Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To

Those giant pyramids of sand at every frac site exist for one reason, and it turns out the industry might be quietly running short on the good stuff. Curtis Wilie and Josh Johnson of Superior Energy Services break down how a coal byproduct called fly ash is shaking up the proppant game, why something three times finer than sand outperforms it, and how pulling forgotten barrels from legacy wells could matter more than drilling new ones. Plenty of analogies, zero shame about the dumb questions.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Why there's sand everywhere on a frac site01:00 How hydraulic fracturing actually works04:00 River frac in the 1930s and the search for the right proppant06:00 The sand economy and a looming supply squeeze09:00 Where sand comes from and the Permian conveyor belt16:00 Meet EcoReach: fly ash instead of sand19:00 Lighter, stronger, finer, and how it travels farther21:00 Unlocking micro fractures and trillions of trapped barrels25:00 Sourcing ash from coal plants worldwide29:00 Walnut shells, steel balls, and other proppant experiments30:00 Skipping the blender and pumping at six barrels a minute33:00 Flowing like water and getting 90 percent of fluid back35:00 The floor jack analogy for frac initiation37:00 The godfather story and balancing the proppant triangle43:00 Who's adopting it and the case for refracshttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

Prabhdeep Sekhon, CEO of Eclipse Energy, breaks down the hydrogen rainbow and why it doesn't tell the whole story about cost, carbon intensity, and water use. From farm boy in Canada to petroleum engineer in the Bakken to clean tech founder, Prab explains how his team is using microbes to eat leftover oil in abandoned fields and produce hydrogen without water, turning billion-dollar liabilities into clean energy assets. He walks through their first-of-a-kind California project that hit 40% hydrogen production, the West Texas deployments coming next, and why co-locating data centers in oil fields solves both the molecule transport problem and the cooling water challenge. They discuss hitting $0.50 per kilogram hydrogen by 2028, why natural gas isn't going anywhere, and how oil and gas companies are actually paying them to figure out the future of their abandoned reservoirs.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Prab's journey from farm to petroleum engineer03:15 - Skills oil and gas taught him for clean tech08:26 - Energy pragmatism and decarbonization economics10:30 - Breaking down the hydrogen rainbow14:01 - Green hydrogen costs and water intensity15:53 - Gray and blue hydrogen trade-offs17:55 - Natural and geological hydrogen potential21:14 - Eclipse's approach to the problem24:17 - Eating oil with microbes for hydrogen26:20 - California first-of-a-kind project results28:41 - Field operations walkthrough32:10 - Hydrogen use cases and volumes36:01 - Cost parity with natural gas38:07 - Data centers solve the transport problem43:03 - Path to commercial scale by 2028https://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Texas electricity is way more complicated than flipping a switch. Brittany Devlin from DOB Ai breaks down the deregulated energy market where customers can actually choose providers and save serious money, but most people just overpay out of laziness. From how the grid physically works to why your AC destroys your summer budget, she explains the whole pipeline. The real hack? Like energy aggregation companies that negotiate contracts for you, breaking deals when better rates appear. Plus: why unplugging appliances matters, how battery storage is fixing solar's sunset problem, and the truth about those "free nights and weekends" billboard scams.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - From nano photonics to energy risk management02:22 - Aviation business intelligence mirrors energy markets04:15 - Flight pricing tricks you shouldn't try07:33 - Deregulated Texas electricity explained08:15 - Why those billboard energy deals are sketchy09:14 - Fixed rate contracts beat variable pricing10:29 - How aggregators find cheaper electricity plans12:08 - The Griddy lawsuit and contract regulations13:06 - No monopolies: you can switch providers anytime15:28 - Energy Ogre cuts bills in half for $10/month18:10 - How contract switching and negotiation works22:12 - The power grid is literally all connected24:58 - Power to Choose website limitations27:31 - Energy mix and the renewable integration29:19 - California's duck curve problem hits Texas31:03 - Battery storage: use it or lose it technology32:25 - AI data centers and grid infrastructure36:31 - Natural gas fueling most Texas electricity38:01 - Why correlation between gas and electricity prices weakened40:12 - Complex gas contracts and pipeline capacity43:14 - Did deregulation actually help consumers?44:13 - Rapid fire tips to lower your electricity bill48:55 - Smart meters track usage every five minutes51:12 - Insulation and weatherstripping matter more than you think52:36 - Three story homes are wildly inefficienthttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Joe Natale from Knight-Chemstar joins the show fresh off pulling off something pretty remarkable in Massachusetts - successfully running the first 100% renewable diesel pilot program for commuter rail locomotives in the country. He breaks down the wild logistics of moving renewable diesel from Midwest producers to New England, why heating oil is basically diesel's cousin, the bacon grease problem that happens when biodiesel gets cold, and why drop-in fuels make way more sense than ripping out all our infrastructure for electrification.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Joe's background from terminal operator to renewables08:08 Development of Providence biodiesel rail terminal14:06 Winning and executing the MBTA renewable diesel pilot20:21 Sustainable aviation fuel distribution strategy25:04 Breaking down fuel types: ethanol, diesel, heating oil33:00 Northeast heating oil versus natural gas infrastructure38:15 Renewable diesel logistics and clean heat standards43:35 Drop-in fuels versus full electrification51:05 Cloud point and the biodiesel gelling problem55:33 Future of sustainable aviation fuel and incentiveshttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

Trying to make geophysics cool again, and honestly Peter Duncan from MicroSeismic, Inc. makes it easy. We bounce from a bear encounter in Newfoundland to why geophysicists are basically treasure hunters with pricey toys, then land on the simple difference between seismic and microseismic, why sound travels so freakishly well through rock, and how listening to tiny underground pops helps fracking and now geothermal get smarter without wrecking nearby wells.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. https://www.microseismic.com/2026-forum/00:00 Panel shoutout and event mention00:23 Peter’s back, making geophysics cool02:12 How he became a geophysicist07:18 Bear story in the field11:34 Geophysics shows up everywhere14:22 Geologist vs geophysicist basics23:13 Sound waves, earthquakes, and why seismic works26:05 Seismic vs microseismic explained28:11 Microseismic and geothermal’s comeback40:57 What MicroSeismic actually does in the field45:34 Frac hits and protecting neighboring wells48:52 Wrap-up and round three teasehttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters