The current news cycle links continuing coverage of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whose cause remains uncertain and whose solution so far elusive, with puzzlement about the cause of a recent 1,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It may appear that these two traumas have nothing in common. Indeed, the havoc in [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘oil’
January 5, 2010
Where is Clean Tech Heading in 2010?
Sorry, I can’t say I know yet where clean tech is heading in 2010. I’m still getting reoriented after the holiday. But early signs are that, as usual, both the hype and the backlash against the hype, are a bit overblown. The Economist had a nice assessment of the post-Copenhagen landscape: mixed, essentially. On the [...]
July 28, 2009
My Clean, Green, Sustainable Reading List
Over the last few months I’ve been reading through the literature on clean tech, energy and sustainability. In case you are looking for suggestions, I can recommend any or all of these. If you have any reactions or suggestions for further reading, please consider leaving a comment. Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global [...]
July 6, 2009
Energy Price Volatility Dampens Growth; Can Renewables Help?
The New York Times today reported that recent extreme volatility in oil markets has “is puzzling government officials and policy analysts…” It is also “hobbling businesses and consumers … as they try in vain to guess where prices will be a year from now–or even next month.” Random Reasons for Volatility Oil is a complex [...]
January 30, 2009
How Energy is Like Web 2.0
Web 2.0 and Alternative Energy Sometimes Share a Stage If you travel in Internet circles and are tracking developments in clean tech or alternative energy, you have noticed that Web 2.0 and energy have sometimes shared a stage. We had, for example, climate change fighter Al Gore speaking at O’Reilly’s recent Web 2.0 Summit (update: [...]
January 8, 2009
Lessons from the History of the Oil Industry
This blog documents my efforts to educate myself about energy, clean tech and sustainability. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thought I would share, from time to time, my assessment of the books and articles I read. In that vein, I have just finished reading what is probably the definitive history of the [...]
October 6, 2008
Oil and Geopolitics: Comments From a Reader
Chris Townsend of Forrester commented on my blog but I overlooked it for a week since WordPress thought it was spam. Here’s Chris’s comment and my response. Thanks for reading!
September 29, 2008
Can the U.S. Eliminate Its Dependence on Foreign Oil?
In the presidential debate last Friday, Sen. Obama called for eliminating the United States dependence on Middle Eastern oil within 10 years. It sounds like a desirable policy goal–the less we are dependent on unstable or unfriendly regimes, the better for our national security. But is this goal realistic? My research suggests it is certainly [...]
