Michael Vickerman

The Oil Spill and You

Most of us have not bothered to comprehend the yawning gulf that lies between our best intentions and our abject dependence on the wealth-producing properties of petroleum. Nor how this addiction fills us with delusions of godlike mastery over our environment while blinding us to the reality that we humans have grossly overshot our planet’s carrying capacity.

July 12, 2010

Palin’s folly

Like the other petrostates of the world, Alaska has no Plan B to fall back on when its endowment of fossil fuels is no longer sufficient to support a state government in the style to which it is accustomed.

October 7, 2008

A federal energy policy: can it happen here?

Now is not the time to continue subsidizing every form of energy that can be produced in the United States, as the current Congress seems intent on doing.

July 28, 2007

Thoughts from this year’s Renewable Energy Fair

Reducing one’s energy overhead costs relatively little and produces a revenue stream that appreciates over time. Replacing one’s energy infrastructure with on-site renewable systems, in contrast, will require a sizable up-front financial commitment relative to what it will produce over time.

June 29, 2007

De-Fossilizing Ethanol

Discussions of the net energy balance of grain ethanol tend to overlook the quantities of natural gas and electricity consumed at ethanol refineries, which are substantial.

April 30, 2007

Humbugs Along the Potomac

With a track record for erroneous forecasting that verges on the spectacular, why should anyone bother to listen to EIA when more reliable predictions can be found on the daily astrology page?

April 17, 2007

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