Chancellor Angela Merkel's government passed legislation in June setting the country on course to generate a third of its power through renewable sources — such as wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy — within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050, while creating jobs, increasing energy security and reducing harmful emissions.December 13, 2011: Canada withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol.
December 15, 2010
Federal funds for green energy drying up.December 4, 2010
The party's over. Hurrah. Cancun conference collapses.November 19, 2010: Recap of some wind turbine stories from the past year --
- In the middle of wind country, wind turbine company is idled (shut down)
- Britain's only wind turbine factory to shut down; made blades for the US
- Vestas to close five production plans across Scandinavia; low European demand for wind energy
- Death of the wind farms -- the photo is scary
October 23, 2010: 346,000 billboards on small parcel in the Mojave Desert; what an environmental travesty.
October 21, 2010: Obama administration takes credit for Bush-era wind projects. That's not unusual. What is unusual is that the most liberal mainstream media outlet is reporting it: MSNBC.
September 19, 2010: Energy from the Cape Wind project off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts will cost about 20 cents per unit of energy compared to about 7 cents for electricity derived from conventional energy. Proponents of the project say the increased cost to customers will be about $1.75/month in utility costs. That's very, very hard to believe. Also, the cost of the wind energy will increase at least 3.5 percent a year going forward. The Cape Wind project developers have not found anyone to buy the "second" half of the energy they produce. The largest electrical utility in the northeast, National Grid, has agreed to purchase the "first" half of the energy produced by the Cape Wind project.
September 10, 2010: So you, the pick-up truck owner, want to go green? Read this first. The truth is finally starting to reach the mainstream media.
September 9, 2010: Minnesota-based Xcel will sell energy credits, providing about $2 cut in energy bills to North Dakota consumers. Cap and trade.
September 6, 2010: Fifteen (15) PowerPoint Slides that shook the earth.
August 27, 2010: headline in today's Oregonian: "US Green Effort Not Sustainable." The story reports the demise of the new federal program allowing homeowners to tap low-interest government financing to install energy-efficient solar panels, windows and installation. The program was so fraught with fraud that the government shut it down. Consumers said it was a bureaucratic quagmire.
August 24, 2010: this is incredible. Some years ago, "to save the oceans," environmentalists were able to get a law passed to mandate retro-fitting coastal utility plants that use ocean water for cooling their systems. Passed several years ago, that law is scheduled to go into effect this year. Citizens of Los Angeles now learn that this bill will result in a six (6) percent rate increase for the next eight (8) years and now they're scrambling to get an exemption. I wish them luck.
March 16, 2010: Los Angeles utility bills will rise as much as 28% to "go green."
February 14, 2010: It's unraveling faster than a snowman melts in March: there has been no global warming (if there ever was any) since 1995.
February 14, 2010: The world may not be warming after all -- according to the UN. Something tells me this administration will be the last to know.
February 13, 2010: Wyoming to tax wind farms -- "we welcome wind farms but they don't deserve special treatment."
February 12, 2010: Finally some sanity. Utah bill says "climate alarmists" are bogus. I hope Utah is just the first of 35 states to pass such a bill.
February 9, 2010: Clean-tech investment fell 45% in fourth quarter, 2009, compared to previous quarter. The full story is even more dismal.
February 6, 2010: Global warming movement collapse. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
February 2, 2010: Record amount of new wind energy last year, but wind energy jobs actually decreased.
I'd like to see a major news organization recognize the 800lbs Gorilla in the room.
ReplyDeleteGreen Energy requires Rare Earth Elements. (They're used for super magnets that have high heat thresholds and in hybrid car batteries)Over 90% of REE's mined in the world come from China. China has banned export of all REE's and can only leave the country via smuggling(mixing the REE's with other raw materials and extracting it later.)
A 3 megawatt windmill requires over 700lbs of REE's. Can't use an iPhone or Blackberry without them.
Neodymium, Dysprosium, Gadolinium Oxide are a few elements that are needed to promote Green Technology. Unfortunately, our leaders are well behind the curve in this regard. It's disturbing for the POTUS to ram this agenda through without understanding the requirements to fulfill these lofty goals and making laws requiring their usage.
Outstanding comment. Thank you for stopping by. When I revamped my blog some months ago, I "vowed" not to put political comments on it, but it became more and more difficult to ignore what is going on in Washington. I compromised by adding a section where my political views can be seen, but hopefully not detract from the main purpose of my blog. I really appreciate you stopping by on one of my more obscure pages and contributing.
ReplyDeleteI am "inappropriately exuberant" about the future of the oil industry in my home state, so "take with a grain of salt" a lot of my web postings.
For the individual investor there are so many opportunities, regardless of one's political leanings, but on a macro-economic scale, hydrocarbons will be around for a long, long time.
Hi Bruce,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your insights and efforts here, I'm learning a lot about ND and trying to recall my Geology classes from college. In mentioning the President, I tried to not cross the political line, I want to point out our Nation's shortsightedness regarding Rare Earth's and legislating using Green Energy without investing in the dwindling resources of REE's, which will make it prohibitively expensive. (Frankly, I don't believe many people even understand how critical access to REE's are for our country...they are also used in all of our Military Technology...No REE's, No modern Defense systems.)
-Rare Earth's is another area that merits investment research(e.g. Uranium miners such as Cameco, as Nuclear Power Plants are being built in India and China), as the market for Ree's is expanding and the mining/refining of which is difficult and messy. Which reminds me of a little irony regarding the Green movement, REE's mining is environmentally damaging...a lot of Open Pit mines.
Take Care
embraceyourinnerhillbilly
The "Wall Street Journal" has published stories on China's virtual monopoly of rare earth elements (Mongolia) and notes that REEs are used in much of our technology, particularly "green technology," specifically batteries used in hybrid automobiles. Here is one story:
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB125188565571379063.html and there was another story in the February 5, 2010 edition.