Wow

13-year-olds get it, why doesn't the US government?

Also, an AWESOME video

Pretty!!!

No idea how useful "Luminescent Fiber Optic Wallpaper" will be but it sure looks cool

New developments in solar tech

I wasn't going to post about this because there's been some skepticism from the scientific community but I haven't seen an outright refutation of the science yet so I might as well post. From MIT a "major" new development in solar energy storage.

The end of globalization?

A series of posts from Worldchanging, Gristmill, and NYT, all theorizing that increases in energy prices could reverse globalization. I'm pretty skeptical, globalization is a powerful trend. Thomas Barnett has another take here.

Gassification idea

I really love this guy. His posts are always long and well thought out. Here he has one on how high oil prices might change international shipping. Interestingly he suggests coal gasification as a replacement if, and only if, the oil price gets high enough to make that worthwhile. I think I really need to find the coal gasification break-even oil price. Is it $5? $10? $20? I'll research.

Micro-nuclear plants? Sounds creepy to me

The idea of having a "hot-tub" sized nuclear power plant scares me a little bit but it might be neat (assuming the companies claims are true).

This could be good...or not

My sense is that the derivatives market does need more regulation but I want to hear more about this bill. I'll be keeping an eye out for a more comprehensive analysis.

Why I'm not Libertarian

I kind of waffle between Democrat and Libertarian politics. This past year has been more on the Democratic side but I could see going back. One of the reasons I'm not part of the Libertarian Party (as it currently exists) is that I worry about what kind of environmental policy they'd have. Doing good environmental policy requires the kind of big picture thinking that I don't hear libertarians talking about. For example, what do you think Bob Barr's position on energy and the environment is? If you answered "he doesn't have one" you win! Personally I think that's a bit... err... crazy.

Alan Jacobs puts in well:

"... However, we also know that no empirical claim could possibly be better established than this: People, left to their own devices, simply do not make wise decisions about their natural environments. They almost invariably chose short-term goods that leave their descendants with damaged and impoverished conditions; and often the damage is irreversible. And even when hard lessons are learned by one generation, they are likely to be forgotten by the next, or the one after that.

Moreover, these the stakes in these matters are raised dramatically in technologically powerful ages such as our own. If a libertarian with a hands-off environmental policy were to be elected President in this country, and were to implement such a policy, the vultures would descend so quickly and do so much damage — especially to water resources, and especially in the West — in a single four-year Presidential term that recovery could take decades if it could be achieved at all. I think this would be a tragic result, and my reasons for thinking so are simultaneously civic and Christian (the latter deriving from the Biblical mandate for what people are now calling “Creation care”). Is a significant increase in personal freedom worth such a price? I don’t think I can say that, not given my current state of knowledge, anyway.

Of course, this is all speculative in the extreme. Bob Barr is not going to be elected President, and even if that miracle did happen he’d be faced with a Congress that wouldn’t let him do much of what he wants to do (repeal the 16th Amendment, for instance). So it might be worth my while to cast a symbolic protest vote for Barr, and I may well do that. But it makes me uneasy to contemplate casting a vote for someone whose candidacy I can’t truly endorse."

A Confession

After reading this post on Breakthrough: Gen I think I need to confess something: I'm part wonk. I'm not saying all I want to is be a wonk, but there is a wonk streak running through my intellectual pursuits (especially recently). One of my favorite tasks EVER was writing a public transportation technology policy recommendation for the NYC MTA. So when I saw the following paragraph:

"You all should really check out this McKinsey Global Initiative’s Energy Markets page. Just reading the titles–'The case for investing in energy productivity', 'Wasted energy: How the U.S. can reach its energy productivity potential', 'Leapfrogging to higher energy productivity in China' give me goosebumps and make my spine tingle"

it made me smile.

Cooky Idea

Don't ya love inventors? This is an interesting idea that I somehow think may not see implementation very soon on a way to save energy in public transportation.

I have ULTIMATE power

Didn't you know that the BoLM reads my blog????? I see they're following my advice (at least it appears that way).

Developments in Solar

Organic solar: I think this could be an interesting development in solar energy. Not sure how exactly but I'll be following this.

Other Reactions to the Moratorium On Solar Projects

A nice, thoughtful June 30th post from Energy Outlook (one of my favorite reads) on the reasons and implications of the BoLMs decision. Also some ideas on where to go from here.

Oil=dead dinosaurs right? WRONG

One thing that's astounded me for a while is the lack of knowledge about the nature and origins of oil. Check out KK's post on some of the current theories. I love his quote on bacteria: "In any case I am betting on bacteria as the creators of oil simply because I've learned to never bet against bacteria."

Facinating Solar Technology

I'm not sure how successful this will be, but it seems intriguing. Most large scale solars designs focus on solar thermal but this product concentrates light (using mirrors etc) on solar cells (sort of) to generate electricity more directly. This could be interesting....

US Gov. Freezes New Solar Energy Projects Citing Need for Environmental Assesments

*bangs head against wall...repeatedly*

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! This is insane!.

I'll be the first to say that solar power plants need environmental assessments. It's not something a ton of people know, but solar power plants can have serious environmental impacts (destroying habitat, hazardous waste etc). However, what was the BoLM thinking??? Isn't there a better way to do this than to stop solar power plants altogether???

Inteligence Community on Climate Change

I won't link directly to the PDF (Breakthrough Gen has the link and their take) but basically the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has put out a long term analysis of climate change politics and it's implications for US security. Check it out if you like environmental policy.

One thing I was really interested is the concept of technology transfer for climate change. Quote:
“Elsewhere, developing countries—particularly major greenhouse gas emitters—may demand that the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) be amended to allow for the production and development of generic copies of green technologies, citing the precedent of HIV AIDS drugs.”

I find it astounding that I haven't heard this way of framing the concept of technology transfer. If you think about it the entire field of Appropriate Technology could be looked at as aid through innovation man-hours. Does this concept frame change anything? I'm not sure, but I wonder if we'll start to see more non-profit design companies or initiatives ala Design that Matters, or ones that have more government funding.

Recent Energy News

Feh! I keep wanting to blog on environmental matters and summarize the current events and trends but the folks and Breakthrough Generation are on the same page and they have like....a billion writers and are always ahead of me :P. They've kindly provided an excellent summery of some recent energy events with their thoughts.

This makes me think of James Kunstler. I've heard him speak before (I need to read the Long Emergency) and although he really is Mr Doom & Gloom I can't help but recognize that life in the US without cheap gas will probably be very different. I think suburbs and exurbs will take major hits. Take my life; currently I occasionally do something very wasteful. There's an excellent Japanese restaurant that I occasionally get take out from when there's enough money to spring for a treat. That restaurant is 26 miles away, and I can't imagine that kind of drive in a world of $8-$10 gas.

All that being said I think that Mr Kunstler has position I do not agree with (from what I've heard in his lectures and interviews). His position seems to be, at it's base, reactive. He talks about how energy costs will force change. He refers to ways of life that people will have to abandon, without any allowance for human ingenuity. While I do think many have stuck their heads in the sand I also think that trying to predict the future without allowing for humanities capacities for adaptation is fundamentally flawed.

The Future of Energy

I've been reading the Economist since I was 15 or so. I guess that's what I get for having a credit analyst for a father. I really enjoy reading the print edition but I've moved recently and haven't managed to change my address successfully yet. Now that I'm blogging I think I'm going to take more advantage of the online resources from the Economist.

What do I like about them? They make me think of a quote from JRR Tolkien:
"He has long sight. He can perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men, even of those that dwell far off. It is difficult to deceive him, and dangerous to try."

I think they have a real understanding of long term responsibility and unlike most media outlets always keep in mind the Long Now. So it was nice to see this weeks leader on the future of energy.

Check it out