tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14465608621670129842024-03-05T19:43:37.548-08:00energy, food, environmentPerspectives on news and research about culture, economy, and the planetdustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-61189770770862701582009-12-07T19:08:00.001-08:002009-12-07T19:08:29.104-08:00James Hansen on Copenhagen Day 1<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><h1><nyt_headline type=' ' version='1.0'> Cap and Fade </nyt_headline></h1> <nyt_byline type=' ' version='1.0'> <div class='byline'>By <person value='arts,automobiles,books,business,college,dining,education,fashion,garden,giving,health,jobs,magazine,movies,multimedia,nyregion,obituaries,realestate,science,sports,style,technology,theater,travel,us,washington,weekinreview,world:::more articles about james e. hansen.:::http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/james_e_hansen/index.html' idsrc='nyt-per'><alt-code value='hansen, james e' idsrc='nyt-per'>JAMES HANSEN</alt-code></person></div> </nyt_byline> <p>AT the international climate talks in Copenhagen, President Obama is expected to announce that the United States wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. But at the heart of his plan is cap and trade, a market-based approach that has been widely praised but does little to slow global warming or reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. It merely allows polluters and Wall Street traders to fleece the public out of billions of dollars. </p> <p>Supporters of cap and trade point to the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments that capped sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-burning power plants — the main pollutants in acid rain — at levels below what they were in 1980. This legislation allowed power plants that reduced emissions to levels below the cap to sell the credit for these excess reductions to other utilities whose emissions were too high, thus giving plant owners a financial incentive to cut back their pollution. Sulfur emissions have been reduced by 43 percent in the two decades since. Great success? Hardly. </p> <p>Because cap and trade is enforced through the selling and trading of permits, it actually perpetuates the pollution it is supposed to eliminate. If every polluter’s emissions fell below the incrementally lowered cap, then the price of pollution credits would collapse and the economic rationale to keep reducing pollution would disappear.</p> <p>Worse yet, polluters’ lobbyists ensured that the clean air amendments allowed existing power plants to be “grandfathered,” avoiding many pollution regulations. These old plants would soon be retired anyway, the utilities claimed. That’s hardly been the case: Two-thirds of today’s coal-fired power plants were constructed before 1975.</p> <p>Cap and trade also did little to improve public health. Coal emissions are still significant contributing factors in four of the five leading causes of mortality in the United States — and mercury, arsenic and various coal pollutants also cause birth defects, asthma and other ailments.</p> <p>Yet cap-and-trade schemes are still being pursued in Copenhagen and Washington. (Though I head the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, I’m speaking only for myself.)</p> <p>To compound matters, the Congressional carbon cap would also encourage “offsets” — alternatives to emission reductions, like planting trees on degraded land or avoiding deforestation in Brazil. Caps would be raised by the offset amount, even if such offsets are imaginary or unverifiable. Stopping deforestation in one area does not reduce demand for lumber or food-growing land, so deforestation simply moves elsewhere. </p> <p>Once again, lobbyists are providing the real leadership on climate change legislation. Under the proposed law, some permits to pollute would be handed out free; and much of the money actually collected from permits would be used to pay for boondoggles like “clean coal” research. The House and Senate energy bills would only assure continued coal use, making it implausible that carbon dioxide emissions would decline sharply.</p> <p>If that isn’t bad enough, Wall Street is poised to make billions of dollars in the “trade” part of cap-and-trade. The market for trading permits to emit carbon appears likely to be loosely regulated, to be open to speculators and to include derivatives. All the profits of this pollution trading system would be extracted from the public via increased energy prices.</p> <p>There is a better alternative, one that would be more efficient and less costly than cap and trade: “fee and dividend.” Under this approach, a gradually rising carbon fee would be collected at the mine or port of entry for each fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas). The fee would be uniform, a certain number of dollars per ton of carbon dioxide in the fuel. The public would not directly pay any fee, but the price of goods would rise in proportion to how much carbon-emitting fuel is used in their production. </p> <p>All of the collected fees would then be distributed to the public. Prudent people would use their dividend wisely, adjusting their lifestyle, choice of vehicle and so on. Those who do better than average in choosing less-polluting goods would receive more in the dividend than they pay in added costs.</p> <p>For example, when the fee reached $115 per ton of carbon dioxide it would add $1 per gallon to the price of gasoline and 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour to the price of electricity. Given the amount of oil, gas and coal used in the United States in 2007, that carbon fee would yield about $600 billion per year. The resulting dividend for each adult American would be as much as $3,000 per year. As the fee rose, tipping points would be reached at which various carbon-free energies and carbon-saving technologies would become cheaper than fossil fuels plus their fees. As time goes on, fossil fuel use would collapse.</p> <p>Still need more convincing? Consider the perverse effect cap and trade has on altruistic actions. Say you decide to buy a small, high-efficiency car. That reduces your emissions, but not your country’s. Instead it allows somebody else to buy a bigger S.U.V. — because the total emissions are set by the cap. </p> <p>In a fee-and-dividend system, every action to reduce emissions — and to keep reducing emissions — would be rewarded. Indeed, knowing that you were saving money by buying a small car might inspire your neighbor to follow suit. Popular demand for efficient vehicles could drive gas guzzlers off the market. Such snowballing effects could speed us toward a pollution-free world.</p> <p>The plans in Copenhagen and Washington have not been finalized. It is not too late to trade cap and trade for an approach that actually works. </p> <nyt_author_id><div id='authorId'><p>James Hansen is the author of the forthcoming “Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity.”</p></div></nyt_author_id><br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=0e452a5b-0057-8f69-82d7-895207a8ab0f' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-72066053780998031532009-04-08T22:52:00.001-07:002009-04-08T22:52:08.481-07:00Obama Adviser Hints at Compromise on Cap-and-Trade Emission Allowances<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Washington Post article...<br/><br/>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040802467.html?wprss=rss_business<br/><br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=1aefdf31-ba06-8efa-b6c2-ede57e983aeb' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-87742102712279015682009-04-08T22:12:00.001-07:002009-04-08T22:12:29.706-07:00In Areas Fueled by Coal, Climate Bill Sends Chill<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The thing is, prices will only rise so high. Once alternative sources become more competitive, they should supplant the unclean coal. <br/><br/>NYT article...<br/><br/>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/09coal.html?hpw<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=eb3ded20-5fe3-8448-b680-178ba9f70089' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-12912258189797031832009-04-08T18:22:00.001-07:002009-04-08T18:22:22.438-07:00Where Is Our Ferdinand Pecora?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>great op-ed. <br/><br/>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/opinion/06chernow.htm<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=ce1c72d5-1502-8ebc-9237-7e61d9198436' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-84419972526423635072009-04-06T18:21:00.000-07:002009-04-08T18:28:00.008-07:00Oil's opinion<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>captured well by this NYT piece...<br/><br/>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/business/energy-environment/08greenoil.html?hp<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=d584db97-4f32-8edd-b851-2111a7063c0c' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-67797394156609410612009-03-03T15:20:00.001-08:002009-03-12T09:27:14.171-07:00EU biofuel trade war is brewing<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div class="timestamp">March 4, 2009</div><br /><nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">Europe Backs Tariffs on U.S. Biofuel Imports<br /></nyt_headline><nyt_byline type=" " version="1.0"><br /><div class="byline">By <a title="More Articles by James Kanter" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/james_kanter/index.html?inline=nyt-per">JAMES KANTER</a></div></nyt_byline><nyt_text><div id="articleBody"><br /> <p>BRUSSELS — Seeking to protect their beleaguered biodiesel industry, European governments on Tuesday backed a plan to impose provisional tariffs on American biodiesel producers<br />like Cargill and <a title="More information about Archer-Daniels-Midland Co" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/archer_daniels_midland_company/index.html?inline=nyt-org">Archer Daniels Midland</a>, <a title="More articles about the European Union." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org">European Union</a> diplomats said.</p><p>Both the European Union and the United States subsidize their<br />biodiesel industries. But European producers have complained to trade<br />regulators that their counterparts in the United States benefit twice:<br />from subsidies by the United States government to produce biodiesel,<br />and from subsidies granted by European governments when the fuel is<br />sold on the Continent.</p><p>Moves by the European Union to impose tariffs come as concerns are growing<br />that protectionism by governments during the current downturn could<br />spiral out of control. But representatives of the European biodiesel<br />industry said the measures being undertaken by European officials were<br />necessary and justified under <a title="More articles about the World Trade Organization." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/world_trade_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org">World Trade Organization</a> rules.</p><p>“Whatever the action of the United States will be — even in front of<br />the W.T.O. — our complaint and our case is well grounded,” said<br />Raffaelo Garofalo, the secretary general of the European Biodiesel<br />Board, an industry group. “There is no logical explanation for why<br />biodiesel sold in Europe could be cheaper than its raw materials.” </p><p>European diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because a final determination on the levels of duties remained with the <a title="More articles about European Commission" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org">European Commission</a>, which is not expected to publish its decision until next week. </p><p>Under European rules, the commission is entitled to impose<br />provisional duties lasting six months. Any definitive measures, lasting<br />five years, would need approval by European governments before the<br />summer.</p><p>“We are not commenting on expected decisions and instead will wait<br />for official action to be taken by the commission,” said an American<br />trade official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal<br />decision had not yet been made.</p><p>To counter what it calls unfair subsidies to the American industry,<br />the commission is poised to impose tariffs of 261 to 407 euros, or $328<br />to $511, on a ton of American biodiesel, the diplomats said. Dozens of<br />companies would be affected, the diplomats said.</p><p>The level of tariffs would be tailored to individual companies to<br />reflect the types and amounts of the fuel they produce, and the amount<br />of subsidies and other support they receive from American authorities,<br />the diplomats said. Commission officials have visited United States as<br />part of an investigation since beginning formal proceedings last year,<br />they said.</p><p>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/worldbusiness/04biodiesel.html?pagewanted=print<br /></p></div></nyt_text></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-39361989565367415132009-02-23T13:50:00.000-08:002009-02-23T13:51:50.740-08:00'Green' energy needs a big leap<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1446560862167012984#" name="ToggleMore"></a><br /><div class="storysubhead">Experts say scientific breakthroughs are the key to making renewable power sources cheap and easy to use.</div> By Jim Tankersley<br /> <br /> February 23, 2009<br /><br />Reporting from Washington — When Energy Secretary Steven Chu talks about how Americans can break their addiction to oil and coal, he starts with his hi-fi amplifier. It's so old that the on-off light burned out long ago. But inside lies a technology that -- in its day -- was as revolutionary as the changes needed to solve the nation's energy problems.<br /><br />Radios, telephones and other electronics once depended on fragile vacuum tubes the size of small light bulbs. Then scientists pioneered a smaller, cheaper and more durable replacement called the transistor, opening the way to trans-Atlantic phone calls and a host of other marvels, including Chu's stereo.<br /><br />Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and other experts say similar scientific breakthroughs are needed to make renewable power sources such as wind, solar and biofuels as cheap and easy to use as costly, environmentally damaging oil and coal. Toward that end, President Obama's stimulus package contains $8 billion for energy research, including $400 million targeted for game-changing technology.<br /><br />The problem is that over the last three decades, the U.S. has spent many times that much on energy research and development -- with nothing like a transistor to show for it.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-energy-future23-2009feb23,0,3777093,print.story">More...</a>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-27083030166071822162009-01-28T17:39:00.000-08:002009-01-28T19:47:51.193-08:00coal in the Senate stimulus bill, where is renewable energy?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1446560862167012984#" name="ToggleMore"> </a>According to the <a href="http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200901270569">The Charleston Gazette</a> the Senate version of the economic stimulus bill has $4.6 billion for coal. The point I would make with this was made best by Oppenheimer when he's said this bill is cementing into place the wrong infrastructure in <a href="http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/whats-missing-in-the-stimulus-plan/?hp#michael">the NYTimes today</a>.<br /><br />Where is the renewable energy in this bill? There are some nice tax incentives in there, but its not even clear if the very meager and modest National Clean Energy Lending Authority called for by several will be included.<br /><br />I hope this coal money does not count against the ledger of the $150 billion in green jobs promised by Obama.<br /><span class="collapse"> </span>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-67811678021906340112009-01-21T18:15:00.001-08:002009-01-21T18:16:27.499-08:00carbon market crash<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Green Inc. has <a target='_blank' href='http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/carbon-prices-tumble-as-global-downturn-bites/'>a great post on the fall in carbon prices</a> over the past months. <br/><br/><img width='349' height='213' style='max-width: 800px;' src='http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090120/images/457365a-lg.jpg'/><br/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-46620266670897512922009-01-17T21:15:00.001-08:002009-01-17T21:16:44.624-08:00Cape Wind moves to next step?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img style='max-width: 800px;' src='http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/17/us/17wind_submap.jpg'/><br/>More in <a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/us/17wind.html'>NYT</a>. <br/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-31163320027201197472009-01-17T20:48:00.001-08:002009-01-17T20:48:51.946-08:00Green New Deal?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-obama-energy-stimulus16-2009jan16,0,46026.story'>'Green' energy plan in Obama stimulus may be losing steam - Los Angeles Times</a><br/><br/>This is a troubling commentary. The only moment in some time that we've seen public support and a open-wallet government, and its losing steam for no good visible reason. No Windfall Profits Tax, No Green new Deal, whats next. <br/><blockquote/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-25137803572162176242009-01-17T08:27:00.001-08:002009-01-17T08:29:09.237-08:00Bush plan for California oil: a parting gift to big oil and gas<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><br /><img src="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/01/16/ba-drilling0117__SFCG1232159552.jpg" style="max-width: 800px;" /><br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/17/BA0F15C3FU.DTL" target="_blank">See sfgate for more...</a><br /><blockquote></blockquote></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-58097570962857324932009-01-13T11:12:00.001-08:002009-01-13T11:13:31.526-08:00Chu warmly received at Senate confirmation hearing<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>(AP) --<br/><p>Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu promised Tuesday that if<br/>confirmed as energy secretary he will aggressively pursue policies<br/>aimed at addressing climate change and achieving greater energy<br/>independence by developing clean energy sources.</p><a href='http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/n/a/2009/01/13/national/w001513S72.DTL&o=0' target=''><img class='solo-thumb' src='http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/01/13/ba-energy_secret_0499655195_part1.jpg' alt=''/></a><p>But he also told lawmakers that he views nuclear power and coal as critical<br/>parts of the nation's energy mix and said he was optimistic that ways<br/>can be found to make coal a cleaner energy source by capturing its<br/>carbon dioxide emissions.</p><p>Chu, nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to head the Energy<br/>Department, appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources<br/>Committee where he received immediate support from both Democrats and<br/>Republicans.</p><p><a href='http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/13/national/w001513S72.DTL&tsp=1'>more</a></p><p><br/></p></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-21875652173943125042009-01-07T19:56:00.000-08:002009-01-07T20:00:37.729-08:00Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/06/us/07sludge1.600.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 364px; height: 202px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/06/us/07sludge1.600.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1446560862167012984#" name="ToggleMore"></a>The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee last month was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States — most of them unregulated and unmonitored — that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal.<br /><br /><p> Like the one in <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/tennessee/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Tennessee.">Tennessee</a>, most of these dumps, which reach up to 1,500 acres, contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/environmental_protection_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Environmental Protection Agency.">Environmental Protection Agency</a> to be a threat to water supplies and human health. Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation, which experts say could have prevented the spill, and there is little monitoring of their effects on the surrounding environment. </p><p> In fact, coal ash is used throughout the country for construction fill, mine reclamation and other “beneficial uses.” In 2007, according to a coal industry estimate, 50 tons of fly ash even went to agricultural uses, like improving soil’s ability to hold water, despite a 1999 E.P.A. warning about high levels of arsenic. The industry has promoted the reuse of coal combustion products because of the growing amount of them being produced each year — 131 million tons in 2007, up from less than 90 million tons in 1990.</p>The amount of coal ash has ballooned in part because of increased demand for electricity, but more because air pollution controls have improved. Contaminants and waste products that once spewed through the coal plants’ smokestacks are increasingly captured in the form of solid waste, held in huge piles in 46 states, near cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Tampa, Fla., and on the shores of Lake Erie, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.<br /><br />more at...<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/us/07sludge.html?_r=1&hp<br /><span class="collapse"><br /><br /></span>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-21080088903660001082009-01-05T09:03:00.000-08:002009-01-05T09:05:15.800-08:00In Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists Turn Cautious and Focus on the Short Term<p><span class="bold">from NYT...</span></p><p><span class="bold">CLEAN TECH GETS REALISTIC</span> Venture capitalists are still chasing clean technology. Through September, $3 billion was invested in technologies that create alternative energy and conserve power, up from $1.9 billion the year before, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But big, expensive projects like building factories to manufacture solar panels or <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/b/biofuels/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about biofuels.">biofuels</a> are falling out of favor. </p><p>“The economic arguments for those businesses literally went upside down in a year,” said Paul Holland, the general partner in charge of the clean tech practice at Foundation Capital. </p><p>Instead, some venture capitalists are looking at technologies that monitor energy demand, like software that tracks and regulates a building’s energy use.<br /></p><p>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/start-ups/05venture.html?_r=1<br /></p><span class="collapse"> </span>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-769890762502184122008-12-28T01:30:00.001-08:002008-12-28T01:31:02.404-08:00Energy Secretary<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/science/23lab.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink'>This Times article</a> paints a pretty positive view of DoE nominee Chu and the Joint BioEnergy Institute. <br/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-18250425931867091922008-12-28T01:23:00.001-08:002008-12-28T01:26:05.682-08:00In Choice to Lead NOAA, a Wide Range of Credentials<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Obama picked a <a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/science/23labside2.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink%20'>marine ecologist</a> to head NOAA.<br/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-66055557064785342182008-12-28T01:21:00.001-08:002008-12-28T01:24:46.027-08:00Winter Cold Puts a Chill on Green Energy<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>There are obviously some important issues to think about in <a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/business/26winter.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink'>this story</a>. Also some overemphasis...<br/><br/><br/></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-54197184325371412182008-12-10T16:04:00.001-08:002008-12-10T19:51:36.041-08:00Obama naming Nobel Prize winner from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as energy secretary<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article"><p class="bodytext"><span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article"><div class="articleByline" id="articleByline"><a href="mailto:mostrom@mercurynews.com?subject=San%20Jose%20Mercury%20News:%20Obama%20naming%20Nobel%20Prize%20winner%20from%20Lawrence%20Berkeley%20National%20Laboratory%20as%20energy%20secretary" class="articleByline"><p class="bylineaffiliation">By Mary Anne Ostrom Mercury News</p></a></div><div class="articleDate" id="articleDate">Posted: 12/10/2008 03:11:38 PM PST</div></span></span></p><p class="bodytext">Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will be Barack Obama's energy secretary, according to several media reports. </p><p>The Nobel Prize winning physicist and former chair of Stanford University's physics department, is a major supporter of developing alternative fuels and solar research and backs government mandated steps to control greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p>His selection signals that Obama plans to move ahead with his agenda of promoting environmentally friendly energy sources. And by putting a university scientist at the helm of the energy department, instead of an industry leader or political leader with no science background as had been speculated, it indicates that Obama plans to commit to a government industry partnership to develop green energy initiatives.</p><p>"It is wonderful to see another distinguished Californian be mentioned for a Cabinet level position,'' Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a statement. "Dr. Chu would bring extraordinary scientific accomplishments to the job of Energy Secretary at a time when science is telling us we must act to avert the ravages of global warming."</p><p>Chu, 60, of Oakland, has led the Berkeley national lab since 2004 and is a member of the board of the Hewlett Foundation.</p><p>The Associated Press, citing Democratic officials, said Obama has also selected Lisa Jackson for environmental protection agency administrator and Carol Browner as his energy "czar."</p></span></span></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-59862523225589554412008-12-09T21:22:00.001-08:002008-12-09T21:22:44.253-08:00Wave power put to the test in Monterey Bay<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><font face='georgia'><img src='http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site6/2008/1209/20081209__20081209_Local13%7E03_Gallery.jpg' style='max-width: 800px;'/>Kurtis Alexander - Sentinel Staff Writer<br/>Posted: 12/09/2008 01:30:56 AM PST<br/><br/>The 60-foot Velocity motored out of Santa Cruz harbor Monday afternoon under mostly sunny skies. On deck was an apprehensive crew -- scientists with research group SRI International of Menlo Park, observers from the Department of Energy and financiers with the Tokyo-based Hyper Drive Corp.<br/><br/>As the boat began to bob up and down after clearing the breakwater, and the stomachs of those with weaker constitutions began to churn, the day's mission became all the more clear: to see the wave motion go to work making electricity.<br/><br/>The 62-year-old SRI International, which counts the invention of the computer mouse among its discoveries, was at sea to test its new wave-powered generator, a floating device that awaited the Velocity about a mile offshore and holds the promise, its inventors said, of bringing energy to land.<br/><br/>"There's only so much you can do in the lab. At some point, you have to put it out in the water," said Philip Von Guggenberg, the group's business director.<br/><br/>The ocean has become the latest frontier for a power industry hungry for alternatives.<br/><br/>Waves, say energy experts, have many advantages. They're constant and reliable, close to the highly populated coasts where power needs are greatest, and, unlike other sources of electricity such as solar, can be harnessed with very basic technology.<br/><br/>Two countries, Portugal and Scotland, have begun to commercialize wave power and several others are working<br/>Advertisement<br/>to catch up, including the United States, where several projects are in the pipeline.<br/><br/>"It's still a very open market," said Carolyn Elefant with the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, the young industry's even younger trade group. "Even companies that are on the leading edge now and currently feeding power to the grid, we don't know in 10 or 15 years if they're going to be the winners in this race."<br/><br/>For researchers at SRI International, the strategy in a marketplace with no defined standard is to go simple.<br/><br/>The group's wave generator is designed to let waves move a bendable slab of rubber-like material and, by doing so, act much like a turbine and produce electricity. Today, it might just be a few watts, tomorrow, a small city.<br/><br/>"We like to say we can make electricity with something as simple as a rubber band," said Roy Kornbluh, principal research engineer for SRI International. The technology, he adds, avoids the more costly and error-prone wave systems that rely on pumps to push air, water or oil to generate power.<br/><br/>And so, amid light winds on the Monterey Bay and relatively calm surf, the Velocity pulled up to the much anticipated wave machine. Kornbluh and others aboard set their sights seaward.<br/><br/>On a roughly 10-foot-tall buoy, two levers moved with the rise and fall of the ocean, pushing accordian-looking rubbery material up and down through plastic columns.<br/><br/>"It's responding to the choppy waves and the longer waves," Kornbluh said.<br/><br/>In other words, success. At least for now.<br/><br/>Mikio Waki, chief technology officer of Hyper Drive, says the technology, which produced a relatively scant 20 joules per second -- enough to power a small lightbulb -- during its four-day debut, is at least five years away from being scaled up and commercially viable. And how the power will be transmitted, either sending electricity through underground cables or producing hydrogen from the generator that would run through a pipe, is yet to be determined.<br/><br/>But in an industry that energy experts say could supply 6.5 percent of the nation's total energy needs, there is still time to figure things out.<br/><br/>"The best way to extract the resource is still unclear," said Alejandro Moreno, a manager of water programs for the Department of Energy, who joined the crew of the Velocity to preview the nascent system. "But any technology that can minimize moving parts and components that might break will be at an advantage."<br/>Contact Kurtis Alexander at 706-3267 or kalexander@santacruzsentinel.com.</font></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-83164766147383148042008-12-09T08:22:00.001-08:002008-12-09T08:25:06.230-08:00Michael Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch.html">Bill Moyers Journal . Watch & Listen | PBS</a><br /><blockquote></blockquote></div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-44185365547118969962008-12-06T08:35:00.001-08:002008-12-06T08:35:33.491-08:00Gulf Oil CEO says gas could hit $1 next year<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>By Julie Onufrak<br />The Patriot Ledger<br />http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1881115149/Gulf-Oil-CEO-says-lower-gas-prices-ahead?view=print<br /><br />Posted Dec 04, 2008 @ 06:00 AM<br />Last update Dec 04, 2008 @ 08:42 AM<br />RANDOLPH — Gulf Oil CEO Joe Petrowski said on Wednesday that the price of oil could sink to $20 per barrel, and there is a chance gasoline prices could drop as low as $1 per gallon by early next year.<br /><br />Speaking at a South Shore Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Lombardo’s in Randolph, the Brockton native said that after speculators drove oil prices up, there is a chance that the market will overshoot on the way back down, resulting in much lower prices at the pump.<br /><br />Check out the latest prices locally<br />in our weekly CHEAPGAS survey.<br /><br />Gas prices have already sunk fairly rapidly this fall, reaching a statewide average of $1.85 for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline this week, following a plunge in crude oil prices.<br /><br />Gulf Oil, which is based in Newton, is not an oil producer. Gulf stopped producing oil in 1986 and stopped refining oil in 1992, according to Petrowski. He said the company is a “fuel agnostic” wholesaler, and will sell whichever fuels customers and distributors demand.<br /><br />Though he said the company benefits from lower energy prices, he said he believes the price of oil should range from $40 to $60 per barrel, depending on economic activity, in order to keep pace with inflation.<br /><br />Petrowski said that policymakers should make low-cost energy a goal by investing in alternative energy sources, increasing domestic oil reserves, and diversifying the foreign origins of oil so as to be less dependent on unfriendly countries.<br /><br />While he said he believes global warming is a danger, Petrowski is not sure there is as much of a correlation between carbon and global warming as some environmentalists claim.<br /><br />“Carbon is our greatest threat – there’s another myth,” he said. “I do think economic devastation and reliance on foreign supplies of oil (are).”<br /><br />Since gas prices peaked in July, Petrowski said some people have resumed driving habits that they avoided when gasoline was $4 a gallon in the summer. But he said he hopes that the motivation to create alternative energy sources will not be lost.<br /><br />Gulf opened its first E85 ethanol fueling station at Logan Airport in October – just as gasoline prices sank and the demand for ethanol decreased. “Ethanol’s not a great business right now, but it will be,” Petrowski said.<br /><br />He said that cellulosic ethanol will eventually replace corn-based ethanol, and that he thinks the U.S. should eventually get rid of the import tax on ethanol from places like Brazil.<br /><br />Petrowski said that New England’s energy future is bright, with research and development going on at local universities as well as access to gasoline from refineries in Canada, the mid-Atlantic region, the Caribbean and Europe. “We’re no longer at the end of the pipe,” he said.</div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-8250333605573191032008-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:002008-12-05T15:07:00.798-08:00Solar thermal in Lancaster CA<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>From the Los Angeles Times<br />http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere5-2008dec05,0,4265592.storyOUT THERE<br /><br />Solar plant could be savior to struggling Lancaster: The city and surrounding Antelope Valley have been hard hit by poverty, unemployment and foreclosures. The nearly complete eSolar facility could create jobs and restore a sense of pride.<br />By Scott Gold<br /><br />December 5, 2008<br /><br />They lined up for meatball sandwiches the other night outside the Lancaster Community Shelter, in the cold of the high desert. There was a man in a fedora who'd lost his house to the bank. A college student whose loans fell through. An older woman with curlers in her bag, who planned to do her hair after dinner.<br /><br />Everyone had a story to tell, a cigarette to borrow, a friend to greet. But soon, the crowd hushed as a young mother and her boyfriend walked toward the door carrying 3-week-old twins. They had no money, nowhere to stay, they said. Between them, they'd applied for a dozen jobs -- she got all gussied up for her interview at Denny's, even borrowed a pair of heels -- but they'd had a run of rotten luck, she said.<br /><br />The buzz in the Antelope Valley these days is about a company called eSolar, which is putting the finishing touches on a thermal solar energy facility here -- 24,000 mirrors that glitter like diamonds when you approach on Avenue G. There are plans for several more facilities in the area, all larger, the company says.<br /><br />Local officials are atwitter at the possibilities. Visitors and investors are expected from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. A slew of jobs would be created; there were 225 people working last week on the Avenue G facility alone, most of them locals. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said the solar plants could be the catalyst to restoring the sort of "intellectual excitement" that existed when aerospace, still a vital industry here, was the only game in town -- when "if it went up, it came out of here," he said.<br /><br />"Now, we're going to go a long way toward saving this world," the mayor said. "Right here in Lancaster."<br /><br />It's heady talk, and people are listening. Lancaster and the surrounding valley are suffering, even by the standards of a community that long ago acclimated to a boom-and-bust cycle. Many here are living on the edge, and some beyond, with tens of thousands more expected to arrive in coming years.<br /><br />There is a sense that development cannot come fast enough, not with shops closing, one in five people living in poverty, high unemployment and the highest mortality rate in Los Angeles County. Not with so many houses falling into foreclosure that the city of Lancaster has gone into real estate -- buying and renovating empty homes to slow the decline of neighborhoods.<br /><br />"It's bad," said William Turner, 21, who got a job installing eSolar mirrors through a temp agency. He is among those vying for one of the full-time positions the company will offer soon; competition will be fierce and many of those hired will be overqualified for their jobs, officials said.<br /><br />"People around here are really hurting," Turner said. "We need a change."<br /><br />ESolar operations and maintenance manager Bob Holsinger was the fourth of five siblings who grew up on an Illinois soybean farm, and he still looks the part, with broad, rounded shoulders and aircraft-carrier-sized boots.<br /><br />When Holsinger was young, his father dispensed one piece of advice to the kids: "Last one out, turn out the lights." It was meant, of course, to cut down on the power bill. But Holsinger always suspected it meant something else -- that whoever controlled the flow of electricity would be the last one standing, even if everything else went south. Today, after a 35-year career in energy, it turns out he might have been right.<br /><br />California is the epicenter of U.S. solar technology; there are dozens of energy projects in the works. Few have generated as much anticipation as this one, if only because with 1,000 mirrors being installed each day, it is growing in stark contrast to the boarded-up storefronts and the brown, brittle lawns in front of abandoned houses.<br /><br />The company uses the mirrors to focus the sun's rays on an elevated target, which produces superheated steam that turns turbines to create power. The whole thing can be assembled easily, like an Erector Set for grown-ups. Workers can put it together using four wrenches.<br /><br />The mirrors can be adjusted remotely from the company's headquarters in Pasadena to ensure that they are capturing the sun. The mirrors can be fine-tuned; workers at a test site recently used the reflection to spell out the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL" for a colleague.<br /><br />"It's pretty slick," Holsinger said.<br /><br />When eSolar flips the switch, five megawatts of electricity will be sent into the grid, enough to power roughly 5,000 homes. A second facility, far larger, is expected north of Lancaster, and there are plans for several more in the area, enough to produce 500 megawatts, perhaps, in the next decade, the company says.<br /><br />"We are not going to have a carbon footprint in 10 years. We just won't have one," said the mayor, a successful lawyer given to hyperbole, and to infectious passion.<br /><br />It is an unlikely development in the Antelope Valley, which remains, despite its growth and increasing diversity, a strait-laced, conservative area. "Culturally, it is somewhat new," said Barry S. Munz, vice president at Antelope Valley Engineering Inc., a contractor at the eSolar site.<br /><br />But how important is it?<br /><br />"We will turn flips for them," Parris said. "And, quite frankly, I don't turn flips for anybody."<br /><br />Back at the homeless shelter, it's easy to see why.<br /><br />Resident case manager Bobby Hampton said the shelter now serves up to 120 dinners each night, half again as many as when he started six years ago. Demand has been rising; this summer, he said, "business started booming."<br /><br />A striking number of clients lost their homes to the bank; others unwittingly rented rooms in abandoned houses taken over by unscrupulous squatters, only to get kicked out when they were discovered. The shelter is now full every night.<br /><br />Waiting in line for a cot, Jerry Frazier, 50, a recovering heroin addict, said he received $199 for the month through the county-funded General Relief program. He spent $175 on a month's supply of medication at a methadone clinic, leaving him $24 for the rest of the month. He's been unable to find a job, he said; a former professional musician, he just pawned the last of his 32 guitars.<br /><br />"This is a working country," he said. "But there are no jobs. Not here."<br /><br />Once inside, those accepted for a bed were required to bathe, then routed into a line for dinner that snaked through the hall. A volunteer began to pray. "Hats off!" a security guard shouted.<br /><br />In one corner, Jennifer Schmidt, 19, and her boyfriend, Treavon Henry, 20, ate their food in silence, their twin newborns, Kory and Kody, resting in car seats on the table.<br /><br />Schmidt and Henry began dating in high school and could not have imagined what has happened since. Schmidt was on the pill but got pregnant anyway. Both lost their jobs. They don't have enough money to get a market-rate apartment and have been on a waiting list for indigent housing since April.<br /><br />They were living with her mother but were told to leave after Schmidt asked her not to smoke in front of the babies, Schmidt said. Then they moved in with his mother; she kicked them out, too, after Schmidt asked her not to cuss in front of the babies.<br /><br />Exhausted, they slumped in Hampton's cluttered office as he filled out a voucher for a room at a motel for one night. Then they carried the twins into the chilly night.<br /><br />With no car -- they sold their Acura a few months back for $500 -- they would have to walk. Each carried a twin, until Schmidt's arms couldn't take any more. Henry picked up both twins and, holding them out to his side, struggled down the street toward the motel, past auto body shops and bail bonds offices.<br /><br />"It feels like we've been walking forever," Schmidt said.<br /><br />Finally, they got to the motel. The marquee outside said: "KARAOKE, Sun-Wed." By the time they walked into their room, Kody was crying. He was hungry, Schmidt said, and they were out of formula.<br /><br />Gold is a Times staff writer.</div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-32060021272493359562008-11-20T08:35:00.001-08:002008-11-20T08:35:11.208-08:00Dingell ousted<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Dingell is part of the reason for Detriot's demise. He cried about CAFE standards and how they would hurt the industry for 30 years. He did eventually update CAFE, but he also put in a loophole that allows car companies to get credit for alternative fuel use in car, even if they don't use them (the so called ethanol loophole). <br /><br />November 20, 2008<br />Longtime Head of House Energy Panel Is Ousted<br />By REUTERS<br /><br />Filed at 11:01 a.m. ET<br /><br />WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Rep. Henry Waxman unseated fellow veteran Democratic lawmaker John Dingell on Thursday to become chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.<br /><br />The 255-House Democratic conference voted 137 to 122 to accept the recommendation of its steering committee and agreed to replace Dingell, 82, a long-time friend of the U.S. auto industry, with Waxman, a 69-year-old Californian anxious to ease global warming, a top concern of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.</div>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446560862167012984.post-58532889695960054542008-11-07T16:03:00.001-08:002008-11-07T16:06:38.628-08:00U.S. Expands Utah Oil and Gas Leasing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/07/us/1108-nat-SUB_LEASE.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 387px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/07/us/1108-nat-SUB_LEASE.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />See the story <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/us/08lease.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">here.</a><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1446560862167012984#" name="ToggleMore"></a><span class="collapse">The Bush Administration still uses the tactic of flooding out these things while the media is full of other junk. These new maps were released on election day. Another reason to make election day a national holliday.<br /></span>dustin r mulvaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05373282700762732287noreply@blogger.com0