This is Day 21 of our trip and Day 12 of our cruise on the Oceania Riviera from Yokohama to Vancouver.  We've been sailing in the open ocean for several days, the seas are now not as rough, and we finally arrive in Kodiak, Alaska tomorrow.  As such, I have been occupied with topics like the International Date Line and why the USA is great, and could well become greater under Donald Trump ( that was the potential if he somehow succeeds in gobbling up Canada and Greenland ). First, Happy Boys Day. It was my third posting of this blog site,  5May2008 , that I wrote about Boys Day.  Same day as Cinco de Mayo, as shown at the end. Today, though, I'll revert to a topic I toss in perhaps monthly called Energy Matters, the following from the  5May2025 issue  of this subject from the America Energy Society. Here is some bad stuff you probably had no idea even existed:  PET COKE. Petroleum coke is the final product from the cracking of oil. When burned, it emits...

 Today, more from Energy Matters of the American Energy Society: Electricity cost of generation from 209 coal power plants are more expensive than from solar or wind farms. Yet, fossil fuels still dominate in the production of electricity. However, how about this stunning bit of information?    Global coal consumption reached an all-time high in 2022 and will slightly increase in 2023 . Part of the problem with wind and solar is that they are intermittent.  Cost effective storage is a must.  Form Energy announced an agreement with Xcel Energy to deploy its  iron-air battery  systems to integrate more renewable energy for its customers. The sleeping giant of energy storage is  pumped storage . EV and hybrid vehicle sales continue to increase. The U.S. is on pace to set a new oil production record sometime in 2024. The  oil industry in Venezuela has collapsed . Produced 3.1 million barrels / day in 1988. Today, only 0.7 million barrels/day. How...