Energy

Margonelli: Next on Oprah!: Carbon Confessions and Zombie Troubles

Lisa Margonelli — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:59:00 -0400

Last week internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee apologized for the waste of time and paper he caused by inserting the slashes in web urls back in the early 90's. The CO2nfessional, Mea Carbona--this particular form of apology needs a name, because it's only a matter of cultural moments before the GREAT QUANTIFICATION begins. And when it does, we'll all be caught up in an actuarial frenzy to determine the carbon price tag of every keystroke, plastic spoon, and ice cream cone of the minutiae we call life... and apologize for them....

Margonelli: Is The Climate Legislation Worm Starting to Turn?

Lisa Margonelli — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:39:00 -0400

If you look at crude oil prices, still bobbing around in the high $60's, you might think not much happened last week. But I think we may look back 10 years from now and realize that last week the needle began to move towards dramatic changes in US energy and climate policy...

Margonelli: Sayonara Cash-For-Clunkers (and what could have been)

Lisa Margonelli — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:16:00 -0400

So yesterday the much discussed Cash For Clunkers ended its $2.877 billion run, moving 690,114 new cars off America's car lots and into the traffic jams. According to the Obama administration, it created or saved 21,000 jobs. So far so pat on the back. Except that each of those cars cost US taxpayers $4168 per car. And for that much money, we could have gotten a lot more. Consider this: C4C only required a fuel economy increase of 2 mpg over the original car, so the total mandated gas savings was about 38 million gallons of gas. The auto companies can raise the fuel economy of cars on the assembly line by that much at a cost of $500 per vehicle. So, we could have given our $2.87 billion to the auto companies to upgrade 5.5 million cars by 2 mpg or more, and bought ourselves a yearly fuel savings of 303 million gallons of gas...

Margonelli: Astroturf on Coal's Grave?

Lisa Margonelli — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:21:00 -0400

I know I'm supposed to be outraged that lobbying firm Bonner and Associates, acting on behalf of the (ironic tongue twister alert!) American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, has filed 13 forged letters on behalf of senior centers and the elderly with a House Committee against the Waxman Markey climate bill. And I'm also supposed to be furious that the American Petroleum Institute is trying to whip up an astroturf teabagger death panel anti Waxman Markey extravaganza by creating the illusion of "Energy Citizens" against the bill at town halls. But it makes me laugh. Who wants to be an "Energy Citizen?" Never mind call on Congress to "get it right?" Who's going to carry a loaded AR15 to such wishy washiness? Certainly not someone with a nice job in at an oil services company...

Margonelli: Oil Smuggling: Is It Time To Start Worrying Yet?

Lisa Margonelli — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:01:00 -0400

I've been waiting in vain for more information on the U.S. companies involved in buying oil smuggled out of Mexico by drug gangs. So far the money tied to U.S. firms is small potatoes. Trammo, a small firm, paid $2.4 million for hot oil, and two even smaller San Antonio firms may have paid $40K and $100K. Who, and where are the big fish? Worldwide, oil smuggling involves a lot of money and players; the people at Havocscope estimate it's worth $7.7 billion a year, which puts it well below cigarette smuggling ($50 billion) and above music piracy ($4.5 billion). See the full list here. Should we worry?

The WSJ suggests that this is a symptom of cartels fighting as enforcement shrinks the drug pie, while an industry expert wonders if Mexico will go the Nigeria route, which raises the scary possibility that successfully reducing drug trafficking could create even more instability in Mexico and in U.S. petroleum markets...

Margonelli: The Freaky Math of Plug In Hybrids

Lisa Margonelli — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:24:00 -0400

Times have changed: the once-mighty GM seems to be live blogging its "game changing" Chevy hybrid electric VOLT today, claiming its $40K price is justified by its 230 mpg EPA rating. But that number, like so many numbers associated with plug in hybrids, is less impressive than it seems. The charming dorks at Environmental Economics point out that the Volt gets 230 mpg when the trip length is exactly 51.11 miles, but for a trip of 200 miles the car gets 62.5 mpg, which is not much better than my diesel VW Golf, purchased used for around $15K. Of course, there's a lot to love about Plug In hybrids, and GM's new game, but the numbers around them are vexing...

Margonelli: Dr. Chu in China: Warnings, Money, Leapfrogs

Lisa Margonelli — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:44:00 -0400

Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are both in China today, forming a new joint research program for US/China cooperation on clean vehicles and buildings with China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang. (The very fact that Chu and Gang are sitting down to talk is reason for some hope: They are cut from similarly brainy optimistic technocratic cloth and before government both spent a long time at the cutting edge of private industry's research. Chu was at Bell Labs, where he won a Nobel. And Gang was at Audi's research center in Germany. Having interviewed both of them, I can easily imagine them having a beer. But if they do, there will be a leapfrog under the table, testing out its first hops...

Margonelli: 'Free' vs. Peak Oil

Lisa Margonelli — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:12:00 -0400

I haven't read Chris Anderson's new book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price," but I've been following the debate over Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker review and Anderson's response. Gladwell summerizes Anderson's basic argument as: The digital age is exerting inexorable downward pressure on the prices of all things "made of ideas." This revelation is not unique to Anderson. I mean, hey, it's 6:30 am and I'm blogging for free about articles I read for free for you who will read it for free and meanwhile, my "free"
gmail account is trying to sell me a "Didgeridoo for Sleep Apnea."

But underlying this copious pile of free is a steady stream of electrons that keeps our eyes and ears hooked into the ideas streaming out of our computers, TV's, stereos, and twitter-enabled smart phones. Between 2000 and 2005 according to this pdf report by Jonathan Koomey, the amount of electricity used by servers alone doubled to account for 14 power plants world wide and $7.2 billion dollars. Is there some tension between free ideas and limited energy and natural resources? Are free ideas and Peak Oil compatible? Or do they have some strange synergy?

I think so, but the unified theory of it all remains to be thought, so
I'm throwing it out to you, readers. Respond freely.

Margonelli: While We Were Sneering, China Was Seizing "Clean Coal"

Lisa Margonelli — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:15:00 -0400

Making fun of clean coal has become a cottage industry for American enviro-media types. (For a classic example, check out this snarky ad by the Coen brothers.) But while we have been snickering, China is building a clean coal plant that will go online next year, and has two more in the works. Last year alone China built 90 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants, which means that if China decides to use its massive domestic market for carbon sequestration to develop cheap technology and processes (provided that's possible) they could capture an enormous world market for the equipment in a few decades...

Margonelli: Climate Change Will Make You Sneeze! (Are we scared yet?)

Lisa Margonelli — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:07:00 -0400

As the debate over Waxman Markey Climate Legislation heats up, something big and scary from experts at 13 government science agencies has appeared: The Authoritative Assessment of National, Regional Impacts of Global Climate Change.

As the name implies, this is an enormous, authoritative report, but it's certainly not the first. What is remarkable about the report is how it reflects a growing trend towards personalizing the impact of climate change. Hence slide five in this powerpoint showing that pollen levels will double by 2075. Message: You (or your kids) will sneeze! Another alarming slide shows that the climate of Illinois could become more like that of East Texas. And the South? Hot...