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• Betting for consumers on the volatile price of natural gas

  Decision makers in the regulated part of the business of producing electricity have short memories when it comes to the behavior of natural gas prices , but long memories when it comes to the potential for nuclear power plant construction costs to get out of hand. They publicly worry about the "bet the company" proposition of building new nuclear power plants and ask for as many assurances... Posted Mar 04 2010, 02:52 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, natural gas prices

• Contrasting Views On Hydraulic Fracturing Gas Production - Fissures Developing in the Environmental Movement

  During the last couple of days, I have listened to two lengthy reports on the impacts of fracking, a method of breaking up very deep shale formations to free up trapped fossil gas so that it can be profitably extracted if market conditions are favorable. The first story about fracking comes from from DemocracyNow.org. It provides some dramatic video and the views of the creator of an expose movie called... Posted Feb 24 2010, 08:31 PM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, shale gas, facking

• Natural Gas Pipelines are Targets in the Conflicts in the North Caucasus Region Between the Black and Caspian Seas

  According the the UPI, an explosion in a gas pipeline in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia has resulted in service disruption to somewhere between 100,000 and 230,000 people. The article indicates that repairs should be completed by Monday January 18, 2010. The article does not state the cause of this explosion, but it implies that the explosion was not accidental by mentioning that two bombs... Posted Jan 18 2010, 03:32 PM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, Caspian Sea, North Caucasus

• Is Natural Gas A Bridge To A Utopia Driven By The Wind And Sun, Or Is It A Pier That Cannot Go More Than Halfway

  A very common theme in works or speeches by Joe Romm, Amory Lovins, T. Boone Pickens, and Tim Wirth (and a whole chorus of other like minded people) is that natural gas, which is mostly methane (CH4), is a bridge to a utopia that can be powered by natural flows from the sun and wind. The problem with that view is that burning methane inherently produces a large volume of waste products that include... Posted Dec 15 2009, 04:55 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, CO2, nuclear, wind energy, solar energy, renewables, methane

• Natural Gas - So Abundant, Even Hollywood Has Been Bitten By The Excitement Bug

  Natural gas is so abundant that it can supply about 20% of the United States energy demand for the next 100 years before it runs out! (That is my translation of the recent meme being pushed by those new commercials about having a 100 year supply - at current rates of consumption.) A friend just sent me a link to a trailer for a movie titled Haynesville that is all about the economic excitement and... Posted Dec 07 2009, 04:02 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, supply, infrastructure, capacity, demand

• New Natural Gas Commercials - Why Are They Bragging About a 100 Year Supply?

  One of my vices is that I love to watch American college football games. Last weekend, I noticed a number of new commercials describing "eureka" moments in which everyday people discovered a new fact about "new natural gas" that turned them into believers that it is a fuel for the future. One of the commercials in particular begged some questions for me. Unfortunately, the site... Posted Oct 30 2009, 03:38 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, eureka commercials

• WSJ Quotes ENI Spa As Seeing Long Period of Low Natural Gas Prices - One of Several Reasons is German Decision to Keep Nuclear Plants

  This does not qualify as a smoking gun because it does not include a specific anti-nuclear comment from someone who has a visible connection to finding, extracting, transporting, trading or marketing coal, oil or natural gas. However, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled No Uptick Seen for Natural Gas Prices, ENI Says provides another lesson in energy market price behavior that adds evidence... Posted Oct 22 2009, 05:39 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: Italy, natural gas, affordable nuclear power

• Editorial from the European edition of the WSJ - Wind Fuels Gas

  The author of Wind Fuels Gas missed a golden opportunity for a feature spot in the Atomic Insights Smoking Gun series. He produced an exceptional opinion piece linking the political popularity of intermittent renewable energy with the marketing efforts of global fossil fuel companies and pointed out the fuel competition between coal and "natural" gas (aka methane). Here is a sample quotes... Posted Sep 11 2008, 08:48 AM by Atomic Insights Blog Filed under: natural gas, wind power