Warning on oil dependence

[struggle4progress]

A GLOBAL conference on renewable energy opened in Bonn today to warnings that dependence on oil had become a source of conflict as well as the carbon pollution that drives global warming.
<snip>

"There will never be a war to gain access to solar energy," she said. "Oil comes from a region that is particularly rich in conflicts, but renewables are everywhere."
<snip>

Trittin predicted that in 20 years, the market for solar power would be $US100 billion ($140 billion), "in other words as much as semi-conductors today".
<snip>

The United States, the world's biggest consumer of oil, has sent only a low-level delegation, comprising five people. The central African state of Burundi, in contrast, has sent 12.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9723166%5E1702,00.html

[Raster]

1. that is fu*&#$g pathetic.The US sent a five-person, low-level delegation.

[Raster]

2. Info on the Apollo Project:

http://www.apolloalliance.org/

The Ten-Point Plan for Good Jobs and Energy Independence

1. Promote Advanced Technology & Hybrid Cars: Begin today to provide incentives for converting domestic assembly lines to manufacture highly efficient cars, transitioning the fleet to American made advanced technology vehicles, increasing consumer choice and strengthening the US auto industry.

2. Invest In More Efficient Factories: Make innovative use of the tax code and economic development systems to promote more efficient and profitable manufacturing while saving energy through environmental retrofits, improved boiler operations, and industrial cogeneration of electricity, retaining jobs by investing in plants and workers.

3. Encourage High Performance Building: Increase investment in construction of “green buildings” and energy efficient homes and offices through innovative financing and incentives, improved building operations, and updated codes and standards, helping working families, businesses, and government realize substantial cost savings.

4. Increase Use of Energy Efficient Appliances: Drive a new generation of highly efficient manufactured goods into widespread use, without driving jobs overseas, by linking higher energy standards to consumer and manufacturing incentives that increase demand for new durable goods and increase investment in US factories.

5. Modernize Electrical Infrastructure: Deploy the best available technology like scrubbers to existing plants, protecting jobs and the environment; research new technology to capture and sequester carbon and improve transmission for distributed renewable generation.

6. Expand Renewable Energy Development: Diversify energy sources by promoting existing technologies in solar, biomass and wind while setting ambitious but achievable goals for increasing renewable generation, and promoting state and local policy innovations that link clean energy and jobs.

7. Improve Transportation Options: Increase mobility, job access, and transportation choice by investing in effective multimodal networks including bicycle, local bus and rail transit, regional high-speed rail and magnetic levitation rail projects.

8. Reinvest In Smart Urban Growth: Revitalize urban centers to promote strong cities and good jobs, by rebuilding and upgrading local infrastructure including road maintenance, bridge repair, and water and waste water systems, and by expanding redevelopment of idled urban “brownfield” lands, and by improving metropolitan planning and governance.

9. Plan For A Hydrogen Future: Invest in long term research & development of hydrogen fuel cell technology, and deploy the infrastructure to support hydrogen powered cars and distributed electricity generation using stationary fuel cells, to create jobs in the industries of the future.

10. Preserve Regulatory Protections: Encourage balanced growth and investment through regulation that ensures energy diversity and system reliability, that protects workers and the environment, that rewards consumers, and that establishes a fair framework for emerging technologies.

[struggle4progress]

3. Absolutely!

[Old and In the Way]

5. If I could add # 11

Vote out Republican/Big Oil interests in 2004. Twenty five years of subverting our national foreign policy/energy interests in favor of Big Oil's agenda is enough, I think.

[Raster]

7. I'd go even further... I believe the petroleum industry...

...should be nationalized and restructured to provide the most efficient and secure infrastructure possible.

[htuttle]

8. I agree

If an industry is important enough to our national security to subsidize and GO TO WAR OVER, then it's important enough to nationalize.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Tragic that this is "news", This was news 30 years ago.

Human beings are such wretched animals, always blindly grabbing at the low hanging fruit and eating the seed corn.

[gottaB]

6. Other coverage

Optimism: Hopes are High for Renewables 2004

Unlike the last time renewable energy took center stage, in 1981, it is now poised for a global takeoff. Solar power generation has more than tripled worldwide in the past five years, and wind power has nearly quadrupled. A recent study by the director of Worldwatch's energy and climate program, Janet Sawin, (http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/paper/169/) asserts that political will and the right mix of policies—not vast resource potential—have made wind and solar power the world’s fastest growing energy sources over the past decade.

Pessimism: Energy agency: Nations must think renewable

“The declining share of public funding for energy R&D allocated to renewable energy appears to be inconsistent with the political intentions of many IEA countries to increase the share of renewables in the total primary energy supply,” the IEA said in a statement.

In setting renewable energy policies, IEA governments often cite future energy security and environmental benefits of renewables, which do not produce carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that many scientists tie to global warming.

“Today’s big challenges are security of supply, as a consequence of high oil prices, and climate change concerns. Renewables can (do so), but are not sufficient to stabilize CO2 emissions worldwide ... or to contribute to security,” Rick Sellers, head of the IEA renewable energy unit and author of a new EIA study, said at a news conference.

Usual Suspects: Industry paying "high cost" for greener energy

Jürgen Trittin, the German environment minister, speaking at the conference, said developing nations spent two-thirds of their foreign currency income on oil and investing in renewable energy schemes would reduce that dependency. Germany has installed more than 14,000MW of wind power capacity, making it the world's biggest wind farm developer and providing about 5 per cent of the country's electricity.

However, financial surcharges have added about €4.50 a megawatt hour to German electricity prices, according to the IFIEC. "Most European Union schemes follow this approach by simply guaranteeing premium tariffs for electricity generated from renewable energies," it said, " counting capacity without any reference to efficiency criteria is misleading consumers.

"The reality is that, all too often, they are required to pay high rates for inefficiently generated power. In addition, consumers are also paying to maintain fossil-based generation capacity necessary to guarantee supply during periods when renewables cannot deliver."

[struggle4progress]

9. Thanks for the links!

:)

[ewagner]

10. I'm old but can still remember

my FIRST term paper I ever had to write was in 6th grade and I did it on the subject of Oil.

In f-ing SIXTH grade, I was able to determine that oil is a FINITE resource! In my niaviate' I had the gumption to ask: What will happen to all the cars when we run out of oil?

I've grown up with the question but I never, never had the foresight to predict that wars would be fought over oil. Why? Because I always thought that there were people who were smarter than me who would find an alternative to oil.

Boy.

Am I stupid or what?

[BeFree]

13. Laugh or cry?

Don't know what, after reading your post, ewagner.

Who'd a thunk the 'Leaders' would allow the world to decay so badly?

Who'd a thunk they'd be so damned greedy and allow so much poverty amongst fellow humans while an elite few live like kings?

Me too, ewagner, I must be stupid to have not thought it would be this way.

[seemslikeadream]

11. Thanks so much for always being here struggle4progress

http://www.bushflash.com/sp.html



2003
December
Federal court blocks EPA plan to cripple Clean Air Act (12/24/03)

Court blocks Bush administration's Clean Air Act changes (12/24/03)

EPA revs up motorcycle pollution plan (12/23/03)

Another senior EPA official resigns in protest to Bush administration policies (12/23/03)

Forest Service clears way for logging in Tongass (12/23/03)

Bush administration streamlining oil and gas permits (12/23/03)

Forest Service opens grizzly bear habitat to snowmobiles (12/22/03)

New EPA mercury rule fails to account for 'lost' emissions (12/19/03)


Back to top Entire Month of December




November
Bush administration finally takes blame for Klamath fish kill (11/18/03)

Judge criticizes White House pro-industry mining rules (11/18/03)

EPA moves to fill landfills with radioactive waste (11/18/03)

Bush administration seeks increase in use of ozone-depleting pesticide (11/14/03)

Park Service workers speak out against Bush policies (11/13/03)

EPA considers exempting small business from toxic release reporting (11/12/03)

Revised Everglades recovery plan not worth the wait (11/04/03)

Superfund cleanups lag for third straight year (11/04/03)


Back to top



October
White House considers dropping some fish protections to promote logging (10/31/03)

EPA tricks public, treats industry on dangerous pesticide (10/31/03)

Bush administration ignores damming evidence (10/29/03)

EPA refuses to tackle rising mercury pollution in Great Lakes region (10/29/03)

EPA may allow continued phosphate dumping in Gulf of Mexico (10/28/03)

Costly USFS and BLM outsourcing studies prove unhelpful (10/23/03)

EPA changes rule to exempt hazardous waste requirements (10/23/03)

EPA developing ways around the Clean Water Act (10/22/03)


Back to top Entire Month of October




September
EPA to issue daily air quality alerts (09/30/03)

White House study: benefits of environmental regulation far outweigh costs (09/29/03)

BLM opens millions of acres of wilderness to energy development (09/29/03)

EPA strikes deal with polluting factory farms (09/25/03)

White House recommendations could shut the public out of environmental review (09/24/03)

GAO finds that energy production pollutes wildlife refuges (09/24/03)

Corps of Engineers violates judge's ruling, won't lower Missouri River flows for wildlife (09/24/03)

Forest Service to sell Tongass timber at a loss (09/23/03)


Back to top Entire Month of September




August
EPA passes the buck on regulating global warming pollution from cars (08/28/03)

EPA on global warming gases: Bring 'em on! (08/28/03)

EPA officially rolls back Clean Air Act protections (08/27/03)

New EPA rules ignore mercury pollution from chlorine plants (08/27/03)

Corporations shaped Bush energy policy, GAO says (08/25/03)

Park Service spending less than promised (08/21/03)

Oily deal on offshore drilling rights (08/21/03)

President making empty promises on parks funding, critics say (08/15/03)


Back to top Entire Month of August




July
EPA hides research on Senate clean air plan (07/30/03)

Bush administration taking on illegal logging abroad (07/29/03)

U.S. Forest Service exempts some logging projects from environmental review (07/29/03)

Forest Service rewriting Yellowstone plans with a grizzly ending (07/26/03)

Out with outsourcing, Bush administration decides (07/25/03)

EPA reconsidering proposal to weaken Clean Air Act rule (07/25/03)

Criticism forces NPS not to raid Mount Rainier repair funds (07/24/03)

Bush climate plan all study, no action (07/24/03)


Back to top Entire Month of July




June
EPA rejects temporary ozone waiver for power plants (06/26/03)

Bush administration calls for more gas drilling on public lands (06/24/03)

White House whitewashes EPA environment report (06/23/03)

Fish and Wildlife Service reduces protected habitat for threatened mouse by half (06/23/03)

EPA concerned about Yellowstone snowmobiles (06/21/03)

DOD reneges on plan to test for perchlorate pollution at U.S. bases (06/20/03)

BLM vows to fix maligned land appraisal process (06/19/03)

Bush administration undermines critical habitat designations (06/18/03)


Back to top Entire Month of June




May
White House buries mountaintop mining regulation (05/30/03)

White House forest-fire plan axes environmental protections (05/30/03)

Park Service opens Maryland seashore to Jet Skis (05/30/03)

Interior giving up on endangered species protection (05/29/03)

EPA failing to keep track of water quality (05/27/03)

BLM opens fragile dunes ecosystem to off-road recreation (05/23/03)

BLM vows to fix flawed land-exchange program (05/23/03)

Bush administration cuts wildlife protection, boosts logging in Northwest forests (05/23/03)


Back to top Entire Month of May




April
EPA reports record drop in fuel economy (04/30/03)

BLM approves Powder River Basin development (04/30/03)

White House bans EPA from discussing perchlorate pollution (04/28/03)

EPA Administrator Whitman misusing agency investigators (04/26/03)

White House says "ready, aim, shoot" on wilderness (04/25/03)

Fish and Wildlife Service holds the line on habitat protection plans for imperiled wildlife in California (04/24/03)

White House unveils its pro-industry chemical security bill (04/24/03)

Forest Service permits grazing in violation of federal law, says judge (04/24/03)


Back to top Entire Month of April




March
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes stream protection in Alabama (03/28/03)

Whitman changes her tune on Pentagon environmental exemptions (03/26/03)

Interior Department favors boosting offshore drilling by reducing corporate costs (03/26/03)

National Park Service officially adopts snowmobile plan (03/25/03)

EPA backtracks on pledge to close loophole for California air polluters (03/25/03)

EPA cooks fish data to allow more pollution (03/21/03)

GAO slams Bush administration for stalling on chemical security (03/18/03)

Interior ordered to continue protecting manatees (03/18/03)


Back to top Entire Month of March




February
Interior officials escalate rhetoric over Arctic Refuge (02/28/03)

Bush administration rejects wilderness protection in Alaska's Tongass (02/28/03)

Department of Transportation to expedite more environmentally harmful road projects (02/27/03)

Bush administration to build world's first emission-free power plant (02/27/03)

U.S. EPA seeks to weaken endangered-species protections (02/27/03)

Bush air pollution plan weakens current law, threatens public health (02/27/03)

Bush administration flunking on salmon recovery (02/26/03)

Bush administration sets sights on drilling in Western Arctic Reserve (02/26/03)


Back to top Entire Month of February




January
New EPA air rules for ocean vessels too weak (01/31/03)

GAO faults EPA oversight on factory farms (01/31/03)

Bush administration seeks waiver on ozone-destroying pesticide (01/30/03)

BLM putting grazing restrictions out to pasture (01/30/03)

Bush snowmobile decision defies logic, not to mention scientific findings (01/30/03)

Polluting industries getting off easier under Bush administration (01/29/03)

Sierra Nevada forest protections under fire by Bush administration (01/29/03)

Bush administration wins court victory on mountaintop removal mining (01/29/03)

http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/2003.asp

[Bdog]

12. The Potential of Bioenergy is Still Too Often Neglected

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040602/dcw029_1.html


WASHINGTON, ROME and BONN, Germany, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- While holding great promise for developing countries, bioenergy is often neglected by policy-makers and needs to be urgently integrated into agricultural and forestry programs, FAO said today.
"Countries need to move towards more sustainable energy systems based on energy sources such as biomass, solar and wind energies," said Gustavo Best, senior FAO energy coordinator on the occasion of the International Conference on Renewable Energies in Bonn (1-4 June 2004).

Bioenergy includes fuelwood and charcoal, energy crops such as sugar cane, sweet sorghum and rapeseed and agricultural and forestry residues, to produce heat, ethanol, biodiesel, bioelectricity or biogas.

"Bioenergy has emerged as an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and locally available source of energy," Best added.