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
Michigan Law to Encourage Local Battery Production
While the federal government was busy with the travel habits of CEOs and propping up a failed business model, the state legislature in Michigan was planning for the future. Recognizing that the real technology for 21st century cars will be battery technology, the state legislature has agreed to offer up to $335 million in local tax rebates for the development of next generation car batteries. With this move, Michigan is aiming to carve out a piece of what is predicted to be a $50 billion market by 2020.
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.
California Beaches Threatened By Climate Changes and Human Activity
A combination of rising sea levels and human activity have caused many of California’s iconic beaches to come under duress. In the last century, sea levels rose 8 inches along California’s coasts, which increased erosion of beach sands. Current predictions of a 2-3 foot rise in ocean levels this century will dramatically expand this erosion.
Additionally, in some cases, human built structures like breakwaters have acted to disrupt the national migration of sand up and down the coast, which can exacerbate the problem.
Ford Rains on Its Own Parade: ‘Fusion Hybrid May Face Battery Shortages’
It was so refreshing to write a positive post about a Detroit automaker earlier this week. The topic was Ford’s new Fusion hybrid which is rated by the EPA to get 39 mpg combined, which would make it the third most efficient mainstream car on the road in the U.S. (After the Prius and Civic hybrid).
However, ensuring that this excitement didn’t become contagious, or last too long, Ford is already warning that they cannot get enough hybrid batteries to meet potential demand. Ford Americas President Mark Fields said, “We are constrained by the amount of components, including batteries, that the supply base can provide us.” The Fusion uses nickel metal hydride batteries that are supplied by Japanese company Sanyo.
Two things. First, this comes as little surprise. Ford hasn’t had a really hot car since the Ford Explorers began imploding ten years ago and it probably doesn’t remember how to be successful anymore. And second, this reinforces the importance of encouraging a domestic battery industry. Of course, battery shortages could still occur with domestic production, but the sheer importance of batteries in the 21st century is so enormous that it would behoove us to have our own industry and expertise, as well.
Despite Recent Protests, Farm Industry’s Best Interest is to Regulate Emissions
While we understand why most businesses are automatically opposed to an emissions tax for financial reasons, there are certain industries that really should think twice about their opposition. We’ve previously identified the skiing industry as a business sector that has a direct interest in fighting climate change. Another sector, which is only slightly less obvious, is the farming industry.
A recent study by Stanford researchers found that global warming will likely put an enormous strain on California’s agricultural industry. More frequent heat waves, rising temperatures and a drier climate, will put extreme strains on the state’s water supplies and energy systems, both of which are essential to growing.
The study, which used climate scenarios developed by the IPCC, predicted that in the second half of this century, average temperatures will increase approximately 4 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. READ MORE
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
New U.S. Geological Survey Report Warns of Even More Dramatic and Abrupt Climate Change
A new report led by the U.S. Geological Survey warns that climate change may be more dramatic and abrupt than previously predicted. The analysis, which was based on an assessment of published science literature, makes the following major conclusions:
1. Climate model simulations and observations suggest that rapid and sustained September arctic sea ice loss is likely in the 21st century.
2. The southwestern United States may be beginning an abrupt period of increased drought.
3. It is very likely that the northward flow of warm water in the upper layers of the Atlantic Ocean, which has an important impact on the global climate system, will decrease by approximately 25-30 percent. However, it is very unlikely that this circulation will collapse or that the weakening will occur abruptly during the 21st century and beyond.
4. An abrupt change in sea level is possible, but predictions are highly uncertain due to shortcomings in existing climate models.
5. There is unlikely to be an abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere from deposits in the earth. However, it is very likely that the pace of methane emissions will increase. 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.
Top 5 Environmental Newsmakers of 2008
Maura Judkis at Fresh Greens put together a list of the “Top 5 Environmental Newsmakers of 2008.” Here are her top 5, along with links to our own coverage of them:
1. Al Gore
2. James Hansen (since we didn’t cover Hansen this year, we’re copying Fresh Greens’ summary)
“Hansen, a leading NASA climate change scientist who first testified in Congress about the dangers of global warming decades ago, made headlines in the spring for two statements. The first was his research that set a goal of 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide to prevent Earth from going beyond the tipping point for catastrophic climate events, like rising sea levels. The second was his controversial statement that oil executives should go on trial for crimes against humanity for their involvement in climate change - a charge that was widely derided. Though the idea of trials may have been going too far, Hansen’s scientific findings are respected worldwide.”
4. Sarah Palin
5. Barack Obama
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
Happy New Year!
ForceChange will have limited posts for the remainder of the year. We look forward to exploring more ways to effect change in the unsustainable status quo in the new year.
Happy holidays from the FC staff!
New York Times Editorial Board in-Favor of a Gas Tax
The NY Times editorial board on Saturday followed the lead of co-worker Tom Friedman and endorsed the concept of a gas tax. Here are the highlights:
“…for all the conditions attached to it, the multibillion-dollar aid package for Detroit’s carmakers approved by the White House (with Mr. Obama’s support) fails to address one crucial question: Who will buy all the fuel-efficient cars that Detroit carmakers are supposed to make?
“The danger is that too few will, especially if gasoline prices remain low. Therefore, it might be time for the president-elect and Congress to think seriously about imposing a gas tax or similar levy to keep gas prices up after the economy recovers from recession. READ MORE
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