Energy Tomorrow Blog
Energy and America’s Best Interest - #EIAConf
climate economic growth electricity energy fossil fuels greenhouse gas emissions energy information administration
Mark Green
Posted July 11, 2016
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) annual energy conference is under way in Washington, D.C. Here are a few highlights from the first slate of speakers, which included John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, and Gregory Goff, Tesoro Corporation president and CEO.
Holdren went first, saying that the driver of technology in the future will be finding solutions to what he called the energy/climate challenge:
“Without energy there is no economy, without climate there is no environment and without economy and environment there’s no well-being, there’s no civil society, there’s no personal or national security, there’s no economic growth."
Energy – To Change the World
oil production american energy fossil fuels chevron offshore platform natural gas pipelines ozone
Mark Green
Posted March 16, 2015
Denver Business Journal: The boom in oil and natural gas production in North America, largely due to the new technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, is changing the balance of power across the world, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told attendees at the Vail Global Energy Forum.
Rice opened a two-day forum, which continues through Sunday, with remarks on Friday evening at the Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Vail. The forum, now in its third year, is growing. Nearly 400 people registered for the 2015 event, a 20 percent increase over the previous year, organizers said.
Energy, to Everyone’s Benefit
american energy fossil fuels fracking keystone xl pipeline exports
Mary Schaper
Posted February 12, 2015
The Gift
american energy oil and natural gas production gasoline prices domestic production imports fossil fuels economic benefits hydraulic fracturing horizontal drilling shale energy
Mark Green
Posted December 24, 2014
The gift that is American energy is seen in some key numbers: domestic crude oil production reaching more than 9 million barrels per day last month, the highest level in more than two decades, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA); total U.S. net imports of energy as a share of energy consumption falling to their lowest level in nearly 30 years during the first six months of this year; gasoline prices dropping to an average of $2.47 per gallon last week, their lowest point since May 2009, according to the Lundberg Survey Inc.
The first two numbers might not fully register with a lot of Americans. We’ll come back to them. The last one, gasoline prices, does so loudly.
Retail gasoline prices fell after crude oil prices dropped for the fourth straight week – a product of weaker-than-expected global demand and increasing production, which EIA says will save American households $550 next year, Bloomberg News reports. Trilby Lundberg, president of Lundberg Survey to Bloomberg:
“It is a dramatic boon to fuel consumers. (Gasoline) is a modest portion of our giant gross domestic product and yet it does have a pervasive and festive benefit to motorists.”
During this season of gift-giving and receiving, Americans should give thanks for the gifts of plentiful domestic oil and natural gas, modern technologies to harness them and an industry robust and innovative enough to bring the two together, resulting in surging, home-grown production. Indeed, the dramatic increase in U.S. oil production is the key addition to global supply that’s putting downward pressure on the cost of crude, the No. 1 factor in pump prices.
All In for All of the Above
fossil fuels oil and natural gas petroleum products
Mark Green
Posted June 23, 2014
So, how about Team USA’s performance in soccer’s World Cup!
The United States men’s national team is/are on the verge of something special down in Brazil – thanks to world-class skills, great coaching and superb fitness – cheered on by thousands of American fans.
Now, imagine for a minute what this World Cup would be like without fossil fuel energy. Think about all of those U.S. boosters, as well as fans from other countries, trying to travel to South America without the energy from fossil fuels. It wouldn't be pretty.
American Energy For Our Lives, Our Futures
oil and natural gas fossil fuels lng exports global markets domestic production investment
Mark Green
Posted June 20, 2014
Houston Chronicle: Oil, natural gas and coal have boosted living conditions around the globe, but policies to replace those fossil fuels "with inferior energy sources" could undermine those improvements, a former Texas environmental regulator argues.
In a 36-page paper - "Fossil Fuels: The Moral Case" - Kathleen Hartnett White, former chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, insists that access to oil, natural gas and coal are inextricably linked with prosperity and well-being.
Policies targeting heat-trapping greenhouse gases - including the Environmental Protection Agency's new plan for throttling carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants - overlook "the inestimable human benefits of fossil fuels," White says.
"Energy-dense, abundant, versatile, reliable, portable, and affordable, fossil fuels provide over 80 percent of the world's energy because they are superior to the current alternatives," White writes.
Doing the Math on Our Energy Choices
renewables fossil fuels oil and natural gas
Mark Green
Posted June 17, 2014
A thought-provoking op-ed piece by the Manhattan Institute’s Robert Bryce in the Wall Street Journal last week (subscription required), in which he “does the math” on one group’s goal of reducing fossil fuel use 20-fold over the next few decades. It’s a must read if you fancy getting from Point A to Point B in a reasonable amount of time, warm houses in the winter, cool ones in the summer and other aspects of modern living supported by these fuel sources.
Bryce:
Global hydrocarbon consumption is now about 218 million barrels of oil equivalent energy a day, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, which includes 83 million barrels of oil as well as about 75 million barrels of oil equivalent from coal and about 60 million barrels of oil equivalent from natural gas. Reducing that by a factor of 20 would cut global hydrocarbon use to the energy equivalent of 11 million barrels of oil a day, roughly the amount of energy now consumed by India, where 400 million people lack access to electricity.
The math: The average person on Earth used about 1.3 gallons of oil-equivalent energy a day from hydrocarbons in 2012, Bryce writes, so a 20-fold decrease would mean allotting everyone 8 fluid ounces of oil-equivalent energy from hydrocarbons a day.
No Oil or Natural Gas…A Less Beautiful World
fossil fuels energy policy domestic energy access
Mark Green
Posted November 14, 2012
Life Without Fossil Fuels: All the Things We’d Miss
energy domestic energy access energy policy fossil fuels
Mark Green
Posted October 2, 2012
No Oil, No Natural Gas = A Colder World
energy policy access fossil fuels natural gas
Mark Green
Posted September 11, 2012