As if we couldn't predict it, energy prices are officially taking their toll on stocks. Today's Wall Street Journal sums up the depressing situation by saying, "Now, as the second quarter enters its final month, the energy crunch is taking a bigger bite out of profits just as many analysts thought earnings would be getting better." Didn't they see it coming? I did. You probably did. Any company that relies on oil for its bread and butter earnings (automotive manufacturers, chemical producers and airlines) or on consumer traffic (retailers and restaurants) was bound to take a hit. You don't have to be a professional stock analyst to know this.
Ironically, the Journal says that technology stocks are holding steady as this sector takes advantage of the "export boom" stemming from the weak dollar. That's just great. We're celebrating the demise of the U.S. dollar.
How about, instead, we try shoring up the economy by replacing a key import - oil, that is -- with an alternative that we can produce domestically? Oil, that is. Yes, we can produce our own oil utilizing an abundant, renewable, readily available resource: the hundreds of millions of tons of solid waste that accumulates in this country every year.
Just imagine the ramifications -- economically, politically and environmentally -- if the United States were to stop importing oil and supply its own, based on the use of above-ground carbon stock. U.S. industry would have a reliable source of inexpensive energy. Gas pump prices would drop to realistic levels. There would be little left to fight about in the Middle East. We would solve our waste management problems and arrest global warming at the same time.
This is the stuff great headlines are made of. Maybe our new administration, whoever that turns out to be, will see the light and take steps toward an energy policy that is forward-looking and takes advantage of technologies like TCP (thermal conversion process) to change the energy paradigm. Or maybe we'll just keep wooping it up every time U.S. currency takes another plunge.
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3 comments:
Excellent words. A company that is actually trying to do something about the crisis without taking from our food supplies. Keep upi the good work!
I remember some of your early PR (CBS Evening News, Discover Magazine), where you showed how you could turn old tires, ground-up computer equipment, sewage sludge, and just about any other carbon-based "feedstock" into oil and other needed elements such as carbon and sulfur. What ever happened to that? Do you have a future plant on the drawing boards to deal with those feedstock types, or is it just turkey parts for now, and if so, is turkey parts the type of feedstock that has the highest payback?
Also, in regards to the RES plant in Carthage, have you thought of doing the grinding-turkey-parts-into-slurry work at the actual Butterball plant and then sending it to your plant via a pipeline? It seems like the current method of trucking the waste would be 1) fuel-inefficient, with all of the trucks; 2) messy, with blood and other goodies seeping out of the truck beds; and 3) smelly.
I have my fingers crossed for your technology!
Dave,
Thanks. Yes we can process tires and mixed plastics including PVC. We are still in the process of developing a commercial application and hope to be done shortly.
Transporting the animal waste is efficient. 60% of the material is located across the street. This requires no new infrastructure making it practicable.
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