Energy

This note was on the calendar because it is that time of year, but then Atlas had to rip up the script when the war in Iran started because seasonal issues alone were no longer driving the price of fuel higher.  Initially this note was going to help remind readers that changes to the blend of fuel would be taking place soon as the weather warms.

Normally this space would be reserved for the October 2025 Industrial Production release from the Federal Reserve.  Alas, it was not published due to challenges caused by the government shutdown.  Instead, we’ll take quick look at one of the components of our nation’s industrial output: utilities.  More specifically, we’ll explore how all the computing power nee

Having not seen it elsewhere, Atlas may have coined an acronym: NAIIMBY (No Artificial Intelligence In My Backyard).  A movement against AI data centers in American neighborhoods is intensifying.  Residents across the country are growing concerned about these massive facilities, which are often sited near homes, schools, and farms.  In places like Virginia, Indiana, and Michigan,

I’ve reached an age.  If you haven’t you will, and if you have, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  A few days ago, I walked into a restaurant and saw what was probably a middle-school student wearing a band t-shirt from my youth: The Cranberries.  I was immediately hit with the lyrics from their September 1994 (my sophomore year had just started) hit &ld

Growing up there was a guy in the neighborhood who worked in some form of construction.  He would often come home with copper wires, the type used overhead for transmitting electricity.  I was in elementary school, so he never told me why it was in his possession, but he would strip the wire coating off with a large knife in his back yard and recycle the copper.

Energy is foundational to the global economy.  Wars have been waged over it.  Debates about changes to sources have soured many family dinners over the recent years.  When production gets expensive, that acts like a brake on overall output since there are few viable substitutes; a larger share of consumers’ wallets is diverted to keep lights on and cars running.  In sh

Resort towns are known for their boom-and-bust cycles.  When financial crises materialize, ownership of second and third properties are the first to be sacrificed by people impacted in the downturn.  One resort town in Southern California, however, managed to escape the up portion of these cycles, pretty much falling from a peak in the 1960s.  Salton Sea was once a destination fo

Here we are just on the other side of the holiday season.  It’s that cold part of the year without the festive decorations.  A new calendar offers an excuse to consider just what lies ahead, but we’re too far from Valentine’s Day to run out and buy cards and candy.  That doesn’t mean we can write about the heart. 

Supplying beaches with sand is ill-advised.  For one thing, it is really tough to get out of the car’s carpet.  And have you seen gas prices?  At these levels, the last thing you need is extra weight forcing you to use more petrol as you motor toward the water.  But these are strange times.  We’re still emerging from the pandemic-related economic shutdown wh

Kermit the Frog told us decades ago that it wasn’t easy being green.  We’re only now starting to understand.  Coal is thought to have first been used for heat in Northern China 4,000 years ago.  This special rock could burn like a log, providing warmth in a cold part of the globe and likely the first time humans used fossil fuel.  Fast forward through various ind