There are bloggers who don't know what they're talking about, bloggers who do know what they're talking about, and bloggers who REALLY REALLY know what they're talking about.  Geoffrey Styles, our Blogger of the Week whose posts are regularly aggregated on our sister site, The Energy Collective, falls distinctly into the latter exhalted territory.  His meaty and prolific posts on policy, economics and energy at his  Energy Outlook blog are frequently quoted and discussed by dozens of other publications, ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Salon to Grist.  

His wry understatement that "Election-year politics and prudent energy policy do not mix well” was one of the most quoted observations during the past presidential campaign.

Styles' analyses are based on more than 28 years of experience in the energy industry, including 22 years at Texaco Inc. in a variety of assignments with increasing responsibility, culminating in Director-level position in Corporate Strategic Management Group.   He also served on NASA’s Senior Management Oversight Committee for Space Solar Power.  He holds an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from U.C. Davis He currently owns his own consulting practice called GSW Strategy Group, LLC , focusing on energy and strategy, serving Fortune 500 clients.

"Basically, I provide business and geopolitical scenario planning and strategy services in all industries, but with a specialty in energy," he says.   "I've created alternative energy scenarios for a major energy company, designed and delivered scenario planning training for a large mailing services company, and I do a lot of executive briefings, advising institutions on strategic planning, writing and speaking."

One of the most refreshing aspects of Styles' writing is his non-partisan, seemingly agenda-free approach to analysing some of the world's thorniest problems.  He simply calls them as he see them.  Here's a small sample:
 
On Iran's nuclear ambitions:

"Several years ago I took a detailed look at the rationale for Iran to build an entire nuclear fuel cycle for civilian purposes and found it wanting. The world's second-largest natural gas reserves provide it with a much more cost-effective means of generating additional power for its economy, without exposing the country to international sanctions or potential attack. Notwithstanding the findings of a controversial US National Intelligence Estimate last year, the simplest explanation for Iran's tenacity in pursuing uranium enrichment is the option that creates for building nuclear weapons."

On ethanol:

"We create incentives and mandates for ethanol to substitute for gasoline (and thus imported oil) and end up driving up not just the price of food from which we make ethanol--notwithstanding claims to the contrary in the latest PR and lobbying campaign from the ethanol industry--but also the price of diesel fuel and heating oil, while having much less net impact on oil imports than we imagined."

On how hard it will be to save the planet:

Like the Cold War, solving our energy and climate problems is not the work of one Congress or one Administration, but will require a cumulative effort spanning decades. That should align with the necessity of avoiding further shocks to the economy, as well.

The Times of London has named Energy Outlook one of the Top 50 eco blogs.

We're thrilled that Geoff shares his posts with us at The Energy Collective.