Amidst skyrocketing oil prices, considerable financial activity in the oil market, and increased gas prices, producing and consuming nations alike are concerned about efficiency and supply. World E...
Amidst skyrocketing oil prices, considerable financial activity in the oil market, and increased gas prices, producing and consuming nations alike are concerned about efficiency and supply. World Energy recently spent an afternoon with Matthew Simmons, president of the energy investment firm Simmons & Company International and author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, to hear his perspective on oil supplies, pump prices, distributed generation and a return to post--World War II practices.
Oil prices have been too low for too long, he says. "The problem isn't that the prices are going up, it is that they have been so low for so long that we have been caught in a correction," explains Simmons.
The problem, notes Simmons, is not strategy; it is having a game plan for execution. In the interview, Simmons focuses beyond "peak oil" and looks at the immediate nature of the energy situation, examining both near-term solutions and long-term ones.
Focusing on renewable sources, Simmons points out the current production from these sources is roughly 1.50 percent, but that 1.50 percent is nonetheless a significant contribution. He then explains the actual potential to be unlocked in energy produced from wind and geothermal and the importance of distributed generation.
The big energy consumer for nuclear plants is the old gaseous diffusion enrichment process. The nuclear plant breaks even in the first year of operation even if gaseous diffusion is used. The enrichment of fuel effectively eats 20% of the output of the reactor to enrich the next batch of fuel.
Today most of the uranium is either from decomissioned nuclear weapons(sunk cost) or gaseous diffusion(~40 times more effecient than gaseous diffusion).
Matt Simmons is the Dr Strangelove of Oil. The best idea is to build an underground bunker for all the top military and political and stock it with women of only incredible beauty to kill the time while the world destroys itself on the surface. We are done, Stick a fork in us by 2015.
The big energy consumer for nuclear plants is the old gaseous diffusion enrichment process. The nuclear plant breaks even in the first year of operation even if gaseous diffusion is used. The enrichment of fuel effectively eats 20% of the output of the reactor to enrich the next batch of fuel.
Today most of the uranium is either from decomissioned nuclear weapons(sunk cost) or gaseous diffusion(~40 times more effecient than gaseous diffusion).
Nicely done. Hope to see more from you.