The figure scares environmentalists:2011 global fossil fuel subsidies were $523 billion, almost 30% higher than in 2010 while renewable energy subsidies totalled $88 billion (IEA).

First, the IEA definition of crude oil is “crude oil including lease condensate”. Does this matter?. To some, yes. Not to me. Differentiating condensate and natural gas liquids from crude reminds me of the debate of oil sands versus API 35 oil. Whatever goes into your tank and makes the car run, baby. EROEI?. Sure, still very strong as shown in my post here (read). My biggest issue is to think EROEI is static and will not improve, when shale gas has gone from 3 to 1 to 6 to 1 in many areas. Continue reading The US path to energy independence in three charts →

The introduction of new lighting in the US will take aggregate demand growth to zero or negative over the implementation period, eg, the next 4-5 years. General Lighting is a big slice of the pie (like 12%) and a lot of the US simply never switched over to incandescent (eg, residential, and some commercial). Will have less of an impact on Europe.

Incidentally, many will make the argument that new iPads and gizmos will offset losses, we keep buying stuff and plugging it in. While true, the devil is in the details…new LED TV replacements are obliterating like-for-like consumption, particularly against gen 1.0 plasmas. New refrigerators and heaters are substantially more energy efficient.

(This article was published in El Confidencial on November 10th, 2012)

“Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual.” Barack Obama
“The American people responded by renewing our House Republican Majority …There’s no mandate for raising tax rates. ” John Boehner Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff that Europe shouldn’t copy →