Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE), is raising questions about “utility scale” wind developments in Vermont. In a recent op-ed, she identified numerous environmental concerns and suggested postponing proposed wind farm developments until there is an opportunity to evaluate the environmental consequences of a planned 16-turbine development near Sheffield. Former […]
Archive | Energy
24-Hour Solar Power
James Wimberley reports on a potentially significant technological breakthrough for solar power.
Wind Power Clipping Wings
Wind power provides substantial environmental benefits, not the least of which is that it produces electricity without emitting greenhouse gases or traditional air pollutants. It can also be useful source of distributed power. But (like anything else) it also has its drawbacks, such as its unsuitability for baseload power and (as some environmentalists are increasingly […]
Renewable Energy Sprawl
A new California law mandate that one-third of the state’s electricity come from “renewable” sources by 2020. What will this mean in practice? Robert Bryce explored some of the numbers in an NYT op-ed last week. The state’s peak electricity demand is about 52,000 megawatts. Meeting the one-third target will require (if you oversimplify a […]
Was Senate Oil Subsidy Bill Unconstitutional?
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked a vote on legislation to repeal $2 billion in tax breaks for the five largest oil companies. Even had the bill passed, it would not have had much effect, however. Equivalent legislation is unlikely to move in the House. More importantly, as TPM reports, passage of the bill would likely […]
Fracking and Flaming Faucets
A new study by researchers at Duke University found high levels of methane contamination in drinking water associated with hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania and New York — contamination that could be the cause of the infamous “flaming faucets” featured in “Gasland.” On the other hand, the study found no evidence “no evidence of contamination from […]
End Subsidies for Oil and Gas
The Cato Institute’s Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren argue that Republicans should take up the President’s offer to eliminate subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Indeed, limited government conservatives should do the President one better, and call for the elimination of energy subsidies across the board. I doubt the President would accept this […]
Don’t Blame the “Speculators”
Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren explain why evil oil “speculators” are not behind the recent rise in oil prices. There is no need to repair to conspiracy to answer the question about why gasoline prices are going up. The loss of Libyan crude–about 2% of global supply–has reduced the amount of oil available in […]
Defanging Fang
Lee Fang is a blogger at Think Progress who spends a great deal of time trying to demonize the Koch brothers. His conspiracy theories are quite fanciful, such as this effort trying to show that Wisconsin Supreme Court justice David Prosser conspired to allow more phosphorous pollution by Koch Industries. (For a critique of the […]
In Defense of Fracking
The NYT‘s Joseph Nocera defends hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) for natural gas. To begin with, fracking is hardly new. In Texas and Oklahoma, it has been used for decades, with nobody complaining much about environmental degradation. It must be a coincidence that these worries surfaced when a natural gas field called the Marcellus Shale was […]
Judge Holds Government in Contempt Over Drilling Moratorium
In an order issued yesterday, federal district court judge Martin Feldman held the Department of Interior in contempt for seeking to reimpose a blanket moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in defiance of the court’s decision to enjoin the initial moratorium. From the order: The plaintiffs civil contempt claim focuses on the […]
New Year, No New Wells in Gulf
The Obama Administration may have lifted the moratorium on deep water oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico, but the federal government has yet to authorize any new drilling activity. As a consequence, according to the WSJ, industry experts do not expect to see any new wells in the Gulf before late 2011 […]
Wind Power’s Not for the Birds
The American Bird Conservancy has renewed concerns that wind power development could threaten several bird species, according to this report. (HT: NYT Green Blog) Officials with American Bird Conservancy . . . cited data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that estimates 400,000 birds of various species are killed by turbine blades annually. The […]
Solar Power After Sunset
Intermittency is one of the biggest problems with solar and wind power. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, there’s no power. For this reason power storage technologies are essential if wind and solar power are to replace base load capacity and become more than bit players in energy markets. The WSJ […]
Who Won the Tax Deal?
I’ll leave it to the professional pundits to determine whether House Republicans, President Obama, or someone else got the better deal with last week’s announced compromise. One winner in the deal, however, is the ethanol lobby. Although conservative Republicans, environmental groups and even Al Gore had come out against extending ethanol’s tax breaks, Iowa lawmakers […]