notable deaths…and now even for cleantech: here’s the scoop from MIT’s Technology Review, and here’s a post on GigaOM. So, my turn [drum roll, please], here’s [...]
Last week, at the stunning student union of The Ohio State University, Battelle convened a meeting entitled 21st Century Energy & Economic Summit on behalf of Ohio Governor John Kasich, who both opened and closed the conference with some observations. The agenda covered a wide spectrum of energy issues facing Ohio, and didn’t lack for interesting moments. [...]
…someone invents an economically-competitive energy storage technology that could be deployed at any electricity substation at megawatt-hour scale? …the power grid were brought up to 21st Century standards to match the true power quality needs of our increasingly digital society? …high-speed rail was not the exclusive province of Europe and Asia? …customers had real choice [...]
The natural gas market has always been a roller-coaster. It’s a very seasonal fuel, typically experiencing price spikes during the winter heating months. So, it’s important to begin any discussion about natural gas with a statement of the obvious: natural gas prices are very volatile. A few years ago, natural gas prices exceeded $12/mmBtu (as [...]
Cleantech has a very short history, and an even shorter memory. I’ve written over and over again about how it’s all about policy, and that there is no disruptive technology in cleantech. Now I’m telling you that’s not quite true, the exception proves the rule. I’d like to ask you to do some reading on [...]
