The Energy Thread

[Moliere]

My company will reimburse me for costs up to $6,000 for converting my car from gasoline powered to CNG. There's a public filling station .5 miles from my work. I'm so tempted, but it will probably void my extended warranty on the car (bummer).

My company owns a CNG car and they trot it out from time to time just to show it off. The idea is cool and it would definitely be cheaper to drive, at least today with gas prices around $2/mmbtu. The biggest problem is the CNG tank, which are quite large. Our car is an Impala and it has the CNG in the trunk and it takes up most of the trunk. Of course, it also has a regular sized gasoline tank, so if you went purely CNG you could get some of that room back.

The biggest issue though is the lack of infrastructure for CNG vehicles. Most companies that have CNG fleets also have a private filling station and they are local delivery companies (local utilities, city buses, etc.). There is a big push to put in CNG stations on interstate highways, which many are hoping would incentivize longhaul trucking companies to convert to CNG. So far there hasn't been enough traction on that front, but with gas prices being so depressed (at leaset against recent historical prices) and with forward gas curves also being depressed, the traction just might take hold in the near future.

[Pelado]

[Moliere]

Have gas prices reached the bottom (from an SNL publication - subscription needed for full article)?

May natural gas futures were higher Monday, April 30, on fresh news supporting gas supply reductions as hard evidence of producer cuts beginning to surface. The contract started the day on the defensive, posting a low of $2.150/MMBtu, but regained ground trading above key resistance at $2.25/MMBtu to a high of $2.284/MMBtu, while moving last up 7.2 cents at $2.258/MMBtu.

I've heard forecasts of $1.50 gas, which is the price where lifting/transportation costs are covered and nothing else (thus losing money on drilling costs and other initial investments) but it looks like we might not get there. Producers are cutting drilling but I'd assume the longterm forecast remains flat as well.

I just checked and the price of a HH April 2014 future is only $3.67/mmbtu.

[Katy Lied]

Have you seen those automatic door openers on buildings? They open the inner and the outer door for people in wheelchairs. Lately there has been a rash of signs on these buildings asking people to

"if you are able bodied, please do not use the automatic door opener. Help us conserve electricity."

This bugged me, because the amount of electricity used to open that door is minimal, even if it is pushed all day. Plus the signs look tacky.

I talked to an engineer I work with, and he said that it's not the electricity used to open the door, it's the cost of conditioning. When both doors open simultaneously on a hot summer day, all the cool air is sucked right out of the building. And both doors stay open longer, to allow a wheelchair to pass. When a non-handicapped person pushes the button, he exits the building quickly, but the doors stay open for much longer. Alternatively, if he exits the building by pushing the doors open, the first door closes prior to the second door opening. No air suckee outey.

[Green Monstah]

Hot June, energy prices still falling. This can't bode well for the Industry.

[Moliere]

It costs $3 billion a year to keep all "exit" signs in the US lit.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/09/05/e...tts-each-year/

[BigPiney]

County I live in made the front page of the LA Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov...nties-20121125

Solar companies = bad for local economy

Loved the last quote

In licensing proceedings before the California Energy Commission, county officials noted: "Residents will live as close as 600 feet from a heliostat field replete with approximately 170,000 mirrors encircling two 750-foot towers as their neighbor."

BrightSource maintained that the power plant would not create a significant visual impact. Instead the project has been pitched as a potential tourist attraction, with its twin 70-story towers envisioned as a magnet drawing sightseers to the Pahrump Valley.

Carunchio — who is open to most plans to bring attention to the region — is skeptical.

"I can't believe that people will drive the long way to Death Valley just to look at the Eye of Mordor," he said.

[YOhio]

Bad fracking. Stop killing cows.

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news...g-regions?lite

[cowboy]

Bad fracking. Stop killing cows.

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news...g-regions?lite

Oh for hell's sake. Our cattle graze in two separate oil fields, drink the black, sulfury smelling discharge water (and love it) and are around fracing constantly because there is another developing gas field on another part of our place (we don't own any of the mineral rights, in case you were wondering.) Our cows are fat, healthy, and taste just fine. People who never have been around a stinky oil field before are making up problems because they are ignorant and scared. The media is just dying to find a link between fracing and something that will make it an environmental hazard. That cow looks like she has hardware disease.

[Uncle Ted]

Oh for hell's sake. Our cattle graze in two separate oil fields, drink the black, sulfury smelling discharge water (and love it) and are around fracing constantly because there is another developing gas field on another part of our place (we don't own any of the mineral rights, in case you were wondering.) Our cows are fat, healthy, and taste just fine. People who never have been around a stinky oil field before are making up problems because they are ignorant and scared. The media is just dying to find a link between fracing and something that will make it an environmental hazard.

Yes, all that just adds flavoring and a nice marbling to the beef.

That cow looks like she has hardware disease.

More likely she has been the subject of an UFO experiment (aka. government cover up).

[YOhio]

This new Matt Damon film looks like it seeks to add to the fracking discussion in a sensitive and responsible manner:

[YOUTUBE]AHQt1NAkhIo[/YOUTUBE]

[Jeff Lebowski]

This new Matt Damon film looks like it seeks to add to the fracking discussion in a sensitive and responsible manner:

I saw that trailer in the theater the other day. Looks ridiculous.

[UteStar]

This new Matt Damon film looks like it seeks to add to the fracking discussion in a sensitive and responsible manner:

[YOUTUBE]AHQt1NAkhIo[/YOUTUBE]

It looks fabulous but those people are being complete dicks to Matt Damon.

[Moliere]

This new Matt Damon film looks like it seeks to add to the fracking discussion in a sensitive and responsible manner:

[YOUTUBE]AHQt1NAkhIo[/YOUTUBE]

Since fracking is pretty much safe it looks like they are now trying the "large corporations are evil" approach.

[clackamascoug]

Moliere, I lost track. Did you end up taking that new job this year. Update if you will.