Ok, we’re back in business on the burrito after going awol last week. We have now rolled into December like a runaway snowball, and are straight into the swing of the most wonderful time of the year. Nonetheless, try as we may, energy is never too far from our minds. So here’s ten yuletide meanderings, with their paths back to energy: » read more
Posts Tagged ‘ethanol’
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Dec 1 2010 @ 10:50am by Matt Smith in Global Energy, Natural Gas, Random, energy consulting
The Holiday Season, And Its Path Back To Energy
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Sep 16 2010 @ 10:07am by Matt Smith in Biofuels, Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas, UK natural gas
The A – Z of Energy
Kryptonite speeds up the aging process
This is one of those random posts I occasionally come up with…this week I figured I’d like to teach the world to sing see if I could relate the entire alphabet to Energyworld(tm). So here it goes:
A is for Algae – as discussed previously on the burrito, Algae is an unconventional yet plausible biofuel.
B is for Biofuel - US Gov’t has mandated 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be produced in 2022.
C is for Coal – approximately half of the electric power in the US is generated from coal.
D is for Diesel – diesel-powered cars achieve 20-40% better fuel economy than gas-powered ones.
E is for Ethanol – Henry Ford designed the Model T Ford to run on ethanol.
F is for Firewood – rubbing two sticks together to create fire can exert a lot of energy.
G is for Gasoline – burning a gallon of gasoline creates 19 pounds of carbon dioxide.
Turtle Power!
H is for Heating Oil – the Northeast accounts for 82% of heating oil demand in the US.
I is for Ice – a company has developed a novel way to store energy as ice.
J is for Jatropha – another unorthodox yet potential biofuel of the future, previously discussed here.
K is for Kryptonite – is commonly green, and has the power to kill Superman.
L is for LNG – there are 100 Liquefied Natural Gas storage facilities in the US.
M is for Methanol – is blended with gasoline as a fuel, and is also used in, err, formaldehyde.
N is for Natural Gas – 25% of energy used in the US in 2009 came from natural gas.
O is for Oil – the world’s proven oil reserves = 1,342,207,000,000 barrels.
P is for Permits – Carbon emission permits: up and running in Europe, baby steps in the US.
Q is for Quantum Leap – jumping from one energy level to another very quickly.
Citrus Power!
R is for RBOB – Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending…aka…gasoline.
S is for Solar – Germany is the world leader for solar energy in relation to all energy produced.
T is for Turtle Power - heroes in a half shell.
U is for Uranium – is the most widely used fuel in nuclear energy plants.
V is for Vegetable Oil – used oil can be collected from restaurants and filtered to produce a biodiesel.
W is for Wind – the largest offshore wind farm in the world is set to open in the UK.
X is for Xanthidium - found in flint, the original fire starter.
Y is for Yeast power – übergeeky…a potential source of power for generators in the developing world.
Z is for Zest – a citrus-powered clock. What more do you need?
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Sep 3 2010 @ 10:58am by Matt Smith in Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas, Random
Burrito bites
NASA image of Hurricane Earl
Another Nonfarm Friday appears in our rear-view, as we speed towards fall. Markets have had a surprisingly good week, as economic data has predominantly come in better than expected, shaking up the economic picture that little bit more. Crude is back around the mid-$70s, while natural gas is edging towards $4 once again as we approach the peak of hurricane season next Friday. A long weekend deserves a long applause; please dine on these delacacies before checking out:
–Another oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, but apparently there’s no sheen, the fire’s out, and the workers are safe.
–Fracking yields fuel and fear in the Northeast.
–Men waste GBP2,000 in fuel while lost because they won’t ask for directions
–Dispersants may delay the recovery of the Gulf by decades.
–The world’s largest solar plant.
Janmashtami festival, India
–Are TV ads more effective if we pay less attention?
–A new US oil rush (= the Bakken Shale) could rock Opec.
–Iran issues fatwa against pets.
–Proposed new fuel economy stickers for cars.
–Mexican drug gang is hiring ‘pretty’ hitwomen.
–Tapping the energy below the earth’s surface.
–Rage Against the Machine. (the vending machine).
–Love and hate and shale.
–Prince Charles urges people to wear old clothes.
–A case study on Iowa – the Saudi Arabia of ethanol. (by one of ethanol’s biggest critics).
–Gold 101: Who’s got it, and who’s finding it.
–Think a deep-fried twinkie is weird? How about deep-fried beer.
The Burrito Deluxe Award of the week goes to economic data. Weirdly weird positive prints (= above consensus) for the two key data points of Nonfarm Payrolls and ISM manufacturing have given a more positive hue to markets this week.
The Burnt Burrito Award of the week goes to fires in the Gulf of Mexico. And to sensationalist journalism, for the use of words like ‘explosion’ and ‘oil sheen’, when it was a fire and there were no active wells.
Have a stupendously good weekend!
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Jul 30 2010 @ 10:54am by Matt Smith in Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas
Burrito Bites
Yep, it's that hot. (h/t MT)
I bid you a happy Friday once again, as the weekend sees us teeter over the edge of July, and into the arms of August. The past week has brought us a shaken snow globe of economic data; mixed, stormy and unsettled. Yet all the while, corporate earnings season in the US has continued the trend of underpromising and overdelivering, ultimately improving market sentiment, and ergo, equity markets. Natty has been given a boost from warmer temperature outlooks, both near-term and for the rest of summer (hot enough to melt ice cream vans) while hurricane season is errant for now. Crude has continued to trade in a tight range betwixt $76-$80, as the choppy sea of economic sentiment keeps it bobbing along. Anyhow, too much squibbling, not enough nibbling, let’s chow:
–New BP CEO: We won’t be found grossly negligent. BP counsel: Yes we will.
–More buns for your buck – the updated Big Mac Index shows the euro is overvalued.
–Cap and Trade is dead. Long live Cap and Trade!
–Is it dangerous to drive and listen to sports radio?
–Kinks in the ethanol message-machine?
–Everything you need to know about global warming in 5 minutes (on p.7).
–America’s laziest states.
–36ft tall meerkat made out of straw.
–US refineries still need to trim capacity.
–Why putting a glass of water on your dash helps fuel consumption.
–Art Berman from The Oil Drum talks about Shale Gas.
–Modern cargo ships travel slower than 19th Century Clippers.
–Are Jedi knights libertarian or socialist?
The Burrito Deluxe Award of the week goes to Chicago PMI data that was released this morning. With PMI manufacturing data released across the globe on Monday (= August!) - and possibly showing ‘expansion, but slowing expansion’ - the pre-emptive data from the Chicago PMI has boosted markets into the weekend, and raises hopes for some decent prints on Monday - fingers crossed. (No contraction from China’s manufacturing sector, please).
EIA Crude Inventories this week: 7.3 mb build
The Burnt Burrito Award of the week goes to crude oil stockpiles which posted a hueymongous build in weekly inventories this week, growing by 7.3 million barrels versus the consensus of a draw, as imports cranked up last week.
The Burrito Quote of the Week: “Every depression upgraded to a storm will bring in precautionary short-covering and precautionary evacuations – at least from BP’s rigs. After everything that has happened this summer, that company only needs to hear wind chimes in the Azores and things get buttoned down,” – research company Cameron Hanover.
The Burrito Headline of the Week: Strongest Beer in the World. Served in a Dead Squirrel.
Have a tremendous weekend!
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Jun 18 2010 @ 9:57am by Matt Smith in Biofuels, Capital Markets, Crude Oil, Economy, Global Energy, Natural Gas, Random, Risk Strategy, Technology, UK natural gas, energy consulting, risk management
An Energy Perspective
This post isn’t a post – it’s a link to a guest post out on the Houston Chronicle. The guest post is pilfered, cribbed and cropped from a speech I did in London this week for the shindig at Shakespeare’s Globe to launch our UK office. It basically outlines who is going to win the World Cup, through comparing and contrasting various aspects of the energy complex to eight teams. So please click on the below image to be directed away from this imposter, to the real post:
No burrito bites this week – apologies – I will double down on the delicacies next week. Have a splendid weekend!
