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http://theiraqinsider.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-much-does-iraq-war-cost-per-month.html

How much does Iraq war cost per month, week, day, hour, minute, second?

IRAQ + AFGHANISTAN
Per Month – $12.3 billion
Per Week – $2.9 billion
Per Day – $410 million
Per Hour – $17 million
Per Minute – $284,722
Per Second – $4,745

IRAQ
Per Month – $10.3 billion
Per Week – $2.4 billion
Per Day – $343 million
Per Hour – $14 million
Per Minute – $238,425
Per Second – $3,973

AFGHANISTAN
Per Month- $2 billion
Per Week – $469 million
Per Day – $67 million
Per Hour – $2.8 million
Per Minute – $46,296
Per Second – $771

SOURCE: Data from Amy Belasco, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” Congressional Research Service (updated February 8, 2008). Totals may not add due to rounding.

To put these in perspective, my colleague Kingston Reif found a few world records to offer some humorous comparisons:

In the average time it takes you to watch the Oscars (approximately 3 hours, 15 minutes), the United States will spend $55.5 million in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the time it takes you to set the world record in the hundred meter dash (9.74 seconds), the United States will spend $462,163 in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the time it takes you to set the world record in the mile run (3 minutes, 43 seconds), the United States will spend $1.1 million in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the time it takes you to set the world record for eating a 12” inch pizza (19.91 seconds), the United States will spend $94,473 in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you had a padded expense account that allowed you to spend $1 million dollars a day on whatever you wanted, it would take you 1,918 years to spend as much as we’ve spent on Iraq and Afghanistan through March 2008 (approximately $700 billion).

We love to read about different travelers and their adventures, wishing secretly that we could be in their shoes. Here is a young traveler, Stacy Jurich, 2006 graduate of Ohio State University. She is on a 3 ½ month journey across the country, driving her 1981 Mercedes across America. So what is new? She [...]
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We are using fossil fuels as the primary source of energy to run our Industrial Civilization. But we are paying a heavy price for using fossil fuels in the form of environmental damages. Now, we know that fossil fuels and natural gases are not going to last forever. This will lead us into big [...]
Posted in: Future Energy, Inventions, Solar Power, Transportation

With its windy coasts, untapped rivers and huge tidal and wave resources, Alaska can quickly become a national leader in producing alternative energy. Although Alaska is the second-largest oil producing state in the country, the citizens have had to pay very high electricity bills recently; oil is no longer easily available for producing and [...]
Posted in: Environment, Industry, Politics

We all know that the need of the hour is alternative energy so that future generations can still breathe fresh air and have enough energy for their industrial purposes and domestic use. Many states and countries are promoting wind energy as a clean and green energy. We all know the advantages and disadvantages of [...]
Posted in: Inventions, Wind Farms, Wind Power

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/natural_gas_customer_choice.cfm

How Choice Programs Work

Customer choice programs give consumers the option of purchasing natural gas from an unregulated supplier (marketer) rather than a local utility company. If a consumer chooses to buy from a marketer, the marketer purchases the natural gas and arranges for its delivery to the local utility. The local natural gas utility, generally referred to as a local distribution company or LDC, continues to provide local transportation and distribution services. Local distribution companies are regulated by State utility commissions and cannot earn a profit on natural gas sales, whereas sales by marketers are unregulated.

Most natural gas customer choice programs began in the 1990s in an effort to introduce more competition into local energy markets. Traditionally, local distribution companies provide natural gas to their customers as part of a bundled service that includes both the price of the natural gas (sometimes called sales service) and the price of distributing the gas. In customer choice programs, gas sales are unbundled from distribution and other delivery-related services.

The characteristics and availability of existing choice programs vary markedly. Some States allow all customers to choose, while some limit choice to specific service areas or a specific number of customers. In some cases, even though choice is allowed statewide, no programs are being offered or no marketers are participating.

Choice Enrollment Reached a New High in 2007

Overall 13% or about 4.6 million of the approximately 35 million residential natural gas customers with access to choice (55% of U.S. residential customers) were buying natural gas from marketers in 2007, up from 4.2 million in 2006. Enrollment totaled 11% more than in 2006 and 20% more than in 2005, although the number of States allowing choice has remained the same since 2002.

Georgia has by far the most comprehensive choice program, in that all residential customers in Atlanta Gas Light Company’s service territory (more than 80% of Georgia’s residential gas customers) purchase their natural gas from marketers. Atlanta Gas Light still delivers the gas but no longer provides sales service. Ohio has the second-largest program with about 48% of all eligible households participating and enrollment levels of nearly 1.4 million. Together Georgia and Ohio accounted for nearly 65% of the residential customer enrollment total in 2007.

Six States Accounted for 90% of the Residential Choice Customers in 2007

Choice Eligibility and Participation, Top Six States, 2007 State Residential Customers Eligible Participating Total % of State Total % of Eligible % of State Georgia 1,900,000 1,600,000 83 1,600,000 100 83 Ohio 3,300,000 2,900,000 90 1,400,000 48 43 New York 4,300,000 4,300,000 100 490,000 11 11 Michigan 3,200,000 3,200,000 99 310,000 10 10 Illinois 3,900,000 2,800,000 73 235,000 9 6 Pennsylvania 2,600,000 2,600,000 100 160,000 6 6 Subtotal 19,200,000 17,400,000 91 4,195,000 24 22 … Total Choice States (22) 42,000,000 35,000,000 82 4,600,000 13 11 Total U.S. 64,000,000 35,000,000 55 4,600,000 13 7

Source: Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Residential Choice Programs, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/restructure/restructure.html (March 31, 2008)

Customer participation is determined by a variety of factors, such as the customer’s potential to save money and the terms of service. In the same way, marketers’ participation is influenced by the potential to earn a profit on natural gas sales. In 2007, 120 marketers were authorized to serve residential customers, of which 91 were actively serving customers. Many marketers have expanded their price offerings to attract customers. Besides month-to-month variable rates or fixed rates for longer terms, some marketers offer introductory rates, rebates, budget plans, or capped rates.

Despite Increase, Interest Is Lower in Several States

Participation in customer choice has declined in several States with long-standing programs. Some customers may find it hard to tell which choice option would be best for them and whether they will save any money. In addition, sharply higher natural gas prices and increased price variability may have reduced consumer and marketer interest in choice. State regulators are continuing to refine and evaluate choice programs to ensure supply reliability and make it easier for consumers to compare price offers.

How about a vehicle that not only draws energy from an electric grid but also gives it back when there is surplus or unused energy in the vehicle? This is exactly the kind of car being developed by Willett Kempton, a renewable-energy professor at the University of Delaware.

YouTube: Electric Car Feeds Grid | [...]
Posted in: Electric Cars, Inventions, Transportation

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/natural_gas_production.cfm

Where Are Natural Gas Production Increases Coming from?

The large recent increases in supply came from across the Lower 48 States. But, more than half of the increase in natural gas production between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 came from Texas, where supplies grew by an exceptionally high 15%. Other contributing regions included Wyoming with growth of 9%, Oklahoma with 6% growth, and Louisiana with 4% growth. Even production from the offshore Gulf of Mexico, which had been declining for years, increased 2% from first-quarter 2007 to first-quarter 2008. The start-up last year of production from the deepwater Independence Hub, with wells in 9,000 feet of water, alone added about 1% to Lower 48 States production. Production in the rest of the States as a group increased by 8%.

Why Is Natural Gas Production Increasing Now?

Improved technology, developed over many years, now allows economic production of resources in deep water and large “unconventional” resources, which are difficult to produce. High and increasing natural gas prices have spurred more natural gas drilling and the trend to move from drilling simpler vertical wells to horizontal wells.

One indicator of the transition from conventional to unconventional production is the number of rigs drilling “horizontal wells.” In the late 1990s, about 40 drilling rigs, or 6%, were drilling horizontally. As of May 2008, the number of rigs drilling horizontal wells has grown to 519 rigs, or 28% of the total. Horizontal wells don’t simply go straight down, but also have one or more horizontal sections. In the Barnett Shale, the wells go down about a mile and a half, make a turn and go horizontally about a mile, running through the rocks that hold natural gas.

Horizontal drilling is fast becoming the primary method used to produce gas from geologic formations like shale. Drilling and completing a horizontal well through shale has required improved technology, but these wells have become essential to the rapid economic development of unconventional resources in the United States.

Texas’ Barnett Shale Is a Major Unconventional Resource

Texas accounts for one third of the nation’s natural gas production. Spearheading Texas’ recent rapid growth has been horizontal drilling in a geologic formation known as the Barnett Shale. The Barnett Shale contains a vast amount of natural gas, but its rock is so dense that wells drilled into this formation cannot produce gas at high rates without extensive additional efforts, even beyond horizontal drilling.

Much of the Barnett Shale is located beneath the city of Fort Worth and surrounding suburbs, a highly urbanized area that adds to the challenges of field development. Advanced drilling technologies, including horizontal drilling, are being used to reduce the “footprint” of drilling and allow production from the area without disrupting surface activity. Drilling rigs are already located on the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and inside the Fort Worth city limits, and are headed toward downtown.

Will Natural Gas Production Continue To Increase in the Lower 48 States?

Most likely, production will continue to increase for the next few years if demand and prices stay high, though possibly not at the same rate as in 2007. There will be some ups and downs in monthly production. Fluctuations in monthly production are often known to come from hurricanes, winter storms, or new projects. The new Independence Hub project was offline all of May for some repairs which should cause a noticeable dip in production.

Total U.S. proved natural gas reserves – resources that have been identified and tested and either have been or will be developed – have increased for the last eight years, and in 10 of the last 11 years. Recent drilling trends indicate continued growth, with a stronger concentration on unconventional resources like shales. Shale formations in the lower 48 States are widely distributed, large, and contain huge resources of natural gas. They are just starting their full development. Already, the production from just one Barnett Shale field in Texas contributes more than 6% of production from the lower 48 States, which is more than from the large producing State of Louisiana.

Tomorrow our vehicles may derive power by enzymes. These enzymes may originate from the cellulose of woodchips or grass and instead of emitting poisonous gases they will exhale hydrogen. We know that when hydrogen is burned, the only emission it makes is water vapor, so a key benefit of hydrogen fuel is that when [...]
Posted in: Biofuels, Future Energy, Hydrogen Fuel