A Strong Economy Needs Abundant Energy Resources

It's the Economy, Stupid!
The Obama - Pelosi regime appears to be a bit confused as to what it is supposed to be doing. Therefore they have spent an undue amount of time doing things they shouldn't. Like closing off vast areas of promising fossil fuels deposits to development, thus instituting energy starvation upon an already struggling economy. Talk is cheap, Mr. President. But what you are doing is not helping to put Americans back to work, nor is it helping to provide the vital energy that the American economy needs.

Barack Obama made a big fuss over his plan to open more U.S. acreage to exploratory oil and gas drilling. But wildcatters aren't overly excited about the prospects. Though the plan added acreage in Alaska for possible leasing, some choice sites there were yanked. Drillers still have to wait for environmental studies before a lease sale may be held. Even then, they'd need to do seismic surveys and get federal air permits before touching drill bit to earth. Expect environmentalists' lawsuits, too.

The President asserted that "drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long-term energy needs." Really? A study released in February by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, prepared by researchers at defense contractor SAIC and nonprofit research house GTI, finds that the U.S. has more than 200 billion barrels of oil and 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are recoverable with today's technology. That's more than most OPEC nations. If fully developed, it would be enough to eliminate our 10-million-barrel daily diet of foreign oil for half a century.

Most of the bonanza is in federal waters, at least 50 miles offshore, along the outer continental shelf (OCS). Onshore, the biggest prize is Alaska, with some 15 billion barrels, much of it in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opening up more federal acreage--only 17% is available now--would bring a windfall to the U.S. in bonuses, rents and royalties. Fishkind & Associates also figures that developing Florida's western coast would lead to 50,000 new jobs. Or we could just keep importing oil from Venezuela. _Forbes

Mr. Obama's grades in college and law school are still embargoed -- off limits to citizens of the country that is supposed to be putting their trust in the man. Mr. Obama's speech writers and political operatives deserve high marks, over all. Mr. Obama himself? Still waiting for something good.

New Microbial Bioreactors Produce Power and Clean Water

JSOnline
Researchers at University of Wisconsin Madison aim to revolutionise water purification by turning the process into a method of "power generation" instead of a massive consumer of electrical power. Their research into the esoteric field of "microbial fuel cells" is yet another important step in the quest for bioenergy.

Research for many water scientists involves a frustrating paradox: Water purification requires prodigious amounts of electricity, while utilities guzzle huge volumes of water to generate electricity.

...The bioreactors that crowd [Zhen]He's labs are built around a phenomenon that was established 100 years ago in Britain, but that scientists all but ignored until recent years. As bacteria break down organic materials, such as wastewater contaminants, the process emits a stream of electrons that can be captured with a pair of simple electrodes to generate electricity.

He's systems ideally will perform three functions at once:

• Purify wastewater using bacteria.

• Produce electricity.

• Desalinate a separate supply of seawater in the same three-chamber bioreactors.

"This is not a perpetual motion machine. The science is proven. It's just taking energy that's untapped and using it," said David Drew, an engineer in the Madison office of Gannett Fleming.

...Classic microbial fuel cells have two chambers. And like a battery, one side has a positive electrode and the other a negative. One side is filled with bacteria and wastewater, which triggers the circuit.

The big innovation for He and Drew was the addition of a third chamber that holds salty seawater. Salt molecules, or sodium chloride, dissolve naturally in water. Permeable membranes separate the third chamber from the other two, allowing positively charged sodium atoms to migrate toward the electrode in one chamber while negatively charged chloride particles seep into the second. That removes the salt, molecule by molecule - at least in the lab.

So far, it appears unlikely that the system can remove every last trace of salt from water. But at the very least, He said his system could create a pre-desalination process that removes most of the salt and reduces the energy needed to strip out the rest. _JSOnline

In other microbial energy news, Purdue and Iowa State University researchers are busy tweaking the genes of algae to better produce fuels such as diesel and gasoline.

Stanford research aimed at harvesting electricity from algae

Programming viruses to split H2O into H2 and O2.

Microbial fuel cells, microbial fuels, microbial production of chemicals, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, animal feeds etc, and microbial water purification -- all of these relatively new uses of microbes promise to alter the balance of fuel production within the next 20 to 30 years.

The Quest for Algal Fuels Continues: More Halophytes

MaritimeJournalAlgae biofuels are likely to revolutionise fuels for aircraft and the maritime industry. Most large research groups are aiming for a big impact by algal fuels by the year 2030.

Small breakthroughs in algal fuels are occurring on a routine basis, in labs around the world. Whether the project aims to produce diesel, jet fuel, biomass-from-algae, cosmetics, or foods and nutraceuticals -- every algae growing project wants to achieve high efficiencies and potential profits. Algae grower BioMarine Fuels is forming a partnership with Fluid Imaging Technologies Inc., to use Fluid Imaging's FlowCAM imaging technology for real-time monitoring of algal bioreactors.

The FlowCAM, which combines rapid digital imaging with microscopy, will monitor performance of BioMarine Fuels’ SolarMagnatron, an algae biomass reactor that efficiently propagates lipid-containing algae to be processed into biodiesel and other high market value bio-fuels and chemicals....

...“The FlowCAM was originally developed for algal analysis, so it is optimally suited to serve in this burgeoning, global market. What’s more, it is rewarding for Fluid Imaging to participate as part of an environmentally friendly solution to the growing problem of fossil fuel shortages and excessive carbon emissions, in that algae actually sequesters carbon as part of its life cycle to produce an oil content known as lipids,” commented Peterson.

BioMarine Fuels’ SolarMagnatron photobioreactor essentially introduces carbon dioxide, sunlight, artificial sunlight, and microwave energy into a completely controlled 4,000 gallon (1 US gallon = 3.8 cubic decimetres) seawater containment vessel containing energy-rich micro-algae. The system stimulates rapid cell division and will produce high quantities of algal biomass for refinement into biofuels and other valuable chemicals like Omega 3. The FlowCAM, which has been used to rapidly image, count and characterize microorganisms in aquatic research since 1999, will provide real-time images and data on the size and concentration of the algae in the bioreactor.

The SolarMagnatron™ incorporates many new innovations, most notably a proprietary electromagnetic field technology. Electromagnetic energy of a specific resonance has been demonstrated by leading scientists to accelerate algae reproduction (mitoses) by up to 300%. The combined technologies are called the Symbiotic Energy System (SES). _RenewableEnergyMag

Real-time monitoring of algal production at the microscopic scale will allow BioMarine Fuels to tweak its production methods so as to obtain ideal yields for various end-purposes of its algal strains.

Another approach to biofuels that will utilise an aqueous growth environment, is the New Nile Company, which will produce biofuels from aquaculture.

ISAS is an advanced biofuels production model that uses effluent from seawater aquaculture (e.g. fish and shrimp ponds) as a natural fertilizer to cultivate sizable plantations of salicornia, a halophyte (i.e. naturally salt resistant plant) capable of yielding large volumes of high grade vegetable oil for use as a biofuel feedstock.

According to Dr. Carl Hodges, Chairman of The Seawater Foundation and Co-Chairman of Global Seawater, Inc, “Energy Allied International’s expertise in developing large scale energy projects in the Middle East and Africa, tied with The Seawater Foundation’s and Global Seawater, Inc.’s extensive knowledge of developing and operating ISAS models, is a winning combination to ensure the success of the world’s first, commercial scale, seawater-based biofuels project.”

Unlike first-generation biofuels producers which threaten to displace traditional food crops (e.g. corn) due to reliance upon freshwater and nutrient-rich soil, New Nile Co will produce advanced biofuels by applying the ISAS model, which relies exclusively upon the use of untreated seawater and arid, desert and degraded lands that are currently unproductive.

New Nile Co intends to produce tens of millions of litres of biofuels from a fifty thousand hectare (roughly 125,000 acre) project site. Together with Gensler, one of the world’s leading architecture design firms and the project’s lead Planning Advisor, the developers are presently assessing a number of potential site locations situated inland, along the Mediterranean and Red Sea coastlines. _RenewableEnergyMag

The ability to grow abundant biofuels feedstock along arid regions of coastline is a big plus for this approach.

Of course, with algal projects, the feedstock can be grown virtually anywhere as well -- even on the surface of the open ocean.

Nuclear Fusion Update

Brian Westenhaus reports good news about the Lawrenceville Plasma Physics effort to create a working dense plasma focus fusion.

Late February saw the first preliminary evidence that the injection of angular momentum into the dense plasma fusion considerably increases the efficiency of energy transfer into the plasmoid, the size of the plasmoid and thus the fusion energy yield. During some shots the angular momentum coil (AMC) was connected to the power supply, so current could flow through it. In other shots, the coil circuit was left open, so no current could flow. The shots with the AMC connected have a neutron yield 8-10 times that of those with the AMC disconnected, so this is a large and very promising effect.

...By mid March the device was operating at 90% good shots. In the best shots, ion energies were measured in the range of 40-60 keV (the equivalent of 0.4-0.6 billion degrees K). The electron beam carried about 0.5 kJ of energy and the plasmoid held about 1 kJ of energy, nearly half that stored in the magnetic field of the device. So, this is evidence that a substantial part of the total energy available is being concentrated in the plasmoids and transferred to the beams. _NewEnergyandFuel

Brian Wang has more on the progress at LPP's dense plasma focus.

In Australia, scientists have worked out a way to achieve a safe, achievable fusion reaction using light hydrogen combined with boron-11. The scientists state that the new generation of advanced lasers available today should be able to provide the necessary energies.

The annual convention of cold fusion researchers took place in San Francisco last month, with many researchers reporting progress in the study and production of room temperature fusion effects.

Here is a recent look at some of the issues involved in producing fusion in mainstream magnetic confinement devices.

The US GAO has recently thrown some cold water on Lawrence Livermore National Labs' hopes to achieve meaningful fusion reaction this year.

Meanwhile, Bussard IEC fusion research continues by EMC2 in New Mexico.

The biggest fusion project -- ITER in Europe -- is behind schedule and over budget. It is unlikely to ever achieve meaningful fusion. But it may serve as a good training ground for fusion researchers, and provide a bigger than life platform for testing some fusion concepts. On the other hand, it may simply be canceled as too costly for its likely output.

Methanol Fuel Cells Make Sense

Brian Westenhaus takes a look at a successful California manufacturer of methanol fuel cells for fork lift vehicles. A Nissan assembly plant in Tennessee recently ordered 60 units of the relatively new methanol fuel cell.

Fuel cells can be much more quickly and easily re-fueled than a large battery bank can be recharged. Using fuel tanks, fuel cells can easily hold far more energy than batteries as well. Methanol is safe and easy to handle and store, and is inexpensive, when compared to hydrogen -- which is the fuel usually thought of for fuel cells -- or other gases besides hydrogen.

Oorja’s Protonics’ methanol fuel cells eliminate the dangerous and time-consuming task of switching out and recharging batteries and owning the extra sets Oorja’s OorjaPac fuel cell sits on the forklift and feeds electrons to the battery pack, charging it as the day progresses. Filling up the fuel cell at the beginning of a shift, ideally, provides enough power for the day. A 3.4 gallon-storage tank of methanol powers a vehicle for 10 hours.

...The Nissan factory in Smyrna Tennessee has tested Oorja’s product over 18 months and then ordered 60 units. Mark Sorgi, senior manager of material handling at Nissan said the factory would save near $225,000 per year and avoid spending $300,000 for battery replacements. Oorja’s fuel cells also save time and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. “We can probably run anywhere from 14 to 16 hours on one tank of methanol,” Sorgi said. “It takes 60 seconds to refill versus battery change-out that takes 15 minutes.”
Methanol, a one-carbon atom chemical is one of the mostly commonly produced chemicals in the world, costs about $1 to $2 a gallon and doesn’t have to be transported under pressure so it’s easy to ship. It’s the main chemical in windshield washer fluid. Methanol can be delivered in large plastic drums and is fully biodegradable.
Oorja has improved the performance of its fuel cell. The new 1.6-kilowatt Model H is about 25 percent to 30 percent smaller than the previous version, at $16,000 costs about 50 percent less than the earlier version, and can be refilled with methanol in about a minute. _NewEnergyandFuel

Entrepreneurs are oriented toward problem solving -- because that is how they make a living. Academics and pundits, on the other hand, are oriented toward magnifying problems and extending a problem's lifespan. That makes sense, because academics and pundits make a living by studying problems, not by solving them.

It may well be that when fuel cells, batteries, and supercapacitors reach their next limitational plateus, that the best electric vehicle will include a combination of a fuel cell feeding the batteries and supercapacitor, a medium sized battery pack between the fuel cell and the motor, and a modest supercapacitor for quick bursts of power. The battery will be kept topped off by the fuel cells, and will provide normal cruising. Supercapacitors will provide rapid acceleration, and will likewise be kept charged by the fuel cells.

Such a combination would come close to matching the performance of an internal combustion engine -- and would beat the ICE at low speed torque.

Efficient On-Site Densification of Biomass

The goal of the Wisconsin project is to develop a one-pass biomass field machine that will both harvest a crop and produce a biomass cube. At the moment, most biomass is harvested by farmers and then transported to regional centers for further processing and densification. These centers may pellet or cube the material. The advantage of a one-pass, in-field machine is that biomass doesn't have to baled, which saves both energy and time. Also, a regional processing center won't have to de-twine the bales before processing. _USAgNet

The energy density of biomass is significantly less than that of coal or petroleum. If biomass energy is to become economically competitive, better ways of densifying biomass must be devised. Scientific and engineering personnel from the University of Wisconsin and Mississippi State University have teamed to develop machinery that can harvest and compress biomass in the field -- in a single pass. But there are significant challenges that must be overcome.

Since biomass cubing requires substantial horsepower and energy, it reduces its appeal as a renewable energy source. One of the main interests that the coal industry has is reducing its carbon footprint. Cofiring with biomass that requires significant energy to produce doesn't help the coal industry realize this goal because all energy expended in production is counted.

Moreover, biomass has several other limitations when compared with coal because cubes are not a perfect replacement. While coal contains 12,000 British thermal units (Btu) per pound, biomass alfalfa cubes only contain 7,350 Btu. Biomass cubes also are less dense. Therefore, they are more bulky and expensive to haul long distances. Finally, biomass cubes have a tendency to break apart. This makes handling the cubes with traditional coal industry equipment problematic.

Cubing technology is part science and part art. Biomass cubes are formed under high temperatures and pressure. In fact, the Wisconsin research team found that the temperature of the alfalfa was raised to near the boiling point of water while it was being processed. To start cubing, the John Deere machine had to "warm up." Generally, it took about 20 minutes of operation for the machine's internal temperature to rise enough to form stable cubes.

Another challenge is the moisture content of the alfalfa. The cubing operation requires that the biomass be as dry as possible. However, letting alfalfa lay outside increases the risk of rain damage and deterioration.

The Wisconsin and Mississippi research teams are confident these issues can be overcome. They are in the process of designing new equipment prototypes that are more tailored to cubing and densifying biomass instead of alfalfa _USAgNet

Various methods have been proposed for using sunlight to substitute for fossil fuels in the drying, densification -- and even gasification -- of biomass.

It is also likely that biomass "cubes" will have to be graded and priced according to energy density, moisture content, etc. as well as mass. As thousands of rural communities adapt to the coming biomass economy, there will be a significant spread in terms of quality of biomass. In each region, particular entrepreneurs are likely to stand out as providing the highest quality biomass feedstock for biofuels production or co-firing with coal. Those biomass entrepreneurs will likely become regional financial tycoons.

Biomass energy promises to help to rejuvenate rural and semi-rural economic localities and regions across Europe and North America. The potential is there to do the same for South America, Asia, Africa, and all the world's tropics and temperate areas -- if the rampant corruption in those areas can be moderated.

Two Timely Articles from OilPrice.Com on Producers Moving from Gas Production to Oil

Texas Acquisition Shows Shift of Gas Producers to Oil Investment


SandRidge Energy’s agreement this week to acquire Arena Resources, a producer of conventional oil in West Texas, for $1.6 billion is the latest example of natural gas companies seeking to balance their portfolios with more oil as the two resources decouple in price.

Natural gas prices have fallen more than 25% this year to below $4 a million British thermal units while oil prices have risen 8% and are now testing the $85 a barrel level, with some analysts forecasting $90 to $100 a barrel for later this year. The price ratio between the two fossil fuels has widened to more than 20-to-1 after staying closer to 10-to-1 in the past, even when oil rose to $147 a barrel.

SandRidge CEO Tom Ward said last month at the Howard Weil Energy Conference that companies can make “10 times more money” producing oil rather than gas. SandRidge has been acquiring oil properties over the past two years to achieve greater balance.

Gas accounted for 85% of SandRidge revenue at end-2008. Currently, oil represents only 28% of production but accounts for 54% of revenue.

The Arena Resources acquisition is SandRidge’s second in West Texas since November, when it spent $800 million to acquire properties from Forest Oil.

Other producers at the Howard Weil conference – including Noble Energy and Cabot Oil & Gas – said they were shifting investment to oil rather than gas.

And last week, Aubrey McLendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, which derives 90% of its revenue from natural gas, said at another energy conference that today's economics “just compel you to look for oil.”

Chesapeake is investing in an oil exploration and development project in the Rocky Mountains and hopes eventually to get a 50-50 balance in oil and gas production, McLendon said. The project in the Rockies consists of 700,000 acres in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming with an unidentified partner.

Natural gas prices have fallen as Chesapeake and others have invested heavily in production of shale gas. The companies now want to diversify to be better balanced even if the price equation shifts again.

McClendon said that using the horizontal drilling techniques pioneered in shale gas for oil production in the Granite Wash has revived that play and was bringing Chesapeake returns of 100 to 150%.

He said the company made a big mistake by not pursuing oil drilling in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota and Montana, where horizontal drilling techniques have been very successful.


Source: http://www.oilprice.com/article-texas-acquisition-shows-shift-of-gas-producers-to-oil-investment-252.html

By. Darrell Delamaide for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Crude oil, Geopolitics, Gold and most other Commodities,. They also provide free political and economic intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com




Gas Producers Go to the Dark Side


It's finally happening. Gas producers are starting to crack.

With the natural gas to oil price ratio running at a nearly-unprecedented 21-to-1 ($86.80 per barrel for crude versus $4.12 per mcf for gas), gas producers are throwing in the towel. And switching over to the "dark side". Oil exploration.

Up until now, many die-hard gas producers had been sticking to their guns and continuing to drill gas plays. Particularly shale gas, where producers claimed economics are still attractive. Even at current depressed gas prices.

But times are changing. Last week reports emerged that gas-major Chesapeake Energy has leased 700,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains. The aim? Drilling for oil.

Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon was quoted as saying bluntly, "The economics just compel you to look for oil rather than natural gas right now."

Elsewhere, other gas producers are making similar moves.

Last week, Texas-focused gas producer SandRidge Energy announced a $1.5 billion dollar takeover of oil producer Arena Resources. This comes after SandRidge CEO Tom Ward recently admitted to analysts at a major energy conference that producers can make "10 times the money" drilling oil wells as opposed to natural gas.

Even shale plays are taking on a "wet" flavor. The Eagle Ford shale has become the darling play in America, with most analysts acknowledging its superior economics. The reason? Largely, the liquids that generally come along with gas from Eagle Ford wells. Which fetch oil-like prices (or better).

As gas producers continue to seek oil entry opportunities, there will be steady upward pressure on prices for oil assets (which have already appreciated significantly this year).

There may also come opportunities in purchasing unloved gas properties. But only for those companies with the foresight and financial fortitude to hold on for the months or years until prices turn.

There will be a select few winners from this game. Keep watching this space.


Source: http://www.oilprice.com/article-gas-producers-go-to-the-dark-side-256.html

By. Dave Forest for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Crude oil, Geopolitics, Gold and most other Commodities,. They also provide free political and economic intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com

Shale Gas Plays in the US Lower 48

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/rpd/shale_gas.jpg
Above you see the US Energy Information Administration's map for shale gas plays in the 48 contiguous US States.

Below, you see T. Boone Pickens' map for shale plays. The circled areas are thought to be particularly rich.

Shale gas and coal bed gas discoveries have shaken international energy markets. It is likely that the shaking has just begun.

Cross-posted to Al Fin

Note that North Dakota is not even considered among the richest finds, according to Pickens' map.  That is interesting given that North Dakota's vast new shale energy wealth has allowed it to weather the ongoing US recession with aplomb.   We can only hope that North Dakota's good fortune will fall to at least some of the states above that contain those golden circles and ovals.

Small Nuclear Fission Reactors In the News

Spiegel
Not so long ago, any mention of nuclear reactors in the mainstream news would have involved reports of fires, mishaps, construction defects, nuclear fuel storage nightmares, or hints of deadly catastrophe lurking in the shadows.

Suddenly, nuclear reactors -- particularly small, modular nuclear reactors -- are worth talking about again, and in a positve way.

Proponents of nuclear power present the following arguments in favor of the idea:

Small reactors could become available in the future at bargain prices of less than $600 million, and they would only take two to three years to build. By comparison, reactors in the gigawatt range cost more than $5 billion, and financing is often a challenge. Some projects, such as the current construction of a new reactor in Olkiluoto, Finland, are years behind schedule and vastly over budget.

Because they are delivered pre-assembled, mini-reactors could also be used in countries without domestic nuclear experts. The plants produce about as much energy as gas or coal power plants and could therefore simply replace them. Existing power grids and turbines could still be used.

The miniature reactors unleash their fissile power from locations deep underground, which would make it difficult for terrorists to steal fissile material.

"Small nuclear reactors are cheaper, safer and more flexible," raves Tom Sanders, president of the American Nuclear Society. Sanders wants to mass-produce nuclear power plants, just as Henry Ford did with cars in his time, and make them available around the world, particularly in developing countries.

...Fans of the new miniature reactor world aren't allowing the grumblers to spoil their mood. Instead, they are developing bolder and bolder projects for the future. For example, nuclear scientist Tom Sanders and a team at the Sandia National Laboratory are developing a reactor that would cost only about $250 million at a planned production rate of 50 reactors per year. Liquid sodium cools the uranium core of the plant, which resembles a sort of replaceable cartridge.

TerraPower, the company Bill Gates has invested in, is working on a so-called traveling-wave reactor. In this type of reactor, the fission zone travels slowly through an elongated fuel core. Plutonium is bred from depleted uranium and then immediately burned off. The engineers rhapsodize over the system, saying that this "wave of fission" could generate electricity continuously "for 50 to 100 years without refueling or removing any used fuel from the reactor." _Spiegel

Of course even in a relatively positive article such as the one above, you will still see the obligatory "environmental expert" moaning about the decades-bred nightmares of nuclear-gone-wrong. This is a German publication, after all. They have to quote the greens, even if greens are professional activists who do not have a problem-solving bone in their entire bodies.

There is nothing new in the Spiegel piece, other than the fact that small, modular nukes are now getting mentioned in the mainstream. And as favourable mention in the mainstream continues, public opinion toward safe, new nukes grows more supportive.

Natural Gas Bonanza Hits Energy Markets

Natural gas prices began to tumble today, in a collision course with rising oil prices. In fact, the natural gas to oil price ratio hit an unprecedented 1 to 21 ratio ($4.12 per mcf of gas to $86.60 per barrel crude).

The gas price collapse was partially the result of the US doubling its gas reserves. And the US Geological Survey plans to help at least 10 other countries to develop their unconventional gas reserves. Something tells me that this is only the beginning.

Russia has refused to cut its own natural gas output, making some gas-producing countries in the Arab world unhappy. But what can Russia do? Russia needs oil prices of at least $100 a barrel, preferably above $120 a barrel. Putin must take what energy income he can get to prevent a total collapse of his government.

US gas producers are slowly shifting to oil exploration and development -- given the slumping profits in the gas sector, and the bubble-inflated profits in the oil sector.

[Oil] Supply should continue to creep upward, likely at a faster pace than still sluggish demand. Oil production is rising slowly, OPEC continues to provide more supply, albeit at higher prices, and Russian output is at a recent peak. While prices can diverge significantly from oil market fundamentals, in the long term a number of new sources should be available, including offshore oil in Africa and Brazil, and the oil sands--though the economic viability of these sources depends on the price of crude. _Forbes

The Obama - Pelosi regime's EPA is naturally trying to find ways to shut down the US gas bonanza -- using any means necessary. But Obama - Pelosi have used up a great deal of political capital in a very short time, with very little to show for it. From now on, every grand offbeat crusade of the O - P reich will be facing increasingly stiff opposition at all levels.

Oil production and supplies are likely to continue to rise, as long as oil prices remain artifically inflated and supported by the easy money policies of the US Fed -- which drive much of current speculation on oil markets. Eventually, the bubble will burst and the US government will once again be called upon to bail out the best-connected operators of hedge funds, pension funds, and other commodities investors who have lost their shirts. Again.

Update 9 April: One example of USGS investigation of gas reserves over seas, is its investigation of the Levant Basin Province in the Eastern Med.

An estimated 122 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (mean estimate) of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas are in the Levant Basin Province, located in the Eastern Mediterranean region. _SD

Comparison of Renewables; Prospects for Biomass Best

BiofuelsDigest
Comparing different sustainable energy sources, biomass and biofuels are clearly poised to come out on top. Hydroelectric is limited due to geography and climate -- as well as environmental concerns. Further investment into big wind installations is simply pouring resources down a sewer. Solar has potential, but it is limited by insolation to specific regions -- and badly needs cheap energy storage.

Visual aids help to get a better grasp of the different strengths, weaknesses, and potentials of different energy sources. Fuel alcohols production and biodiesel production are both growing exponentially. And while investment in new wind power is significant, the actual power output from all the investment in wind is not significant.

Biomass can be grown virtually anywhere on land and sea. Take the new method of seaweed cultivation, developed in Norway.

In Norway, Seaweed Energy Solutions has patented the first ever modern structure to enable mass seaweed cultivation on an industrial scale in the world¹s oceans. The structure, known as the Seaweed Carrier, makes a clean break with past seaweed cultivation methods that have all been based on ropes. The Seaweed Carrier is a sheet-like structure that basically copies a very large seaweed plant, moving freely back and forth through the sea from a single mooring on the ocean floor.

The Seaweed Carrier will allow seaweed cultivation to become a possibility in deeper and more exposed waters, opening the way for large scale production that is necessary to make seaweed a viable source of energy. According to SES, growing seaweed in farms covering an area of just less than 0.05 percent of Europe’s coastal regions would yield a yearly production of 75 million tons of seaweed. This biomass could be converted into an estimated 846 Mgy (3.2 billion litters) of ethanol, about 4.7 percent of the global ethanol production in 2008. _BiofuelsDigest

And one does not necessarily think of Poland as a bioenergy giant, yet giant French utility GDF Suez has chosen Poland as the site for a new 190 MW bioenergy plant.

Algae can grow in the desert, thriving on wastewater and brackish water. Various species of biomass and biofuels crops are adapted to cold, moderate, and very warm climates -- but using genetic tools, they can learn to thrive in virtually any climate.

Microbial fuels -- custom made to generate virtually any chemical or fuel -- are being adapted to mass production at any scale.

An Economic Argument for Nuclear Power

As David Schlageter pointed out in EnergyPulse (2008)[3], “Renewable energy sources only supplement the electric grid with intermittent power that rarely matches the daily electrical demand.” He continues by saying that “In order for an electric system to remain stable, it needs large generators running 24/7 to create voltage stability. Wind and solar generation are not on-line when needed to meet energy demand, and therefore to help decrease system losses.” In the promised land of wind energy, Denmark, voltage stability is attained by drawing on the energy resources of Sweden and Germany (and perhaps Norway). The Danes pay for the imported electricity, but not for the stability – which they would do in the great world of economic theory.

Energy economist Ferdinand Banks argues in Energy Tribune that nuclear power is the best all around energy source for growing economies.

There are occasionally long discussions of the cost of nuclear relative to the cost of renewables in the technical literature. An item that frequently appears is the capacity factors of windmills and solar generators. In simple terms, the capacity factor gives the amount of energy (in e.g. kWh) that is actually obtained, as compared to that made available if maximum output (nameplate capacity x time) were realized. It appears that in the U.S. wind generation works at maximum efficiency about one-third of the time, but this is confusing. With capacity factors between 0.25 and 0.35, the energy actually obtained as a percentage of maximum energy is less than one-half for many long periods.

It might also be useful to cite some figures for the cost of nuclear relative to gas and coal. The Economist (July 9, 2005) presents estimates from several sources for average electricity costs. For German utilities the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) gives $0.015 per kilowatt-hour for nuclear, $0.031 to $0.038 for gas, and $0.038 to $0.044 for coal. Similarly, they give $0.017/kWh for nuclear in the US, $0.02 for coal, and $0.057 for gas. The International Energy Agency (IEA), employing a discount rate of 5%, argues that nuclear is $21 to 31/MWh, while gas ranges from $37 to 60/MWh.

... In these circumstances, it might be argued that France’s total acceptance of nuclear power makes a great deal of sense. As noted in the Financial Times (October 6, 2006), nuclear power has provided “an abundance of cheaply-produced electricity, made the country a leader in nuclear technology worldwide and reduced its vulnerability to the fluctuations of the turbulent oil and gas markets.” France can also supply some electricity to neighbouring countries, which helps counterbalance the short sighted and unthinking foolishness being promoted by the European Union’s directors and its Energy Directorate.

Perhaps the clearest argument for nuclear power has been presented by Rhodes and Beller (2000)[5], which is similar to the basic contention of this article. They say that “Because diversity and redundancy are important for safety and security, renewable energy sources ought to retain a place in the energy economy of the century to come.” The meaning here is clear, especially if you add that we probably will never possess what is known in intermediate economic theory as the optimal amount of nuclear power. But they do state that “nuclear power should be central….Nuclear power is environmentally safe, practical and affordable. It is not the problem – it is one of the solutions.” _EnergyTribune

France also makes sure to store "spent" nuclear fuel in such a way as to be accessible in the future, when new technologies make it easier to re-use spent nuclear fuels. Fortunately, several new breeder technologies and accelerator-based technologies are on the way -- including the Traveling Wave reactor backed by Bill Gates.

The US government, under the control of the Obama - Pelosi regime, is currently uninterested in allowing for plentiful energy and economic growth. It is anticipated that the economic disaster resulting from the Obama - Pelosi policies will lead to a more business-friendly and economically realistic US regime in the future. Of course, by then the debt burden the US will be under, will make life more difficult for most US residents who are not tied in to the ruling class.

Big Investors Driving Oil Prices

Investors continue to drive the market for oil, pushing prices above US$86 a barrel Monday -- and this despite the opinion of no less an expert than King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who has said a couple of times over the past two years that US$75 to US$80 a barrel would do just fine, thank you.

As long as investors' enthusiasm for oil lasts, we live in a surreal world in which the fundamentals of supply and demand seem to have lost their traction. _FP

Peak oil doomers want to believe that shrinking oil supplies are squeezing world oil prizes higher. All of this is supposed to be the lead up to a gigantic economic crash costing hundreds of millions of lives around the world. But the reality is more mundane.

Supply seems ample, as well. Oil inventories in the United States are at above-average levels, and the futures market is quite happy to guarantee you delivery of oil in 2014 for only about three dollars more than it would cost you to buy a barrel today.

But neither slow-growing demand nor the market's expectation of ample supply for years down the road has been capable of shaking investors' enthusiasm for oil as an asset class.

"This raises a key question," says Bassam Fattouh of Oxford University in a recent paper on oil pricing. "If market participants attach little weight to current market fundamentals and if future market fundamentals are highly uncertain, at which price or price range should the oil market clear?"

His answer is that oil prices have become "indeterminate" -- a professor's way of throwing up his hands and saying you can no longer predict what's going to happen next. Oil's price depends upon a guessing game among major market players in which everybody is trying to guess what prices other players are guessing. If that is correct, oil investors can expect some neck-wrenching swoops in the years ahead as bulls and bears take turns in the pilot's seat._FP

World oil production is approaching the July 2008 peak -- at a much lower price per barrel -- despite all claims that oil production peaked in 2005. And most of the recent increase has come from non-OPEC sources, against all predictions by peak oil gurus.

When prices of a commodity are driven up by big investor speculation, it is called a price bubble. The oil price bubble that culminated in the collapse of 2008 was accompanied by bubbles in prices of other commodities and real estate, along with multiple financial instruments. The current oil price bubble would like to get other economic entities onboard in order to appear more convincing.

But when will demand destruction begin to kick in? And how much demand destruction can the hugely endebted economies of Europe, Japan, the US, and other advanced nations take before they sink back into another full-blown recession?

Demand destruction occurs because of the price of energy, not because of any shortage of supply. If the supply is ample but prices have been driven up by large investors looking for a safe haven, the demand destruction is the same.

Meanwhile, every policy of the Obama - Pelosi regime appears directed toward reducing domestic US energy production. Hang on, it could be a wild ride.

Previously published at Al Fin

World Oil Production Approaches 2008 Peak

EarlyWarning
Oil prices in the $80 per barrel range are spurring increased oil production. Shockingly, most of the increase is coming from non-OPEC sources -- the area of oil production that is supposed to have already peaked!

The peak of monthly production was in July 2008. The trough in the depths of the global recession depends on which series one looks at, but I have been examining the recovery from May 2009 onward. And at this point, the latest figures show us about 1.3mbd to 1.4mbd (mbd = millions of barrels/day) away from reaching the July 2008 peak again.

A few days back, I analyzed the composition of the recovery from May 2009 to the most recent figures (based on IEA OMR data). That showed the recovery coming from a variety of countries, but with two-thirds of it coming from non-OPEC countries, and only about 0.7mbd coming from OPEC:
_EarlyWarning

As predicted by Al Fin recently, Russian oil production is rising. Iraq's government is still trying to stabilise the country so as to maximise oil production. If they are successful, Iraqi oil could push back "peak oil" by 10 years.

As oil prices strain to break out into the $90 a barrel range, many analysts are wondering how high the price of oil can rise -- this time around the bubble machine. Should oil speculation and the US Fed's loose money policy allow oil prices to go much higher, a catastrophic demand destruction could once again set in, to bring the world's economy to another halting crash.

The question is whether OPEC could halt runaway speculative oil pricing by increasing OPEC oil production? OPEC is holding back at least 2.5 mbpd of unused capacity. But it is likelier that OPEC is holding back considerably more -- not counting Iraq's latent production capacity. It may be a matter of upgrading production facilities, or implementing new oil well technologies that have boosted mainland US oil production recently.

Whether there truly are 10 trillion barrels of reserve oil waiting to be found and produced, or whether the number is only half that, we are not likely to see any kind of peak oil except for "political peak oil." The kind of peak oil that comes from bad government policy -- such as the Obama Pelosi energy starvation regimen.

Biofuels: Slowly Changing the Energy Economy

We are seeing a strong play in the oil market by big oil traders, causing a slow upward creep in crude oil prices. But some new players are beginning to announce their presence in the energy markets.

Global biofuel production, meanwhile, will grow 16 percent in 2010, according to the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance. Biofuels are made from sugar, corn and oil seeds now and perhaps in the future from grass, crop waste and wood. _NYT

Biofuels are just beginning to grow in production and influence, but smart players are starting to notice.

As crude oil prices rise, palm oil prices are rising along with them.

Palm oil prices are increasingly supported by energy prices as demand for biofuels rises, James Fry, managing director of LMC International, said on April 1. _BusinessWeek

Expect prices of other biofuels to be likewise boosted by inflating bubbles in crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, the technology of producing biofuels efficiently, economically, and without using food crops, is accelerating forward.

A business startup spun off from work at the University of South Florida, is taking a new approach to biomass-to-liquid fuels (BTL) using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

A potentially more efficient and economical method of converting biomass to sugars -- for biofuels -- is being perfected at Colorado State University.

German researchers at KIT are developing a new membrane strategy to increase BTL yields via Fischer Tropsch.

Meanwhile, top executives from top financial, agricultural, and biotech companies are being lured to head up biofuels companies.

But try telling the Luddite losers of the dieoff left that advanced biofuels will be made from biomass, waste, and garbage -- not food. They will be too busy screaming at you and trying to hit you on the head with their placards to listen to the messages from the future.

And as for the policies of the US Federal Reserve and the US government which are causing a new oil price bubble to inflate? I might say let the speculators lose their shirts once more, but then the Obama - Pelosi reich would just bail them out yet again -- at the expense of future generations of taxpayers.

Smart Grid Opens the Door to Hacker Attacks

With the best of intentions, US residential, commercial, and industrial users of electric power are being pushed into an extremely vulnerable situation. With the installation of a "smart meter", your home immediately becomes vulnerable to a malicious hacking attack. Not only could your power be shut off by hackers, but your power use records could be manipulated at will.

Hacking the smart grid is a snap!

Once hackers have access to smart meter codes and programming, they can "talk" to all meters of the same brand over the network. In one simulation, Davis proved that malware set to self-replicate could shut down power for 15,000 homes in 24 hours.

The threat is not just to your home, or to 15,000 homes. The threat is to the entire grid, via self-propagating computer worms that could initiate a cascading power failure over large areas of North America.

Researchers have previously warned that allowing network access to the home opens up a host of security issues. Last year, security firm IOActive found flaws in a smart-meter device that allowed its researchers to insert code into one device and have it spread to others--essentially, injecting a computer worm into a local power network.

"If you could get that meter to talk to its neighbors and those to talk to their neighbors, you could conceptually tell them to turn off and cause a fairly broad power outage," Shaw says. _TR

Chinese spy-hackers have been busy at work, devising ways of breaking into the US power grid's most vulnerable points. The new "smart grid" will only make it easier for them to access every weak area.

Normally, a nation's government would not be so eager to make its citizens and economy so vulnerable to an overseas threat such as Chinese power-hackers. In the case of the Obama-Pelosi reich, however, one can never be sure of the underlying motive. We would like to think the best of our leaders, but the track record of Obama-Pelosi suggests that the current regime is not necessarily looking out for the best interests of North Americans without close O-P connections.

Cross-posted to Al Fin

Direct Biomass to Diesel with Fungus Mucor Circinelloides

Spanish researchers have published a study online in ACS Energy & Fuels Journal, demonstrating the direct conversion of biomass to diesel fuel using a fungus. The researchers intend to genetically tweak the organism to provide for higher yields.

...lipid profiles could be modified by genetic engineering in some oleaginous microorganisms, such as the fungus Mucor circinelloides, which has powerful genetic tools. We show here that the biomass from submerged cultures of the oleaginous fungus M. circinelloides can be used to produce biodiesel by acid-catalyzed direct transformation, without previous extraction of the lipids. Direct transformation, which should mean a cost savings for biodiesel production, increased lipid extraction and demonstrated that structural lipids, in addition to energy storage lipids, can be transformed into FAMEs.

The team grew M. circinelloides (strain MU241) in a liquid medium containing glucose as a carbon source (20 g/L). Under experimental conditions, the fungus grew very quickly because it consumed all of the available glucose and stopped growing in the first 48 hours after inoculation. After 96 h, they obtained 4.17 ± 0.25 g/L fungal biomass with a total lipid content of 22.9 ± 0.9% dry mass.

The saponifiable lipids (those that can be transformed into FAMEs) and free fatty acids (including energy storage and structural lipids) were 98.0 ± 1.3% of the total lipids extracted from the biomass.

Because of the high concentration of free fatty acids (3.6 ± 0.6%) in M. circinelloides , the team determined that an acid-catalyzed process was more suitable for producing biodiesel than an alkali one to avoid yield losses from free fatty acid neutralization. _GCC

Fuel from microbes -- it is how most oil, gas, and coal were formed. It is how the clean and renewable hydrocarbon fuels of the future will be made, through the magic of genetic engineering.

The world may appear to be solid and stable to your eyes, but it is anything but. Look beneath the surface of any living thing and you will find a maelstrom of activity, too fast for the human eye to follow.

With genetics, strawberry and tomato plants could easily produce a wide range of chemicals: including fuels, plastics, and drugs -- legal and illegal. As genetic secrets (along with nanotechnological secrets and information processing secrets) are released into the public domain, the imagined grip that governments and other cultural institutions hold over the populace will be involuntarily loosened.

The times are a changin'.

More mundane magic from microbes

The Best Place to Find New Oil is Old Oil Fields

Occidental Petroleum has discovered a huge billion-barrel oil field in a part of California that has been sucked dry of oil for many decades. Yet, somehow there was a billion-barrel oil field waiting to be found.

Last year Oxy announced a new find outside Bakersfield, in Kern County, California, which is shaping up to be the biggest onshore oil discovery the U.S. has seen in three decades. It likely holds more than 1 billion barrels of oil (and natural gas equivalents) that will be easy and cheap to extract.

That the gusher is situated in a hydrocarbon basin that has been picked over for 100 years validates the philosophy extolled by Oxy President Steven Chazen and Chief Executive Ray R. Irani: The best place to find new oil is in old oilfields. It also raises the tantalizing prospect of lots more easy oil awaiting discovery in the U.S. That would not only help reduce reliance on foreign oil but also be far cheaper than deepwater oil--it costs roughly $10 per barrel to get oil out of this ground versus $30 (including extraction taxes and royalties) or more for deepwater projects. "It's similar to the economics you have in the Middle East," says Irani.

Within two years the field could be producing 100,000 barrels a day, putting it among the busiest five fields in the U.S. That would be enough to generate net income of $1 billion a year _Forbes

With better technology coming on line for oil discovery and production, expect a lot more big oil discoveries in places that no one expected oil. The Earth is hiding trillions of barrels of sweet crude inside its shell. The discovery tools used by most oil geologists and prospectors are not up to the task of finding most of it -- it is too well hidden, like stealth Easter eggs.

But as long as oil is seen as the "investment of last resort" by big money investors, the smart people will wrack their brains to come up with better tools of discovery and production.

Eventually, the house of cards propping up oil prices will come crashing down. Oil may go somewhat higher before that happens. But when the day comes that oil is no longer overvalued, the smart people will have to go somewhere else.

What would bring that day? Smart nuclear and microbial fuels. Perhaps enhanced geothermal. Even big solar energy will have its place in the dry, arid regions. Wind is too fickle to be trusted, however.

Super-safe Sub-critical Reactors Driven by Accelerator

If you pump neutrons into a subcritical fissionable fuel assembly to create fission, you can control the fission reaction -- analogous to controlling the speed of an internal combustion engine with a carburetor or metered fuel injectors.

Brian Wang has a lot more information on this approach, and other fascinating new approaches to nuclear power. Apparently the cost of pumping neutrons has dropped considerably with the coming of cheaper superconducting particle accelerators for generating proton beams -- which generate spallation neutrons.

Eventually the neutron source for these reactions will come from fusion reactors, but for now the idea is to use a linear accelerator to produce spallation neutrons, to drive the sub-critical fuels to fission.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/04/molten-salt-based-accelerator-driven.html


Also check out how existing nuclear reactors can be uprated to produce between 20% and 50% more power -- using annular fuel rod technology.

US Military to Use Small Nukes for Synth-Fuels

The US military already powers much of its naval fleet with nuclear reactors. Now it is planning to power much of its land operations with nuclear reactors -- and to use excess electrical power from the nukes to power synthetic jet fuel production for aircraft, using waste materials from base operations.

At the moment, a military base in Afghanistan is likely to be powered by generators running on diesel. Its planes and helicopters will be burning through huge amounts of JP-8.

All this fuel has to be brought in by road convoys, along dangerous routes plagued by ambushes and bombings. It would be great if instead of diesel generators, the base's electricity came from a reactor that wouldn't need refuelling for years on end - probably not until after the war was over, in fact. It would be even greater if the reactor could also top up the base's supplies of JP-8 for its thirsty choppers and planes.

The problem here, though, is one of getting hold of the necessary hydrogen and carbon feedstocks with which to synthesise the jet juice. There's no limitless supply of seawater here.

Hydrogen could still be obtained from river or lake water, by using reactor power to crack it using electrolysis. Getting hold of the necessary carbon could be difficult, however, as huge - probably prohibitive - amounts of water would need to be processed to extract useful amounts of CO2.

The Pentagon RFI has this to say:

Technical approaches to fuel production should accommodate a broad range of hydrogen and carbon feedstocks (water/seawater, biomass, waste materials, etc). Concepts that involve carbon capture or sequestration should be well justified in terms of technical feasibility given known carbon concentrations in the proposed carrier stream.
OK, where are we going to find a whole lot of carbon waste here at Kandahar? Hey, what's that horrible smell?
"Biomass/waste materials" most probably alludes to the huge, odorous lakes of sewage which have accumulated next to some of the bigger bases in Afghanistan, much complained of by the resident servicemen. This could potentially be an excellent carbon source, and turning it into jetfuel would have the added benefit of making the bases pleasanter to be in.

That said, such a base's aircraft use huge amounts of fuel: if the local reactor were supplying all or most of it, even thousands of gutsy troops' output might not be enough to keep it supplied. Logistics officers might find that they had to run just as many troublesome convoys to get hold of enough feedstock (sewage, wood, crops, coal, whatever) as they formerly did to bring in fuel - probably more, in fact, as the feedstocks would be bulkier and heavier than the resulting JP-8.

But the electrical power savings would still be there: and any fuel which could be produced using local materials would ease the burden on the supply chain. It might even be possible, perhaps, to make diesel for ground vehicles as well as JP-8 for aircraft:

It may be assumed that the desired fuel end product is JP-8; however, responders should discuss the degree to which their fuel production technology could be used to produce other mobility fuels including gasoline and diesel fuels.

This sort of technology could also have serious implications outside the military, of course. Any nation with nuclear powerplants and a desire to cut carbon emissions and/or fossil fuel imports could use it for aviation; and potentially road transport too. _ Register_via_NextBigFuture

Small nuclear reactors will be mobile and versatile enough for many different uses. They will be used to liberate oil from oil sands and oil shales, as well as from heavy oils -- thus adding massive amounts of oil to world reserves.

They will also power remote earth stations and outposts, and space stations, outposts, colonies, and industries. It is likely that larger seasteads will use small reactors for baseload power -- particularly those seasteads with large mining operations and other power-hungry applications such as ocean-based space launch.