July 15, 2009

The quandary surrounding natural gas drilling is deepening. While natural gas is both cleaner and prevalent in unconventional forms, environmental groups have expressed concerns that it is becoming too easy to get exploratory permits and that drinking water supplies are becoming endangered as a result.

Accessing natural gas deposits is difficult because of environmental laws. And getting to unconventional sources is not any easier. But the difference is that the conventional fields are becoming depleted while the output from coal-bed methane and shale formations are expanding. Today, such fuel sources that can be transformed into natural gas represent a trend in energy production.

July 13, 2009

Despite a credit crunch, the nation's rural cooperatives are exemplifying relative financial strength. Such entities are showing that they are able to secure lines of credit to conduct their operations and to build generation and transmission.

Those utilities have played a vital role in transforming their communities from desolate areas to ones flush with modern services. But the job is not finished and nearly all must continue to invest in their infrastructure. Now that the economy is on the verge of rebounding, they face a choice between contracting for wholesale power and constructing their own power plants.

July 10, 2009

The U.S. military is not just setting standards in the areas of advanced weaponry. It's also leading the renewable energy charge. It's involved in solar, geothermal and wind projects and its stake in the field will continue to grow.

Consider the solar arena: If you thought the biggest solar array in the Americas was in the Southwestern United States, you'd be right. At 140 acres, the site's 70,000 panels produce peak energy of 14 megawatts, or enough energy to supply 14,000 homes.

But what may not be widely known is that the solar site is at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, providing about one-fourth of the base's power, with the capability of selling renewable credits back to NV Energy. The site, completed in late 2007, can produce about 30.1 million kilowatt hours per year.

The Smart Car  . . . what we will be forced to drive quite soon in 2015
(with a little additional levity)

July 08, 2009 
 
On Bernard Madoff's day of reckoning, he apologized to those he hurt. But he has yet to cooperate with federal authorities or to tell his victims where the billions he stole went.

Throughout history, scandals have been commonplace. This one is estimated to be at least $13 billion and has entrapped individual investors, banks and charities, all of whom placed their trust in a man with "impeccable credentials." Madoff's penalty, 150 years in a federal penitentiary, is meant to be a warning to future hucksters to back off. The sad reality, though, is that such a Ponzi scheme will invariably occur again and again and that investors must do more of the due diligence up front to avoid getting burned.