The Energy Revolution -- It Is Just Beginning -- Issue 8,545

I'm in an incredibly good mood. It's hard to believe all the stories that were posted in the past 48 hours that suggest the US energy revolution is gaining traction. I've posted as many as I have had time for.

But now another one

Reuters, via Rigzone is reporting:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday slightly raised its estimate for domestic natural gas production in 2013, expecting output this year to be up about 1.2 percent from 2012's record high levels.

In its October Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA said it expected marketed natural gas production in 2013 to rise by 0.82 billion cubic feet per day to 70.00 bcf per day, up fractionally from its September outlook of 69.91 bcf daily.

If the forecast is realized, it would be the third straight year of record production.

And two more story lines in the following:

Natural gas pipeline imports, primarily from Canada which have fallen over the last five years, are projected to slip slightly in 2013 to just over 8 bcf per day, then remain near that level in 2014.

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to remain at minimal levels of around 0.4 bcf per day in both 2013 and 2014, EIA said.

EIA also slightly raised its estimate for 2013 consumption, expecting usage to be up by 0.32 bcfd, or 0.3 percent, from 2012 to 70.00 bcf daily.

The agency expects colder winter temperatures to boost gas used for residential and commercial space heating. But the EIA noted that higher gas prices this year have contributed to declines in gas used to generate electricity.

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A Note To The Grandparents

 Our younger granddaughter is enjoying soccer practice right now. I am under the stars; it's an incredibly nice autumn evening here in north Texas. A 4-day old crescent moon is up; the very few clouds to the west are wispy, and are a beautiful, beautiful pink-red hue, which, according to the old sailors' ditty means it should be nice weather tomorrow.

And there "she" is -- the evening star (Venus)! She is at about the 5:30 position in relation to the moon. At the moment, those are the only two lights in the heavens: the moon and Venus.

Last night we also marveled at the evening star. Then it was just to the "left" of the 3-day old crescent moon, at about the 9 o'clock position.

Of course Venue is "outside" the crescent. I asked the granddaughters (age 7 and 10) if the planet could ever be inside the crescent. It took a bit of explaining but for a moment they seemed to understand why that could not happen, or if it did, what it meant. As noted, I think they understood the explanation last night but I'm not sure if they retained it.

When I was their age I was fascinated by the stars, red dwarfs and blue giants, but somewhere along the way, I was unable to find time to study astronomy, or the "heavens" seemed to lose some of its "magic" for me.

Sometime ago I got back into my "physics" phase, reading about Los Alamos, the Manhattan project, the biography of Robert Oppenheimer. It started with The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder. For several months now, I've been in that phase -- physics.

I happened to come across a very interesting book about the uniqueness of earth, life on earth, and the seeming remarkable location of the earth in the galaxy, for observing, measuring, and studying the universe. Copyright 2004, the authors are Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards. The former is an assistant research professor in astronomy; the latter has a Ph D with honors in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.

The book is titled The Privileged Planet. From the jacket: "This thoughtful, delightfully contrarian book will rile up those who believe the "Copernican principle" is an essential philosophical component of modern science. Is our universe designedly congenial to intelligent, observing life? Passionate advocates of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) will find much to ponder in this carefully documented analysis."

The book mentions Carl Sagan and disposes of him quickly. The authors do not mention Richard Dawkins and mention God only once or twice (perhaps more, I forget, but one gets the point).

This is the kind of book one reads through one time, and then goes back to re-read the chapters of most interest, before returning to read the book from start to finish at least one more time. It is a challenging book, only because the authors say so much. But it not difficult to read, or difficult to understand.

I had not heard of this particular book until I happened to come across the book at Barnes and Noble among the "newer" arrivals. Due to the theme of the book I can understand why it did not receive more critical acclaim. It is certainly not politically correct in the 21st century.