Competition for the Last Dregs

The last dregs of the dwindling worldwide oil supply look very appealing to a voracious consumer that rivals the U.S. in terms of raw appetite. China, with a population of 1.3 billion, is enjoying strong economic growth and, with that growth, the demand for automobiles within the country, including woefully inefficient SUVs, has skyrocketed. This piece in Newsday provides 1.3 billion reasons why we might want to worry about oil.

Power from the Sea

With wind power growing at record levels around the world (with 8,133 megawatts installed in 2003, according to the American Wind Energy Association and European Wind Energy Association) and solar power for home users becoming much more cost effective, other advances in renewable energy are taking place out of the spotlight. Generating electricity from the sea is not a new idea and past attempts have been riddled by failure, but a host of new efforts are underway, as described in this Wired News article, Seas Seen as Viable Power, by Stephen Leahy. A 486-ton wave turbine is being deployed off the coast of Australia, touted as the "first plant in the world to make wave energy commercially viable." The Department of Energy estimates that wave energy has the potential to produce 2 terawatts of electricity. That ought to keep a few electric toothbrushes humming.

A Solution to Global Warming

Finally, the Bush administration has somewhat sheepishly admitted that global warming appears to be a byproduct of human activities. It's about time, though this announcement curiously coincides with the start of the Republican National Convention. Could the most anti-environmental administration in a century be trying to paint itself as moderate as they prance on stage in front of the public? I wonder...

Given this official endorsement by the powers that be, we can no longer label global warming as a wild-eyed delusion invented by the liberal media, a plot by godless communists to drive America to bankruptcy, or a free-market opportunity for Wal-Mart to sell more air conditioners. Now that we have almost everybody onboard (except for those quasi-scientific mouthpieces who earn a direct living from fossil-fuel industry handouts), agreeing with what the vast majority of climate scientists have been asserting for years, what do we do about it?

In a commentary published in the Denver Post, Dr. Howard Geller of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project points to renewable forms of energy and overall improvements to energy efficiency as the answer. He also pointedly critiques those who see nuclear power as a viable solution, citing the lack of economic competitiveness, lack of public support, waste disposal issues and safety concerns--basically all of the same arguments that applied when U.S. nuclear power construction was halted 25 years ago. Nuclear power proponents, always ready to rally behind any excuse to re-energize the dead-end technology, have been blathering on about how nuclear power is the only answer, and, by the way, it is clean and safe and will deliver power that is too cheap to meter (or, have they finally given up on the too-cheap-to-meter argument?). Without the subsidy granted by the Price-Anderson Act, which limits plant owner liability in the event of a catastrophic accident (leaving taxpayers to pick up the additional tab), the industry would probably not even exist. A nice summary of the safety issues, produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists, can be found here.

O is for Oil

It's back to the basics. A large part of our ignorance on energy issues in America comes from the fact that for years it has been so abundant that we rarely need to think about it. In a nicely reasoned article, O is for Oil, Paul Roberts makes a number of key points on our curious misconceptions about energy. As long as we are dependent on oil as a primary energy source, he argues, America as a nation will never have energy security. Well said!

Going Cold Turkey: Fossil Fuel Addiction

Kurt Vonnegut has a way a skating around the pretense and dodging the artful chimpanzee posturing to get to the pure, beating heart of an idea. Cold Turkey, from In These Times, makes the point as only Vonnegut can.

Don't Let the Beer Go Bad

Businesses trying to keep operations going during California's rolling blackouts in 2000 learned to distrust the mainstream electricity grid. Among those most sensitive to a continuous supply of power, Sierra Nevada Brewing, based in Chico, California, took advantage of incentives offered by the California Public Utilities Commission to install fuel cells. The goal is to achieve an energy-neutral brewing operation, where the company creates as much energy as it consumes.

Even a short interruption in the electrical supply can ruin a batch of beer. And the summer temperatures in the Chico area, which push beyond the century mark for days at a time, make it critical that the power keep flowing along with the suds. Business incentives can help companies like Sierra Nevada Brewing free their operations from a fickle electricity grid. The article from Wired, Business Buys Into Fuel Cells, illustrates some other innovative business uses of renewable energy as well.

Energy Politics at Work

In any open society, if democracy is to be given a reasonable chance to flourish, the machinations of government at every level should be visible to the citizens. Leaders who are obviously beholden to special interests or not representing the expectations of their constituents can be removed from office. Bad policies can be rejected by rejecting the leaders who initiate them. A growing problem, however, particularly in terms of energy policy, is that key decisions are being made behind closed doors in virtual secrecy. And a growing body of evidence is pointing to the fact that energy policies are being crafted to benefit the bottom line of the mainstream energy producers, the petroleum and nuclear industries, to the detriment of any advances in renewable energy systems. The pattern of secrecy that was established by Dick Cheney in creating national energy policy is now apparently being emulated by California's Governor Schwarzenegger as examined in this Common Dreams article, Schwarzenegger Pulls a Cheney. Only by finding out who is pulling the strings behind the scenes do we have any chance to turn the current energy juggernaut around and move toward a future where sustainable energy practices can take hold.

Beware the Fossil Fools

One of the strongest arguments for shifting our energy base away from dependency on fossil fuels is, of course, global warming. Given the overwhelming consensus of the legitimate scientific community (i.e. those scientists not directly or indirectly on the payroll of a company that earns its profits extracting, refining, promoting or distirbuting fossil fuel products) that global warming is a serious risk for human survival, it's a puzzle how so many media pundits and quasi-scientists still blather on about the myth of global warming. Skewering these misinformed, unscientific flaks soundly, this article from The Guardian, Beware the Fossil Fools, doesn't pull any punches.

Little Solar Houses for Everyone

Solar power is too expensive and too impractical for mainstream use in the U.S. Or, is it? Truth be told, there are already numerous examples of the practicality of solar power in both business and home applications. Grist Magazine, a feisty little publication that provides "gloom and doom with a sense of humor", makes it a point to bring attention to promising developments on the alternative energy front. One of their staff writers, Amanda Griscom, highlighted a very apt example in her article, Little Solar Houses for You and Me. A collection of homes in Tennessee being built by volunteers from Habitat for Humanity use rooftop solar panels, insualted walls, windows and floors, energy-efficient lighting and other techniques to reduce the overall energy consumption to less than half that consumed by a conventionally constructed home.

This experimental project, co-sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is one step towards a larger goal: the net-zero-energy home. Simply put, the net-zero-energy home will generate as much power as it consumes. This goal is reachable, so the story goes, only if consumer demand increases to the point that the cost of solar panels drops to about a third of what they cost today. To make that happen, we need incentives, public education, research, and perhaps a new administration more interested in investing in the future rather than propping up a dying oil industry.

Need more convincing? The Rocky Mountain Institute, a leader in energy efficiency studies and programs, includes details of more than 200 green building projects from around the world on their Green Developments 2.0 CD-ROM. The technology is out there, along with the answers to a brighter energy future.

Energy Futures in California: Renewable or More of the Same?

Over the years, California has earned a reputation for being quick to act on environmental problems and more progressive on many energy-related issues. Strict automobile emission standards in California prompted massive changes throughout the automotive industry and helped make improved emission controls a priority to relieve some of the air quality problems in major metropolitan areas. The recent energy crisis in the state, however, tainted by the scandal of price manipulation and fraud, has made energy futures a major focus for state government. Landmark legislation championed by Gray Davis before he left office mandates nearly doubling the use of renewable energy resources by 2017. Under Governor Schwartzegger's leadership, despite his professed commitment to renewable energy, the direction of the state's renewable energy futures are in question. What does the new energy governor have in mind?

The Perfect Storm That's About to Hit

In good times, when the price of a gallon of gas is closer to one dollar, rather than two, people don't worry much about fuel costs. To those of us old enough to remember the fuel shortages of the late 70's, when the lines at the gas pumps often stretched around the block, there are ominous harbingers on the horizon, as this article by Jeremy Rifkin, The Perfect Storm That's About to Hit, points out. Fuel costs affect so many different aspects of our society (as well as the global economy) that the advancement of alternative fuel sources really needs to go into overdrive before our addiction to oil kills us.

SUV Solutions

It's no secret that Americans love SUVs. Each time I make a trip to the local supermarket in relatively affluent Manchester, Vermont, I find myself immersed in a sea of ponderous, top-heavy, barge-like vehicles (many of them with N.Y. and N.J. plates, bearing ski racks, monstrous tires, and oversized luggage carriers). The question is: do these machines have to be gas guzzlers and do they have to be unsafe? The Union of Concerned Scientists challenges this notion in a dedicated area of their site, SUV Solutions. Better still, they approach the topic without the somber, lab-coat pedantry you might expect, offering Flash cartoons and a decidedly satirical slant to their viewpoint. And, they demonstrate that with technologies we have available today, we can build safe and fuel-efficient SUVs. If you have a few minutes to spend, take their SUV-TV Challenge.

Apollo Alliance : Wind, Biomass, Solar at the Center of Apollo Energy Plan

The outsourcing of jobs in a variety of areas--including the supposedly impregnable high-tech sector where America has led the world in the recent past--presents a formidable obstacle to any significant economic recovery. The manufacturing sector, in particular, continues to lose jobs. According to Ray Perryman, president of the Perryman Group, in this article, Apollo Alliance : Wind, Biomass, Solar at the Center of Apollo Energy Plan, job losses in the manufacturing sector have continued for 41 consecutive months.

The solution being touted by the Apollo Alliance is a program to create millions of new jobs through a vigorous expansion of renewable energy technologies, including innovation and growth in the solar, biomass, and wind energy fields. Instead of looking backwards towards dangerous and polluting fossil-fuel and nuclear energy approches, the Apollo Energy Plan (named after John F. Kennedy's Apollo Mission that led to a landing on the moon) focuses on the next generation of hybrid automobiles, more efficient building technologies, streamlined mass transportation, and a advances in all forms of renewable power. This alliance brings together labor unions and environmental groups in a unified effort to research and design practical and non-polluting energy technologies--an effort that includes some very major players.

Fuel-Cell Microbes' Double Duty: Treat Water, Make Energy

Wastewater treatment consumes an enormous amount of energy. Why not put bacteria to work to offset the energy requirements? This novel idea--a single-chambered microbial fuel cell--is being prototyped through a grant from the National Science Foundation. In this press release, NSF - OLPA - PR 04-021: Fuel-Cell Microbes' Double Duty: Treat Water, Make Energy - , a strong case is made for an approach that could greatly reduce the $25 billion a year that it costs to treat about 33 billions gallons of domestic wastewater in the United States.

Hydrogen Economy: A Bad Idea?

In this article, A Hydrogen Economy Is a Bad Idea, David Morris argues that looking towards a hydrogen economy is probably a bad idea. The question of where the hydrogen comes from is a key concern. The petroleum and nuclear power industries would love to play a key role in the game--creating hydrogen by means of the same greenhouse-gas producing and toxic-waste producing methods they've been using for years.

Generating, storing, transporting and distributing the hydrogen to energize fuel cells may create more problems and inefficiencies than it solves, Morris reasons, and if the centralized distribution models that we've used for years for fuel are applied to the problem, that may be the case.

Alternatively, a decentralized means of generating hydrogen might sidestep the significant obstacles in producing hydrogen for powering homes and vehicles. A company in New York, Plug Power Fuel-Cell Systems manufactures residential units that burn natural gas or use other forms of energy to produce electricity, heat, pure water, and hydrogen. One of the partners in this effort is Honda and as they are set to rollout the hydrogen-powered Honda FCX during 2004, the potential for fueling these vehicles from a home-based system seems promising. If I'm reading the specs correctly, it also looks as though the fuel cell systems from Plug Power can be coupled with solar and wind power systems, which could alleviate many of the concerns that David Morris expresses in his article. More on this development as I investigate further.

State Incentives for Renewable Energy

While the federal government may not be doing much to make renewable energy more attractive to the average citizen, many states have initiated their own programs to help offset the costs of installing solar energy panels, purchasing a gas-electric hybrid vehicle, or erecting a wind turbine. These incentives sometimes come in the form of state tax credits or as rebates. California alone provided $2.6 million in tax credits in 2001 to residents who installed solar power systems. As an example of the potential savings, a solar project tagged at $24,000 is eligible for a rebate of $10,730--representing close to a 50 percent reduction in costs.

How does your state rate? If you're wondering what incentives are available to you, consult the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) for an easy-to-use, up-to-date list of programs.

Solar energy's cloudy past

Solar energy, like many technologies (DVD, hybrid vehicles), showed promise years before it gained widespread acceptance. In the case of solar energy, it has taken about 50 years for manufacturing processes and supporting technology to demonstrate the practicality of this infinitely renewable energy source. Trouble is that at the moment other nations (Germany and Japan) are leapfrogging the U.S., capitalizing on the benefits of solar power while Amercans puzzle over an energy policy (enacted by the present short-sighted administration) that leans heavily toward coal and petroleum. This historical perspective on the slow, steady advances in solar energy, Solar energy's cloudy past / Advocates say 50-year-old industry is finally in a position to heat up, shows that it's really here--if only we recognize it.

Scientists Advance Hydrogen Tech

Imagine compact fuel cells that can be readily installed in your basement, offering a neat replacement for that furnace sucking up fuel oil like a drunken monkey swilling cheap vodka. Then imagine that one of the prime obstacles to clean fuel cell development--the generation of hydrogen without reliance on fossil fuels--can be overcome by using corn-based ethanol, giving farmers in the Midwest a potential source of new revenues. Research advances discussed in this article, Scientists Advance Hydrogen Tech point to a renewable model for hydrogen-based fuel cells that might lead the way to cleaner motoring and home heating.

Clean energy part of `Green Wave'

Environmental technologies make economic sense, so much so that the Treasurer of the State of California has announced plans to invest pension money as part of a `Green Wave' initiative. With $1.5 billion of the state's pension money being invested in environmentally screened funds and financing to develop clean technologies, Angelides hopes to not only profit from positive growth in this sector, but also help generate job growth. The economic advantages of taking an ecocentric energy path are becoming clear to a widening circle of investors and financial professionals.

Oil and Democracy Don't Mix

Many reasons exist for reducing the stranglehold that oil addiction has on our society. In the frenzied quest for the next fix, social justice issues and support for genuine democracy take a back seat to keeping the flow of petroleum moving, as this article, Oil and Democracy Don't Mix, points out. This situation doesn't promise to get any better until we collectively go through an extensive detox, embrace renewable sources of power and end the century-long power struggle to dominate access to a dwindling resource.