Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

Your Choice in Power

I got a letter from my electric company, We Energies, with an interesting offering.

They are offering me the choice to use alternate resources to power my home. These are resources that are local to state and renewable. They say it is a combination of wind (17%), small hydroeletric (8%), and landfill gas (75%). They offer three participation levels with the highest being able to match 100% of your electricity with the purchases of renewable energy. That highest level adds an additional $15 a month to your bill.

I thought this was pretty remarkable. You typically do not have alot of choice over the energy you consume in your home. The old answer was consume less. Their new answer is renewable energy costs more, but here is option to pay for it if you value it.

Speculation Adds to Rising Oil Prices

WSJ reports [sub. needed] that speculators are heavily involved with energy futures. They are lured by the ever increasing prices for oil and natural gas driven by both supply issues and surging demand.

Analysts believe speculators are playing the role of marginal buyers, sending prices higher than they would otherwise be, but doing little to alter the basic upward trend driven by broader market pressure such as high demand. Jeff Curry, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, estimates prices would be in the low $40s a barrel were it not for the these speculators.

Prices are rising

I can't understand how people keep saying there are not many signs of inflation in the economy. And if they admit there is inflation they will point to the price of oil and how it is coming back down already.

My father runs a small sheet metal fabrication shop. The price of steel and copper have almost doubled in the last 18 months. Aluminum is now headed that way. He has passed on those increases to his customers. It is only a matter of time before those increases ripple through the economy.

There was an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel yesterday that illustrated the rippling. Kopp's, a local frozen custard chain here in Milwaukee, is raising their prices. "The price of materials- everything from plastic forks to custard mix- have increased about 20% over the last couple of months", says manager Bud Reinhart. Later this week, the price of custard will go up about 12.5% and the price of cheeseburgers will go up 10%.