US Green Energy Fail

by Steven D

Here's we in the United States should be doing now to keep up with the rest of the world's investment in research and development of green energy technologies:

The United States needs to more than triple its spending on energy research, development and demonstration projects, from about $5 billion now to $16 billion, and should review  national energy policy every four years, an advisory group of scientists and engineers said in a report to President Obama this week.

The US is falling behind almost every other major developed country in the world.  Look at this chart from 2007 that shows R & D spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product:

continued at Daily Kos....

Energy policy will change under GOP House Dr. Daniel Fine

by finehelen10

With the Republican Party's newly won control of the House of Representatives, national energy policy could be rolled back to 2005, with all legislative advances under a Democratic Party majority at risk.

continued at Daily Kos....

Finally, military intelligence that is not an oxymoron

by DWG

The military has begun to deploy clean energy technology into combat zones. The reasons for the military's interest in clean energy are important because they undercut the disinformation campaign by the fossil fuels industry. For the military, clean renewable forms of energy are reliable, cheaper, and produce less supply chain vulnerability.

With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.

New York Times, Oct 5, article by Elisabeth Rosenthal

continued at Daily Kos....

Good and bad moon shots

by DWG

Thomas Friedman makes the case for an Apollo program to develop electric cars and get off oil in an editorial in the New York Times. He makes that case with a contrast between two large public investments in China and the US. China is investing trillions in modernizing its air transportation sector, creating a web of high speed trains, creating research and development infrastructure for biotechnology, and focusing on a growth industry for the future - electric cars.

Beijing just announced that it was providing $15 billion in seed money for the country’s leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry, starting in 20 pilot cities. In essence, China Inc. just named its dream team of 16-state-owned enterprises to move China off oil and into the next industrial growth engine: electric cars.

And the U.S. moonshot?

Not to worry. America today also has its own multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing moon shot: fixing Afghanistan.

Ouch.

continued at Daily Kos....

Chicken Little Updated for the Age of Peak Oil and Climate Change

by DWG

The Chicken Little fable* was created as a cautionary tale against panic and mass hysteria in uncertain times. But there are times when the sky is failing and Chicken Little needs to be careful of taking advice from smooth talking strangers wearing Wall Street tweed. On to our story.

Once upon a time, there was a Fox named Loxy, a shrewd little fellow with a big appetite. One fine summer's day, Foxy Loxy was on the prowl for unlocked henhouses when he overheard Farmer Brown proclaim to her husband that their well was running dry. Without water for the corn, feeding the hens was going to be a big problem.

Foxy Loxy had a plan. Pass the bad news to the hens and con them to take a little journey to his den.

Before we return to our story, note that Foxy Loxy in this enactment will be played by Charles Maxwell, senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co.

continued at Daily Kos....

Climate Zombie Lindsey Graham gushes for tar sands oil

by DWG

Lindsey Graham has just provided disturbing evidence that exposure to the Alberta tar sands impairs mental function. The U.S. Senator from South Carolina was in Alberta last week to visit the tar sands as part of a "fact-finding" mission. Graham does not have any energy-related committee assignments, so why he felt the need to conduct this taxpayer-funded mission is unclear. Perhaps the mission was to prove his loyalty to multinational oil companies after he committed the cardinal sin ofadmitting that climate change was real and we needed to transition to clean energy. His first step to mend fences with dirty energy companies and fellow Republican Climate Zombies was to proclaim that climate change did not need to be taken seriously.

"The science about global warming has changed. I think they've oversold this stuff, quite frankly. I think they've been alarmist and the science is in question.

His recent bizarre and deceptive statements about Canadian tar sands oil further establish his Climate Zombie credentials.

continued at Daily Kos....

America Can Break Its Coal Addiction! (Or: no, coal isn’t necessary)

by A Siegel

Too many people think that coal is an inevitable part of our energy future ... indefinitely.

This is not just reckless in global warming terms, the statements of inevitability are false -- we have a choice and can eliminate coal from our electricity equation if we wish to ...

Just a very simple outline of how the United States could, without Herculean efforts, eliminate coal-fired electricity from the electrical system by 2030.

And, do so while improving the economy.

Very simply, about 45 percent of US electricity comes from coal at this time. This is a serious portion of the overall US carbon load. It is also a major source of mercury and other pollutants worsening our lives. And, just remember, clean coal is like dry water -- it simply doesn't exist other than in advertising slogans.

So, how can we eliminate the US dependency on coal-fired electricity while improving the economy and not increasing dependency on foreign energy sources?

continued at Daily Kos...

We were warned it would happen.

by hold tight

We've been warned that the inability of the U.S. Senate to pass the American Power Act (APA), or something (anything) to address greenhouse gas emissions, would have consequences.

But now that it appears that a climate and energy bill will not pass in the near term, the waiting is over for some. For example, wind energy development is likely to face trouble in getting enough investment money to expand. And in the case of coal, it's 'business as usual', at least for mining in Montana.

continued at Daily Kos...

UTE Tribe gives rapacious energy company what for

by Zappatero

This is some of what The Obama administration could be doing to BP. Though American Indian tribes have certainly been subjected to these outrages far longer than citizens in the Gulf, the lying and instiable greed of energy companies remains, as do the negative affects on our environment and local communities.

Energy companies in the Wild West (BP included) still walk as if they'll always have the quickest draw, but The Ute tribe of Utah is showing Questar Energy they can and will fight back against Questar's lying, cheating ways:

Officials with the Ute Indian Tribe shut down construction of the Questar Stagecoach gas plant south of Vernal, Utah on June 23.

The stop-work order was issued because work at the facility was out of compliance with tribal regulations, according to tribal officials.

continued at Daily Kos....

Why Can't U.S. Wind Power be like this? [Update]

by tergenev

I'm not a wind industry financier, as is Jerome a Paris . .I'm just a fan of sustainable energy. I have been for 30 years. I tend to follow the news on these things. And while I like the way things are going in terms of the adoption of new energy generation technologies, particularly wind, I see a story such as the one reported today in WindPower Monthly, and I find it quite irritating. The city of Yumen in the northwest Chinese Gansu Province, has announced that they will be constructing a 500MW wind farm next month, and they will use nothing but Chinese built turbines. Why are the Chinese able to do that, but something so straightforward, so direct, to spur the U.S. industry is seemingly impossible?

continued at Daily Kos....

A Bipartisan Strategy for Energy Leadership

by Teryn Norris

By Teryn Norris and Clifton Yin
Published by The Huffington Post

When President Obama and key Senate leaders meet today to reach a compromise on energy and climate legislation, they should strongly consider increasing federal investment in clean energy technology to at least $15 billion annually.   This is a comprehensive third way strategy to improve U.S. energy independence, economic competitiveness, and climate security, and it deserves bipartisan support.

We are a Democrat and Republican.  One of us campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008, the other as a delegate for John McCain.  One of us worked on energy and climate policy for the progressive Breakthrough Institute, while the other worked on similar issues for the conservative American Enterprise Institute.  We disagree on a wide range of issues, and we hold different economic philosophies.

continued at Daily Kos....

LIVEBLOG: BP et al Hse hearings w/Markey et al

by Gorette

We have a panel of five oil corporation executives in Congress.

Squirming. Looking quite tense. Did they sleep at all. The BP executive's eyes dart from face to face as he seeks to assess the opinions, the mood. Doesn't like what he sees.

We have a room full of members of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. Republicans mostly slam the hearings, saying that if we can't find out how to stop the leak we should not be bothering having this hearing.

Hearings like this are important in that they show the difference between Republicans and Democrats!

They go from Rep. Barton to Rep. Waxman. I'll add a few comments made earlier on the ROV blog.

BP Oilpocalypse ROV #98. Don't forget to Rec theMothership, BP Catastrophe Liveblog..

C-Span3 Live Stream

continued at Daily Kos....