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The Latest on Energy Action
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News and Essays -
Essays
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Thursday, 24 December 2009 |
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It's understandable that with all the concern about climate change and talk of "peak oil" that the central issue in both cases, our use of energy, has received a lot of attention. It is also understandable that with that attention have come many instances of what may charitably be called "optimistic business plans", acclaimed for some time, even quite lengthy periods of time, as "the" solution, or a "core" solution to our energy problems. There are some real solutions out there; there is also a lot of hype and hucksterism. With this and one or two follow-on articles I hope to help people not so familiar with the underlying science get a better grasp of the distinction. Don't be worried if this all seems very hard to understand - even such prominent energy and climate pontificators as Amory Lovins, Joe Romm and Al Gore have messed up on this at times. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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News and Essays -
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Wednesday, 30 September 2009 |
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The following are some notes on my own personal efforts to improve the energy efficiency of our house. In addition to the recessed-light removal and additional insulation discussed, we also did a bit of a self-audit for leaks, and did some replacement of electrical outlets, plumbing adjustments and sealing of points in the attic that appeared to be associated with larger air flows. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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News and Essays -
Energy News
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Friday, 20 March 2009 |
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In testimony to congress this past week, new energy secretary Steven Chu made the case for the administration's energy plans which include considerable increases in spending in a number of areas, and several new programs. Among the things they appear to be really trying to push is getting ARPA-E off the ground - there's $415 million allocated, but apparently a lot of resistance within the department to actually making it happen. In a companion handout for the hearing, the case for and priority areas for ARPA-E were highlighted. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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News and Essays -
Energy News
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Tuesday, 10 March 2009 |
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This article by Jesse Jenkins at Huffington Post does an excellent job of summarizing the key points in the $80 billion that went to energy projects. I agree pretty much with his analysis of the good and the bad there. Some highlights:
A+: The act provides a much-needed, long-term extension of the critical Production Tax Credit that has spurred the booming wind industry, and makes tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy sources fully refundable for the next two years.
Absolutely, long-term stability in the tax framework is essential to projects that may take several years to plan and get going. Well done on that - though it should have been a no-brainer with all 50 states pushing for it last year. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Energy News
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Saturday, 21 February 2009 |
 Somehow or other the stimulus bill that came out of the House/Senate conference and was passed and signed by the president included $8 billion for high-speed rail, among many other transportation and energy-related measures. This is, in principle, a very good thing: rail, as long as the train cars are sufficiently occupied, is far more efficient than any other mode of transportation. Rail also lends itself particularly well to shifting from oil to electricity, the primary form of new energy from renewables. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Sunday, 15 February 2009 |
 The sustainable energy transition blog has a brief summary of prospects for solar photovoltaic prices over the next couple of years - basically that they're headed down. As this graph from SolarBuzz shows, prices have been pretty much stagnant in the $4 to $5/watt range for about the last 6 years, in spite of exponential growth in production. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Friday, 13 February 2009 |
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It looks like we'll have the huge stimulus package passed very shortly, and it appears to include $400 million for the new ARPA-E program at the Department of Energy, for advanced energy projects, among many other good energy-related programs in the stimulus bill. I find the ARPA-E piece of interest because the other day I happened to run into this report from the Brookings Institute, part of their Blueprint for American Prosperity project. This Brookings report does a nice job of outlining the general lack of US investment in energy research (compared to other fields), some of the historic dysfunctionality of the Energy Department, and proposes a new set of inter-agency "discovery-innovation institutes", along with a substantial increase in energy research funding, to advance energy technologies in the US. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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