API to get into baking

A mildly amusing article in Platts about the American Petroleum Institutes reaction to the new EPA mandate related to greenhouse gases:

API views endangerment finding as threat to US economy, families and bakers

European Gas Markets

Listen to a two part discussion on the European Gas Markets with Thiery Bros, Senior Financial Analyst, Société Générale:

Part I

Part II

The silver lining from the recession cloud

Looks like being in a recessionary economy aint all bad. The number of people being killed in road accidents on US highways has dropped dramatically to 1960s levels, according to 2008 figures. This was partly due to the high gas prices last year. But in general, less vehicle miles are being driven and less gas being used than in the boom years.

See this link for more

Doesn’t matter if its not true … it’s my point of view and I’m sticking to it

Politicians are well known for their strong opinions and moral fibre. Oh wait, that’s not quite correct … politicians are known for taking a position which serves them well and flogging it. Yes, that sounds better.  

Friday’s “The Barrel” from Platts contributed on article titled: Regardless, House Republicans stick to their story. It illustrates how an MIT report (undoubtedly seen as a left-leaning educational source and hence a better base for a Republican platform) was used by the Republicans to flog Cap-and-Trade as overly expensive to consumers ($3k per tax payer). When the author of the article pointed out that they had come to a conclusion that was exponentially off the mark they decided to … ignore the criticism and keep flogging the message.

It sure would be nice if this kind of behaviour was laughed out of existence but I’m afraid this is just politics-as-usual.

German Power Market to Shrink in 2009 !!

The power market in Germany, Europe’s biggest, probably will shrink in 2009, for the first time since Enron Corp. failed in 2001 as utilities reduce risks and fewer banks trade energy, raising concerns about exaggerated prices.

E.ON AG, the nation’s biggest utility, has one financial company among its top trading partners, down from four a year ago, after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September and UBS AG exited the commodities business in October. Stockholm-based Vattenfall AB, the Nordic region’s largest utility, cut its list to three banks from six.

German power trading may contract 17 percent this year from 2008’s record, forecasts Kai Seela, head of power and emissions at Vattenfall. The decline may reduce competition among traders, meaning energy users from ThyssenKrupp AG to Daimler AG may struggle to get the best offers and lowest power costs, even after wholesale prices fell 45 percent from July’s peak.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aAOIVnjDWqGA&refer=news

US companies spend $2.8B a year powering unused PC's

Just about to head off to bed and I saw this article (via slashdot).

http://weblog.infoworld.com/sustainableit/archives/2009/03/pc_power_manage_2.html

Only caught my eye as I have not turned my home PC off for some weeks now. Time to turn over a new energy and cost saving leaf...although it will have to wait until my downloads have finihsed and the temperature has increased outside ;-)

Joe

MIT Course in Energy Economics

For those who didn't know, MIT Open Course Ware (http://ocw.mit.edu) gives anyone in the world access to all of MIT's course materials. So if you feel like learning about Victorian morality plays for example, you know where to go now :)

They also have a bunch of courses on Energy. A friend of mine pointed me to a course on Energy Economics which can serve as a good primer.
Check out http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Economics/14-44Spring-2007/CourseHome/index.htm for the course.