Keenan's Book Reviews: Search results for Sylvia F. Munson

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Saturday, September 29, 2018

Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson

Regular readers of this blog may recall that about two and a half years ago I read several books about utility depreciation. This was part of my preparation for a new job at the time. I recently changed jobs, and that is starting a new round of reading.

A book that came highly recommended by my new supervisor is Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson. In this book, Munson describes the business processes and operations of natural gas pipelines.

This book provides a very straightforward description of the process. It is complicated. Munson does not avoid the complexity, but neither does she get bogged down in trying to describe every situation that may arise.

Readers of this book can gain an understanding of how the business of a natural gas pipeline is set up. It shows how the industry and regulators have solved a lot of practical problems. How does a customer of a pipeline (shipper) tell the pipeline how much gas it wants to transport (nomination)? How does the pipeline figure out how to balance the gas available and wanted and how to move it (scheduling)? How does the pipeline reconcile what was schedules with what actually happens (allocation) because gas moving in a pipe is a complex thing? Munson describes these processes and the regulations and standards that govern them.

Munson does not try to be excessively comprehensive. Anyone who works doing this type of work for a pipeline or shipper will need to become familiar with a lot of rules, standards and company-specific procedures. However, Contents Under Pressure is a place to get started. It is also a book that shows the process from beginning to end so one can see how one step leads to the next.

The book has several short segments that are contributed by other authors. These contributors have experience in the energy industry and most are connected to the North American Energy Standards Board through positions of leadership or committee service.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Depreciation Systems by Frank K. Wolf & W. Chester Fitch

Public Utility Depreciation by NARUC

Munson, Sylvia F. Contents Under Pressure: The Complete Handbook of Natural Gas Transportation. Houston, TX: Farris Ventures.

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Boom by Russell Gold

The great expansion of natural gas wells that was brought about by new technologies—directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking)—in the last few decades has meant that a lot more people are physically closer to the energy industry. In 2013, more than 15 million Americans lived within a mile of a fracked well. Journalist Russell Gold has a personal connection to this change in the energy landscape; his parents own property in Pennsylvania that they leased out for natural gas drilling.

In his book, The Boom, Gold explores the history of the oil and gas industry, and the development of key technologies, that led to the present abundance of natural gas. This interesting and long history energy exploration and development has attracted colorful characters.

The natural gas boom has also created opportunities and challenges. For one thing, fracked wells can produce a lot more natural gas and get it from rock formations that were previously considered too impermeable to economically give up the gas they stored. Now we get gas from these rocks and the natural gas supply that once seemed limited now seems enourmous, and prices for natural gas have dropped in response.

In addition, natural gas produces less carbon dioxide and other pollutants than burning of other fuels such as coal. Even though the U.S. has not participated in international carbon-control protocols, the growth of natural gas as a fuel, replacing other energy sources, has made the U.S. one of the few countries to come close to meeting goals for carbon reduction.

Even so, natural gas is a fossil fuel that carries some of the problems of its cousins. For instance, natural gas is mostly methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Releases of methane reduce some of the gains made by switching from coal or other less clean-burning fuels to gas. Cheap gas also makes alternative energy sources such as solar or wind less economically attractive, which may delay the development of these resources.

Gold seems to balance these issues. Natural gas is a superior fuel to coal from the perspective of air quality and climate change. It is probably also necessary to use natural gas as a bridge to solar and wind as a way to provide stability as these naturally variable energy sources, along with the energy storage needed to make them truly feasible, are improved. Other problems with gas, such as potential threats to water quality, can be mitigated with existing technology, better rules and careful management.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson

The Power Makers by Maury Klein

Gold, Russell. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

500 Books Reviewed on Keenan's Book Reviews

500 Books Reviewed on Keenan’s Book Reviews

I’ve posted reviews of 500 books on this blog. Here are links to the 50 most recent posts. Further down are links to more reviews.

First Time Reviews

A Mind for Numbers by Barbara A. Oakley

Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Become a Better You by Joel Osteen

The Beethoven Factor by Paul Pearsall

Bigger than Life by Marilyn Cannaday

Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope

The Boom by Russell Gold

Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi

Chief Engineer by Erica Wagner

The Computers of Star Trek by Lois Gresh & Robert Weinberg

Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Feeding the Fire by Mark E. Eberhart

The Frackers by Gregory Zuckerman

Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight

The Girls of Atomic City by Denis Kiernan

God’s Equation by Amir Aczel

Good Naked by Joni B. Cole

Happiness is a Choice by Barry Neil Kaufman

Haunted Jefferson City by Janice Tremeear

The Instinct to Heal by David Servan-Schreiber

It’s Not Always Depression by Hilary Jacobs Hendel

The Johnstown Flood by David McCollough

Late Bloomers by Rich Karlgaard

Learn Python 3 the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw

Lift by Daniel Kunitz

Living Low Carb by Johnny Bowden

Lost Connections by Hari Johnson

Loving in Flow by Susan K. Perry

Making the American Body by Jonathan Black

The Math Myth and Other STEM Delusions by Andrew Hacker

Metering for America by Alfred Leif

Mr. America by Mark Adams

Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking by Robert H. Schuller

Pascal’s Wager by James A. Connor

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard P. Feynman

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith

Range by David Epstein

The Revenge of Analog by David Sax

Scan Artist by Marcia Biederman

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

Stat-Spotting by Joel Best

Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein

Unimaginable by Jeremiah H. Johnston

Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes

Write Naked by Jennifer Probst

You are a Badass Every Day by Jen Sincero

Additional and Expanded Reviews

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The Introvert’s Way by Sophia Dembling

Continuation of list of 500 books reviewed

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

The Frackers by Gregory Zuckerman

The United States experienced a major change in energy in the 2000s. Prior to the boom in oil and natural gas production, the nation was concerned with declining production—oil production peaked in 1970—increasing demand and increasing reliance on foreign oil. New technology, particularly horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made previously challenging sources of oil and gas economically feasible to access. The result is increased energy supply, lower prices for natural gas, and less reliance on foreign sources.

The story of this turnaround is not founded on government policies or one of the massive energy companies. These energy resources from shales and other difficult rocks have been made available by players who started out as small time wildcatters and landmen. They took the risk on developing difficult resources in the United States and developing the technologies that made them economically feasible. As politicians wrung their hands and big companies sought greener pasture oversees, these men held onto hope and kept digging until they found solutions.

Gregory Zuckerman recounts the story of some of these men and the businesses they built in The Frackers. This is a book of business journalism. That is more interesting than it may sound. It is a story with some drama as players face ups and downs that sometimes lead to ruin and sometimes to outrageous wealth. It has had a significant impact on the American economy as well.

It may be a uniquely American story, too. The United States is one of the very few countries in which individuals own the rights to the minerals, including oil and gas, that are under their land. This meant people could try even when it seemed they were likely to lose, and have little interference in their losses. A few of them lost and lost until they won and won big.

Zuckerman acknowledges concerns related to fracking. He finds that the environmental concerns have been somewhat overblow, and that it can be done safely if appropriate measure are taken, though that hasn’t always been the case. Appropriate environmental regulation can protect human health and the environmental while continuing to give us access to these energy sources.

Another concern is that low energy prices may reduce the impetus for developing alternative and renewable energy. This is still the best long-term option. Zuckerman finds some hope in the story of the frackers though. Their belief and persistence resulted in big changes, but it took time. The developers of the next generation energy sources may have their breakthrough, too, in the next couple of decades if they keep at it.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson

Zuckerman, Gregory. The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2013.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Metering for America by Alfred Leif

Metering for America is something you’re unlikely to see published today. It is a company history in the form of a hardback book.

I’m not especially interested in The American Meter Company. I’m a professional interested in the natural gas industry.

Author Alfred Lief gives attention to the wider gas industry throughout the book, from the early gas light companies that used gas manufactured from coal (or sometimes other things), the competition with electric lighting, expansion into gas for cooking and heating and finally the expansion of a national natural gas infrastructure.

Of course, there is plenty to be said about American Meter along the way. The second half of the book is arguably more about the company than about the gas industry in general.

Even so, I found the book fairly interesting, especially the discussions related to the development of gas up to World War I. It’s probably not of interest to a broad audience or widely available. I found my copy at a used book store in Omaha, Nebraska.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Age of Edison by Ernest Freeburg

Contents Under Pressure by Sylvia F. Munson

Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes

How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson

Mr. America by Mark Adams

The Power Makers by Maury Klein

Leif, Alfred. Metering for America: 125 Years of the Gas Industry and American Meter Company. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961.