Updates for 3/15/09

New fields for the Hindu cattle to chew on...

• George P. Mitchell - the billionaire who went gangbusters on developing the Barnett formation to extract shale gas - is setting his sights on Pennsylvania for the next big bet.

• Mr. Big B Cole, I was gonna save your dirt on the "biggest gas bag of all" for an upcoming post on nat. gas, but fuck it. The oblivious shouldn't suffer (it will still get included in the post anyway).
  
• China's government says its strategic oil reserves are full.

• Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and president Obama discussed diplomatic relations; Obama expressed interest in Brazil supplementing Venezuela as an oil source.

• Israel's 80 MW solar plant.

• IBM is the king of supercomputers, they're into smart grid technologies. Now water management?

• Could cheap LNG put coal on the ropes (coal is despicable, but we'll see)??

• The solar gold rush in the desert.

• America sucks on others for oil and it will suck on Asia for batteries: Jap. group plans to reduce prices for lithium-ion batteries by half (oh well... sweaty oh-beastiely boys already depend on Japs for video games and anime anyways).

• Europe's natural resources are relatively paltry and it depends on others for oil and gas: what's wrong with getting solar juice from the Sahara?

• Materials that will scale solar to terawatts (hat tip: Next Big Future).

Over and out for now.

- Brewskie

Updates for Febuary 8, 2009

Weekly updates are back. Here's what's been up for the week:

• Exxon Mobil Brazil exploration nails second discovery.

• Petrobras' fourth-quarter profit surges 46%.

• Ford CEO believes EVs will dominate auto industry in a decade.

• Fiat's multi-air engine breakthrough (hat tip: Next Big Future).

• Austin, TX, approves largest solar installation in U.S.

• MIT's 90 mph solar race car.

• Google: green energy more profitable than "old" energy.

• More proof why we won't need platinum for hydrogen cars (if we go this route): stainless steel brush.

• Florida to charge water bottling companies by the gallon.

- Brewskie

Weekly Dose: 2/15/09

Educational updates for your pleasure:

• ITC Holdings Corp. proposes new wind power transmission lines for the Midwest.
• New Jersey's 120 megawatt solar plan.
• America's cellulosic potential could displace one-third of gasoline by 2030.
• Shell's coal seam gas to LNG (hat tip: Peak Energy).
• The world's largest "pinwheel" - 7 megawatts (10 megawatts in the pipeline).
• Germany plans 960 megawatt offshore wind farm.
• 10 biodiesel refineries to be built in India.
• Japs to halt production of bad porn (an Onion article).
• Why gas has nudged up (it's still cheap!) despite lower oil prices; this will likely contribute to the oil glut.

Over and out for now.

- Brewskie

Rundown for Feb. 8, 2009

Well, there was the Jack Sequel and America's new wind title, but this was a dead week otherwise. Here's some of the scrounged-up sour crude:

• Sweden nukes nuclear ban.
• Chinese gas production jumps to 9th.
• Socialist GOP members oppose pay caps for bailed-out bankers.
• Strange brew - Brewer to turn beer waste into fuel for trucks.
• You think? Corn-based ethanol worst than petroleum-based gasoline.

Hopefully, there will be some bigger gushers next time.

- Brewskie

Updates For Febuary 1, 2009

Here's the rundown for the week:

• Telsa suffers setback with San Jose plant.
• The first Brazilian built semi-submersible platform went into production for Petrobras.
• Ireland pledges 250,000 electric cars by 2020.
• Toshiba's fuel cell charger coming in March.
• Bases in Antarctica are converting to wind and solar power.
• Russia feels Europe's pain: Medvedev in a hurry to complete two gas pipelines that leaves Ukraine in the dark.
• Texas to spend $5 billion on electric power lines for wind energy.
• The anti-Cheney: Biden to chair green energy task force.
• Canada exports tar poo; now they may serve to feed wealthy countries short of arable farm land.
• "Deres gold in 'dem dumps."
• California's PG&E's drive for tidal power (hat tip: Peak Energy).

- Brewskie