” This chart uses data from the US Energy Information Administration to compare federal investments in green energy and the share of green energy in electricity generation.
Wind energy receives the lion’s share of renewable-energy grants. The industry has received nearly $30 billion in federal subsidies and cash grants over the past 35 years, and Washington has promised another $12 billion in subsidies in the next decade.”
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” In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama promised to create 5 million “green jobs” if elected president. However, an analysis by the Institute for Energy Research (IER) finds that since 2009, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) $26 billion loan program created just 2,298 permanent jobs, at a cost of $11.45 million per job created.
In his New York Times bestselling book Throw Them All Out, Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer revealed that 80% of Department of Energy loans went to companies owned by or connected to President Barack Obama’s top campaign fundraisers.”
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” A TVA spokesperson confirmed that a security officer patrolling TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City was involved in a shootout with a suspect Sunday at about 2:00 a.m.
The security incident happened on the Tennessee River side of the plant property, more than a quarter mile from the plant’s protected area, which houses its reactor and power production facilities.
TVA spokesperson Jim Hopson said the subject traveled up to the plant on a boat and walked onto the property. When the officer questioned the suspect, the individual fired multiple shots at the officer. The officer shot back, and when he called for backup, the suspect sped away on his boat. “
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Bjorn Lomborg: Green Cars Have a Dirty Little Secret
Electric cars are promoted as the chic harbinger of an environmentally benign future. Ads assure us of “zero emissions,” and President Obama has promised a million on the road by 2015. With sales for 2012 coming in at about 50,000, that million-car figure is a pipe dream. Consumers remain wary of the cars’ limited range, higher price and the logistics of battery-charging. But for those who do own an electric car, at least there is the consolation that it’s truly green, right? Not really.
For proponents such as the actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio, the main argument is that their electric cars—whether it’s a $100,000 Fisker Karma (Mr. DiCaprio’s ride) or a $28,000 Nissan Leaf—don’t contribute to global warming. And, sure, electric cars don’t emit carbon-dioxide on the road. But the energy used for their manufacture and continual battery charges certainly does—far more than most people realize.
A 2012 comprehensive life-cycle analysis in Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that almost half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially the battery. The mining of lithium, for instance, is a less than green activity. By contrast, the manufacture of a gas-powered car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. When an electric car rolls off the production line, it has already been responsible for 30,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide emission. The amount for making a conventional car: 14,000 pounds.
So unless the electric car is driven a lot, it will never get ahead environmentally. And that turns out to be a challenge. Consider the Nissan Leaf. It has only a 73-mile range per charge. Drivers attempting long road trips, as in one BBC test drive, have reported that recharging takes so long that the average speed is close to six miles per hour—a bit faster than your average jogger.”
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” TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline will not harm the environment, the State Department — in a blow to environmentalists who want to block the project — wrote in a newly-drafted report on the latest proposed route.
The report comes to the dismay of environmental activists. “We’re mystified as to how the State Department can acknowledge the negative effects of the Earth’s dirtiest oil on our climate, but at the same time claim that the proposed pipeline will ‘not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects,’” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. “
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” I can’t say I was surprised when I read, via a Drudge link, that John Kerry made his first foreign policy speech as secretary of State on the heavyweight scientific subject of climate change (the perils thereof, of course).
But I did have a chuckle, remembering that sometime during or after the 2004 presidential campaign it was revealed that Kerry did even more poorly at Yale than the supposedly dopey George W. Bush. In fact, the former Massachusetts senator received four “Ds” in his freshman year, including one in geology.
We can assume that our new Sec’y of State is not a science whiz. Nevertheless, Mr. Kerry is apparently certain that anthropogenic global warming is a great danger to the human race and should be the object of a major international effort.
Why does he think so? Because he assumes the vast majority of scientists say so, I would imagine. And also because that’s what thebien pensant think and there is no one more orthodox in his views than John Kerry.
A recent survey of 1077 professional engineers and geoscientists reported by Investor’s Business Daily gives quite a different picture, however: “… it turns out that only 36% believe that human activities are causing Earth’s climate to warm.” Indeed, if you read this study you find that there has been a shift among scientists and engineers away from AGW. And this is leaving out whether warming is ultimately good or bad, that the polar ice cap has been growing by leaps and bounds and that polar bear population is exploding, etc., etc.”
” The Obama administration on Thursday finalized plans to lock up from energy production half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska – a tract of land the size of Indiana set aside by Congress 90 years ago to assure a domestic supply of oil.
Of the 23 million acres in reserve on Alaska’s north slope, energy production will be allowed on an nearly 12 million acres believed to hold 549 million barrels of oil – a small percentage of what the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the entire reserve holds — nearly three billion barrels of recoverable oil.
The decision to significantly curtail energy development in the reserve was signed today by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and comes as gasoline prices continue to increase for the 34th day in a row.”
” This must be a textbook example of cognitive dissonance, that is when diametrically-opposed ideas coexist in the same mind. To wit, self-described Progressives cherish birds and green energy, yet wind turbines kill nearly a half-million avian souls each year.”
” There are far more polar bears alive today than there were 40 years ago,” Unger told NPR in an interview about his new book, “Never Look a Polar Bear in The Eye.” “There are about 25,000 polar bears alive today worldwide. In 1973, there was a global hunting ban. So once hunting was dramatically reduced, the population exploded.”
” He packed up his family and moved north to Churchill, Manitoba — called the ”Polar Bear Capital of the World” because of the large amounts of bears that congregate near it in the autumn.
“My humble plan was to become a hero of the environmental movement,” Unger told NPR.”
” Despite controversy surrounding international sanctions, Iran has called on foreign aid to recover a $40 million natural gas platform after it sunk to the seabed in the Persian Gulf.
Divers have been deployed to see how the 1,300-metric-ton platform can be pulled up, in the giant South Pars field, according to the state-owned Pars Oil and Gas Co. (POGC) Ltd. However, due to extreme weather conditions in the area, a recovery operation has not yet began.
The platform sunk to the bottom of the Gulf on Monday night as it was being installed by POGC and its builder, Iranian Marine Industrial Co. (Sadra), which is controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. It took 2.5 years to build.”
Americans Still Held Hostage in Algeria
“One American has died in the
Algerian hostage crisis, according to
Associated Press sources.
The State Department confirmed
earlier Friday that Americans are still being held hostage at the Algerian gas factory seized by Islamists earlier this week, though the number of hostages being held is unclear. United States officials said they will not participate in any kind of exchange with the terrorists to free the Americans. “
” Scientists at the University of California, Davis have discovered how to make fuel from sunlight and engineered cyanobacteria — commonly known as blue-green algae.Scientists at the University of California, Davis have discovered how to create chemical precursors for fuel and plastic using sunlight and cyanobacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae.“Most chemical feedstocks come from petroleum and natural gas, and we need other sources,” said Shota Atsumi, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Davis.
By 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to obtain a quarter of industrial chemicals using biological processes.
The premise behind this discovery is photosynthesis — the forming of carbon-carbon bonds through carbon dioxide and the power of sunlight. “
” The analysis and other health assessments have been closely guarded by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration as the governor weighs whether to approve fracking. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has long delayed making a decision, unnerved in part by strident opposition on his party’s left. A plan to allow a limited amount of fracking in the state’s Southern Tier along the Pennsylvania border is still seen as the most likely outcome, should the drilling process receive final approval.
The New York governor is considered to be a potential 2016 contender. Cuomo has known about the report for months as he considered approving fracking. Fracking is a difficult issue for a Democrat considering a presidential future.
News of the report comes as Hollywood takes a tough stand on the issue.Matt Damon’s Promised Land, a movie about local, rural resistance to fracking, was released in December. The movie has not been received well and is currently rated “rotten.” “
” Since Stanolind Oil introduced hydraulic fracturing in 1949, close to 2.5 million fracture treatments have been performed worldwide. Some believe that approximately 60% of all wells drilled today are fractured. Fracture stimulation not only increases the production rate, but it is credited with adding to reserves—9 billion bbl of oil and more than 700 Tscf of gas added since 1949 to US reserves alone—which otherwise would have been uneconomical to develop.
In addition, through accelerating production, net present value of reserves has increased. Fracturing can be traced to the 1860s, when liquid (and later, solidified) nitroglycerin (NG) was used to stimulate shallow, hard rock wells in Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Although extremely hazardous, and often used illegally, NG was spectacularly successful for oil well “shooting.” The object of shooting a well was to break up, or rubblize, the oil-bearing formation to increase both initial flow and ultimate recovery of oil. This same fracturing principle was soon applied with equal effectiveness to water and gas wells.”
” The IEA report, World Energy Outlook 2012, concludes that in just a few years the United States will be so awash in domestically produced oil it will surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production. Moreover, by 2030 North America as a whole will become a net exporter of oil.
Revolutionary advances in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling are making this dramatic turnaround possible, observes IEA. These technological advances have enabled energy companies to inexpensively unlock vast amounts of tight oil and natural gas in shale formations that were previously considered economically impractical for production. ”
“The recent rebound in U.S. oil and gas production, driven by upstream technologies that are unlocking tight oil and shale gas resources, is spurring economic activity—with less expensive gas and electricity prices giving industry a competitive edge—and steadily changing the role of North America in global energy trade. By around 2020, the United States is projected to become the largest oil producer (overtaking Saudi Arabia until the mid-2020s) and starts to see the impact of new fuel efficiency measures in transport. The result is a continued fall in U.S. oil imports, to the extent that North America becomes a net oil exporter around 2030. This accelerates the switch in direction of international oil trade towards Asia, putting a focus on the security of the strategic routes that bring Middle East oil to Asian markets. The United States, which currently imports around 20 percent of its current energy needs, becomes all but self-sufficient in net terms—a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy-importing countries.”
” Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly has been long aware of the February 2012 research compiled by state officials, who concluded that hydraulic fracturing could be performed safely in New York. Yet amid political pressure from the environmentalist lobby, he buried the findings. The report became public in recent days when a copy was leaked to a newspaper.
When Cuomo campaigned, he indicated he was open to approving the process, which has been shut down in New York since a 2008 moratorium. But he’s apparently nervous about crossing those opposed to it.
We suggest Cuomo stiffen his spine. The benefits of fracking are phenomenal.
Fracking uses fluids injected under pressure to shatter rock and release oil and natural gas. It is not a new process. But it has been modernized and is taking energy output to new heights. “
” The Obama administration this weekend released the first major part if its second-term regulatory agenda, an initiative costing as much as $350 million targeting fossil-burning boilers and incinerators that critics says hits companies already struggling in a tough economy.
The Environmental Protection Agency regulations released late Friday attempt to improve Americans’ health by reducing soot from the industrial boilers and incinerators.
The agency estimates the cost of implementing the new standards will cost $53 million to $350 million. “
” Build a plane that’s as heavy as a car, but uses only as much energy as a scooter. And stay aloft with just the energy of the sun—even after sunset. That, pilot André Borschberg says, is the challenge facing the Solar Impulse team as it stares down its biggest challenge yet: flying around the world in a solar-powered plane.
You might have heard about Solar Impulse when the sun-powered plane project made its maiden flight in 2009, or in 2010 when Borschberg set the endurance record by piloting the aircraft for 26 consecutive hours, running on stored solar energy from on-board batteries after the sun went down. Now he and teammate Bertrand Piccard are off on even more ambitious ventures, which they came to New York to discuss last night. First, in 2013, they will fly their solar-powered plane across the United States. Then, in 2015, they will pilot a larger version around the world. “
” Would you pay nearly $17,000 for a street legal electric bike that’s more like an electric motorcycle both in terms of speed and design?
Well, that’s the proposition being floated by Hanebrink with its new Hustler X5 electric street bike which, among other near electric motorcycle touches, is said to have a top speed of around 80 miles per hour. It also looks nothing like anything else in this company’s portfolio, with its typical offerings appearing more to be like this. “
” Scientists have created the smallest petrol engine in the world ( less than a centimeter long , not even half an inch ), small enough to power a watch or any small gadget. The mini-motor, which runs for two years on a single squirt of lighter fuel, is set to revolutionize world technology. It generates 700 times more energy than a conventional battery. It could be used to operate laptops and mobile phones for months doing away with the need for charging. Experts believe it could be phasing out batteries in such items within just six years. The engine, minute enough to be balanced on a fingertip, has been produced by engineers at the University of Birmingham. — with Jamie Gleeson and Amka Tseezen. “
Here Is Popular Mechanics Fawning Take On The Subject …
” These changes in the law are going to demand that we change the way we think about lightbulbs. We’re accustomed to a lightbulb being a minor expense, but the upfront cost of an energy-efficient one is much higher. Some might cost $30 or more per bulb.
CFLs represent the best value for consumers, as they use one-fourth the power of a comparable incandescent lightbulb and last up to 10 times longer. As a result, each CFL will save the consumer at least $30 in the form of lower electricity costs over the life of the bulb. “
But There Is More To CFLs Than Energy Savings …
” Compact fluorescent lightbulbs contain a minuscule amount of mercury, and you can’t safely ignore potential contact with it .
Lightbulbs break all the time. So why would a single broken bulb in a Maine household trigger the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to refer the homeowner to a decontaminator?
The answer lies in the type of bulb that broke—a compact fluorescent lightbulb—and what was inside that bulb. Compact fluorescents, like their tubular fluorescent precursors, contain a small amount of mercury—typically around five milligrams. Mercury is essential to a fluorescent bulb’s ability to emit light; no other element has proved as efficient.
As effective as it is at enabling white light, however, mercury—sometimes called quicksilver—is also highly toxic. It is especially harmful to the brains of both fetuses and children. That’s why officials have curtailed or banned its use in applications from thermometers to automotive and thermostat switches. “
” Today, The Heartland Institute is submitting to Congress more than 16,000 signed petitions demanding that Congress “rein in the EPA.” The petition recites EPA’s many sins against science and common sense committed during its campaign “to scare the American people into believing that their health, safety and even survival was at stake because of man-made global warming.”
It says “the EPA, having lost their war to scare America into giving them legislation that would allow them to seize control of virtually all energy production and use, are perverting the Clean Air law to give themselves unprecedented powers to regulate American society.”The petition concludes saying “therefore, I call for deep cuts in the size, power and cost of the EPA.”
EPA wasn’t always so unpopular. It was created in 1970 to protect the air, land, and waterways of the U.S. from harmful pollution. Thanks in part to the agency’s efforts, Americans today enjoy a vastly cleaner environment — among the healthiest in the industrialized world. Yet over the years, EPA has become a rogue agency grasping for ever-more illegitimate power that does little or nothing to protect the environment. “
Illustration By Chip Bok
” Until then, we have to suffer through a mind-numbing series of non-sequiturs in which the decline in marginal tax rates over the last 50 years is responsible for … well everything that has gone wrong in the real or perceived world, including the supposed failure of the electric grid during Hurricane Sandy, A Failed Experiment:
In upper-middle-class suburbs on the East Coast, the newest must-have isn’t a $7,500 Sub-Zero refrigerator. It’s a standby generator that automatically flips on backup power to an entire house when the electrical grid goes out.
In part, that’s a legacy of Hurricane Sandy. Such a system can cost well over $10,000, but many families are fed up with losing power again and again…. “
” We all remember Ben Franklin as a pretty bright guy who discovered some pretty important stuff. The real question is, what didn’t this polymath genius invent?
1742: Observing the wasteful use of firewood in inefficient colonial fireplaces, he designed the Franklin Stove, which used its iron body to diffuse a much larger proportion of the heat. The stove enabled poor families to save money and be warmer in the winter.
1749: Noticing that lightning was attracted to metal and tall objects, Franklin hit on the idea of attaching vertical metal rods to the tops of tall buildings to attract the lightning, thus sparing the roof a direct hit.1787: Although he never actually built them, during one of his eight Atlantic crossings, Franklin came up with a design for watertight bulkheads that would help limit flooding below deck if a ship’s hull was breached.
Along the way, he also helped develop America’s first fire department, the first library, and the concept of daylight saving time. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Ben Franklin the inventor was his refusal to patent any of his ideas, so that the widest possible number of people could benefit from them.
