Patriotism that loves our country, our land, and our planet
The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that it will provide $36 million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants.
According to the CIA World Factbook we have 1/22 of the world’s population but use 1/4 of the world’s oil!
The United Nations and the World Health Organization share that the average person in the developing world uses 2.64 gallons of water a day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day…
While Karsner has not given any reason for the resignation, the underlying point is that he resigned from a one-of -a-kind job at a time when there is major political discord about how the U.S. should be moving forward with its energy policy. The news came on the same day that, for the fourth time this summer, Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to extend funding for renewable energy tax credit.
For the fourth time this summer alone, Senate Republicans have blocked any formal consideration of extending renewable energy tax credits. The 51-43 vote on Wednesday to invoke cloture on S.3335 fell nine short of the 60 needed to begin floor debate (a ‘Yea’ vote indicating support for the bill and/or willingness to debate it). Although [...]
Four Democratic senators called Tuesday for Stephen Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin an investigation into whether he lied in testimony to a Senate committee.
In 2007, the United States Forest Service (USFS) spent $1.37 billion fighting wildfires, up from $307 million ten years ago. This year, that number will be much greater due to the 2008 California Firestorm. How will financially strapped California and the USFS pay for these fires and did these fires grow larger because of Bush administration budget cuts?
The longest-serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from an oil services company that helped renovate his home. Not exactly considered a friend of the environment, the 84 year-old senator has been the most vocal supporter of opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration. The indictment alleges a linkage between Stevens and the oil industry that the Senator (and the GOP) prefer not be made.
Watching the news is a dangerous enterprise for those of us trying to maintain a clear picture of this election season’s most important issues. Despite all the chatter, it seems relatively obvious that our most fundamental problem is American energy policy, or more specifically: oil prices and our dependence on cheap energy.
If you buy that premise, which I’m prepared to debate elsewhere, then this election should really only be decided by one evaluation criterion: which candidate has a better plan to reduce our oil consumption, replace it with viable alternatives, and spur innovation and commercial development of new technologies (and a new green-collar economy)?
As I sat down to write this, I tried to think of how many different times I have written about Senate extensions of the investment tax credits and production tax credits for renewable energy in the last year. And honestly, I’m not sure – but I know it’s a lot.
The UK government, oil producing countries and oil companies are to blame for high oil prices, according to a recent poll. But taxation is irrelevant to long term oil prices, as prices will inevitably rise as demand outstrips supply. It is in this respect that governments need to face up to the necessity of policies aimed at eliminating dependence on oil.
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