Tag Archives: Energy Crisis

China and US in climate change 'suicide pact' — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

From The Hill, published in May, 2008, and retrieved on Monday, January 11, 2009:

Together, China and the United States produce 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their actions to curb or expand energy consumption will determine whether efforts to stop global climate change succeed or fail. If these two nations act to curb emissions, the rest of the world can more easily coalesce on a global plan. If either fails to act, the mitigation strategies adopted by the rest of the world will fall far short of averting disaster for large parts of the earth.

These two nations are now joined in what energy analyst Joe Romm has aptly called “a mutual suicide pact.” American leaders point to emissions growth in China and demand that Chinese leaders take responsibility for climate change. Chinese leaders counter that American per capita greenhouse gas emissions are five times theirs and say, “You created this problem, you do something about it.”

Click here to read the whole report.

The big book of environmental writing

A book review from slate.com, retrieved on Tuesday, January 13, 2009:

Bill McKibben—who is himself one of the most literate and talented environmentalists working today—has captured the great sprawling contradictions of the environmentalist tradition by locking the great greens of the past two centuries of U.S. history together in the pages of American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. As I pored through the extracts of enviro-speeches, books, and letters, I could see them all massed together in the Library of America’s lobby. Henry David Thoreau, the mud from Walden Pond drying on his heels, smiles and offers Al Gore a huckleberry; Al Gore smiles back and offers him a BlackBerry. Theodore Roosevelt makes them jump by taking potshots at the endangered owl Edward Abbey has brought along. Paul Ehrlich announces with a shriek that there are too many people in the room and chases Rachel Carson out. Everyone begins to shout.

What unites this cacophony? What makes them all environmentalists? McKibben says they all focused on “the collision between people and the rest of the world”—and together they as Americans gave the world the genre of environmental writing. When Europeans and Asians were destroying their forests and burning away their lush ecosystems, nobody was writing books. But the deforestation hinted at in the ancient epics of the old continents was witnessed firsthand by some of America’s greatest writers. They smelled the smoke, and it stung their eyes.

Click here to read the whole review.

Department of Energy report: 20% wind energy by 2030

From the U.S. Department of Energy website, posted 5/5/08, retrieved 1/5/09:

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report that examines the technical feasibility of using wind energy to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity demand by 2030. The report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply,” includes contributions from DOE and its national laboratories, the wind industry, electric utilities, and other groups. The report examines the costs, major impacts, and challenges associated with producing 20% wind energy or 300 GW of wind generating capacity by 2030.

The report’s conclusions include:

Reaching 20% wind energy will require enhanced transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems, and increased U.S. wind manufacturing capacity.

Achieving 20% wind energy will require the number of turbine installations to increase from approximately 2000 per year in 2006 to almost 7000 per year in 2017.

Integrating 20% wind energy into the grid can be done reliably for less than 0.5 cents per kWh.

Achieving 20 percent wind energy is not limited by the availability of raw materials.

Read the complete report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030, Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply” (PDF 9.1 MB).

Two camps on climate change in Obama's team

From the New York Times on Friday, January 2, 2008:

But difficult debates lie ahead within the White House, between the White House and Congress, and within the Democratic Party, whose deep divisions on climate change break down along ideological and geographical lines.

The fight in November between two Democrats, Representatives John D. Dingell of Michigan and Henry A. Waxman of California, for the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was a preview. It pitted lawmakers from auto- and coal-producing states against liberal lawmakers from California and the East Coast, Blue Dog fiscal conservatives against environmentalists, pro-business moderates against regulatory activists. Mr. Waxman, with the tacit support of the Obama camp and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won, but narrowly.

That was just a taste of the broader and potentially more bitter fight over global warming and energy legislation, which will have profound implications for the American economy, the environment and foreign policy.

Both sides — those seeking strict enforcement of emissions limits and those concerned about higher energy costs and potential job losses — will find receptive ears in the new White House, Obama aides and outside analysts said.

Click here to read the whole article.

More homeowners weatherizing homes to save on energy

From the New York Times on Monday, December 29, 2008:

Call it CSI: Thermal Police — energy experts armed with mostly low-tech tools but strong sleuthing skills, finding flaws that let the air inside a house go through a full exchange with the outdoors twice an hour, instead of once every two or three hours.

Correct those flaws, and heating and cooling costs are typically cut by 20 percent to 30 percent, a saving of more than $1,000 annually in some households. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions and the strain on the national electric and gas systems are reduced.

About 140,000 houses will be weatherized with public help this year, a total that President-elect Barack Obama has promised to raise to one million, to reduce energy consumption and cut energy costs for households and taxpayers, who often absorb those costs for the poor. This would represent a historic shift in emphasis for the federal and state governments, reducing poor people’s energy bills instead of helping to pay them.

Click here to read the whole story.

Fairbanks homeowners begin building adventure

Gail Koepf and Rocky Reifenstuhl, Fairbanks, Alaska homeowners, are building a new home using sustainable, energy efficient techniques. CCHRC staff are filming aspects of the construction for use in a future “Best Practices” video about homebuilding in the North. The following is the first entry from Gail’s ongoing journal about the project. We will continue to post entries as their work progresses.

We are currently facing a world of energy shortages, pollution, insecurity, and diminishing resources. These challenges have been confronted throughout time by all living creatures, as their populations pushed the limits of their existing conditions. In order to survive, they were challenged to adapt to a new environment or had to move on. Today moving on is less and less an option, so we had better learn to adapt and live in a way that is sustainable. My husband and I were in a life transition and were planning our new home. Our view was that taking steps toward sustainability was a goal second only to the need for shelter. I have been asked several times why I wanted to experiment with my own house. The reality is it was one of my main reasons for building. If I had wanted a conventional home, it would have been a lot easier to purchase one (especially in the current market!). I know there are many in Fairbanks, particularly now, who with a little encouragement would be willing to shift their concept of the “dream home” to something that is smaller & more efficient. I am posting some of our experiences to inform others like ourselves, who are interested in downsizing and retiring here, and who are looking in to smaller, more affordable energy efficient homes.

"Green" vs. "green-in-your-pocket": a tough choice in these times

From reuters.com News Service on Friday, December 12, 2008:

U.S. consumers’ enthusiasm for all things clean and green is being overshadowed by their urgent need for a different kind of green — the one that pays the mortgage and puts food on the table.

From hybrid cars to solar panels, products that promise to reduce consumption of polluting fossil fuels are not selling as quickly as they were before access to credit dried up and gas prices plummeted from historic highs.

“I’m the only one that’s upset when gas prices go down. Environmentalists feel the same way, but our customer base is not environmentalists,” said Tacee Webb, chief executive of Lovecraft Biofuels, a company with locations in Portland and Los Angeles that retrofits cars to run on biodiesel and vegetable oil. “It is hard on us when gas prices go down.”

Click here to read the whole article.

Fairbanks, Alaska entrepreneur is geothermal pioneer

From the Union of Concerned Scientists, retrieved on Friday, December 12, 2008:

The renewable energy industry is growing at a record pace in the United States, and so too is the demand for skilled “green collar” workers. Faces of Renewable Energy showcases real people who are building our clean energy economy.

Click here to listen to an interview with, and read a profile of, entrepreneur Bernie Karl.

World economy may doom signing of 2009 U.N. climate change pact

From Reuters on Monday, December 8, 2008:

Recession and the change of U.S. administration make it unlikely the world will meet a 2009 deadline for agreeing a full new pact to fight global warming, delegates at U.N. climate talks say.

A year ago, 190 nations signed up for a two-year push to agree a comprehensive climate treaty at talks in Copenhagen in late 2009. But negotiators and analysts attending preparatory December 1-12 talks in Poznan say that looks out of reach.

The most that many now hope for is agreement next year on the principles of a pact, though a few say this is too pessimistic.

“A suitable aspiration and a great achievement (in Copenhagen) would be agreement on the principles for negotiation, not a text,” said Robert Stavins, professor of business and government at Harvard University.

Recession means that developed nations’ greenhouse gas emissions will fall by about 2 percent next year, making other action less urgent, he said.

The 2009 deadline is meant to ensure that new targets for cutting emissions are in place in good time to allow worldwide ratification before Kyoto Protocol goals expire in 2012.

Click here to read the whole article.

How can we better use water?

From the New York Times “By Design” blog, on Friday, November 21, 2008:

For a couple of months there, it was sort of exciting to witness how dramatically higher oil prices were affecting human behavior. Ridership of public transit was up, homeowners were swapping exurban houses for urban condos, S.U.V. sales were down, people were walking. T. Boone Pickens threw cash at a wind farm.

But in more recent weeks, as oil prices dropped, I started hearing indications of backpedaling on all of the above. With gas back down in the $2 to $2.50 a gallon range, there was talk of this all being less urgent, something that could be addressed later. Pickens even scrapped plans for the wind farm!

This is such a strange notion: that an interim price drop somehow solves the larger issue of our dependence on oil. And it’s something we see with another precious resource: water.

Click here to read the whole article.