I'm still not altogether sure I would actually fit in one of them, however.
It is fun to watch some testing, though:
via Grist, good news out of California:
Two gigantic solar plants will be built in California under deals announced Thursday between utility Pacific Gas & Electric and companies OptiSolar and Sun Power. Together, the plants could generate 800 megawatts of electricity at peak capacity, enough to power 239,000 homes. (Perspective: The total peak capacity of every photovoltaic panel in the U.S. as of last year was 750 MW.) The largest plant will cover nine square miles with solar panels, but it will be "very visually unobtrusive," says OptiSolar CEO Randy Goldstein; with panels only three feet high, "It almost looks like a lake." Both plants aim to be up and running by 2011, dependent on state and local approval and a renewal of tax credits currently stalled in Congress. Photovoltaic power has until now been constrained to rooftops, considered too inefficient for utility-scale use; the PG&E deals are "monumental," says Julia Hamm of the Solar Electric Power Association. "I really think it demonstrates that the time for solar has come."
This is a good first step.
It's a breezy night here in Virginia.
I wonder just how much electricity is being produced by the new windmills(pdf)?
Keep watching vehicle sales since this trend is (obviously!) going to continue:
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline at self-serve stations was $3.85 Friday, down almost 15 cents from two weeks ago.
Mid-grade went for $3.98 and premium went for $4.10. That’s according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations nationwide, released Sunday.
Locally it had been staying at $3.69 for a couple of weeks, but yesterday I noticed a $3.65 at one of my regular stations.
I mean, it's just sitting there:
Here is the best opportunity ever- according to Wired, scientists have just discovered a lake of petroleum on Titan, a moon of Saturn. They call it Ontario Lacus because it is the size of Lake Ontario, but are looking for a less foreign alternative. And you don't even need a drill; just a big bucket.
1.5 BILLION mile round trip, so what the heck...
At least when the ice is gone, it will be easier to get to:
The future of the Arctic will be less white wilderness, more black gold, a new report on oil reserves in the High North has signalled this week. The first-comprehensive assessment of oil and gas resources north of the Arctic Circle, carried out by American geologists, reveals that underneath the ice, the region may contain as much as a fifth of the world's undiscovered yet recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.
This includes 90 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the world for three years at current consumption rates, or to supply America for 12, and 1,670 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, which is equal to about a third of the world's known gas reserves.
Good news for the drilling crowd, sure.
And I don't care if we drill in ANWR or not, because when you look at those numbers up there you need to realize one thing: Those are FINITE resources.
There WILL be a day when we run low enough on oil that we won't really be able to use it anymore.
There's nothing really infinite in this universe, but there are things we could use for thousands & millions of years. Wind will continue to scour the earth until the sun goes 'nova and boils the oceans dry. The sun is getting more and more useful every day, frankly.
On a completely unrelated tangent...
For all those people resisting the move to CFLs:
Dear Kirkrrt,
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is regarding
the mercury in energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.
In the attached issue of "counting kilowatts" we address these
concerns. I hope it helps.
(PDF ~ Earl)
Thank you for continuing to do your part to conserve energy! Don't
forget to log into CountYourKilowatts.org and update your energy
bill information and any energy saving steps you have taken recently.
Jeff Barrie
Thank you Kilowatt Ours!
Ford finally gets the hint:
Ford Motor Co.'s president of the Americas, Mark Fields, on Tuesday said Ford would be dedicated to making its future vehicles "meet or beat the competition in fuel economy" in the face of $4-a-gallon gasoline, weak consumer confidence and plunging auto sales.
I wish them all the luck I can, of course.
Thanks to Kirkrrt, of course.
Last week, I posted a bit of a rant about this nation's ability to export distillates at record levels lately.
It raised my blood pressure a bit, but so does, well, everything.
This morning, Kirkrrt got around to it and had this to say in the comments:
I hadn't sat down with the article you quoted until today and my head spoded just as you predicted it would.
Diesel exports in April 2008 were up 186% over April 2007.
The cost of diesel is directly responsible for a large portion of the increase in food prices. NOT because it costs the farmer more to produce it, but it costs more to transport it to the store.
Domestic demand diesel was down and production of diesel was up. The refiners are making money where they can so I guess we can't be angry with them, but it sucks.
Well, it does cost the farmer a bit more due to the farm equipment sucking down the same fuel as the truckers, doesn't it?
Meanwhile, the record profits will continue until it's time to try and get McCain into office. (tinfoil alert!)
And don't, please, don't tell me who I can or cannot be "angry" with, Kirkrrt.
Try it sometime. You might feel better.
A while back, Kirk sent me a link to some article that I cannot find anymore. It was about the energy industry and how the market works and it had nice, colorful graphs. I admit now that I mostly skimmed through the thing, mentally noting what my brain found interesting.
Then, just yesterday, something in my brain clicked from one of those colorful graphs. I emailed Kirk:
I recall seeing somewhere that the US had actually been a distillate EXPORTER a few years ago. Do you recall where I saw that?
I got a response:
No, but that would have been before 2000. We had some spare refinery capacity back then. Nothing like those value added processes.
Oh, how I wish I could have let it go with that answer.
Instead, I started looking into it. When I think of distillates, my thoughts go to fuel oil and diesel fuel. You know, the stuff that heats homes and brings tons of worthless stuff (that we continue to buy!) to Mal-Wart, as well as the food that seems to be going up in price every day. Gasoline is treated as a different product.
...and then I found this:
US distillate exports hit a fresh record high in April, as strong global demand continued to pull diesel cargoes out of the US, according to monthly data released Monday by the Energy Information Administration.
The latest monthly figure of 472,000 b/d shattered the previous record of 402,000 b/d from February of this year, as well as April 2007 figure of 167,000 b/d. Year-to-date, exports have averaged 392,000 b/d; if cargoes move out of the US at this pace for the rest of the year, exports would far outpace the previous yearly record of 274,000 b/d set in 1993, according to EIA data.
Diesel cargoes going out of the U.S. seems odd, doesn't it? Currently in this area, diesel is going for $4.759/gallon. There are stories out there that prove just how dependent all of us are on this stuff and the price keeps going up.
And they're shipping it out of the U.S. - at record levels. How is that possible?
Then I found the answer a little lower in the story:
This jump in exports supported prices in the US, even as demand tumbled.
Funny thing about the law of supply and demand when you think about the energy market and the United States: Demand is basically fixed.
We want it all.
So how do prices go up? Manipulating supply.
In many of our conversations regarding oil and energy, Kirk has asked the basic question: How much do they charge for a gallon of gas?
My answer has been fairly consistent: As much as they want to charge for a gallon of gas.
Though outraged, I'm feeling better about that answer more and more each day.
There are differing opinions on the current economy of Saudi Arabia and where it's going to be in the future:
But they do say that they're trying to make it better:
Over the next few years, Saudi officials say this stretch of desert will be transformed into a buzzing hub of scientific research and development, with cutting-edge universities, hospitals and housing for more than 130,000 people attracted by the idea of living in the city where Islam's prophet Muhammad is buried.
The project, called Knowledge Economic City, represents a first serious step by Saudi Arabia toward building a post-petroleum economy. It is one of six major industrial centers planned to rise over the next 15 years. At a cost of more than $100 billion, the sites are expected to provide housing and jobs for the country's fast-growing population, half of which is younger than 21.
It's kind of funny, reading Saudis being smarter than we seem to be:
With oil prices peaking above $145 a barrel in recent weeks, the kingdom is reaping an unprecedented windfall from its vast reservoirs of oil, which represent a quarter of the world's proven reserves. Saudi Arabia reported oil income of $200 billion last year and projects $700 billion in revenue over the next two years. The kingdom earned an average of $43 billion annually throughout the 1990s.
But Saudi officials have long feared that too-high oil prices would push the world toward alternative fuels, a concern captured by one former oil minister's tart reminder that "the Stone Age did not end for lack of stone."
A nice little touch of philosophy there.
Finally, if only to provide a bit of comedy:
"With this second oil boom, we want to build the soft infrastructure to help the business environment prosper. We want to learn from the mistakes of the '70s," Hameedadin said.
It would be nice to see that someone learned something from the mistakes of the '70s.
A few days ago he sent me the Pickens Plan. Feel free to click on over there and watch him talk about wind power. I've rarely been a fan of T. Boone Pickens, if only because he was usually on the wrong side of the issues in my view.
But he seems to be getting better, I guess. I think he's just trying to get in on the ground floor so he can make more money.
I don't really care, though, since he seems to realize that the future is yet to come and he won't be around to worry about it much longer.
On a local note, I live on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range. You may have heard of it. Bruce Springsteen has:
From the Monongahela valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The story's always the same
Seven hundred tons of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
"Youngstown"
There are more than a couple of taconite mining operations in the area. These are huge industries and I couldn't begin to estimate their electricity usage.
It was nice when I started hearing about this plan, then:
Among Iron Rangers, it's known as "the hill." Perched above the city of Virginia, near the Laurentian Divide, U.S. Steel's Minntac Mine churns out about 14 million tons of iron pellets a year.
Beginning in 2008, a project at the mammoth taconite plant will produce something new: electricity.
Minnesota Power officials will announce today that the company intends to build, own and operate the first commercial wind-energy facility in Northeastern Minnesota.
The $50 million Taconite Ridge facility will produce a constant flow of 25 megawatts of electricity from 10 2.5-megawatt wind turbines.
25 megawatts would be enough power for 12-13,000 homes, so it should at least make a dent in Minntac's electricity usage from conventional sources. Throw in some of Nanosolar's work and things could be getting much better relatively soon.
I'm not one to see any particular beauty in engineering. A newly-paved road is little different than a dirt one to me for whatever reason. The sight of 6 out of the 10 windmills turning, however, does give me a bit of hope for that future:
They are, of course, on private land so it's kind of difficult to get too close to them.
Energy-greedy Floridians say no to oil wells
Folks in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who put up with 3,200 oil platforms in their coastal waters, might wonder why residents in a state that ranks third in oil consumption can claim a God-given right to pristine glob-free beaches.
It's not like Florida earned the moral high ground. Rather, this is a state that has encouraged unfettered suburban sprawl while regarding mass transportation with as much enthusiasm as gay marriage.
Floridians think nothing of generating electricity with coal extracted by ripping away Appalachian mountaintops. Or by burning natural gas shipped from Third World nations.
Something tells me that Fred Grimm isn't one of the most popular people in Miami today...
Ah, to be young again. Or at least as old as I was on August 31, 1998:
Oil, the black gold of the world economy, is almost insanely cheap - but it won't be for long, warns a small but growing band of doomsayers.
Based on a controversial theory, they fear world oil demand will begin to exceed supply as early as about 2010.
That might revive sights not seen since the oil crises of the 1970s: traffic jams at gas stations, Saudi Arabian princes buying U.S. skyscrapers, and news stories about inventors whose cars allegedly burn corn oil, wood chips or beets.
"Anybody who wants to drive their motor home up to Alaska better do it now while the supply of oil is cheap," says veteran oil geologist L.F. "Buzz" Ivanhoe. "It's not a joke. I hope I'm wrong as hell, but I fear that I'm not."
Well, you can't say we weren't warned. A couple of years ago, it became necessary to get a new vehicle. When I test drove a 4-cylinder, front-wheel drive without A/C, the salesperson kept bugging me to look at the 4-wheel drives with the V6 engine, bells, whistles and A/C. I would have none of that. I stuck with the manual transmission and everything. She thought I was crazy, of course. I would imagine that there are a few more crazy people wandering around car dealerships lately.
As I've said, it's all going according to plan...
A few weeks ago, Kirk sent me an email linking to James Kunstler and his reasonable beliefs about BushCo dissembling us all into Iraq.
This part seemed reasonable to me:
However, the true objectives of the action were still as stated above: to punish an Arab nation for 9/11, to establish a military presence between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and to "secure" a large reserve of oil (not to steal it, but to assure access to buying it). This was an extremely ambitious program in which an awful lot of things could go wrong.
And, as we know now, a great many things have and continue to go wrong in Iraq.
On the other hand, some things seem to be going exactly as planned:
Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
*
The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.
*
The Iraqi Oil Ministry, through a spokesman, said the no-bid contracts were a stop-gap measure to bring modern skills into the fields while the oil law was pending in Parliament.
It's hard to believe, I know, but we've seen it before even if not many remember Smedley Butler, about to be quoted at length:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
I would normally get snarky at this point, but I'm not in the mood.
...and I'm going to steal this one straight out - feel free to follow their links:
Dear Solar Supporter,
Less than seven months from now the current Federal tax incentives to encourage the use of renewable energy are set to expire.
Your help is urgently needed in this final push to obtain an extension of the renewable energy investment tax credits before they expire.Within the next day or two the U.S. Senate is set to discuss HR 6049, the Energy Tax Extenders bill. This House bill provides for the most important attributes for renewable energy tax credits to be extended. It extends credits for solar installations, wind farms, energy efficiency buildings, and other technologies.
Two solar items of note are that the:
Commercial Solar Investment Tax Credit (Section 48) would be extended to 8 years (more than the 6 years previously suggested) Groups are working now to eliminate the $2000 cap on residential tax credits WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
We ask that you take a moment to contact your Senators today to urge them to bring H.R. 6049 to the floor of the Senate for a vote -- and to support this legislation.
Our friends at SEIA inform us that this is likely to be the last opportunity for an extension this year so the time to act is now. Please call your Senators today. Click here to find their phone numbers.
Key messages:
Not extending solar credits is an enormous tax increase that will cost American jobs. ASES reports that we can create up to 40 million green-collar jobs by 2030, but Congress must lead for this to happen. The 8-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit is critical for utilities to get the financing necessary to keep pace with rising demand for energy. The cap on the residential investment tax credit needs to be removed to provide the incentives needed to properly stimulate the market
Thanks for your action and your ongoing support -- and for letting your Senators know that solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies are important to you.
With sincere regards,
Brad Collins
Executive Director
American Solar Energy Society
It's not the whole answer but it is a start...
Kirkrrt directed my attention over to Clusterfuck Nation, where Jim is giving his take on the recent revelations of Scott.
There is the obvious truth regarding the time after 9/11 and what was going to happen:
However, the true objectives of the action were still as stated above: to punish an Arab nation for 9/11, to establish a military presence between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and to "secure" a large reserve of oil (not to steal it, but to assure access to buying it). This was an extremely ambitious program in which an awful lot of things could go wrong.
And they certainly did. The Iraqis were not grateful for the American occupation. They proved uneducable in the ways of American-style democratic governance. They reverted to a persistent diet of religious-ethnic-and territorial warfare within their own artificially-drawn borders. They regarded their American teacher-protectors as detestable interlopers and blew them up whenever possible. They ran what was left of their economy into the ground, including their oil industry. The incompetence of the US military occupation, its reliance on mercenary security thugs, it's "out-sourcing" important tasks to venal corporations such as KBR, its ineptitude in carrying out the mission of restoring basic electric and water services -- all contributed to the disastrous quagmire that Iraq turned into.
But the real point of Jim's post is a bit later:
For my money, the "we were lied to" chorus only represents the obdurately self-righteous cluelessness in every band of the American political spectrum. We lied to ourselves. We continue to lie to ourselves every day. The US public barely understands the first thing about the energy predicament we're in, and what it means for how we live in this country -- or how we get along with the rest of the world -- and the news media tragically reflects that ignorance. We fantasize about being "energy independent" and still being able to drive to the mall three times a day to eat caesar salads grown on the other side of North America. Get this: we deserve exactly what is happening to us. We might as well keep on lying to ourselves to pretend that we are not descending into a dark phase of our own history. After all, the true basis of American life these days is to feel good about yourself no matter what you do.
It is Jim Kunstler, after all, and it wouldn't be fun for him without an ending like that...
...and if it concerns oil and energy, odds are that email is from Kirkrrt.
Like this one from today:
Subject: an important distinction
I want to make sure readers of the site understand that we are not blaming "Big Oil" for the high price of oil and gasoline. Those are the result of market forces.
I blame "Big Oil" for manipulating gasoline prices in America. This includes artificially lower prices prior to elections. Gasoline prices currently do not reflect the price of crude oil. So at this time I am assuming prices are being kept lower on purpose and will rise after early November.
Thanks.
From The Guardian:
The price of oil hit a new high of $135 a barrel today, prompting Libya's top oil official to admit that it could soon reach $200.
After dwindling stocks of fuel in the United States and the weak dollar pushed crude oil to yet another new high, Shokri Ghanem said that oil cartel Opec was already doing all it could to boost supply.
"It is out of our hands. We are as worried as you are," he said, speaking on Bloomberg TV. "$200 a barrel is not logical, but even $135 is not logical, so yes oil could reach $200 a barrel. Why not?" he added, insisting that speculators are responsible for the seemingly unstoppable rise.
It's a fear-based economy and it's not treating the vast majority of its citizens very well...
It was with a surprised look on my face that I clicked on the article Kirkrrt had sent me with this headline:
Bush to Arab nations: You're running out of oil
It seemed surprisingly frank of our oil-based president, but as I read it it seemed more in character:
PRESIDENT George Bush yesterday told leaders of the oil-rich states of the Middle East that they must face up to a future without their precious hydrocarbons.
In a stark warning, he said their supplies were running out and urged them to reform and diversify their economies. The outgoing United States president told the World Economic Forum, meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, that it was time to "prepare for the economic changes ahead".
Mr Bush's family name is inextricably linked to the oil industry, and this was his strongest statement yet on the future of global supplies.
He told the conference: "The rising price of oil has brought great wealth to some in this region, but the supply of oil is limited, and nations like mine are aggressively developing alternatives to oil.
"Over time, as the world becomes less dependent on oil, nations in the Middle East will have to build more diverse and more dynamic economies."
He's speaking the truth, after all, provided we, as the human race, manage to last that long.
Once you realize that the earth is finite and, therefore, any resources with find in or on the earth are even more finite, you should start to wonder why we haven't been looking for alternatives a bit sooner.
C'mon...by now you should be expecting QT:
Supply side economicsSen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) wondering at White House opposition to a plan to increase oil supplies by temporarily stopping shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve:
''Why on Earth should we be putting oil underground at a time of record high prices?''
Shows how little he knows. How on Earth can the oil companies manipulate prices if we keep tampering with the supplies?
Kirkrrt?