Erik Hare's blog

If you ask just about anyone who makes a living predicting the future of societies and economies in the developed world, they will tell you we are a technology drive society. New ideas, products, and systems will change our lives and get us out of any jam.

This is one post in a small series on energy in the US, focusing on energy independence and renewables.

Anyone who has spent time in a swamp, like the incredible Florida Everglades, knows what “biogas” is. It’s the end result of natural processes that break down plant matter and return the nutrients back to the soil – and produce a lot of methane gas. Capturing that process, improving it, and making use of the methane is a very old technology that has been in use in some form for centuries.

Natural gas has always been the bane of oil production. The processes deep in the earth that create oil over millions of years tend to produce even more volatile gases than liquid oil. These have typically been “flared”, or burned off to get rid of them, since they are difficult to transport or do anything with.

On the surface of it, the statement by top Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom is utterly ridiculous. “[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed.

The crowd took their seats slowly, grudgingly giving up the moment to catch up with neighbors they hadn’t seen in a while. The formal program of the Fort Road Federation Annual Meeting started off last night with the same kind of connection, a brief talk by former Mayor George Latimer.