AMC

Trying to Read the Stock, Bond, Commodity Tea Leaves

Reads more like a blog post. Where are the meat N' potatoes??

Trying to Read the Stock, Bond, Commodity Tea Leaves

Seems more like a blog post. Where's the meat N potatoes?

Rearranging an Energy Portfolio Geographically

Does anyone have any insight into why PGH has been dropping? I haven't been able to find any news on this matter and the stock is just continuing to plummet. This appears to be affected by MASSIVELY DEFLATIONARY forces here. Anyone care to share insight?

2 Top Energy Sector Bets

I love reading the posts by those opposed to nuclear energy- people you read all the facts already...nuclear is the best bet, hands down, no question. Are there other options? Yes. Are they ready to be implemented on a scale that can contribute SIGNIFICANT amounts of energy into our electric grids? NO! No matter how you slice it, we do not presently have the technology to implement enough solar, wind, hydro-electric or geothermal devices/stations to power our national energy needs. Should all these methods be put into place immediately so less nuclear energy is needed? YES!! We need to use a mix of all of these methods coupled with nuclear energy and transition away from coal and oil powered plants. You read it in the comments above: we have a nuclear Navy (i.e. submarines!)- no accidents; France derives some 80% of it's energy from nuclear energy- no accidents. Chernobyl happened as a result of sub-par engineering and a handful of foolish engineers that pushed a power plant beyond it's capabilities during a systems test and didn't know how to properly fix their mistakes when things starting going south- hence, a meltdown.

We are concerned about waste- reprocess the spent fuel like France does and store all waste beyond reprocessing's capabilities in cooling pools at the plants (for now). Is nuclear a resource that we may run out of in another century or so? Yes. However, with the reprocessing capabilities and improvements in that field, maybe we have more than 100yrs to be concerned with that aspect and we have at least that long to develop new and improved energy delivery methods. Think about how far we've already come in the last 100yrs... are you going to assume that we won't have improvements just as dramatic in the next 100? Seems pretty logical to me.

Everyone needs to keep in mind that nuclear power plants are engineered in such a manner today that even if a terrorist was to drop a bomb on a power plant, the chance of having another Chernobyl (unless the bomb itself was a nuke) are VERY slim. The rest of the world is waking up to nuclear energy and building new nuclear power plants at an astounding rate. Before you know it, America will once again find itself playing catch up with those around us- rushing to keep up and spending billions upon billions of dollars to get it done yesterday.

It takes 10 yrs to build a new nuclear power plant... the time to act is NOW!

Uranium: Red Hot Yellow Cake

There isn't a power source available in terms of energy yield and constant power generation that can sit in company with nuclear energy aside from fossil fuels. However, burning fossil fuels is the cause of our environmental concerns and as we all know, they are in diminishing supply. In fact, the IEA is conducting a study of the worlds 400 largest oil fields and are expected to find that the supply is FAR LESS than previously expected. I for one am nervous to find out the result (but happy for my nuclear energy portfolio!).

While vehicles and general transport is slowly replaced by more environmentally friendly means (hydrogen, cellulosic ethanol, electric, ceramic engines), we need a power source that can power large city grids. There might be enough coal out there to power America for centuries to come but we would then subject ourselves to acid rain, intollerable drinking water and thick clouds of smog (anyone seen what China's cities have become?). Nuclear power is the answer and the rest of the word sees it except the U.S.

While China, India, France and many others continue to make advances in nuclear energy and build new reactors to satisfy their power needs, we sit on our hands- ignoring the inevitable. I fear such idle waiting will lead to the next great war as nations around the world begin hoarding oil and natural gas while prohibiting their export. Consider if you will how much oil the United States of America consumes and how much of that oil must be imported. Imagine taking that away and what lengths we would go to in order to ensure the great machine doesn't come to a grinding holt. A scary prospect my friends!!