Geothermal Plant in Hawaii Accidentally Strikes Liquid Hot Magma
Although this event occurred in 2005 at Ormat Technology’s Puna Geothermal Plant on the Big Island of Hawaii, scientists only recently released a full analysis of the nature of this discovery and the events surrounding it.
Basically, engineers at the Puna Plant, which opened in 1993 and produces 30 MW of commercial power, were drilling a standard injection hole into the earth when, at a depth of 2488 m, they hit a pool of dacite magma. At this point, the magma flowed 5.5 m up the wellbore (which is 26 cm diameter) where it cooled and solidified. Engineers attempted to drill more holes in that vicinity– all of which also struck magma. READ MORE
Venezuela Ends Heating Oil Program to U.S. Poor Due to Budget
For the past three years, Venezuela’s state oil company has provided heating oil to low-income households in the U.S. through it’s subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum. Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, began this program after meeting with the Reverend Jesse Jackson a few years ago. For Chavez, the program was a chance to tweak the U.S. government, with which he is constantly at odds.
However, with the dramatically lower price of oil, Venezuela is no longer able to afford these subsidies and has announced it will be ending the program. And while Chavez relies heavily on payments to the poor in order to maintain his legitimacy, once oil fell below $90 per barrel, Venezuela’s budget became unsustainable. Naturally, foreign subsidies like this program are the first to be cut. Whether he has the money, or not, Chavez cannot afford to allow his massive domestic subsidies to wither– which is a fundamental reason why he has so strongly supported OPEC’s efforts to increase the price of oil.
Interactive Map Highlights Our Dependency on Foreign Oil
Check out this cool interactive map that was created by the Rocky Mountain Institute, as part of a grant from Google.org. The map shows how much oil the U.S. has imported, from where, and how much we have spent every month since 1973.
Google explains:
“By clicking on the green light to play, you can see the countries supplying oil to the U.S. (either in terms of barrels or dollar value) and how our imports have changed over the last 35 years. The thicker the line in the map, the more oil produced or imported.”
Watching this dynamic map just further drives home the point that we need to get off of oil now. And to answer those who chant “DBD,” we would suggest pressing the “ANWR” and “Offshore Drilling” buttons on the lower left side of the map.
Obama Reiterates Call for Energy Efficiency and Decreased Dependency on Foreign Oil
In his weekly video address, Obama covered major issues like health care, education, jobs, and energy. Some highlights:
“To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient…
“…we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. And this plan must be designed in a new way - we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan - which is to create three million new jobs…”
Before and After Photos of TVA Coal Ash Spill at Kingston Fossil Plant
NASA has released some dramatic photos of the TVA ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee. The photos show an aerial view of the site before and after the containment pond was breached, which released over 5 million cubic yards of burnt coal waste.
NASA describes the images as:
The Thematic Mapper on NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite captured these images of the Kingston Fossil Plant and its surroundings on November 20, 2008, a month before the spill (bottom); and December 22, 2008, immediately after the spill, (top). In these false-color images, water appears blue, and sediment-laden water appears light blue. Vegetation appears green, and bare ground and urbanized areas appear pinkish-brown.
In the November image, walls visibly contain two adjacent slurry ponds at the plant-one in the northwest and one in the southeast-but in the December image, the walls of the northwestern slurry pond have given way. In this image, light blue slurry covers the ground to the north and east of the plant. Sediment also clogs the nearby Emory River, evident from the waterway’s relatively light blue color.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Hat-tip: TheDailyGreen
Europe Being Dragged Into Russia-Ukraine Natural Gas Dispute
Despite claims this week that Ukraine would permit natural gas intended for the EU from Russia to be delivered, there are reports from Poland and Hungary that deliveries from the pipeline have begun to fall. Poland is reporting a 6% decrease in deliveries and Hungary a 25% decrease.
Russia claims that Ukraine is illegally siphoning off gas intended for these countries, while Ukraine asserts that it is Russia that has decreased the output. Leaders of both nations are currently trying to make their case to EU leaders.
Russian natural gas monopoly, Gazprom says that Ukraine can no longer be trusted and that it will have to find an alternative route to get gas to Europe. Whether this is practicable remains to be seen. Fortunately, the EU nations have substantial natural gas reserves, having experienced a similar situation in 2006, the last time these two neighbors reached an impasse.
Via AFP (link may expire)
Ukraine Aims to Calm Fears of Natural Gas Disruption for EU
As the Russian halt of natural gas deliveries intended for Ukraine entered its second day, Ukrainian officials began touring European capitals to provide reassurances that transport of natural gas through Ukraine to the rest of Europe would continue. Since almost all natural gas delivered from Russia to EU countries must travel through Ukraine, concerns have been raised that Ukraine might divert some of that gas for its own use. This is what happened the last time Russia halted natural gas deliveries to Ukraine in 2006.
However, Ukraine asserts that it has enough natural gas reserves to last it through the winter, and regardless, will continue to permit transit of all Russian natural gas through its country to the EU. READ MORE
Russia Shuts off Natural Gas Deliveries to Ukraine
On Thursday, Russian energy monopoly Gazprom, shut off the entire flow of natural gas to Ukraine for that country’s domestic consumption. Ostensibly, the dispute is over price and transit fee negotiations, however, larger geopolitical and economic issues are surely the underlying causes.
The Kremlin has often used its control of Russian natural resources as a tool for international relations. In 2006, Russia shut down deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine for three days, which many attributed to tensions between the two countries stemming from Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004. And earlier this year, the Czech Republic saw a decrease in oil deliveries from Russia, three days after it signed an antiballistic missile agreement with the U.S.
If the current interruption in Ukrainian deliveries continue, Western Europe will also experience shortages, as they receive their natural gas from Russia on the same pipeline.
Training America’s Future Green-Collar Workers
Last month, Casper College (a two-year community college) in Wyoming opened a new wind turbine that will be used as a training tool to educate students in renewable energy classes for both technician training and educational purposes.
The 6 kW turbine was installed on the historic Teapot Dome oil field north of Casper at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center. At 50 feet tall, the turbine is smaller than most commercial windmills. However, this is intended to allow students a more hands-on experience. In fact, the whole tower can pivot at the base and be lowered to the ground. This allows students to engage in disassembly, maintenance, and study of the generator and other components. READ MORE
Russian Natural Gas Monopoly Gazprom Falls Far
A year ago, Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, aspired to be the largest corporation in the world. Buoyed by high oil prices and political backing from the Kremlin, it had already achieved third place judging by market capitalization, behind Exxon Mobil and General Electric.
Today, Gazprom is deep in debt and negotiating a government bailout. Its market cap, the total value of all the company’s shares, has fallen 76 percent since the beginning of the year. Instead of becoming the world’s largest company, it has tumbled to 35th place. And while bailouts are increasingly common, none of Gazprom’s big private sector competitors in the West is looking for one.
‘Unless you are willing to live naked in a tree and eat nuts for the next 30 years, coal’s going to be part of the portfolio’
This is what the Governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer told the Christian Science Monitor for an article about wind energy and transmission lines. Schweitzer was making this statement, not as an argument against alternative energy, but as a matter-of-fact regarding the state of American energy production.
Montana, like most of the central states in the U.S., sits on tremendous wind resources. However, as is the problem with almost all regions with high winds, it is a long distance from the population centers that consume the most electricity.
As a result, Schweitzer has been a big supporter of proposals to conduct a massive upgrade of our nation’s transmission grid. He recently called on the federal government to spend $15 billion to build the next-generation grid to link out-of-the-way regions like Montana, with population centers on the east and west coasts. READ MORE
San Francisco Taxis to use Pickens’ Natural Gas to Fuel Fleet
Yellow Cab, the largest taxi company in San Francisco has awarded a 10 year contract to Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) to its recently expanded natural gas station near the intersection of Cesar Chavez St. and Interstate 280, a few miles south of downtown.
Yellow Cab, which operates 100 natural gas powered taxis, will also be opening this station, located at 1200 Mississippi St., to the public 24/7. The station is equipped to dispense 1,000 gallons of CNG per hour, which would make it the largest CNG taxi station in the U.S.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., founded by T. Boone Pickens, runs 170 CNG stations in North America. It also operates two liquid natural gas (LNG) production plants, one in Willis, TX and one in Boron, CA, with a currently combined capacity of 260,000 of LNG per day. CEFC also owns and operates a landfill gas facility in Dallas, TX that produces renewable methane gas or biogas.
America Enters the ‘Trance’ Phase of ‘Shock and Trance’
Tom Friedman presents another in-depth case for a dramatic increase in the national gasoline tax, or an economy-wide carbon tax, in the NY Times on Sunday.
His basic argument is that with falling gas prices, we’re quickly falling back into a sense of trance, which is the second half of America’s standard “shock and trance” cycle that has shaped American energy policy over the past forty years.
Although President-elect Obama has articulated his concern that we avoid this oft-repeated mistake of following petro-panic with petro-complacency, he has been opposed to new gas or carbon taxes. Friedman says that this is a terminal mistake.
Here are the highlights of Friedman’s argument:
Regarding the current situation, he notes:
“Of course, it’s a blessing that people who have been hammered by the economy are getting a break at the pump. But for our long-term health, getting re-addicted to oil and gas guzzlers is one of the dumbest things we could do.” READ MORE
Burning Coal to Heat Private Homes on the Rise
Apparently, the burning of coal is making a comeback as a source of heating fuel for private homes. In coal-rich regions of the Northeast, Midwest, and Alaska, homeowners have been choosing coal as their preferred home heating method in rising numbers in recent years. According to the Energy Information Administration, home coal use jumped by 9% in 2007 and 10% in the first eight months of 2008.
This rise is being attributed to the rising costs of traditional heating fuels such as natural gas and heating oil. For example, a ton of anthracite coal could cost as little as $120, while the equivalent amount of heating oil would cost around $380 and natural gas would cost around $480.
While coal is, of course, a major contributor to climate change, the use of coal in private homes is still so limited (around 200,000 households use it as a primary or secondary source of heat) that it has not been identified as a significant source of greenhouse gases. READ MORE
Tennessee Coal Ash Flood 3x Bigger Than First Thought
The coal ash spill that contaminated nearby neighborhoods and rivers in Roane County, Tennessee is actually three times bigger than initially estimated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The NY Times reports:
Authority officials initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond breached, but on Thursday they released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep. The amount now said to have been spilled is larger than the amount the Authority initially said was in the pond, 2.6 million cubic yards.
The spill occurred at the Kingston Fossil Plant, one of the authority’s largest electrical generating sites, located on the banks of the Emory River about 40 miles west of Knoxville. The ash ponds were separated from the river only by earthen walls. Environmentalists have long argued that coal ash, which can contaminate groundwater and poison aquatic environments, should be stored in lined landfills. But hundreds of plants around the country, most located near rivers that supply the water they need to operate, have similar ponds and mounds of coal ash on site.
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