Energy poses major 21st century crisis: scientists
Mon Oct 22,
PARIS (AFP) -
Energy poses one of the greatest threats facing humanity this century, the
world's leading academies of science warned Monday, highlighting the peril of oil wars and climate
change driven by addiction to
fossil fuels
Decades lost -- we must get energy-smart
Tommy Boroughs, chairman of the
Florida Energy Commission, told the advisory group that the overall goal is to
establish recommendations that will promote a "green environment and a
green economy."
There's nothing more
patriotic Floridians PARENTS can do than to help secure our children’s future.
Bring
Solar Roofs to Your Community • • • • •
Announced in June 1997, Million Solar Roofs (MSR) is an initiative to facilitate
the installation of solar energy
systems on 1 million
To learn about the MSR partnership in your area and how to become involved,
click on www.millionsolarroofs.org.
Contact your Department of Energy regional coordinator at www.millionsolarroofs.org/contactus
By
switching your home to solar power,
you become part of the solution and you
stop being part of the problem.
"Drill, baby, drill!"
Tens of thousands of barrels of oil
had spilled and mixed with receding floodwater from
Hurricane Katrina.
Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the contractor that the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) hired to review pipeline damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, used 1-1/2 pages of their 104-page report to address the environmental impacts. In that brief section they reiterated what MMS had already made public: spills from Hurricane Katrina (233,108 gallons) and Hurricane Rita (508,204 gallons) put 741,000 gallons of liquid hydrocarbon (oil, and natural-gas condensate) into Gulf of Mexico waters.
DNV's report doesn't mention who?!?!!!
characterized this event as "minor."
The U.S. Coast Guard is the lead government agency for enforcing the Clean Water Act,
and they classify any oil spill over 100,000 gallons as a "major" spill.
Oil brokers sex scandal may affect(?!?!?) drilling debate
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated PressPublished: Friday, September 12, 2008 7:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON
— A scandal involving sex, drugs and —
uh, offshore oil drilling.
Obama gives away too much
in oil drilling offer
This is a political gamble by Obama to win more Senate support for a broader energy bill.
The House approved a bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions last year,
but that legislation is dead in the Senate.
Drilling would be a carrot in a reworked emissions bill for Republicans who embrace the
"Drill, baby, drill!" mantra.
The president who refused to bend on health care reform is willing to compromise too much to win another big victory in Congress.
But he is not likely to win much Republican support
even if he agrees to
ring the nation with oil rigs.
"Consumers aren't going to see any direct impact from this,"
said Michael A. Levi,
director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"This is a small amount of oil relative to global markets."
Guy Caruso, former administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
said models the agency ran during his tenure in the 2000s
showed offshore drilling would have little effect on price,
especially soon.
"And in the long term, it will be pretty moderate, because development comes on very slowly.
It's not a sudden large new source of oil or gas,"
said Caruso, now an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Even Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
said
the amounts of oil and gas available through offshore drilling are still minor compared to what the U.S. imports.
G8 must focus on energy, not just economy: Russia
By
Jeff Mason Tue May 29, 12:31 PM ET
"The
international community, in the interests of a prosperous future for all its
citizens,
should redouble its efforts
to develop, implement and disseminate
environmentally clean renewable energies as a realistic alternative to
traditional forms of energy generation," the statement said.
EDITORIAL
Lead the way
Our position: Nelson,
The
In the Senate this month, Independent Joe Lieberman of
Unlike previous failed proposals in Congress to impose greenhouse-gas limits,
the Lieberman-Warner plan was launched with as much backing from Republicans as
Democrats. Mr. Warner and two other GOP co-sponsors, Norm Coleman of
The plan would set an overall cap on greenhouse-gas emissions
that would gradually be reduced. Companies would have a financial incentive to
clean up with a system that allows them to buy and sell the right to pollute. A
similar system has sharply cut power-plant emissions of the pollution
responsible for acid rain.
Lieberman-Warner includes measures to protect low and middle-income Americans
from higher energy costs. Still, there are bound to be unanticipated problems
with a plan this ambitious. Responsible skeptics will work on those problems
with sponsors, instead of use them as an excuse for obstruction.
Part of the blame for Congress' failure up till now to act on global warming
rests squarely with the Bush administration. It has opposed mandatory emissions
limits of any kind, and dismissed or downplayed evidence of climate change.
With Washington, D.C., missing in action, governors including Florida's Charlie
Crist, and even local leaders such as Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and
Orlando Mayor buddy Dyer, have come forward. It's only
fitting for
Mr. Nelson, to his credit, has co-sponsored previous proposals to limit
greenhouse-gas emissions. Mr. Martinez, by
contrast, has voted against measures to take action on global warming. On an
issue this critical to
H.R. 6 “CLEAN
Energy Act of 2007”
A Vision for a Green Economy and Equitable Development
Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for
the Nation Act
http://capwiz.com/y/issues/votes/?votenum=40&chamber=H&congress=1101
Vote Passed (264-163, 8 Not
Voting)
This House bill is intended to encourage
development of alternate sources of
energy.
We, the residents of Deltona, said
no twice
isn’t
that special:)
Rep. Tom Feeney (East
Deltona) voted NO
Rep. John Mica (West Deltona) voted NO
“Reader, suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you
were a member of Congress.
But I repeat myself.”–Mark
Twain
The House approved this bill with a bipartisan
majority of 263 to 123 with the support of 36
Republicans
In the past year, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett has discussed global peak oil extensively in a series of 20 Special Order speeches.
He also hosted an
Energy Conference on
A number are posted on Congressman Bartlett’s website Congressman Bartlett added,
"I am proud to be a bipartisan cosponsor of H.R. 6
because it recognizes that we have a moral obligation
to leave some oil
for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Sadly you,
the residents of Deltona,
voted not once but twice against
this bipartisan bill.
One Week of Activity for Congressman Bartlett Illustrates His
Effectiveness as a Leader in Congress about Energy Policy
Washington,
Jun 15, 2007
Congressman
Roscoe Bartlett has been busy this week continuing to be a leader in the U.S.
Congress concerning energy policy. He improved two energy bills, by providing
important amendments during a Science and Technology Committee markup. He was
also a panelist at “Horizon 2020,” a series of satellite-linked policy debates
between Washington D.C. and EU representatives in Brussels. Congressman
Bartlett finished the week by testifying at a hearing before the Members of the
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission concerning energy and giving
a one-hour speech about peak oil.
One of three scientists
in the Congress, Congressman Bartlett is a senior member of the Science and Technology
Committee. On Wednesday, the committee passed H.R. 2304, the Advanced
Geothermal Energy Research and Development Act of 2007 and H.R. 2313, the
Marine Renewable Energy Research and Development Act of 2007. Both of these
bills address research development, demonstration, and commercial application
of technologies to advance renewable energies. H.R. 2304 explores technologies
to tap geothermal energy from the earth’s core. H.R. 2313 explores technologies
to tap ocean energy.
"The
conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar PV becomes
mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops, while
also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of poor people who
currently lack electricity," she said.
Solar
Nation: Can the Sun Power the U.S.?
Big Solar - those massive megawatt power plants to be built in
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 11, 3:33 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Congress
says it is going to join the war against global warming by cleaning up its own
backyard, now cluttered with a coal-burning power plant, a fleet of
fuel-inefficient vehicles and old-fashioned lights.
On the Senate side, Rules and Administration Committee
Chairman Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record),
D-Calif., has outlined a plan to audit energy use in all Senate buildings and
reduce energy consumption by 30 percent by 2015 by installing high-efficiency
lighting and buying renewable energy supplies.
All these efforts, said Anthony Kreindler, spokesman for
Environmental Defense, are
"meaningful not only for what they are doing for the Capitol, but it does
set a good example for the rest of the country."
Re-localization is a concept that needs more attention.
It is the process by which communities rebuild their culture, economics, and governance,
to localize (produce locally) their economies and essential systems,
such as food and energy production, water, money,
culture, governance, media, and ownership, to assure a vibrant community,
particularly in preparation for the affects of oil depletion.
It means drastically lower consumption, greater local self-reliance,
and more
cooperative and inclusive communities.
Being dependant upon an imported resource also offers the
additional challenge of competition for that resource from other
communities and/or consumer groups. Should supply fall short of
demand the resource generally goes to the highest bidder or the easiest
distribution point. Today's urban environments function on a broad
dependency of resources imported from outside the immediate urban area,
meaning the residents are not only dependent upon a competitive supply
system of the imported the goods and services, but that the community's
economic prosperity is being exported.
Dems try to spur oil exploration on available land
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 17,2008 3:36 PM ET
May 31, 2008
It's time to shed a tear for the big guys
SPARE CHANGE
Just a week and a half ago -- in the good old days when gasoline was less than $4 a gallon -- a group of oil company executives made a trip to Capitol Hill to explain to the Senate Judiciary Committee why billions of dollars in profits were not only right and proper but necessary.
Representatives from BP America, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and Conoco Phillips explained -- in more than 100 combined pages of written testimony -- why oil company profits were so large and why that is a good thing for consumers.
It is apparently not, as many consumers believe, because of greed and a disregard for simple human kindness, but instead a function of global economic conditions, government regulation and the sheer size of the oil industry itself.
And in this global maelstrom of energy competition, the five companies represented at the hearing are, in fact, not the nameless, faceless monsters seeking profit, but concerned corporate citizens, at least to hear them tell it.
Reading their prepared testimony, one gets the impression that in this dog-eat-camel world of energy production, American oil companies and their ability to compete are a lot like man was in Thomas Hobbes' epic "Leviathan." Hobbes described the life of man as being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" in this State of Nature, and these oil company magnates would have us believe that they, too, are faced with a life and death struggle to survive.
In fact, they almost seem to want us to believe that they comprise only a small part of the global energy system when compared to state-controlled energy conglomerates. Faced with the immense size and power of the global energy leviathan, they need our understanding and support -- and some financial incentives -- to succeed.
The huge scale of the global energy sector was a common theme among all five oil company representatives. In less than four pages of written testimony, the representative from Exxon Mobil referenced the size of the industry 10 times in an effort to explain why energy company profits are so high.
The basic idea laid down by each of the witnesses was simply that a huge, global industry like energy necessarily must produce huge profits. It is, at least in the industry's way of thinking, the nature of the beast.
And in an effort to prove that those huge profits are all that huge, all of the witnesses went to great lengths explaining how they are focused on other sources of energy beyond oil and natural gas, and need to reap huge profits to have money to invest in research and development of these other money-making schemes.
Some even went so far as to suggest the U.S. government should create new incentives for them to pursue the development of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and biofuels.
As if that weren't enough, these poor, harried executives explained to the assembled senators that U.S. reliance on foreign sources of crude oil could be reduced, if only they were allowed to explore and develop pumping operations in promising areas that have been declared "off limits." And not only have energy companies been denied access to supplies of crude oil that could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources, local governments have not been as forthcoming with permit approvals for operations as they could be, leading one representative to argue that his company has spent more time trying to obtain permits for a refinery project than it has taken to build similar facilities overseas.
But the real proof that these oil company representatives -- and the companies they represent -- are out of touch with the concerns of ordinary consumers was made plain by Peter J. Robertson, vice chairman at Chevron Corp., who told senators that despite the soaring price of crude oil, the increase in gasoline prices at the pump has been relatively small compared with crude price increases. Robertson went on further to say that even with the jump in prices, energy companies make very little on retail gasoline sales.
That should make $5 a gallon gas easier to take for consumers trying to find ways to stretch their budget.
But since a big industry deserves big profits, shouldn't it also be true that every once in a while the little guy deserves a little help?
Merkel G8 climate deal spurs hopes for global pact
By Noah Barkin and Alister Doyle Reuters - Friday,
June
In recent months, Merkel and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair made regular calls to Bush to press him for a compromise.
But Bush's
decision to jump on the climate bandwagon may have more to do with rising public pressure in the United States and new
scientific findings than Merkel's diplomatic touch.
Reports by climate experts in a U.N. panel this year
concluded that mankind is to blame for global warming.
The public debate, they say, has evolved significantly
since Blair failed to secure climate commitments from Bush at a G8 summit two
years ago, despite his support of the Iraq war.
"Just like Tony Blair, Merkel put this issue at
the top of the agenda and pushed hard up to the very last minute," said
Elliot Diringer, of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change. "She
benefited from more favourable political circumstances."
Vatican
plans to tap solar energy
Work on North America's biggest solar
power plant will start next year in Ontario,
Canadian
province's energy minister said once complete in 2010, the
40-megawatt project, near Sarnia in southwestern Ontario, will be able
to supply enough emission-free electricity to power up to 24,000 homes
SERPA, Portugal (Reuters) - One of the world's largest solar
energy plants, covering the hills of a valley dotted with olive groves in
southern Portugal, started delivering electricity to about 8,000 homes on
Wednesday.
The solar panels, which are raised around 2 meters off the
ground, cover an area of 60 hectares (150 acres) and produce 11 megawatts of
electricity in one of Europe's sunniest spots -- Portugal's poor agricultural
Alentejo region.
Kevin Walsh, managing director for Renewable Energy GE,
which built the project, said the plant was expected to have the highest
capacity of any solar energy project in the world but a plant in Germany had
overtaken it.
"But as far as we know -- thanks to great Portuguese
sunshine and high technology -- this plant right here in Serpa is expected to
produce the most power -- more than 20 gigawatt-hours per hour," Walsh
said.
The plant, which has 52,000 photovoltaic modules, is near
the town of Serpa, 125 miles southeast of Lisbon.
The scheme fits into Portugal's plans of reducing its
reliance on imported energy and cutting output of greenhouse gasses that feed
global warming.
Portugal's emissions have surged about 37 percent since
1990, one of the highest increases in the world.
By bringing modern technology to one of western Europe's
poorest regions, the $75-million plant is expected to bring alternative
development to the Alentejo.
There are also plans to build a solar power plant in the
neighboring town of Moura.