Sustainable Energy Pricing Nature, Sustainable Engineering, and the Science of Energy Pricing

by Zatzman, Gary M.

• ISBN13: 9780470901632
• ISBN10: 0470901632
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-07
• Publisher: Wiley-Scrivener

Summary

The petroleum sector is possibly the largest and most dominant economic sector in the globalized economy. However, for reasons explored in this book, although none of the existing economic development models fit this sector in the past and apply even less today, no satisfactory alternative has presented itself. This book highlights the important reasons why current models fail to predict energy pricing with reasonable accuracy, and ventures into environmental and other problems with oil and gas production and associated economic decisions mounting across both developed as well as developing economies.

Author Biography

Gary M. Zatzman is a researcher with the EEC Research Organisation, in Halifax NS, Canada, a multinational community of researchers from various fields in engineering, social science, and the natural sciences researching ways for industry to become sustainable, both from an economic and environmental standpoint. With this latest work, the author synthesizes decades of industry and teaching experience and dozens of papers and books into a work that breaks new ground in the discussion of sustainability in the energy sector.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Requirements of a Sustainable Energy Pricing Model	p. 9
Some General Issues	p. 9
Sustainability Criteria and Economic Theory	p. 15
Sustainability for whom?	p. 17
The Basis of Change and the Conditions of Change	p. 19
Linearities that-Fail to Straighten Anything Out	p. 22
The Information/Disinformation Nexus	p. 24
Perception, Truth and Aphenomenality	p. 27
Outline of the Contents of this Volume	p. 30
Fundamental Notions	p. 37
"Energy Crunch" or: The Problems and Issues of Modeling an Energy Price	p. 39
Commodification: The General Capital-centred Theory	p. 44
Energy as Social Product	p. 48
Cultural Bias and Energy Price Modeling	p. 53
Commodification: The Special Theory of Modern-day Time Compression	p. 61
Matter, Energy, and Efficiency from Scientific Standpoint	p. 66
Truth as a Scientific Frame of Reference	p. 69
Eurocentric Distortion of Scientific Truth as a Frame of Reference	p. 74
Phenomenally-based Sustainability: The Nature-science Criterion	p. 80
Value Assessment, Value Addition and Phenomenally-based Energy Pricing	p. 94
The Role of Value Assessment and Value Addition	p. 95
Newtonian 'Mechanism' and Mystification of How Value is Transformed into Price	p. 104
Risk Assessment & Management and Aphenomenal Energy Pricing	p. 107
Energy Pricing based on Fictions: The Case of Enron	p. 110
The Temporal Criterion of Long-term Sustainability and its Implications	p. 116
Documents	p. 118
Timeline of Critical Events for Enron in the Period August 2001 to December 2001	p. 118
Enron Segment and Stock Market Performance 1993-2000	p. 119
The Temporal Horizon In Which Diligence Can Become Undue	p. 119
Darwinian Pessimism and the Foreshortening of Temporal Horizons	p. 123
Enron and the Foreshortening of Temporal Horizons	p. 125
Newtonian Mechanism and The Deconstruction of Scientific Disinformation	p. 137
Introduction	p. 139
What is the Issue?	p. 139
Einstein's Relativity and Newton's Mechanism Compared	p. 140
Newton's First Assumption	p. 142
First Level of Rectification of Newton's First Assumption	p. 148
Second Level of Rectification of Newton's First Assumption	p. 150
Can We Take for Granted that Masswill Remain Constant?	p. 150
Fundamental Assumptions of Electromagnetic Theory	p. 153
Can Energy Propagate Throughout Space in the Absence of Mass?	p. 153
The Engineering Approach and Its Significance	p. 175
First Conclusions	p. 180
Continuity and Linearity	p. 182
Confusion Twice Confounded	p. 182
It's Really About Time…	p. 187
"Laws of Motion", "Natural Law" & Questions of Mutability	p. 197
Offshore Networks of Control: Providing Short-Term Multi-Entity International Oil and Gas Plays with a Guarantee	p. 209
Current Energy Pricing Models: Origins & Problems	p. 223
Consumption without Production	p. 226
Description of the Problem and its Visible Impacts	p. 226
Disinforming Impacts of Consumption without Production	p. 242
Imposed Energy Pricing	p. 246
Inherent Features of the Current Energy-Pricing Model: Matters Affecting Individuals' Daily Existence	p. 256
Introducing the R-D-R' Cycle	p. 266
Societal Implications of the Current Energy-Pricing Model for the Long Term	p. 269
Why Does the Writ of the "Competitive Advantage of Nations" Seem To Stop At the Shores of OPEC Member-States?	p. 272
Disappearing the Source of Energy Commodities' Value Behind Scientifically Meaningless Discourses about "Rent"	p. 281
How Comparative Pricing Theory & Cost-accounting Practices of the Oil & Gas Sector Further Confound Resource rent	p. 289
Long-term vs Short-term Returns-on-investment [ROI] From Energy Exploration & Development	p. 296
An Oil-Sands Boom without Bust?	p. 299
Resource "Renewability" and 'Sustainable Negative Rent'	p. 304
The Role of Coal in the Modern Evolution of Energy Pricing	p. 309
Introduction	p. 309
Significance of Commodifying Labor-time & All Material Production - Including its Energy Source	p. 313
Significance of the Napoleonic Wars	p. 318
The Reform Act of 1832	p. 321
Britain & France Compared	p. 323
Jevons as Ideologue of Coal & "Marginal Utility"	p. 329
From "Law of Supply & Demand" (at the margin) to "Consumption without Production"	p. 335
Document	p. 338
History of U.S. Coal Use [extract]	p. 338
Carbon Emission Credits - Theory & Practice	p. 341
Introduction	p. 341
THEORY - Regime	p. 342
THEORY - "Additionality"	p. 346
THEORY - Sustainability and a "Universal Equivalent"	p. 348
THEORY - Market	p. 351
PRACTICE - Real-world Carbon Trading Mechanisms	p. 354
PRACTICE - Some Real-world Emission-Reduction Scenarios Considered	p. 362
PRACTICE - Criticisms and Shortcomings of Practical Carbon Credit Regimes	p. 365
PRACTICE - Emissions Reduction Currency Systems	p. 366
Documents	p. 371
The Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism Gold Standard	p. 371
Thoughts on the Relative Merits of Cap-and-Trade Versus Emission Taxes for Controlling Carbon Emissions	p. 372
U.S. House Passes Repeal of EPA Carbon Rules Over White House Objections	p. 378
Carbon Trading: A Method for Preserving the Environment and Reducing Poverty	p. 380
Canadian Law with Regard to Carbon Emission Regulation	p. 387
Carbon Capture and Storage - Identified challenges to implementation	p. 392
North America Bets on "Carbon Capture and Storage" (CCS)	p. 400
Canadian Implications of U.S. Climate Change Regulation	p. 406
The Taxation of Tradable Permits	p. 411
Ottawa Unveils Carbon-offset System	p. 416
Ontario Introduces Cap-and-trade Legislation	p. 419
Canada Moves Forward on Domestic Emissions Trading Market	p. 421
Carbonmail?	p. 424
"Peak Oil" and Other Fits of Pique Among Resource Economists	p. 435
Introduction	p. 435
Human Factor Social Consciousness & "Abstracting Absence"	p. 453
Document	p. 460
The Achnacarry Agreement and the "As Is" System	p. 465
The Entry of Kuwait onto the World Market	p. 467
Aramco and the Containment of Saudi Arabian Expansion	p. 471
Notes	p. 473
Bibliography	p. 477
Introductory Note	p. 477
Bibliography	p. 478
Websites	p. 518
Appendix -Disinformation in the Social & Historical Sciences: Concerning Time Functions and Sustainability of Resource Development	p. 521
Introduction	p. 521
Detaching Canada's East Coast Fishery From Its History: Causes and Consequences	p. 523
The Mishandling of Temporal Factors Analysed as a Problem of Method	p. 529
Social Science and The Problem of Linearised Time	p. 536
Placing tlinear on Life Support	p. 543
Merchant's Capital - Key Historic Intangible of The East Coast Fishery	p. 555
The 800-Pound Gorilla	p. 563
Index	p. 575
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.