Jesse Parent [INFLUENCE]

You know the first time I heard of Benin was in an art history class in undergrad?

It’s curious how some places in Africa are unique places to test new strategies for sustainable development. My time in Senegal was a mixture of deep traditions and new technologies and perspectives; I wonder if a closer attachment to the land will lead to less ego-attachment to high-energy consumption lifestyles…

A curious perspective

So … what is this really saying? That there is nothing risky ‘outside of the ordinary’ for hydraulic fracturing compared to other drilling operations? “Many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale drilling and not from hydraulic fracturing”.

I feel like this conclusion is somewhat misleading, or could potentially be misleading, if it is not explained properly. Hydraulic fracturing is the process by which the shale rock holding the natural gas is ‘fractured’, such that the gas can be extracted (compare this to conventional gas extraction, where the gas is contained within a permeable rock that doesn’t need to be fractured for gas extraction). I’m not sure that the ‘drilling’ or ‘fracturing’ problem itself is what people are concerned about, so declaring that the act of fracturing is ‘safe’ seems somewhat irrelevant.

Hydraulic fracturing in shale formations “has no direct connection” to groundwater contamination, a study released Thursday concluded.

The study, conducted by the Energy Institute at the

University of Texas at Austin, found that many problems attributed to hydraulic fracturing “are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations,” such as drilling pipe inadequately cased in concrete.

Many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale drilling and not from hydraulic fracturing, Charles “Chip” Groat, an Energy Institute associate director who led the project, said in a statement.

“These problems are not unique to hydraulic fracturing,” Groat said.

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The UT Energy Institute’s report stands in stark contrast to a draft report released in December from the Environmental Protection Agency, which said its examination of a hydraulic fracturing site in Pavillion, Wyo., found hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals associated with natural gas production in deep water wells.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Study-finds-that-fracking-itself-does-not-pollute-3337782.php#ixzz1nY5i27uO

I’ll have to check out this book…

For four decades, Amory Lovins has been a leading proponent of a renewable power revolution that would wean the U.S. off fossil fuels and usher in an era of energy independence. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about his latest book, which describes his vision of how the world can attain a green energy future by 2050.

A fairly even-handed introduction to how Hydrofracking is affecting the global energy market.

I wonder though if it will be more a gilded than golden age.

In its World Energy Outlook 2011 , the IEA remarks that “in all the scenarios examined natural gas has a higher share of the global energy mix in 2035 than it does today”.

New York: a hydraulic fracturing battleground state.

A state judge’s decision this week supporting the rights of individual towns to determine whether to allow hydraulic fracturing has added a new wrinkle to the fight over the natural gas drilling process in New York.

Parties on all sides are trying to figure out what the ruling will mean, but a consensus emerged on Wednesday that there will be further court challenges and delays over when, how and where the process, known as hydrofracking, will be allowed in the state, and by whom.

Officials of natural gas companies voiced concern that such local restrictions could render more areas of the Marcellus Shale off-limits to drillers in a state that is already proposing strict regulation of where the industry will be allowed to operate.

• Related Article: CASE STUDY: Marcellus Shale | INFLUENCE with Jesse Parent

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For more of my thoughts throughout the week and see what news I’m following, I invite you to join the conversation via Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Or visit my main website, INFLUENCE with Jesse Parent to view Case Studies, Reports, Editorials and more.

Aha, an actual plug for energy issues in a popular tv show!

As in the time Downton Abbey, when humans had to deal with technology and innovation they couldn’t quite comprehend at first, we may be in the midst of a similar sea change now. “Right now we’re in an energy transition from a fossil fuel based economy to a renewable economy,” Duncan says. “These kinds of transitions take decades, if not centuries to occur.” He points to the fact that even though fossil fuels were much better than wood, it still took a century for them to become dominant. “And the same thing is going to happen with renewables,” he says. “We’re still going to be depending on fossil fuels whether we like it or not, or whether it’s best of not, for decades into the future.”

The second season finale of Downton Abbey premieres Sunday night on PBS. Word is that electricity plays a big part in one of the episode’s key scenes.

I am saddened much by this. But not surprised.

GLEICK: … My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts — often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated — to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved.

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The broader tragedy is that his decision to go to such extremes in his fight with Heartland has greatly set back any prospects of the country having the “rational public debate” that he wrote — correctly — is so desperately needed.

The ever-changing fuel situation continues to develop in curious ways….

Also, note how Albany is specifically mentioned -I’m going to assume, since the link doesn’t specify otherwise, they mean Albany, NY…. specifically New York’s current deliberation about how to best allow Hydrofracking in New York.

‘Hurt Themselves’

Chevron Corp. (CVX) and ConocoPhillips, the second- and third- largest U.S. energy companies by market value, also are expected to post their largest full-year profit declines in 2012 since 2009, when worldwide fuel markets were reeling from the collapse of demand in the wake of the financial crisis.

“In a sense, they’ve hurt themselves,” Leonard Coburn, president of Washington-based Coburn International Energy Consultants LLC and a former director of Russian and Eurasian affairs at the Energy Department. “But that’s why we’re seeing them shifting away from gas toward more oil.”

Shale formations will account for 49 percent of total U.S. gas production by 2035, up from 23 percent in 2010, the Energy Department said in a Feb. 14 report. When other geologic formations such as tight sands that require the same intensive drilling techniques are added in, unconventional fields will pump 77 percent of domestic supply by 2035, the department said.

The supply bonanza of gas and oil made possible with fracking means the U.S. will become increasingly independent of foreign energy producers at the same time as burgeoning economic powers such as China grow more reliant on overseas supplies, said Jonathan Chanis, managing member of New Tide Asset Management LLC in Torrington, Connecticut. That outlook assumes lawmakers and regulators at the federal and state levels won’t place expensive restrictions on drillers, he said.

“With the right policy decisions in Washington and places like Harrisburg and Albany, the United States will be in an extremely positive position,” Chanis said.

A very interesting review essay by Andrew J. Nathan. Kissinger and Friedberg present two different takes on how Chinese-US relations and its outlook. Kissinger advocates an acceptance of China’s rising, and Friedberg proposes a more defiant US stance.

I’ll let you read the article, and perhaps we’ll all be lucky enough to read the related texts — in addition to Nathan’s own forthcoming book on Chinese security.

The thought in my head, after reading Nathan’s conclusion regarding US strategy (below), has to do with why US may not emphasize human rights as an means to best China…

It is no wonder that Chinese statecraft aims to establish the cultural relativity of human rights and to pose talk of human rights as the enemy of friendship. After all, the failure to respect human rights is a glaring weakness of Chinese power both at home and abroad, whereas promoting human rights has been among the United States’ most successful maneuvers on the wei qi board of world politics. What is surprising is that the United States’ master strategist wants to play this part of the game by Beijing’s rules. Would it not make more sense to emulate Chinese strategy than to yield to it? Emphasizing the principled centrality of the human rights idea to American ideology and keeping the issue active in bilateral relations even though it cannot be solved would seem to be — along with exercising the United States’ strengths in other fields — a good way to set the boundaries within which a rising Chinese power can operate without threatening U.S. interests.

It seems to me that there is not a great deal of unity within the US about how to best go about human rights celebration (or endorsement and support, in general). The country seems to have major rifts on several issues, such as: allowing homosexuals to be in the military, or become married; there is rampant disagreement about abortion (see the Susan G. Komen saga); continuing debate about immigration policy; and, perhaps less directly related, labor unions have come under scrutiny and in many states are facing heavy pressure to disband. This is not to say race relations and religious freedoms/tolerance are completely resolved, either. You could also argue that the economic struggles of the US have flared concerns about the growing wealth gap between rich and poor, and child poverty and related education issues linger (see end of article*).

Considering all these things, the US may not be in as much a position of human rights strength as it would like. Nathan agrees with Friedberg:

In a version of “we have met the enemy and he is us,” Friedberg says that in order to do all this, the United States must restore its economy, keep its scientific edge, protect its advanced technology, and maintain its margin of military advantage.

One can only say amen to the recommendation that the United States pull up its socks…

While I agree that those are worthy (and necessary) endeavors, I would add “strengthening human rights” to that list. It is not the time to rest on the laurels of the past. That said, making progress (or perhaps somehow working towards more national unity) on human rights issues is likely made easier with a robust economy; it’s easier to be enlightened when you are not starving. So perhaps the ultimate foreign policy recommendation for America is to figure out an economic policy that works, first and foremost, as it may be one of the best tools for having a positive influence towards the rest of the world.

(And if you were to ask me what that policy might highlight, I would suggest a very wise energy & resource strategy; a focus on combating structural unemployment; and retooling education - to develop research and technology for the globally competitive future, and for addressing domestic health and aging population. Easier said than done, of course.)

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For more of my thoughts throughout the week and see what news I’m following, I invite you to join the conversation via Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Or visit my main website, INFLUENCE with Jesse Parent to view Case Studies, Reports, Editorials and more.

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Fareed Zakaria via Facebook: ….We know that we have an education problem with the poor. Seventy-seven percent of our kids who entered high school graduated. Compare that with other rich countries: 90% in Switzerland, 91% in the UK, 93% in Finland and 97% in Germany. Studies show that dropouts are twice as likely to slip into poverty than high school graduates.

Children in extreme poverty do badly even when they are smart. A recent U.S. study tracked a group of eighth-graders in 1988. It found that students who did very well on a standardized test but were poor were less likely to get through college than their peers who tested poorly but were well-off.

The sad part is, these statistics are reversible. Compare child poverty rates in America and the UK. You’ll see that the UK’s rates were halved within a decade from the mid-1990s. The U.S. has actually risen since then.

There’s no secret sauce. Tony Blair’s Labour government simply made reducing child poverty a priority through various programs.

… (See Zakaria’s GPS Blog here)

Mini-Editorial | A very curious article that is worth looking into. Germany cutting solar subsidies? Why? The article explains.

In light of the apprehension about nuclear energy following Japan’s meltdown, and now the unflattering situations of both Germany and the US (with its solar industry’s lingering dark cloud of bumbled Solyndra investments), the outlook for new energy developments seems to have taken a blow.

Lomborg concludes with stating governments must focus more on R&D before stressing production. Yet considering another recent Project Syndicate article, it must be pondered how these setbacks will influence public pressure (Political Will?) to request  continued R&D in a time of global economic uncertainty.

COPENHAGEN – One of the world’s biggest green-energy public-policy experiments is coming to a bitter end in Germany, with important lessons for policymakers elsewhere.

Illustration by Newsart

Germany once prided itself on being the “photovoltaic world champion”, doling out generous subsidies – totaling more than $130 billion, according to research from Germany’s Ruhr University – to citizens to invest in solar energy. But now the German government is vowing to cut the subsidies sooner than planned, and to phase out support over the next five years. What went wrong?

There is a fundamental problem with subsidizing inefficient green technology: it is affordable only if it is done in tiny, tokenistic amounts. Using the government’s generous subsidies, Germans installed 7.5 gigawatts of photovoltaic (PV) capacity last year, more than double what the government had deemed “acceptable.” It is estimated that this increase alone will lead to a $260 hike in the average consumer’s annual power bill

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For more of my thoughts throughout the week and see what news I’m following, I invite you to join the conversation via Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Or visit my main website, INFLUENCE with Jesse Parent to view Case Studies, Reports, Editorials and more.

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A country to watch develop in the 21st century, China’s impact on climate change, the global economy, and development in general will be historic.

Can Smarter Growth Guide
China’s Urban Building Boom? The world has never seen anything like China’s dizzying urbanization boom, which has taken a heavy environmental toll. But efforts are now underway to start using principles of green design and smart growth to guide the nation’s future development.

by david biello

Coal money, generated by one of the world’s largest open-pit mines, has built a new Ordos, a municipality in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. A modern city is rising there from the steppes, featuring monumental government buildings, an imposing museum, and row after row of apartment buildings and subdivisions, all designed to accommodate more than a million new residents. Spacious roads wait for cars to zoom between residential and commercial areas or feed into the highway that leads to the existing — and inhabited — old city, some 15 miles away. But cars and people remain sparse.

Ordos is emblematic of China’s urbanization boom, a construction frenzy unlike anything seen in the history of the planet. Today, half of the nation’s 1.35 billion people live in cities. From the outskirts of Shenyang in the cold northeast to the mountainous precincts of Kunming in the subtropical southwest, buildings are rising to accommodate the people now crowding into the 170 cities in China that host more than a million residents. Across the country, construction firms have built some 2 billion square meters of new apartments, offices, and skyscrapers annually in recent years. The national bird of China has become the construction crane.

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I will have to include this report in my upcoming case study about Japan’s nuclear energy situation…

While I don’t envy Japan’s position, I have faith that the people of Japan can provide a valuable lesson in what can happen and how to rebuild following such a disaster. Unfortunately, it seems they will be leading the way in showing the world with how to cope with energy situations that may become prevalent in the 21st century.

New Data: Nuclear Down, Carbon Intensity Up in Japan

Japan’s nuclear power fleet has sat idle since a powerful earthquake struck the nation in March 2011, driving a sharp increase in fossil fuel imports and a spike in the nation’s carbon intensity.

By Mark Caine and Jesse Jenkins

Japan’s nuclear power fleet has sat idle since a powerful earthquake struck the nation in March 2011, driving a sharp increase in fossil fuel imports and a spike in the nation’s carbon intensity, new data shows. Together, these changes have battered Japan’s trade balance, increased the carbon intensity of its energy supply, and raised important questions about its future CO2 emissions trajectory.

Japan’s 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster have exerted substantial impacts on the nation’s economy and energy system. Given Japan’s reliance on nuclear power, its lack of domestic fossil resources, the magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami, and the technical and political implications of a major nuclear crisis, these impacts were largely predictable.

But although it was clear early on that Japan’s triple disaster signalled major economic and technical changes in Japan, only recently has good data become available to shed light on the specifics of the changes underway.*

Two notable trends emerge from this data, both relating to Japanese energy supply. Together, these trends are exerting profound impacts on Japan’s trade balance, the carbon intensity of its energy supply, and its future CO2 emission trajectory.

Carbon Intensity Spikes as Nuclear Plants Idle

First, the carbon intensity of Japan’s energy mix has spiked following the shut-down of most of the nation’s nuclear power fleet, which previously provided about 30 percent of the nation’s electricity and anchored the nation’s low-carbon energy plans. Currently, just 4 of the nation’s 50 remaining nuclear reactors are online. To replace this lost generation, Japanese utilities have ramped up imports and use of coal, oil, and natural gas, while industrial consumers have been more reliant on diesel generators to guarantee reliable energy supply.

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I would venture to say this article hints at on of the challenges of humankind in general; it has applications from global finance to climate change…right down to why people don’t make important changes in their day-to-day lives.

…If the problem has not been experienced before, the public is not convinced of the potential costs of inaction. And, if action prevents the problem, the public never experiences the averted calamity, and voters therefore penalize political leaders for the immediate costs that the action entails. Even if politicians have perfect foresight of the disaster that awaits if nothing is done, they may have little ability to persuade voters, or less insightful party members, that the short-term costs must be paid.

Talk is cheap, and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the status quo usually appears comfortable enough. So leaders’ ability to take corrective action increases only with time, as some of the costs of inaction are experienced.

Calamity can still be averted if the costs of inaction escalate steadily. The worst problems, however, are those with “inaction costs” that remain invisible for a long time, but increase suddenly and explosively. By the time the leader has the mandate to act, it may be too late.

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I would like to start a case study of DoD & EPA’s interactions. Here’s one reason why…

 The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced Dorothy Robyn, deputy under secretary of defense for installations and environment, and Paul Anastas, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assistant administrator, signed an agreement that formalizes the partnership between the Defense Department and EPA to develop and implement technologies that will help create sustainable American military bases all over the world.

            Under this memorandum of understanding (MOU), DoD and the EPA’s Office of Research and Development will collaborate in the development of innovative technologies to help create sustainable and resilient military bases across the country and overseas.  The cutting-edge research of EPA and DoD scientists and engineers will be used to develop and demonstrate tools and technologies that will aid DoD in achieving its vision of sustainability.