Sen. Merkley gets the big picture on green energy: Bold action simply can't wait
By David Neiwert Wednesday Jun 03, 2009 6:15pm
The America's Future Now gathering in D.C. just wrapped up today. I haven't been able to post a lot about the panels and talks that went on over the past three days, but probably the most interesting speech I heard came from Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, talking about the energy bill working its way through Congress.
Adam Siegel at GetEnergySmartNow has a good post up about with excerpts:
If I’d been here a year ago, I would have talked to you about three things: The need to transform energy economy, create jobs, and tackle global warming. ... About the third, during the campaign, I spoke it about every single night. People asked me why, as it was 21st on people’s concerns. I responded: it should be first on everyone’s agenda and the only way it will be is if we talk about it.
... If I am going to simplify the issue, we have to quit taking geologic carbon and turning it into atmospheric carbon.
... In the past, people have described the Senate as the place where a good House bill goes to die. ... We need to change that. We need to reestablish the Senate as a place where an okay bill goes to get vastly improved.... There is the possibility that we will end up with a framework that is ineffective, that has offsets, that doesn’t have a firm cap. ... Or, we could end up with something that could really transform our use of energy. Obviously, we’re going to have to work real hard to get from the former to the latter.
The whole session was fascinating -- including the speech by Sierra Club president Carl Pope, who talked at length about how the federal government's fickle ways on energy have been killing our ability to create green jobs. (You can watch it all here.) The classic case of this involves the reality that even though wind turbine transformers require elements mined from American soil, China is the world's leading manufacturer of them.
And if you don't believe that "green energy" is going to be the key to restoring America's position as the world's leading economy, check out this report about the fact that investment in that sector is rising at a sharp rate:
Green energy overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for the first time last year, according to figures released today by the United Nations.
Wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation, with more than a third of the green cash destined for Britain and the rest of Europe.
The biggest growth for renewable investment came from China, India and other developing countries, which are fast catching up on the West in switching out of fossil fuels to improve energy security and tackle climate change.
You all may remember Senator Merkley from his C&L live chat. We supported him strongly in the 2008 election because we believed he was capable of demonstrating real progressive leadership. It's obvious that he's living up that in spades.
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And then there's the view of the Minority:
GOP Congressmen Mock Green Job Workers: They Do 'Paper Mache,' 'Artificial,' 'Gangrene' Work
running out of oil is our most pressing issue. It trumps global warming, terrorism, or the economy, when we can't run farm tractors to produce food, billions will die. which is probably what we need, sad to say.
green to conserve energy till we replace oil, more than to be green for global warming.
Now, Obama needs to revoke those EPA permits to blast the top off Appalachian mountains for coal deposits.
Controversial Coal Mining Method Gets Obama's OK
Global warming is a complete hoax.
At least, according to the Heartland Institute, who just held a "Climate Change Revisited" symposium, examining the "real" facts about global warming.
Can I ask, David, how the hell do these "Institutes" get ANY traction?
They're essentially a lobby group for BIG CORPORATE INTERESTS. They actually consider smoker's rights one of their main purposes, along with debunking global warming and making the case for "free-market healthcare."
Their homepage shows the Founding Fathers alongside Ayn Rand and Milton Freidman, for the baby jesus's sake.
senator merkley gets it as pointed out in the getenergynow post. this is a serious matter. however the right and some special interests are living only for today. peak oil is a reality. so is greenhouse gases from
the burning of carbon based fuels. CHINA is about to change everything and rather quickly. china appears to be ready to embrace consumerism on a giant scale. when this occurs over the next 10-15 yrs. it will have a huge effect on oil consumption and air/water pollution. i've read that 40% of air pollution in california comes from china via airstreams. green is a strategy that should have started/implimented 20 plus yrs. ago. the green movement/strategy will have an effect on the world. if we don't take this more serious there will be more war(s) for resources and the cost of living is going to be even less manageable.
that China was set to buy the Hummer division from GM because SUVs are so popular over there.
:(
One thing about the Chinese though is that when there was a realisation that the pace of population growth would be devastating to the future of the country. I wouldn't be surprised if they went all clean air when they come around to the idea that not doing so will weaken them as a nation.
i heard about this yesterday. the chinese hummer that is. i have NO doubt that china will become even more involved in the green movement BUT when. they're in a tough timing position. they fire up about two new coal power plants a week and many autos are coming on board every day. with green being relatively new and expensive it's a tough deal for a pent up china consumer population. i do believe they will transition/change. i hope they start sooner than later on a big scale otherwise there will be more conflict. probably in africa. china is going to a universal healthCare system which means more consumerism.
The US population is expected to grow by the same amount as the Chinese between now and 2050 - something just less than 200 million.
So the US population just less than 500 million, the Chinese about 1.2 billion.
The BIG difference is that the US population will still be expanding in 2050 - the Chinese will actually begin to contract!!
Yes - the Chinese have taken quite seriously the need to limit population growth.
But not Industrial Growth.
...just got vindicated! Pretty good for a freshman Senator. He and Begich of Alaska seem to have hit the ground running.
From the way tired old entrenched Senators and Representatives do business and get smothered by lobbyists, maybe we ought to elect these guys every 3 years in yearly cycles, with no re-election option, but with the option of "recess" seminars to get in-depth information. Get fresh blood in there.
Just musing, don't pay any attention to me...
Every time Sen. Merkley speaks I'm so happy we dumped Gordon Smith!
I really didn't think Merkley would win--he didn't run the best campaign against Steve Novick in the primary, and el Gordo is a pretty tough campaigner. Merkley did a great job in the general, though.
I love seeing the pro-"insure every American" commercials that are airing here in Oregon with Merkley and Wyden. Like Karen, I'm glad I voted for him. El Gordo would have been a sure obstruction vote had he been re-elected.
It's nice to see someone in our illustrious Congreff actually gets it.
Our only way out of this d/recession is to get folks working changing the energy grid to renewables. 'Course the folks at big oil aren't going to be keen on that so expect the noise machine to start cranking up on this. Now that gas is heading up again the damnable hippies will start getting green energy back on the national radar.
Can't have that...
gasoline went up approximately $0.45/gallon month of may. several reasons get mentioned. supply and demand NO but index fund buying contributes to rising oil prices. the u.s. dollar is weakening so the
HEDGE against the dollar is buying commodities....crude. speculation possibly that the economy will improve. the refineries have also tightened production. the huge tankers are full floating in the gulf.
The answer is clean coal, nuclear, and wind farms huh. What about the current infrastructure? Home heating OIL, Diesel trucks . How are we going to run the trains and tractor trailers, even heat in our homes and businesses with out retooling every oil burning machine in America?
How are we going to make plastics and rubbers?
Mind boggling, there is no answer, I wish there were such a thing that could grow out of the ground collecting Co2 and produce oil and ethanol at the very same time. Raking the forests for saplings isn't going to replace any diesel, plastic, rubber, or home heating oil. Nuclear power doesn't produce a burnable oil or components of plastics and rubbers. Wind farms either. Geo thermal doesn't make an oil substitute. My gosh, how are we going to power the big ol trucks and heat our homes. I just can't figure it out. Produce sustainable jobs and green energy, OMG.
HEMP retards.
But what does the idiot from Nebraska think?
I expect to see old corrupt Nelson on Fox news tomorrow talking about how he would be open to a republican filibuster, in oreder to stop those "lefties" from saving the planet.
Really that's our most pressing situation, crazy lets see wars in Afghanistan,Pakistan,Iraq,North Korean Issue, Dollar devaluation, Fed printing monopoly money causing inflation,Unemployment,Inflation,Education,The Debt, I mean i could go on for days. Let's be honest about the whole green movement, it's a new way for the Elites to tax/charge you for living and breathing, cause well danm you for taking so much space on the earth and being a "Useless eater" and enjoying oxygen as some have put it. Yes i agree we need to keep our surroundings clean and pick up after ourselves that only normal but to tax me for taking in oxygen.....What a joke LOL. If i remember in bio class i thought plants needed CO2 to release oxygen, just something to think about!!!!
All of the above things you mentioned...don't mean a damn thing, if a planet is inhabitable for human life...
The earth will survive, we will not...
You can't have an economy, peace, education, life....without an environment.
World carbon emissions must start to decline in only six years if humanity is to stand a chance of preventing dangerous global warming, a group of 20 Nobel prize-winning scientists, economists and writers declared today.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environ...
You may want to read up on the climate.... http://realclimate.org/
Oh and taxes are the dues of a civil society, if you don't want to pay them...Saudi Arabia is ready when you are...
As a future Oregonian....I'm so happy my wife & I helped his campaign and couldn't be more proud of our future home state! Oregon...you've got a good one, take care of him and he'll take care of you.
The results of us source separating our garbage results in cardboard and paper being sold to China as material being recycled. It probably saves some trees, but how green is it to ship material over there, to in turn have products shipped back? Are our recycling efforts costing US citizens jobs?
[Original comment 6/5/09 14:31]
We have the impending converging catastrophes of climate change and peak oil. In my view, both are upon us NOW.
Immediate dramatic conservation is in order. Conservation, because of the economic depression, has occurred to a slight degree. This has moderated oil prices, it won't last. The conservation is not nearly enough.
We consume 20 million barrels of oil per day, we should cut that in half immediately. That would only be a start.
Peak oil, by definition, holds that the world production of oil will have peaked, declining thereafter. My view is that it has already happened.
We are going to use less oil, we will have no choice. It is going to get very expensive in any number of ways.
Jimmy Carter on April 18, 1977 gave a national policy speech on energy found here.
excerpt:
His proposals included gasoline taxes to encourage conservation. The whole thing stalled.
American's don't like their politicians to give unpleasant talks. In 1980 they went for Ronald Reagan who was expert on giving pleasant talks about delusion.
US oil production had peaked in 1971. Some people knew about peak oil then, some people knew about global warming/climate change. Reagan cut them off. Too bad.
The impending catastrophes coming at us now is the future we always should have known but could never remember.
The Department of Energy in February of 2005, for the first time issued a report stating that peak oil is real, found here. Thirty years after Jimmy Carter. The report does not conclude when it will occur.
A number of experts say it has already occurred.
No combination of green energy gets us to the level of energy consumption we are at now with the fossil fuels which are going to be extremely expensive in the not too distant future.
We are unprepared and we are out of time.
---
David L Goodstein:
Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil
Also of interest is James Howard Kunstler;
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil …
---
Update 6/15/09
By Michael T. Klare here
Bailed out banks hoard oil:
here
Prophecy that benefits the prophet.
Oil Rises to 7-Month High, Gasoline Surges, on Goldman Forecast here
Life on the planet Earth is rigged in favor of the Oligarchs.
We have been evaluating residential wind energy for our property in Northern Michigan for a couple years now. Our property is on the St. Mary's river between Lake Superior and the Straights of Mackinac. NorthWest winds that are strong for much of the year. Cost of a system is about 18k plus some extra installation, that we have the capability of doing at little or no cost. Unfortunately, beyond feeling good about being green, the entire project just doesn't make economic sense. Even with the new tax credit, the payback is too long, just to break even. And we would do this just to break even. Unless you are Jay Leno or Johnny Depp, with tons of money to burn, there really is no incentive. Payoff to break even is 10 years at the least, which doesn't include any potential maintenance costs. As much as my family would like to do this (and we do have the wind) the project doesn't work. Just as the refinancing program by the current administration doesn't work for most homeowners in Michigan (our housing values have dropped by 40% in the metro Detroit area), the ideas are nice, but don't apply.
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