Geobulletin alpha

Be trashy: How waste-to-energy could help fuel America 

Power Grid is one of my favorite games — but almost all of you have no idea what I’m talking about. OK, so, Power Grid is a German board game where you compete with other people to create the power … Continue reading

Who Takes a Hit When Natural Gas Prices Rise? 

When natural gas prices rise heating a home with gas becomes more expensive. Many other activities become more expensive. One concern about exporting natural gas is that lots of people (and industries) will see their expenses go up. An article on the Christian Science Monitor website explores who will see higher

Big Wind gets “get out of jail free card” from Obama Administration 

If a company or individual violates either the Migratory Bird Treaty Act or the Eagle Protection Act, they could get fined up to $250,000 or get two years imprisonment per incident.  This is, unless they run a wind turbine installation, an industry which collectively kills thousands of birds and bats each year. Not a single

What do HMNS, Superman, Stargate and steampunk have in common? Find out on May 25 at Comicpalooza 

If you’ve been to the Wiess Energy Hall recently, you’ll remember the energy music video that starts off with “Energy is all around us.” Energy is all around us. It’s in the news every day. It’s also a prominent feature … Continue reading

UK Oil and Natural Gas Report 

The UK is the largest producer of oil and the second largest producer of natural gas in the European Union; however, they still are a net importer of both of these

Life 500 Meters Below the Juan de Fuca Ridge 

Researchers have discovered evidence of life 500 meters below the seafloor of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. “They found genetic evidence of Methanosarcinales, anaerobic archaea known to metabolize methane. Further experiments showed that microbes have affected the chemical signature of sulfur in the host basalt, suggesting they could harness energy from the breakdown of sulfates.”

The Microgrid Solution 

Last October, Superstorm Sandy provoked widespread frustration and fear after it left more than 7.5 million people in the New York Metro area without power. In the hardest hit areas, outages lasted two weeks or more; in high rise buildings, the elderly and disabled were left stranded, often without access to food and unable to

Of Cow Dung, Cook Stoves and Sustainability in Practice 

When the Environmental Defense Fund asked me to measure how biogas cook stoves were changing the lives of farmers in rural India, there wasn’t a word in that question with which I was comfortable. Having just graduated from the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development, I had never done fieldwork; and the concept of a biogas digester, which turns cow dung into natural gas through anaerobic digestion, was itself a mystery. I had no idea that this was the beginning of a steep learning [...]

More Debate on Exporting Natural Gas 

Energy companies have submitted permit requests for 20 natural gas export projects. The projects will create jobs, income for natural gas companies and property owners, and improve our trade balance. Opponents believe that exports will increase prices and accelerate the landscape impact of drilling

Tracking Geothermal Energy Sources 

In this Arizona Public Media video, Jane Poynter interviews Lee Allison, Director of the Arizona Geological Survey on the benefits of geothermal energy along with how a project led by AGS is making geothermal data and data analysis tools available to the

Why Natural Gas Cars are Selling Slowly 

Natural gas is cleaner and more economical as a fuel for passenger vehicles than gasoline, but sales of cars that run on natural gas have been very slow. A Washington Post article explains the

PA Supreme Court on Who Owns Shale Gas 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided not to overturn over 100 years of property transactions in a case involving the ownership of natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale. Shale gas is not to be treated differently from natural gas produced from a conventional

Natural Gas Could Kill Fuel Diversity 

“All the natural-gas industry needs is a gizmo in the basement of your house to convert your natural gas into electricity.

How Trucks Running on Natural Gas Lower Prices for You 

The Christian Science Monitor has an article that explains how some trucking companies are turning away from diesel fuel in favor of natural gas and how that switch can mean lower prices (and cleaner air) for

CNG Filling Stations in North Carolina 

Utility companies, city governments, county governments, school districts, and trucking companies are building CNG fueling stations in North Carolina. In addition to serving their owners, the pumps are available to dispense CNG to the

A 90 Degree Shift in Drilling 

As recently as 2008, most of the drilling activity in the United States was being done with vertical wells. Today most of the wells being drilled are

Stranded Natural Gas 

Stranded gas is natural gas in discovered conventional gas and oil fields that is currently not commercially producible for either physical or economic reasons. USGS has published a new report titled: Role of Stranded Gas in Increasing Global Gas

Landscape Disturbance and Shale Gas Extraction 

The United States Geological Survey has published: “Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Allegheny and Susquehanna Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010″. This document explains metrics used to assess the disturbance caused by drilling pads, access roads, pipelines and other gas related

New demo video for the National Geothermal Data System 

We tested out a new demonstration video of the National Geothermal Data System at the Dept. of Energy's Peer Review in Denver this week.   It's been posted now to YouTube.

Government Revenue from the Oil and Gas Industry 

“The oil and gas industry pays the federal government approximately $86 million a day – or about $31 billion a year – in rents, royalties, bonuses and corporate taxes. That doesn’t even include the payments made at the local and state