The usual assumption that economists, financial planners, and actuaries make is that future real GDP growth can be expected to be fairly similar to the average past growth rate for some historical […]
PI News Feed
Much of the country’s refinery capacity is concentrated along the Gulf Coast
Of the more than 17.3 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of refinery capacity located in the United States as of January 1, 2012, about 44% (or nearly 7.7 million bbl/d) is located […]
Why do ‘experts’ always lowball clean-energy projections?
Last month, Michael Noble of Fresh Energy put up a fascinating list of projections made by energy experts around 2000 or so. (I got there via Brad Plumer.) Suffice to say, the […]
New Ethanol Process Boosts Recoverable Energy By 2000%
With so much focus on electric cars these days, it can be easy to forget how much money and effort is being funneled into biofuels. Ethanol has gotten a bad rap in […]
Is a natural gas car revolution coming in the U.S.?
Cheap, abundant natural gas is changing the game for energy in the U.S., and that means a renewed push for natural gas cars. According to Pike Research, there will be a total […]
Why The World Is Coming For America’s Oil
Norway’s national oil company is betting $20 billion that the future of the energy business lies under the U.S. They’re not alone. Out the helicopter window, as the muddy waters dumping out […]
China Could Be Rare Earth Metals Importer by 2014
U.S. and Canadian producers of heavy rare earth metals are poised to benefit as China becomes a net importer of some of the materials as early as 2014, said Peter Cashin, chief […]
On-bill Repayment: Great Promise, but Challenges Remain
On-bill repayment has received a great deal of attention during the last few years as a potential approach to expanding the reach of energy efficiency financing in the residential and commercial sectors. […]
“Energy Independence in an Interdependent World” by Joseph S. Nye
CAMBRIDGE – When President Richard Nixon proclaimed in the early 1970’s that he wanted to secure national energy independence, the United States imported a quarter of its oil. By the decade’s end, […]
The Efficiency Tango: A Deeper Look at Geothermal Heat Pump Efficiency
A couple weeks ago, I compared the efficiency of the two most advanced geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) recently launched by Waterfurnace Renewable Energy (TSX:WFI, OTC:WFIFF) and Climatemaster, as division of LSB Industries […]
Prometheus Institute 