Energy: Biogas

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Anyone who has spent time in a swamp, like the incredible Florida Everglades, knows what “biogas” is.  It’s the end result of natural processes that break down plant matter and return the nutrients back to the soil – and produce a lot of methane gas.   Capturing that process, improving it, and making use of the methane is a very old technology that has been in use in some form for centuries.

It also might very well be the future of energy around the world, especially with a few advancements and refinements.

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Energy: A Methane Economy

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Natural gas has always been the bane of oil production.  The processes deep in the earth that create oil over millions of years tend to produce even more volatile gases than liquid oil.  These have typically been “flared”, or burned off to get rid of them, since they are difficult to transport or do anything with.

The value of this great resource is finally being tapped around the world, and with some new technologies there are processes in place which can make suitable fuels directly from natural gas.  These systems need development and refinement, which can only come from implementation.  That, and a bit more research in the lab can revolutionize gasoline – and open the market to a vital new source of supply.

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Energy: The Market

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This is the first in a small series on energy in the US, focusing on energy independence and renewables.

There is nothing more fundamental to the health of economy than energy costs, particularly the price of gasoline.  There are more important things in life, especially food, but that cost does not rise and fall as rapidly and unpredictably as the cost of the gasoline that keeps our whole system running.

The cost of gasoline is determined by a very open market that is functioning about as well as it can.  A critical analysis of this market shows that there are key trends that will constantly drive up the price in narrow bands.  The largest problems with this market are barriers to entry, in particular the available refineries, and the single source of raw material in the form of crude.  Opening up this system to new technologies and sources of energy is the only way it can be improved to produce more stable, reliable costs.

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Cinco de Mayo

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It started as invasion by France to collect a debt, but the larger and better equipped French invasion force was defeated by a ragged group of Mexicans, some armed with little more than machetes and pitchforks.  The Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862 was 150 years ago this Saturday.  It was not decisive, needing a few years before the colorful armies and politicians could sort it all out.  But the victory at Puebla is a story deep at the heart of Mexican character – a determination and toughness that the great continent of North America shares as a very odd, sometimes dysfunctional family.

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Growth or Austerity?

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On the surface of it, the statement by top Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom is utterly ridiculous.  “[Romney’s] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that.” Romney himself made similar statements just before the Michigan Primary last February. “The president finally came around to my own view that Detroit needed to go through managed bankruptcy, the auto companies needed to go through managed bankruptcy to shed their excess costs.”

That wasn’t the way Romney’s opinion piece in the New York Times came off in November 2008, however.  At the time he was adamant that there was no role for the US government to write “a blank check” to save the US auto industry.

In the end this is a bigger story of how to manage the Depression we find ourselves in, no matter how the details are massaged for the purpose of a campaign.  It’s a choice between austerity and forgiveness, the paths taken by Europe and the US respectively.  For the campaign it’s a about a level of detail that takes far too much explanation.

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