Ferdinand E. Banks

Green Investors: Stop Hating Coal; Carbon Capture and Storage Here to Stay

There is nothing that I love doing more than telling people how I was expelled from engineering school for failing everything my first year - twice. I think that I will have to start telling them however that later I was first in my thermodynamics class. Try this as an example:

CCS IS A THERMODYNAMIC TRAVESTY, although somebody apparently has a better name. That name is SCAM.

A Natural Gas Centric Strategic Long-Term Comprehensive Energy Policy

What's the point in making heavy weather of the oil peak and pushing gas when a gas peak might be right down the line? Closer even if the talk about a producers organization for gas goes anywhere. Just as important, if we see a sustained oil price over $100/b, then we will be looking at a sustained gas price of ______. I wont bother going into what the _____ could be, but it ain't nothing nice.

The key thing with all this is that when oil and gas prices reach a certain level, then the concept of the peak becomes interesting. I tried to drum this into my students in Bangkok last year, but since most of them worked for oil companies and their bosses had told them that there is no such thing as 'peal oil', they refused to understand - although they made a nice attempt to pretend that they understood for their final examination.

Book Review: Robert Hefner's 'The Grand Energy Transition'

I won't read this book, and if Mr Hefner finds himself at a conference where I am doing my song and dance, he would hear some things about his work that he doesn't want to hear.

Of course he won't find himself at a conference with my good self because I have never heard of this man. I've heard of people with ideas that are similar to his, but like Mr H. they would hardly be welcome to flaunt their wisdom in a scientific forum.

I know that I'm naive, but I can't understand why someone with as much on the ball as Michael Simmons would be impressed by Robert Hefner.