Political Articles
Login Thursday, January 28th for Presentations in Energy Management
Login and attend the Virtual Energy Forum next Thursday, January 28th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern. Add to My Calendar.
Presenters will include Charlie Hemmeline of the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) and Andre de Fontaine of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change:
* 9:00 AM Eastern:"From Shop Floor to Top Floor: Best Business Practices in Energy Efficiency," Andre de Fontaine, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
* 10:00 AM Eastern: "Solar America Cities Program," Charlie Hemmeline, US Department of Energy
Know someone who would also be interested in attending the premier free online-only energy conference? Tell them to Sign-Up for Free.
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Obama's first year: On environment, big changes but little notice
This week marks the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama's inauguration. The economy, war and health care are dominating discussions about what he has or hasn't accomplished.
Yet with little notice from the public, Obama has been steadily rewriting a major area of American policy - the environment - from global warming to gas mileage rules, logging to endangered species. Many of his initiatives have particular impact on California.
After methodically reversing many of the Bush administration's environmental policies, with little help from Congress, Obama is drawing criticism from Republican and industry leaders who say his actions threaten job growth, as well as cheers from environmentalists who call the changes overdue.
"This is by far the best first year on the environment of any president in history, including Teddy Roosevelt," said Carl Pope, national executive director of the Sierra Club, in San Francisco. "Most presidents have done their best environmental work late in their term. This is a very, very strong opening."
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Arctic a growing security issue for U.S.
WASHINGTON - The CIA normally concerns itself with terrorism and other threats to U.S. security, so the recent revelation that it is routinely monitoring the Arctic's rapidly shrinking ice cap, and now sharing spy satellite photos with climate-change scientists, caught some by surprise.
The little-known CIA program has been restarted after being shuttered by the George W. Bush administration for several years. The CIA is once again giving a select group of environmental scientists access to classified data about the Arctic, just as it did during the 1990s.
The data include thousands of high-resolution images taken by spy satellites that American scientists couldn't access without the program. It's something the Canadian government, incidentally, has been doing for years.
Nonetheless the news has caused Fox News commentators to scoff at the CIA, accusing it of "spying on icebergs instead of terrorists" and therefore failing to "keep Americans safe."
The ExxonMobil-funded organization National Center for Public Policy Research also objected, saying the program "diverts intelligence assets to climate research."
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US cult of greed is now a global environmental threat, report warns
Excessive consumption has spread to developing countries and could wipe out efforts to slow climate change, Worldwatch Institute says The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a report published today. In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.
Erik Assadourian, the project director who led a team of 35 behind the report, said: "Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation."
The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at a reckless rate, the US thinktank said. In the last decade, consumption of goods and services rose 28% to $30.5tn
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Is OPEC Looking for $100 Crude?
Crude may be taking a breather Tuesday, down about $1 a barrel, but some OPEC countries appear to be giving oil traders a-wink-and-a-nod for pushing crude prices higher.
Earlier Tuesday, Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters that $82 oil was "fantastic" and said the Gulf state doesn't think OPEC needs to change production in March at its next policy meeting based on current prices.
An official in Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council then told Zawya-Dow Jones that OPEC "will not consider it an alarming event even if oil hits $100…" Last week, Libya's top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, said, "As long as (oil prices) are under $100 there is no need for (OPEC) action."
… Olivier Jakob, an analyst with Swiss-based Petromatrix, thinks the recent the recent OPEC chatter is basically talking up prices. "While OPEC will blame higher oil prices on speculators, they are trying to sponsor the same speculation by making the rounds saying that OPEC will not move a finger unless [West Texas Intermediate] rises above $100 a barrel," Mr. Jakob said in a research note Tuesday, referring to the U.S. oil-price benchmark.
Moderate voices within OPEC-such as Saudi Arabia, which holds most of OPEC's spare production capacity-recoil at suggestions that OPEC wants higher prices and say they're genuinely pleased with prices hovering between $70 and $80.
At that level, OPEC crude is still the best game in town compared with many of the high-cost oil-drilling projects in non-OPEC states, like Canada, that usually require a sustained oil price of at least $75 to be profitable.
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Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit
America imported 4 million barrels of oil a day-or 1.5 billion barrels per year-from "dangerous or unstable" countries in 2008 at a cost of about $150 billion. CAP's Rebecca Lefton and Daniel J. Weiss examine the implications of our growing energy insecurity in this repost.
A recent report on the November 2009 U.S. trade deficit found that rising oil imports widened our deficit, increasing the gap between our imports and exports. This is but one example that our economic recovery and long-term growth is inexorably linked to our reliance on foreign oil. The United States is spending approximately $1 billion a day overseas on oil instead of investing the funds at home, where our economy sorely needs it. Burning oil that exacerbates global warming also poses serious threats to our national security and the world's security. For these reasons we need to kick the oil addiction by investing in clean-energy reform to reduce oil demand, while taking steps to curb global warming.
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‘Grassroots' Opposition to Clean Energy Reform Bankrolled by Foreign Oil, Petro-Governments
Saudi Arabian oil fieldClean energy legislation passed by the House, now pending in the Senate, faces fierce opposition from the proprietors of fossil fuel companies, and much has been reported on how domestic oil and coal companies have flooded the debate with money, lobbying, and misinformation. These opponents of clean energy reform claim to be "standing up" for American jobs and security. However, according to an investigation by ThinkProgress, many of the lobbyists and right-wing operatives engineering the attacks on clean energy reform either work directly for petro-governments, or work for companies in the business of importing foreign oil:
- Nigeria's Bayelsa State, the region of the country producing much of its crude oil, is registered with the Carmen Group as its representative in DC. The Carmen Group is run largely by lobbyist David Keene, who also manages the American Conservative Union. Keene has lobbied against clean energy reform and used his conservative organization to generate "grassroots" opposition to legislative efforts to move away from a fossil fuel based economy. Although the extent to which the Carmen Group "provide[s] general representation before the United States Congress" is unclear - as Justice Department disclosures indicate - the Nigerian state has lavished Carmen group lobbyists with $903,450 in payments since 2006. According to a report produced Monday by the State Department, Nigeria is at risk of becoming a haven for terror and extremism. In the past, Keene, the coordinator of the CPAC convention, has been caught auctioning off conservative grassroots support to his corporate lobbying clients for as much as $2 million dollars.
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Anti-science blogger Anthony Watts keeps attacking Al Gore and IPCC head Pachauri for supposed conflicts of interest, but does he have his own conflict?
We have Al Gore who is viewed by many as being the most influential communicator on the climate change issue who is up to his neck in carbon trading and also has many board associations that help his cause. Now we have the leader of the UN's IPCC with questionable business associations. Where's NYT's Andy Revkin? Where's 60 Minutes? Where's Dateline NBC?
That would be former TV weatherman Anthony Watts in yet another post at his blog WattsUpWithThat acting as populist champion attacking supposed climate profiteers. Except of course the long-debunked Gore charge is a fabrication - see Grist on the NYT's "baseless hit job on Gore," plus the story's origin in a Fox News doctored video. You can read Pachauri's comments here, "Pachauri slams charges about conflict of interest."
It's kind of funny to see the anti-science crowd go after Pachauri for his connection to oil companies now that he has become a climate science realist. Pachauri was specifically chosen as IPCC chair in 2002 after the Bush administration waged a successful campaign to have him replace the outspoken Dr. Robert Watson, who was opposed by fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. It's the facts that make people alarmists, not their politics or professional background
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Using solar over coal power would be a boon for Texas
Change, we have learned, is hard. The closer we come to meaningful solutions to our dependence on oil and global warming, the more fiercely opponents of change resist.
We can have the technology and know-how to repower America with energy from the sun, wind and other clean, renewable sources that don't harm the environment, never run out and could create millions of good, new jobs. We could put solar panels on rooftops and wind turbines off our coasts, and tap the heat beneath the earth's surface. We could drive highly efficient electric vehicles and crisscross the nation with transit and rail lines that provide good alternatives to driving. We could slash the energy we waste each year and make our economy much more efficient.
In Texas we have the greatest solar resource potential in the nation. Texas helped create a boom for wind power, and it can do the same for solar. Solar power has environmental, economic and health benefits that Texas can harness and transition itself into a clean-energy leader.
These solutions will curb global warming, cut our dependence on fossil fuels and build a vibrant economy on a foundation of green jobs.
Texas has reduced its global-warming pollution by 2 percent since 2004, largely in part to its growing wind-energy industry. But the trail to a clean-energy future is long, and Texas is just starting to saddle up.
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North Dakota vs. Minnesota: Dust-up over carbon
North Dakota is none too pleased with Minnesota as a deadline nears for what North Dakota claims will be a tax on coal-fired electricity.
A long-simmering dispute between North Dakota and Minnesota appears to be coming to a head. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is saying he very likely will sue Minnesota over its so-called "carbon tax" on emissions, calling it an illegal attempt to regulate another state's industry.
"We simply feel that we've been forced into this posture," Stenehjem said in an interview this week. "We have attempted everything we can think of to work with officials in Minnesota."
Stenehjem declined to put a timeframe on the lawsuit or say in which court it was likely to be filed, but he said his group is calculating the economic damage to North Dakota.
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Drought drives Middle Eastern pepper farmers out of business, threatens prized heirloom chiles
Most Turks live on the water's edge in the far western reaches of their vast country. But many of the spices that perfume the air in Turkey's famous urban bazaars come from the nation's southeastern farming areas of Sanliurfa and Kahramanmaras. In fact, spices from this region rank among the most highly prized condiments and herbs you can find in any spice emporium anywhere.
As I wandered through the Misir Carsisi Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, and the Kemeralti Bazaar at the western terminus of the Silk Road in Izmir, I could see the chile powders, pastes and dried fruits from Sanliurfa and Kahramanmaras proudly and prominently displayed.
Urfa and Maras peppers from Turkey have the same international fame that Aleppo (Halaby) peppers do from Syria, Tabascos do from Louisiana, or Habaneros do from the Yucatan. But their prices are soaring and supplies are becoming scarce-not merely because of international demand, but because of drought and agricultural water scarcity triggered by global climate change.
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100 Percent Renewable? One Danish Island Experiments with Clean Power
One small island in Denmark is technically 100 percent powered by sustainable sources of energy. Could the experiment succeed anywhere else?
Denmark-It can seem as if the icy, cutting wind off the North Sea never stops blowing on this Danish island in winter, bending back the grass, whipping straight the flags, and setting mammoth wind turbines to their stately spinning. That's good news for Samso's 4,000 or so inhabitants, seeing as they own shares in 20 of the 21 turbines that either tower over the island or rise from the offshore waters of the Kattegat Strait, which connects the Baltic and North seas.
Some people see wind turbines as eyesores or complain about the sound of their whirring blades, but Soren Hermansen, chief proselytizer for the island's renewable energy experiment and director of the Samso Energy Academy, disagrees. "If you own a share in a wind turbine it looks better, it sounds better," he says. "It sounds like money in the bank."
The land-based turbines are 50 meters tall with blades that stretch some 27 meters from end to end. The sea-based turbines are even more massive-63 meters high (not including the spike pounded into the seafloor beneath the waves) with 40-meter blades. A single such turbine can generate roughly eight million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year at a cost of $3 million per turbine (the onshore variety are cheaper, at just over $1 million).
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Military considers global warming threat
The hand-wringing over global warming is often done by scientists and preservationists, but on Tuesday several high-ranking current and former military men visited Atlanta and talked about the possible consequences for U.S. security.
They imagine disruptions in the supply of food and water that lead to unrest and to conflict around the globe. They see poverty-stricken countries becoming increasingly unstable. And they worry about whole populations on the move, as the seas rise and rivers change their courses.
Rear Admiral David Titley said there is strong evidence that old arctic ice has melted much faster than new ice can replace it. It's a trend that scientists predict could someday yield a rise in sea level by a meter or two, he said.
"I've had people ask me: ‘Why should the Navy care?'" he said. He has a dry response loaded with sarcasm: "Well, we tend to build our bases at sea level."
The admiral was in town for a convention of weather watchers: the 90th American Meteorological Society annual meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center.
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The IPCC is not infallible (shock!)
Like all human endeavours, the IPCC is not perfect. Despite the enormous efforts devoted to producing its reports with the multiple levels of peer review, some errors will sneak through. Most of these will be minor and inconsequential, but sometimes they might be more substantive. As many people are aware (and as John Nieslen-Gammon outlined in a post last month and Rick Piltz goes over today), there is a statement in the second volume of the IPCC (WG2), concerning the rate at which Himalayan glaciers are receding that is not correct and not properly referenced.
The statement, in a chapter on climate impacts in Asia, was that the likelihood of the Himalayan glaciers "disappearing by the year 2035? was "very high" if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate (WG 2, Ch. 10, p493), and was referenced to a World Wildlife Fund 2005 report. Examining the drafts and comments (available here), indicates that the statement was barely commented in the reviews, and that the WWF (2005) reference seems to have been a last minute addition (it does not appear in the First- or Second- Order Drafts). This claim did not make it into the summary for policy makers, nor the overall synthesis report, and so cannot be described as a ‘central claim' of the IPCC. However, the statement has had some press attention since the report particularly in the Indian press, at least according to Google News, even though it was not familiar to us before last month.
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