Does the US need a national energy policy?

14 June 2012 · by Jesse Parent · in General Commentary.

I was recently asked the question – and thought it deserves some unpacking. I think the underlying challenge to a having a stable and coherent grand energy strategy is the lack of coherence about what we want our future to look like, and what factors are actually influencing it. If we want a future reality, we need to be informed and have no illusions about what our current reality is – and understand the transition needed to get from ‘now’ to ‘desired future’. To this end, I again state that we need a to go along with a national energy policy. Whether it comes from grassroots or top down, the dialogue needs to take place so people understand what the choices are, and what the factors are guiding those choices – choices about where the energy we use comes from, it’s environmental and economic impact, as well as how it shapes the future of our country and world.

[PEUS]: Oil Drilling Advocates Drive Presidential Debate With Ads

May 2 2012

This is part of the INFLUENCE series “The Politicization of Energy in the US” [PEUS]. For other related topics, follow the associated tag and stay tuned for the development of this series’ page.

The article (Oil Drilling Advocates Drive Presidential Debate With Ads- Bloomberg) starts: “While polls show the economy as the top concern of voters, a review of political attack ads suggests a different issue dominates: energy” – and I think to myself, what a great way to speak about this ‘mysterious connection’ between energy and politics.

Americans for Prosperity, an organization backed by oil interests, last week began airing its third television commercial since November, a campaign worth $6.1 million, attacking Obama’s green energy policies.

The latest round brings the group’s total ad buys to $12.5 million this year, compared with a combined $5.7 million total spent on ads of all sorts by Obama and Priorities USA Action, a Washington-based super political action committee supporting him. Priorities on April 24 teamed with the League of Conservation Voters to begin a $1 million commercial run that accuses presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, of being a protector of the oil industry.

It should be no surprise that different groups are going to support different candidates based off of their affiliations. But this intense political effort and campaigning dominates most mainstream discussion of energy. Continue reading →

reuters:

The trial to decide who should pay for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been delayed by a week, to allow BP Plc to try to cut a deal with tens of thousands of businesses and individuals affected by the disaster.

Less than 24 hours before the case was set to start in a New Orleans federal court, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier pushed back the date to March 5 from February 27.

The delay allows further talks between BP and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC), which represents condominium owners, fishermen, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others who say their livelihoods were damaged by the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill.

Eleven people were killed, and 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed from the mile-deep Macondo oil well, in by far the worst offshore U.S. oil spill.

Read more: BP oil spill trial delayed for settlement talks

ProSyn: Germany's Sunshine dream ends, Bjørn Lomborg

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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Ghana's MEST To Develop National Climate Change Policy Framework

Professor Sam Codjoe, Deputy Director of RIPS, said African institutions are being confronted with the challenge of mainstreaming the impact of climate change into their development planning and policy and there is the need to strengthen the national adaptation strategies and provide viable roadmaps for development investments.

EDITORIAL: Keystone XL tied to Senate Highway bill. Political football continues

The bottom line is, I can’t see how maneuvers like this are going to help anything, no less foster a serious energy discussion within the United States.

(Source: platts.com)

GEC: Excellent Recap of recent energy/climate/tech news

Loaded with good links!

Operation Sustainability: U.S. Military Sets Ambitious Environmental Goals

DoD understands the energy crunch…

With personnel nearly the population of Chicago and a fleet of over 500,000 aircrafts, vessels, and vehicles, the U.S. Department of Defense is a massive and energy-hungry institution.

In 2009 alone, the military consumed some 375,000 barrels of oil per day, more than three-quarters of all other countries on the planet. To put that in perspective, Nigeria — with a population of more than 140 million — consumes about the same amount.

During the decades of cheap fuel and easy access, feeding this complex system spread over 820 global installations was of little concern. In today’s economic climate, however, the Department of Defense (DoD) has had to adapt its energy strategy.

“The stakes could not be higher,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement earlier this year. “Energy reform will make us better fighters. In the end, it is a matter of energy independence and it is a matter of national security. Our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum makes us vulnerable in too many ways.”

According to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the DoD is taking aim at its annual $15 billion energy budget with a focus on efficiency and development of renewable, clean fuels — three areas that are pivotal in the race to create a more efficient fighting force and strengthen America’s energy independence.

THE AGE OF DOMESTIC BIOFUELS

As the world’s largest single consumer of liquid fuels, the DoD is taking ambitious steps to source alternatives. The Obama administration recently announced a joint partnership between private-sector companies, the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Navy, and the Department of Energy to invest $510 million in biofuel production over three years. …