Energy Wars

With international global warming talks scheduled to get under way in Denmark later this year, stakeholders from across the globe will be paying close attention when a House subcommittee takes up a landmark energy and climate change bill later this month. European nations and others have been clamoring for years for decisive U.S. action on warming, and the House measure - dubbed the American Clean Energy and Security Act by sponsors Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) - represents the first cap-and-trade bill seen as actually having a shot at being signed into law.

Police arrested 44 anti-coal activists engaged in acts of civil disobedience today to protest expansion of Duke Energy's Cliffside coal-fired power plant. Those arrested will likely be charged with second degree trespassing. Event organizers Stop Cliffside have declared to protest a success: Duke EnergyScryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating CEO Jim Rogers has publicly said that all of Duke's coal power plants will be shut down by 2050, but considering that many climate change scientists consider shutting down coal-fired power plants to be the single greatest thing that can be done to curb emissions, Rogers' promises have been received with little fanfare.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its annual assessment of utility green power programs. According to the analysis, more than 850 utilities across the United States now offer green power programs. Green power sales in 2008 increased by about 20 percent over 2007, and they represent more than 5 percent of total electricity sales for some of the most popular programs. Wind is the primary source of electricity generated for green energy programs nationwide. Using information provided by utilities, NREL developed top ten ranking of utility programs for 2008 in the following categories: * Total sales of renewable energy to program participants * Total number of customer participants * The percentage of customer participation * Green power sales as a percentage of total utility retail electricity sales * Lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources

A federal appeals court today rejected Bush administration plans to expand offshore drilling in Alaska. The three-judge panel agreed with environmentalists, saying the Bush-era Department of Interior's plan to open drilling in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort Seas failed to consider impacts on marine life and the environment. The court has ordered the Interior Department, now run by Ken Salazar, to conduct a proper analysis of environmental impacts and risks before moving ahead with any plans for offshore drilling in these sensitive areas. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas are home to approximately one-tenth of the world's total polar bear population, along with walruses, seals, and whales.

One of the nicer Friday News Dumps, this decision comes as a welcome and long overdue shift in government activity on carbon and other global warming gasses. The timing of the announcement, especially under the cover of Obama releasing torture memos from the Bush administration, is interesting - it's already becoming a regular thing for this administration to give it's opponents a few things to chew on in a very short period, and I would bet that many people are more fired up about the torture thing then this EPA ruling. On the other hand: this is a big deal for everyone, be you tree-hugger or capitalist overlord, because the new set of rules for how the country is going to respond to the climate crisis is coming into focus.

One of the biggest stories in the UK at present is the relationship between democracy and the police - or as it has been expressed several times by Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission - the police needed to remember that they were "servants, not masters" of the public.

Climate change. Energy independence. Air pollution. There are countless arguments for moving beyond fossil fuels for our energy needs. Unfortunately, there are just as many hurdles that must be cleared before we can feasibly count on other sources to supplant oil, coal and natural gas, which currently provide the lion's share of U.S. electricity generation and transportation fuels.

oncerned locals are taking a stand against mountaintop removal at an upcoming protest march called Related content Leveling AppalachiaOn the MARCC86 the CO2 ASAPArrested EconomyShedding Light on a Deal Related to:walksmytheenergydukecoalprotestremovalsays Walk Past Coal for a Sustainable Future. Sponsored by Footprints for Peace, the walk will protest Duke Energy's expansion of its coalburning Cliffside Power Plant in the Carolinas. The action corresponds with a simultaneous protest at Duke's Charlotte headquarters. The five-mile walk will begin on the campus of Xavier University, pass by the Duke Energy offices downtown and end at Fountain Square. A 15-minute video from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth of Mountaintop Removal will be featured at the end of the march, along with several speakers in opposition to the plant expansion.

Last week, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, hosted the last of 4 public forums around the country to gather input on offshore drilling and offshore renewable energy development. Choosing to end in San Francisco means he is going back to Washington with a resounding "No" in his ears. "No" to offshore drilling and "Yes" to investing in renewable energy, and any other new green technology San Francisco start-ups can figure out. All the California elected officials on the dais (Boxer, Lee, Speire, Napolitano, Woolsey, Lt Governor Garamendi) and Oregon governor Kulongoski made very clear, and sometimes even passionate, statements to the effect that CA needs and values its coastline the way it is, and the potential output of oil (estimated 1% of US daily consumption by 2030) comes no where near to justifying the risk posed to its economy and ecosystem.

AP reports that falling natural gas prices in the US are making residential consumers happy for the time being, but notes that unconventional (shale) gas drilling has fallen off a cliff in recent months - Homes that use natural gas for heat could save big. The 60 million American homes that rely on natural gas for heat can expect substantially lower bills next winter thanks to a glut in supply and the weak economy. Just as distributors start to lock in contracts for the coming winter, natural gas prices have fallen almost 75 percent. Not all of that will show up as savings on the heating bill, but it should still mean noticeable savings. Utilities also generate about a fifth of the nation's electricity with gas, and many of their customers should notice price breaks as well.

Growing power consumption and the U.S. administration's plan to rely more heavily on renewable generation sources will increase the demand on America's already overloaded electricity grid and require major investment in transmission and distribution networks. Upgrading power transmission and distribution systems is likely to cost as much as installing new generating capacity over the next 20 years. While Congress provided an extra $4.5 billion of funding for grid improvements in the recent fiscal stimulus, federal loan guarantees and other support, far more investment will be needed if the administration's targets for renewable generation are to be realized.

The US Chamber of Commerce on Thursday launched a campaign to promote "green projects" it said could proceed if only environmental groups, local governments and others would stop opposing sponsors' efforts to obtain sites and permits for the ventures. At a news conference at the chamber's Washington headquarters, officials said permitting and siting disputes, activist opposition and other "green tape" has killed or delayed "thousands" of coal, ethanol, natural gas, nuclear, transmission and wind projects.

Less than a week after the Interior Department published the findings of a report claiming that 25% of the nation's electricity could be supplied by offshore wind farms, the Department also reached an agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over how the two agencies would handle the permitting and licensing of all types of renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the United States. On Thursday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff signed a memorandum of understanding (pdf) that establishes a streamlined process by which Interior's Minerals Management Service and the FERC will lease, license and regulate all renewable energy development activities on the OCS. According to Interior Secretary Salazar, the agreement will spur the development of clean, renewable energy, which he called, "the growth industry of the 21st Century," adding that, "Our nation's economic future demands we lead that competition."

In response to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's recent comments that the offshore wind energy resource in the United States could potentially provide 25% of our electricity and replace the need for coal-fired power generation, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal balked, telling reporters: "Ain't going to happen." At an impromptu press conference in Cheyenne on Wednesday, Freudenthal said Salazar's comments were a "dumb thing to say," and said he hoped Salazar would learn the wisdom of "not making gratuitous statements." Wyoming is the biggest coal-producing state in the U.S., producing more than 450 million tons of coal in 2007, or nearly 40 percent of the country's coal.

Articles in the mainstream press about peak oil are pretty rare these days, but the SMH has one on the subject that never mentions the phrase (and flippantly dismisses Iraqi oil on the way) - Enjoy the cheap petrol, while it lasts. With demand on the rise, existing wells drying up and a dearth of big discoveries, the oil price is only headed in one direction. IN July 2008, the oil price hit a record high of $US147 a barrel. In its journey from the lows of 1998 to the highs of last year, many reasons were put forward for its ascent. Explanations included a so-called "war premium" , "a terrorist premium", hurricanes and evil speculators - the list of things and people to blame for the rise in oil prices was long. As the price rose, calls were made by political leaders and interest groups for oil producers to lift production and for a cut in taxes on oil and petroleum. Accusations of price gouging and profiteering by oil companies and producers soon emerged.

The New York Times has a column from Tom Friedman on holiday in Costa Rica, where he reports the minister of the environment is in charge of energy as well, and that renewable energy is the dominant form as a result - (No) Drill, Baby, Drill. More than any nation I've ever visited, Costa Rica is insisting that economic growth and environmentalism work together. It has created a holistic strategy to think about growth, one that demands that everything gets counted. So if a chemical factory sells tons of fertilizer but pollutes a river - or a farm sells bananas but destroys a carbon-absorbing and species-preserving forest - this is not honest growth. You have to pay for using nature. It is called "payment for environmental services" - nobody gets to treat climate, water, coral, fish and forests as free anymore.

It turns out that 2008 was another record year for clean energy. According to Clean Edge's just-released Clean Energy Trends 2009 report, the three major clean-energy sectors -- solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power and biofuels -- kept up a blistering growth rate, increasing 53 percent from $75.8 billion in 2007 to $115.9 billion in revenues in 2008.

People unfamiliar with Nevada's vast desert often find it more difficult to see what is there than to imagine what could be superimposed on the seemingly endless landscape. Nuclear waste wedged inside a mountain. Towering mushroom clouds. A network of nuclear missiles covering 10,000 square miles. These days, a very different image is evoked for 10,000 square miles of Nevada desert: a 100-mile-by-100-mile square of solar panels, enough to furnish the entire country with electricity.

These days, parents can choose from a wide variety of baby formulas, including versions enriched with vitamins, iron and even brain-boosting fatty acids. A new study from scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; however, found a chemical not mentioned on the label: perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that's linked to thyroid disease.

Renewable energy could play a much larger role in supplying the world's energy needs than previously estimated - but it won't come cheap, according to a new study.\n\nThe research, presented at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week (11 March) says that renewable energy could supply 40 per cent of the world's energy needs by 2050.\n\nThe new estimate is considerably higher than previous projections, which put renewables' share at only 12 per cent by 2030, said Peter Lund, an author of the research from the Laboratory of Advanced Energy Systems at Finland's Helsinki University of Technology.