Lee Johnson, former dep. dir., Portland (OR) Energy Office

3 Comments

    • Ethanol Producers Face Price Pressures, Fundamental Questions [view article]
      Dr. Pimental is correct and has low net energy results for corn-ethanol have been proven over and over again for the last 35 years. Mr. Wang is lying. He is a government laboratory employee who, if he does not come up with "the right numbers," will get neither promotion nor retention if there is a future RIF (reduction-in-force) affecting gov't energy agency/lab employees. In sum, it is much safer and wiser to trust Dr. Pimental's numbers, and all the other independent and unbiased experts when it comes to asking, "What is the real return in energy for all the energy invested in this technology?" Any other way of looking at it is stupid and naive or specious and special interest. Nov 23 03:37 PM
    • Look Out For Winners In the Transition from Petroleum [view article]
      ALL this corn-ethanol stuff is bogus as this energy supply technology was proven in the mid-1970's to be so low in net energy (energy return on energy invested) that it could never replace our current demand for gasoline. ALL this corn-ethanol stuff, as well as soybean/canola bio-diesel, is happening only because of the huge taxpayer subsidies. Wise investors, and politicians, will put their efforts elsewhere. Nov 23 03:30 PM
    • Why is Warren Buffett So Interested In The Railroad Industry? [view article]
      You dismiss the relative energy-efficiency of RRs vs. trucks much too blithely. It is not simply another factor. It is THE DRIVING AND DETERMINING FACT. The positive net energy (see the works of Dr. Howard T. Odum, Robert Herendeen, Joel Schatz's energy TRANSITION REPORT for Ore. gov. Tom McCall in 1974, or any energy analyses since the mid-1970's from the Center for Advanced Computation, U. of Ill., Champaign-Urbana) of the new giant diesel units from GE now pulling our 300 car trains is enormous relative to even the aerodynamically designed and shrouded semi-trailer trucks. As world fuel costs rise, goods shipment will increasingly switch to rail world-wide. Trucks will be net losers and fall back to a local delivery role from the railyards of the world. Buffett, and his small staff, are just early in recognizing this, and the current continuing great under-valuing of RRs, here and abroad. This under-valuing, as you have done, comes from energy naive analysts who do not understand either net energy theory and its applications, or the fact that we are at or near the plateau of Peak Oil. There is no doubt Buffett uses net energy in his investment evaluations. Note that he has made no investments in the super-hyped corn/sugar/cellulosic ethanol or biodiesel craze despite his being in the Midwest hotbed of that happy hooey. Lee Johnson, ljmweir@hotmail.com, former dep. dir., Portland (OR) Energy Office. Jul 06 05:45 PM
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